Kalidou Koulibaly

domalino said:
Not a massive fan of his, and not sure really why he's popped up as an alternative but Soyuncu's pace is not a statistical anomaly, it's very real and bailed Leicester out a lot in the first half of the season.

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I think Koulibaly has been hyped by the media. It's always a risk signing someone from the Italian league because it is slow paced and very poor quality apart from Juve. Not many players have transferred from Italy to the PL and done well. (There are some exceptions.) Meanwhile Chris Smalling has been a star in Italy.
Soyuncu plays for an unfancied club and gets little media coverage. I have always thought he was excellent against us and know from meeting match-going Leicester fans they rate him as their best player.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I prefer the views of matchgoers rather than media pundits, most of whom don't have a clue about football. I am not saying Koulibaly is bad but he is past his peak and not worth £70m. Five years ago I would have gone for him.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
I think Koulibaly has been hyped by the media. It's always a risk signing someone from the Italian league because it is slow paced and very poor quality apart from Juve. Not many players have transferred from Italy to the PL and done well. (There are some exceptions.) Meanwhile Chris Smalling has been a star in Italy.
Soyuncu plays for an unfancied club and gets little media coverage. I have always thought he was excellent against us and know from meeting match-going Leicester fans they rate him as their best player.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I prefer the views of matchgoers rather than media pundits, most of whom don't have a clue about football. I am not saying Koulibaly is bad but he is past his peak and not worth £70m. Five years ago I would have gone for him.
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I think if you polled Serie A matchgoers, most would say Koulibaly had been the best defender in the country for the last 5 years.

The Carlos/Koulibaly debate essentially comes down to this for me -

29 year old who's been at the top of his game from 2015-2019 but had a downturn in 2020. Risk that the downturn is not just a blip because of the new manager.

vs.

27 year old who's had one outstanding season on the big stage surrounded by great players. Risks of not being that good.


Either will be a massive improvement over Stones/Otamendi. Money might end up deciding it.
 
ManCitizens. said:
Pretty much this. For the people saying they don’t want him, what would your thoughts be if it was announced he was signing for the Scousers tomorrow?
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Our defence will fail us against Bayern or Barcelona if we get through the game on Saturday, and that's where we need to spend the money. We made the mistake last season and Liverpool romped the league. Can't make the same mistake again. Koulibaly is a man mountain. He's a presence and other teams will fear playing against him just purely based on his size and athleticism.

I would love John Stones to prove us wrong but I'm sick of seeing him bullied out of games by bigger strikers. Even that Tom Pope at Port Vale knows Stones is a push over.

Can't judge a defender off a few bad games. A rag mate text me after the Madrid game and said Maguire is better than Varane which I found quite funny. Varane is a world class defender, every defender can have off days.
 
ZanteWeatherman said:
The Napoli president trying to pull our pants down. 70 mill for a 29 (nearly 30 apparently) is a major piss take and we should be giving it a swerve. Make De Laurentis eat his own shit. Imho of course.
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He's not nearly 30. He turned 29 at the end of June. He won't be 30 until we're playing the 21/22 season.

Look at this way.
20/21 - 29 all season
21/22 - 30 all season
22/23 - 31 all season
23/24 - 32 all season
24/25 - 33 all season
25/26 - 34 all season

Terry was 35 and starting regularly for Chelsea. Vinnie left at 33 (and we all know that was because of injuries really and Anderlecht's draw, not cos he wasn't good enough still). Ramos is 34 and still key for Real Madrid. Ferdinand left United at 34 etc etc.

It's genuinely reasonable to presume that as long KK has no severe injuries, he's got 4/5 seasons at a very high level left. Defenders are very fit these days and can play into their early mid 30s no problem.
 
domalino said:
I think if you polled Serie A matchgoers, most would say Koulibaly had been the best defender in the country for the last 5 years.

The Carlos/Koulibaly debate essentially comes down to this for me -

29 year old who's been at the top of his game from 2015-2019 but had a downturn in 2020. Risk that the downturn is not just a blip because of the new manager.

vs.

27 year old who's had one outstanding season on the big stage surrounded by great players. Risks of not being that good.


Either will be a massive improvement over Stones/Otamendi. Money might end up deciding it.
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I get your point. I am just nervous about Koulibaly because he has had a poor season. I thought he looked fantastic a couple of seasons back. I also think it is a basic truism about football (at least in successful clubs) that you should never recruit someone on the way down. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong. On the other hand I am a fan of Nathan Ake and think he will be great for us. I wish we could get Kante though because with him as a screen we could play anyone at centre back!
 
twosips said:
He's not nearly 30. He turned 29 at the end of June. He won't be 30 until we're playing the 21/22 season.

Look at this way.
20/21 - 29 all season
21/22 - 30 all season
22/23 - 31 all season
23/24 - 32 all season
24/25 - 33 all season
25/26 - 34 all season

Terry was 35 and starting regularly for Chelsea. Vinnie left at 33 (and we all know that was because of injuries really and Anderlecht's draw, not cos he wasn't good enough still). Ramos is 34 and still key for Real Madrid. Ferdinand left United at 34 etc etc.

It's genuinely reasonable to presume that as long KK has no severe injuries, he's got 4/5 seasons at a very high level left. Defenders are very fit these days and can play into their early mid 30s no problem.
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In the grand scheme of the cosmos aren't we all nearly 30?
 
twosips said:
He's not nearly 30. He turned 29 at the end of June. He won't be 30 until we're playing the 21/22 season.

Look at this way.
20/21 - 29 all season
21/22 - 30 all season
22/23 - 31 all season
23/24 - 32 all season
24/25 - 33 all season
25/26 - 34 all season

Terry was 35 and starting regularly for Chelsea. Vinnie left at 33 (and we all know that was because of injuries really and Anderlecht's draw, not cos he wasn't good enough still). Ramos is 34 and still key for Real Madrid. Ferdinand left United at 34 etc etc.

It's genuinely reasonable to presume that as long KK has no severe injuries, he's got 4/5 seasons at a very high level left. Defenders are very fit these days and can play into their early mid 30s no problem.
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Without the injuries Kompany could have played for us a lot longer. He did well to last the time he did with all those serious injuries he had. Koulibaly hasn't had the same injury record as Kompany and considering how muscle bound he is that's very impressive to the way he has kept himself conditioned well over the last 5-6 seasons.

This is my way of looking at it- a Pep team doesn't even need 2 brilliant centre backs because they have the ball so much. Koulibaly and Laporte as well as Pique and Puyol would be the two best defences he's had, and look at how well that Barca team did defensively even if they did have Messi.
 
twosips said:
He's not nearly 30. He turned 29 at the end of June. He won't be 30 until we're playing the 21/22 season.

Look at this way.
20/21 - 29 all season
21/22 - 30 all season
22/23 - 31 all season
23/24 - 32 all season
24/25 - 33 all season
25/26 - 34 all season

Terry was 35 and starting regularly for Chelsea. Vinnie left at 33 (and we all know that was because of injuries really and Anderlecht's draw, not cos he wasn't good enough still). Ramos is 34 and still key for Real Madrid. Ferdinand left United at 34 etc etc.

It's genuinely reasonable to presume that as long KK has no severe injuries, he's got 4/5 seasons at a very high level left. Defenders are very fit these days and can play into their early mid 30s no problem.
Click to expand...

Koulibaly is the same age as Kevin De Bruyne. Both at the peak of their powers and will be for a good few years yet.
 
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