Koulibaly is 29 in June, this is the last Game he played, in early February.
Sané needed a year to adapt
Bernardo needed a year to adapt
Mahrez needed a year to adapt
Cancelo needed a year to adapt
Maybe this is the perfect deal to allow Garcia and Harwood Bellis time to get ready? Personally don’t think we are interested but he would be class and we wanted Bonucci again this summer if possible and he’s 33!
Cant agree more, ticks every box.Laporte didn't need any time to adapt, Fern didn't need any time to adapt, Ederson didn't need any time to adapt.
Instead of just making irrelevant blanket statements if you look at the coaches Koulibaly has played under - Benitez, Sarri, Ancelotti - then he's got loads of experience under top coaches and with Sarri he's played under a coach who has as similar a style of play to Pep's as exists.
In fact if you wanted you couldn't find a coach who put more Pep-like demands on centrebacks, both in possession and out of possession than Sarri at Napoli.
So I doubt he'd need the same period of adaptation.
He's an incredible player, it just comes down to the cost Napoli demand as to whether it's worth it for a player you're only gonna get 4 or 5 years out of.
I think he only started to play on the left when he joined Napoli because Albiol prefered right CB. He's a natural RCB like pretty much all right footed CB'sHe plays on the left where laporte plays. We need someone for the right
Koulibaly is 29 in June, this is the last Game he played, in early February.
Sané needed a year to adapt
Bernardo needed a year to adapt
Mahrez needed a year to adapt
Cancelo needed a year to adapt
We also wanted Maguire too. Above all else for his experience too.Not his best effort. Didn't help he tripped up. However, even Laporte had a shocker agains Spurs in the CL. It happens. Koulibaly is still a good defender. He may be older, but Pep also wanted Bonucci and JFE. His experience is a plus. It all depends on how much Napoli want for him. If we could get him without getting rinsed it would be a good buy.
Everyone who hasn't played for Pep or come out of La Masia would have to adapt to some extent. So no matter who we buy basically. Laporte is an exceptional freak.
Dinho is an extremely short-term partner for Laporte. He'll only be here 1 more year along with Otamendi. So we'll have 2 CB's go soon. Koulibaly would have a few years at least. If like I said, you can get Koulibaly at a reasonable price, pull the deal because you don't know if you could get another decent CB in the future for a good price.We also wanted Maguire too. Above all else for his experience too.
But those were in the past. Our situation and needs are different this time.
We have an old Player who Pep seems to trust to be the short-term starting partner to Laporte: Fernandinho
Therefore our true priority should be a Long term back up to Laporte.
Because we could play 3ATB and have Laporte be in the middle, If the Left sided CB is as good as the Laporte, then for the RCB Spot we have many different options already(and their quality should not cause too much of a problem)