Scouting Thread

[mill]

Milik would be a disaster signing. He's like a Soldado all over again. He's not quick, not strong, not particularly good int he air. He's had multiple ACLs. What the hell is our scouting department playing at?

Expiring contract, the most important criteria

 

[danielneeds]

Expiring contract, the most important criteria

Ah, yeah. That'll be it.

 

[richard_gleeson]

I'd take him over Milik, any day of the week. At least he's super strong in the air and always worked hard.

Mandzukic was one of my favourite strikers in recent years. Nightmare for defenders.

 

[GutBucket]

the corpse of mario mandzukic is a free agent. seems like a perfect levy & jose bargain.

Scored in 2 CL finals and World Cup final, he loves big games. Could be a while before we get Europa competitions again though.

 

[Spursh]

IIRC, Steven Hitchen has a penchant for Ligue 1, so here's a player whose goal output might not stand out, but impresses in terms of metrics...

Mounir Chouiar, 21, LW, Dijon

"With 70 successfully completed dribbles at the time of writing, Chouiar possesses not only one of the highest tallies in the league, but he does so at an amazingly efficient success rate. Of Ligue 1 players that have attempted 100 or more dribbles, Chouiar has the best rate of success at 63%, higher than renowned tricksters like Kylian Mbappé (52%), Houssem Aouar (59%), and Neymar (61%).

As a creator, Chouiar provides 2.6 key passes per 90, a figure that trails just behind Neymar’s (2.7) and Di Maria’s (3.5), cementing the 21-year-old’s status as a premier chance creator and dribbler in Ligue 1. The winger’s manager, Stéphane Jobard, is himself quite the admirer of his player’s range of abilities. In September, just after signing Chouiar, Jobard declared, “He can destabilise the defence in one-on-ones, he’s capable of making the final pass and can even score. He has the whole arsenal of a modern footballer.”

An often-unrecognised aspect of Chouiar’s game is his defensive contribution to his side, something that is rarely seen in this breed of dribbling, playmaking attacker. Standing at 1.77m, Chouiar is not an imposing, dominating figure, and yet his tackling statistics – 2.1 completed per 90 – impresses, especially for an attack-first winger. To put that figure into context, the same players that were compared to Chouiar earlier complete just 0.4 (Mbappé), 1.1 (Aouar), and 0.8 (Neymar) tackles per 90."

PROSPECT | Mounir Chouiar - Get French Football News

Ligue 1 has a new dribbling king, and it’s not who you think it is. The summer departures of Allan Saint-Maximin, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Marcus Thuram left a

www.getfootballnewsfrance.com

Another who has a similar profile (a playmaking winger who is adept at beating opponents one-on-one), albeit a left-footer who cuts in from the right, is Calvin Stengs at AZ. He's recently been linked with Barcelona.

 

[emiley heskey]

Milik would be a disaster signing. He's like a Soldado all over again. He's not quick, not strong, not particularly good int he air. He's had multiple ACLs. What the hell is our scouting department playing at?

Milik is actually known for his specialty in air and winning aerial battles. He is a different striker than Soldado

 

[ILS]

IIRC, Steven Hitchen has a penchant for Ligue 1, so here's a player whose goal output might not stand out, but impresses in terms of metrics...

Mounir Chouiar, 21, LW, Dijon

"With 70 successfully completed dribbles at the time of writing, Chouiar possesses not only one of the highest tallies in the league, but he does so at an amazingly efficient success rate. Of Ligue 1 players that have attempted 100 or more dribbles, Chouiar has the best rate of success at 63%, higher than renowned tricksters like Kylian Mbappé (52%), Houssem Aouar (59%), and Neymar (61%).

As a creator, Chouiar provides 2.6 key passes per 90, a figure that trails just behind Neymar’s (2.7) and Di Maria’s (3.5), cementing the 21-year-old’s status as a premier chance creator and dribbler in Ligue 1. The winger’s manager, Stéphane Jobard, is himself quite the admirer of his player’s range of abilities. In September, just after signing Chouiar, Jobard declared, “He can destabilise the defence in one-on-ones, he’s capable of making the final pass and can even score. He has the whole arsenal of a modern footballer.”

An often-unrecognised aspect of Chouiar’s game is his defensive contribution to his side, something that is rarely seen in this breed of dribbling, playmaking attacker. Standing at 1.77m, Chouiar is not an imposing, dominating figure, and yet his tackling statistics – 2.1 completed per 90 – impresses, especially for an attack-first winger. To put that figure into context, the same players that were compared to Chouiar earlier complete just 0.4 (Mbappé), 1.1 (Aouar), and 0.8 (Neymar) tackles per 90."

PROSPECT | Mounir Chouiar - Get French Football News

Ligue 1 has a new dribbling king, and it’s not who you think it is. The summer departures of Allan Saint-Maximin, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Marcus Thuram left a

www.getfootballnewsfrance.com

Another who has a similar profile (a playmaking winger who is adept at beating opponents one-on-one), albeit a left-footer who cuts in from the right, is Calvin Stengs at AZ. He's recently been linked with Barcelona.

Following Njie and Nkoudu I would personally advise against signing these types of players from the French league.

 

[Spursh]

Another from Ligue 1 is Ibrahima Diallo, the brother of Abdou at PSG. He's a 21-year-old, defensive midfielder who plays for Brest. He's been heavily linked with a move to Leicester this year and has recently been linked to Arsenal and Sevilla.

He made it into L'Equipe's "surprise" XI of the season: https://www.francefootball.fr/news/...urprises-de-la-phase-aller-en-ligue-1/1096724

 

[Spursh]

Following Njie and Nkoudu I would personally advise against signing these types of players from the French league.

Hazard, Payet, Mahrez, B Silva...

 

[ILS]

Hazard, Payet, Mahrez, B Silva...

Three of them were well known by the time they left and in Mahrez case you can always find the exception...well unless your Spurs Scouting network.

 

[LeParisien]

Another from Ligue 1 is Ibrahima Diallo, the brother of Abdou at PSG. He's a 21-year-old, defensive midfielder who plays for Brest. He's been heavily linked with a move to Leicester this year and has recently been linked to Arsenal and Sevilla.

He made it into L'Equipe's "surprise" XI of the season: https://www.francefootball.fr/news/...urprises-de-la-phase-aller-en-ligue-1/1096724

The players to kill for on that list are Osimhen and AIT NOURI at leftback. France has produced the best defenders in the world for the past 5/10 years. This guy is the real deal. He is phenomenal going forward and has an awareness and intensity when defending that are hugely promising for a 19 year old. He has this street edge to him but also good intelligence.

The other French defender I would go for is Malang Sarr. He is on a free and a left-footed CB. I was raving about him a year ago and now the problem is competition from elsewhere. Good on the ball, strong in the challenge. Ill probably be saying similar things about AIt Nouri in a year.

For 20m we have defence sorted. Then a DM and backup striker and we can dream of top 4 again.

 

[ILS]

It's often the case that these kind of players don't usually stand out because they go about their job in a quiet manner. Idrissa Gueye at Everton and Ndidi at Leicester two examples of those types who don't stand out but read the game well.

They don't stand out cause they don't go around crashing into challenges, their game intelligence allows them to know where to be positioned. I often ran into people who say that Sergio Busquets is average yet you speak to any professional or coach and they'll say he is extraordinary because he is intelligent off the ball.

Right now we have no-one in the squad who can do this job, Hojberg doesnt have to be the greatest in the world but as long as he provides a springboard to the likes of Ndombele then he'll be worth it.

The season we ran Leicester close. we had Dier operate in this position and I believe Hojberg is a better player in this aspect.

Fair point but Leicester fans rate Ndidi and Everton fans rated Gueye.. you will be lucky to find any Saints fans that rates Hojbjerg as highly.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

He will no doubt end up at Juve or Barca, but I would love us to go for Ferran Torres, kid is so talented and has one year left on his contract. Happily sell Lucas to raise funds.


Here's a vid if anyone is curious.

 

[WiganSpur]

He will no doubt end up at Juve or Barca, but I would love us to go for Ferran Torres, kid is so talented and has one year left on his contract. Happily sell Lucas to raise funds.

I think I saw somewhere that United were interested.

 

[danielneeds]

Fair point but Leicester fans rate Ndidi and Everton fans rated Gueye.. you will be lucky to find any Saints fans that rates Hojbjerg as highly.

Their fans have known he’s running his contract down, which means they’ve soured their view on him, a bit like many fans on here who went cool on Eriksen despite him still being our most creative player this season.

 

[WiganSpur]

You can add Mandzukic to the list of free agents i'd bring in. Pretty mad to think we could get him, Sarr and Sangare for about £15m. That's 3 positions strengthened without even necessarily needing to sell. Any extra cash from sales could be spunked on a quality RB, keeper or another centre half.

 

[GutBucket]

He will no doubt end up at Juve or Barca, but I would love us to go for Ferran Torres, kid is so talented and has one year left on his contract. Happily sell Lucas to raise funds.

Watched U17 finals live and there were 2 standout players, Sancho and Torres. Great talent.

 

[WiganSpur]

Their fans have known he’s running his contract down, which means they’ve soured their view on him, a bit like many fans on here who went cool on Eriksen despite him still being our most creative player this season.

I'm not a huge fan of Hojbjerg but you also can't ignore the motivational element too. Eriksen's performances towards the end were clearly the result of his unhappiness and willingness to move on. I'd imagine Hojbjerg's performances may be suffering too.

It'd be interesting to look at Saints fans view on him a year or so ago.

 

[ILS]

Their fans have known he’s running his contract down, which means they’ve soured their view on him, a bit like many fans on here who went cool on Eriksen despite him still being our most creative player this season.

My view on Eriksen never changed and still hasn't when he was hooked last night by Inter Milan. He is a good player who has world class moments but disappears when the going gets tough and Inter are now finding that out.

 

[danielneeds]

My view on Eriksen never changed and still hasn't when he was hooked last night by Inter Milan. He is a good player who has world class moments but disappears when the going gets tough and Inter are now finding that out.

Yeh, but you can’t deny the chatter on fan forums turns sour on a player when they know he wants to leave. It’s a form of coping.