Jean-Clair Todibo

[yankspurs]

Jokes on them - Levy has no balls

But seriously though, Levy won’t panic buy to cover for 3-4 games, nor should he.

It’s not panic buying when we needed a CB in by Jan 1 anyway. Panic buying would be signing a CM to cover for the losses of Sarr, Bissouma & Bentancur for the month. Not signing another CB when it’s been our biggest need for 2 years. Regardless, we aren’t signing one until the end of the window or July anyway.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

It’s not panic buying when we needed a CB in by Jan 1 anyway. Panic buying would be signing a CM to cover for the losses of Sarr, Bissouma & Bentancur for the month. Not signing another CB when it’s been our biggest need for 2 years. Regardless, we aren’t signing one until the end of the window or July anyway.

We absolutely need a CB. But we can’t panic and overpay just to get a body in on January 1. Obviously we should have bought another CB last summer - but now it’s still about finding the best fit for the long-term, not just January.

Romero and VDV will be back in February- so our basic need remains the same - adequate cover for seamless rotation and injury cover. But we don’t have unlimited funds to work with and other long-term needs.

 

[Hotspur_Hero]

We absolutely need a CB. But we can’t panic and overpay just to get a body in on January 1. Obviously we should have bought another CB last summer - but now it’s still about finding the best fit for the long-term, not just January.

Romero and VDV will be back in February- so our basic need remains the same - adequate cover for seamless rotation and injury cover. But we don’t have unlimited funds to work with and other long-term needs.

I mean doesn’t that depend on how much you overpay? If you overpay now for the right player, even by 5 or 10 mil, and we get CL at the end of the year, then we probably come out financially ahead of a world where we don’t buy a cb and continue to drop points due to lack of depth at a key position. Obviously, both paths present significant risks, but I’m not sure I’d call it a panic buy when this is clearly the position we needed in the summer. We moved Sanchez on with the view to replace him in January. We don’t want to buy the wrong player out of haste, but overpaying to get the right player in asap might make the most sense from both a financial and sporting perspective.

 

[nedley]

Somebody

Jokes on them - Levy has no balls

But seriously though, Levy won’t panic buy to cover for 3-4 games, nor should he.

It's not panic buying.

This player or a handful of players should have been identified the moment Ange came in. The moment Sanchez left we were left short. It was a calculated risk with imo was wrong. Another CB should have come in last summer.

A CB should be in as close to that window opening as possible. If we're left to wait then it's again, poor recruitment.

Having said all that I'm pretty positive that we'll continue with our recent good work and a body will be in pretty pronto.

 

[Stoof]

Somebody

It's not panic buying.

This player or a handful of players should have been identified the moment Ange came in. The moment Sanchez left we were left short. It was a calculated risk with imo was wrong. Another CB should have come in last summer.

A CB should be in as close to that window opening as possible. If we're left to wait then it's again, poor recruitment.

Having said all that I'm pretty positive that we'll continue with our recent good work and a body will be in pretty pronto.

All losing bets look bad with hindsight. If VDV and Romero had played every game you wouldn’t be putting this spin on it. I do think we were short a centre half - but not disastrously so. We’ve had the worst possible luck with injuries and suspensions in that position - it could have been very different and not remotely an issue. But here we are.

 

[Mr Pink]

Jokes on them - Levy has no balls

But seriously though, Levy won’t panic buy to cover for 3-4 games, nor should he.

If they're on our list, after months of due diligence presumably, they're not panic buys lol.

Moreover, it would be Levy prioritizing haggling over current circumstances.

Sometimes paying up outweighs the value of shaving off a couple of % over protracted negotiations

Now, we've done the latter plenty.
You'd think this time is different....for very obvious reasons.

 

[rabbikeane]

I wonder whether Nice would be interested in taking Hugo as part of any deal? No idea what they’re like as a club from a goalkeeping perspective.

They apparently got the best performing goalie in the league. The team of the season so far posted earlier had both him and Todibo in it. Nice have let in only 9 goals so far.

 

[archiewasking]

If we paid £42m for Sanchez a few years ago and Nice want £39m for Todibo now, I'm staggered if the fee is a problem. Especially as we got a few million back from the sale of big Dave.

 

[Yid-ol]

If we paid £42m for Sanchez a few years ago and Nice want £39m for Todibo now, I'm staggered if the fee is a problem. Especially as we got a few million back from the sale of big Dave.

I guess it depends on how much we still owe for players we signed recently and how much more we can afford to pay now.

 

[Japhet]

All losing bets look bad with hindsight. If VDV and Romero had played every game you wouldn’t be putting this spin on it. I do think we were short a centre half - but not disastrously so. We’ve had the worst possible luck with injuries and suspensions in that position - it could have been very different and not remotely an issue. But here we are.

20/20 hindsight is so pointless. When Ange arrived the general consensus was that anything could happen but we'd all give him a few windows to straighten stuff up, assuming that he wasn't a total disaster straight off the bat. Sanchez was sold because we got reasonable money for and I doubt there were offers for many others. We've now had a freak run of injuries to key players and people want to moan that we didn't get more in. Well, I'm pretty sure we pushed hard for Tapsoba but couldn't get it done. Not to worry because we're going to be patient though. Yeah, right.

Levy has now had a chance to assess Ange, and unlike Conte I'm pretty sure he'll decide he's well worth backing. Time will tell though.

 

[Frank Blank]

If we paid £42m for Sanchez a few years ago and Nice want £39m for Todibo now, I'm staggered if the fee is a problem. Especially as we got a few million back from the sale of big Dave.

I know Ratcliffe has supposedly not put any roadblocks in place regarding us buying Tadibo. However, I still have my doubts and still think he'll end up at United, if anywhere, despite Nice's transfer policy historically of going for more aged big name players. The key in all of this is how much control has Dave Brailsford had at Nice. As someone who stresses performance related metrics Tadibo - I'm assuming - is a Brailsford type player who would not be allowed to go to a rival club to United. We shall see. And of course Brailsford isn't a DoF.

In the meantime, this piece in the FT (behind a paywall) goes into a bit more detail.

https://www.ft.com/content/b837272e-6292-432e-aa25-acbee8dd268c

 

[nedley]

All losing bets look bad with hindsight. If VDV and Romero had played every game you wouldn’t be putting this spin on it. I do think we were short a centre half - but not disastrously so. We’ve had the worst possible luck with injuries and suspensions in that position - it could have been very different and not remotely an issue. But here we are.

They wouldn't have played every game.

Because we would have been able to rotate and thus reduce the chance of injury.

 

[FloridaSpur]

After reading the news about Romero, all bets are off on us signing a CB next week.

I'd be amazed if a deal isn't already done and dusted.

 

[The Scarecrow]

They wouldn't have played every game.

Because we would have been able to rotate and thus reduce the chance of injury.

We absolutely would not have rotated the CBs if they had been fit and Sanchez still at the club.

 

[ikky]

After reading the news about Romero, all bets are off on us signing a CB next week.

I'd be amazed if a deal isn't already done and dusted.

Prepare to be amazed.

 

[Stoof]

They wouldn't have played every game.

Because we would have been able to rotate and thus reduce the chance of injury.

I think we’ve had about two games weeks where we’ve played more than once every 6 days. I genuinely don’t think we’d have rotated!

 

[nedley]

We absolutely would not have rotated the CBs if they had been fit and Sanchez still at the club.

That's not my point.

My point is if we brought in another CB in summer like we should have, Romero and VDV would have been rotated or at least rested.

It's not about hindsight.

We were short on September 1st and this, with our luck was relatively predictable.

 

[nedley]

I think we’ve had about two games weeks where we’ve played more than once every 6 days. I genuinely don’t think we’d have rotated!

We had a cup game. A new CB would have started that at the very least.

There may have not been rotation as such, but both Romero and VDV would have had opportunity to rest.

Saying that, I guess Romero has had plenty of rest. Silly twat.

 

[The Scarecrow]

That's not my point.

My point is if we brought in another CB in summer like we should have, Romero and VDV would have been rotated or at least rested.

It's not about hindsight.

We were short on September 1st and this, with our luck was relatively predictable.

"The moment Sanchez left we were left short". We sold Sanchez after our window had closed because it presented us with an opportunity to buy quickly in January. We're in the middle of a rebuild, and that required a bit of patience.

 

[nedley]

"The moment Sanchez left we were left short". We sold Sanchez after our window had closed because it presented us with an opportunity to buy quickly in January. We're in the middle of a rebuild, and that required a bit of patience.

Yep. Makes sense if we buy early in January.

Makes zero sense if we bring someone in on the 31st Jan.