Ruben Dias - Benfica confirm sale to City

[wattle]

None of us were in the room, but you would have to be dangerously naive to think we have not been trying to sign Koulibaly all summer. Or that we wouldn’t have heard about the interest in Dias earlier in the summer either. None of this matters if he’s a good player, but these are obvious facts.

According to tolmie we haven’t put one bid in for him

 

[PragueBlue]

Finally a proper source, we want the cheapest option, confirmed. Hope it works out , for some reason we dont want to spend big on a CB even if we would get quality. Lets hope it does not backfire and we end up with a semi expensive flop or one that is not much upgrade on Stones/Ake/Fernandinho.

Just out of interest, what makes him a 'proper' source?

 

[cjn]

According to tolmie we haven’t put one bid in for him

So you don‘t think we were trying to sign him? Sure thing.

 

[BillyShears]

Same age as Van Dijk was when he moved to Southampton. Similar pedigree, maybe even more pedigree due to his International experience (won the Nation's League with Portugal as starting CB). Similar characteristics in terms of his defending. Composed, strong in the tackle, excellent and dominant in the air. Seasoned Portugal watchers say that he doesn't make mistakes. A year ago was considered worthy of his release clause. Had a poor final third of the 19/20 season in a Benfica side that collapsed but his form in 18/19 earned him the hype he has generated.

The negativity around his ability is misplaced IMO. His 'weakness' is actually his short/medium passing. But honestly we've got loads of ball players, what we need are players who can defend like defenders and with some intelligence. Plus he'll improve on the ball under Pep.

 

[razman]

Just out of interest, what makes him a 'proper' source?

his closeness to Aguero i guess . we used to have him leak the team line ups a while back

Nico is argentinian as Kun , so who knows

 

[riley347]

Why are so many saying he's no good ?

I was totally up for us signing him a while back but haven't kept tabs on him & have just read people slagging him from time to time.

Has he really been bad or is it just bollocks ?

think a lot of people react based on media & YouTube videos. Rather than looking for themselves. Everyone has they’re opinion but, like yourself, I rate him highly. Lets see..

 

[PragueBlue]

his closeness to Aguero i guess . we used to have him leak the team sheet a while back

Nico is argentinian as Kun , so who knows

I very much doubt we discuss our transfer targets with the team.

 

[razman]

I very much doubt we discuss our transfer targets with the team.

my point was the tweet stating Nico is ready to go to benfica....its not impossible that nico may have discussed that with kun ??

 

[razman]

 

[Stockport Blues]

Same age as Van Dijk was when he moved to Southampton. Similar pedigree, maybe even more pedigree due to his International experience (won the Nation's League with Portugal as starting CB). Similar characteristics in terms of his defending. Composed, strong in the tackle, excellent and dominant in the air. Seasoned Portugal watchers say that he doesn't make mistakes. A year ago was considered worthy of his release clause. Had a poor final third of the 19/20 season in a Benfica side that collapsed but his form in 18/19 earned him the hype he has generated.

The negativity around his ability is misplaced IMO. His 'weakness' is actually his short/medium passing. But honestly we've got loads of ball players, what we need are players who can defend like defenders and with some intelligence. Plus he'll improve on the ball under Pep.

Finally some optimism. Is he a good defender? Yes. Is he better than what we’ve got? Yes. Will he improve us? Yes. I think it’s still a good signing, we’ve missed a bit more of a physical presence since Kompany left imo and although I would have loved Kounde it’s still a good signing.