The annoying thing is I think Stones has all the attributes and I thought he'd become a great player under Pep, seems though he hasn't got the mentality for it kept expecting him to come good but given up on him myself now.
Don't get me wrong Skriniar is very assured on the ball and good passing range but he's no Koulibaly. Koulibaly is Van Dijk level on the ball and when it comes to passingI have no real opinion on who we should buy, don't know enough about players playing in other leagues. But if Skriniar isn't good enough now on the ball 25 is too old to start becoming good enough on the ball in a Pep team.
and maybe this is why we didnt go for him - he wants "to be a star" - Pep and Txixi seem to go for players with personality of a team player regardless of ability - KDB being a case in point, David Silva another and even Aguero and sterling.
For me it would be Ake, especially if Bournemouth need a quick sale to generate money. Right sided CB would be a straight fight between Stones, Garcia and Adaradiayo. Worst comes to worst we've got Fernandinho who we know can more than do the job in the short term, if none of those three take their chance.
when it comes to loans and sales, sales with buy back clauses work better for a lot of reasons,and on that note Frimpong should not be ruled out.
I read Frimpong has clauses but no buy back
Ake losing his pace? I think you're losing your marbles mate, he's only 24/25. He's also the same height or taller than Puyol, Baresi and Cannavaro who seemingly had no issues being shorter CBs, in fact being vertically challenged can be a very distinct advantage for agility when the ball is on the floor which is the case how we concede the majority of goals against. We've been the shortest team in the league for a while and it's not negatively impacted us too much.Not a lover of Ake he is a good footballer with excellent reading of the game but he has not got the height and losing his pace which is why he did not play that well this season, Garcia i do not rate but Pep does, Adaradiayo i do rate but for me he is still 2 years away from being a valuable player for us, i hope we learnt a valuable lesson this season in Angelino, when it comes to loans and sales, sales with buy back clauses work better for a lot of reasons,and on that note Frimpong should not be ruled out.
If Fernadinho does not leave for the MLS he will play cup games and cover when we are desperate, Pep will buy a least 1 CB if only to challenge our fist team players, because no one at the club can
Ake losing his pace? I think you're losing your marbles mate, he's only 24/25. He's also the same height or taller than Puyol, Baresi and Cannavaro who seemingly had no issues being shorter CBs, in fact being vertically challenged can be a very distinct advantage for agility when the ball is on the floor which is the case how we concede the majority of goals against. We've been the shortest team in the league for a while and it's not negatively impacted us too much.
Even with 2 fit experienced CBs last summer, Pep went after a third it is not about Stones, he and Laporte just highlighted the problemLet's see how Stones gets on when the season starts, with the long lay off he's had he might have got rid of all his gremlins and cleared his head, lets see how he gets on first before looking at other players.