Virgil van Dijk

[domalino]

Well for the a reported £32m-£42m, depending who you believe, for a defender who isn't great on the ball (given we're trying to to create a 'style of play' passing out from the back) and with NOT one, but two left feet, if it was a cold, calculated buy I would say somebody needs to get the sack at City. Don't try to blame it on Pellegrini, all said and done he was always a stop-gap until Pep arrived.

Surprise surprise we got f*cked over by Jorge Mendes and paid well over the odds because we were sh*t scared somebody else was going to buy Mangala, a limited CB who played in a below par league, that's what I call a panic buy.

We wanted him in the January, then went back in July and kept the deal going until the beginning of August when the TPO was resolved.

There's no definition in which a player the club spent the best part of a year trying to get was a "panic buy".

 

[FantasyIreland]

for a defender who isn't great on the ball .

Van Dijk is great on the ball......

 

[MCFC_4Heatons]

We wanted him in the January, then went back in July and kept the deal going until the beginning of August when the TPO was resolved.

There's no definition in which a player the club spent the best part of a year trying to get was a "panic buy".

When you pay double,/treble what a player is worth to stop other clubs guzumping you that's a panic buy, it's not all about how quickly you make the decision

 

[domalino]

When you pay double,/treble what a player is worth to stop other clubs guzumping you that's a panic buy, it's not all about how quickly you make the decision

But that's not what we did. So again, it wasn't a panic buy.

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

Bollocks.

Stones might need to improve the odd poor decision and gain a bit more consistency in his game,but in the main he has been very good,when given the opportunity.He's got a great attitude too,he'll prove a great purchase.

Playing alongside a reliable,intelligent and powerful player like VVD would be ideal and would bring him on in leaps and bounds.

It's clearly not bollocks mate. You cant lay blame for most of his goals at anyone else but himself tbh. The scary thing is he was making these mistakes all last year at Everton and people blamed it on Martinez. Now he's still making them and it's everyone else's fault according to some. Like it or not, he can't stand up to anyone who runs at him and just keeps dropping off and dropping off. This hasn't gotten better at all. When he's 100% one on one against someone you can't blame anyone but him. Perhaps the striker gets the ball due to a failing by a full back or midfielder, but once he's in that position, you'd expect him to stop at least one of these charges, which he hasn't done. In my mind that's no different to the blame being levelled at Bravo...you have to stop at least one!

He is being afforded the luxury of bedding in and there are the expected positional mishaps like the Southampton one, but the one on ones are unforgivable as he just keeps failing. In fact, there's been a bunch that the strikers missed(west ham in the cup) that should have made this even more obvious. He's terrible at them and that's something he should have addressed by now.

His attitude has nothing to do with it. He can be as chirpy and positive as he likes, but the truth is he needs to take a long hard look at how he defends rather than purely focus on how he plays football. FWIW I think him and VVD is a train wreck in the making, two of a kind when we need someone more conservative next to one of them.

 

[kaz7]

Everton want Virgil van Dijk from Southampton now, but he wants to wait for a move to Manchester City in the summer. [@MirrorAnderson]

 

[tkpeterson12]

Everton want Virgil van Dijk from Southampton now, but he wants to wait for a move to Manchester City in the summer. [@MirrorAnderson]

Any chance this forces our hand & we go for him now?

 

[kaz7]

Any chance this forces our hand & we go for him now?

I doubt we will move now,he'll get a call from pep in the summer and if he wants to come we'll sort it then

 

[IWasHere]

Heard fontes going west ham, maybe we could end up signing this guy this summer

 

[BlueDeadHead]

When you pay double,/treble what a player is worth to stop other clubs guzumping you that's a panic buy, it's not all about how quickly you make the decision

No that is a poor purchase. You really don't know what a panic buy is and are just digging yourself a deeper hole.