- Dec 28, 2017
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I remembered we passed cause we had "better options" we were working on. That turned out to be Barkley and.... no one.Regarding Diop I also remember something about Poch having high hopes for Oakley-Booth so we passed.
I remembered we passed cause we had "better options" we were working on. That turned out to be Barkley and.... no one.Regarding Diop I also remember something about Poch having high hopes for Oakley-Booth so we passed.
While everyone is all agog of NDombele, a player we have no chance at so we should look elsewhere, there are other proper players at Lyon that could do a job now and truly grow into top players. Lyon's academy is excellent and Aulas' team picks up young players from less affluent teams a step or two before they become big and allows them to establish themselves at OL.
People complained about a potential Plea (ex-OL) deal but he doing very well in the BuLi. Nice replaced him with another young ex-OL player in Myziane Maolida (19) who is racking up the minutes while costing half a Janssen with a higher ceiling. Maolida is the type of player that could have been brought in to backup Kane and play outside...of course the usual suspects would have complained of 'french winger' and ligue 1 being weak etc etc.
A player OL have that we were rumored in for is Pape Cheikh Diop (6/8 hybrid but more 6) when he was leaving Celta 2 years ago. Because the Dier expt persisted i guess we let it pass. Lyon 'developed' him for a year in the u23s and now he is starting/rotating with their other academy breakout DM Lucas Tousart. We could have gotten him for like 7M back then but now it will be more, obviously, but significantly less than NDombele. Would be a significant upgrade in athleticism and ball playing from the DM for us. Re-watch the Man City - Lyon CL game and he was the other MF with NDombele as they switch Tousart for Cheikh to be more athletic and smothering of City's MF...and they were. Lyon has the most athletic, physical, ball playing midfield in Euro football I believe when they have NDombele, Cheikh, and Fekir/Aouar playing. Yeah, I said it. They are young but they are damn good.
Here is another Lyon player we should look at to regain our dominance at the FB position:
Betis had a really poor start to the season and looked a mess for a while but in the last few games have started to pull it together, even tho they just lost to Atleti. I think they are up to 12th now. Celso was carrying a knock at the start of the season and has been eased into games, often starting in CM. Recently he has started a few matches and is looking good, scored in the Europa league. I think he will be integral to their season but i dont see them having the funds to buy him come summer.Fair enough. How's he doing there then?
He has been in insane form this season, absolutely killing it. Think he's got 4 goals and 4 assists in 6 games so far and is generally integral to everything good Ajax do.Ziyech is a good call (we have been linked in the past) and I thought he looked good in the World Cup which was all I’ve seen of him.
Didn't know that. I wonder how that has worked out for him, whether or not he regrets that decision, and if he has learned to be more critical of his own assessment because he got that one wrong. One player is featuring in a MF that is making City look Europa league quality in a CL game while the other has yet to feature for us IIRC...3 seasons down the line.Regarding Diop I also remember something about Poch having high hopes for Oakley-Booth so we passed.
Three or four seasons ago (the year we were after Batshuayi and it looked like we were going to actually improve the squad) I mentioned this guy because Twente were in a world of financial hurt and needed to offload. Of course Ajax were the beneficiaries of that but it sounded like a DL special. Now we are in a Spurs special catch 22 as we won't/can't afford him, and even if we could he won't come to play backup as he's now like 25 and more established. It's just like trying to find backup/comp for Harry. And the excuse will be we are hoping on Edwards or some other academy product that won't cut it. There is a leadership issue.He has been in insane form this season, absolutely killing it. Think he's got 4 goals and 4 assists in 6 games so far and is generally integral to everything good Ajax do.
Couldn't find a highlights reel from this season yet, but these are the sort of goals he's scoring...
https://www.record.pt/multimedia/videos/detalhe/a-atencao-do-benfica-o-grande-golo-de-ziyech-ajax
I remembered we passed cause we had "better options" we were working on. That turned out to be Barkley and.... no one.
I'd pay that.Report coming out Ajax looking for 130mil combined for De Jong and De Ligt. I think we can officially cancel Ajax as our favorite feeder club.
£129m thenI'd pay that.
Offset the fee with the sale of Nkoudou.
N’Koudou and Sissoko- what a window. And now we can’t find any fucker to buy them. I’m praying the line isn’t trotted out again that we can’t buy until we sell because we’re more fucked than a pheasant in a toff’s garden if that’s the caseI'd pay that.
Offset the fee with the sale of Nkoudou.
Don't forget Janssen..N’Koudou and Sissoko- what a window. And now we can’t find any fucker to buy them. I’m praying the line isn’t trotted out again that we can’t buy until we sell because we’re more fucked than a pheasant in a toff’s garden if that’s the case
Thanks for shitting on my ThursdayDon't forget Janssen..
Thanks for that. I'm holding my breath and not going to get frustrated in the slightest every time I watch Lyon play...which is every game they play.
Thanks for that. I'm holding my breath and not going to get frustrated in the slightest every time I watch Lyon play...which is every game they play.
This still doesn't/didn't make sense from a squad building perspective when you consider the age differences of TOB and Cheikh and the players we would have expected to 'age out' and be replaced. And in hindsight it looks even less wise. But thanks for the source.
They were paying off the stadium and selling all their academy talent. They are free and clear now and their just released financials show they are in fine fettle. They may now be beyond us as a 'shopping' club. Aulas has his detractors but his successes can't be denied.Lyon really are the most stacked they've been in a long time. If that team could stay together for a few years they could challenge most in Europe, they're crazy talented.
And I was very pro-Plea as well.
We spent approximately 42 million on Sanchez- that was a signing with a message. By market value, it wouldn’t be unrealistic then for us to spend 55-60 million on a CM a year later, given that is the going rate for very good midfielders.If we're still penny pushing we really need to do a better job of finding these players before they make it to the PSV's, Porto's, Leverkusens, Sevillas, Lyons of the world. We should be after more players like Berge, Foyth, Diop, Arp, etc. if that is still the arena we play in financially. Hell how much better would we feel about future GK if we got Lafont or the kid Madrid bought to develop for the future vs what Chelsea and Liverpool paid for keepers.
I think we got teased a bit with the info early on and how it felt like we really spent in the market the year before bringing in Sanchez, Foyth, Llorente, Aurier & Lucas.
Report coming out Ajax looking for 130mil combined for De Jong and De Ligt. I think we can officially cancel Ajax as our favorite feeder club.
Looking forward to watching their progress at Barcelona!Worth every penny.