Transfers & Rumors ** Spring Thaw **

This is very true...

Sabatini is going to be a very busy man during the cup... I expect many packs of cigarettes!

From what I've seen he's as verstatile as our other young forwards Lamela, Borini, and Bojan. Actually that's what Barca's attacking philosophy is about fluidly and versatility. With Messi, Villa, Sanchez, Pedro, Fabregas etc. no player is locked into one position.

Also one extra wrinkle he'd bring is that he can play on the deck but he's a decent crosser of the ball as well. Even though our tactics aren't really built for that I think it's nice to have the option, especially with Osvaldo in there who can take those down.

He reminds me of VDV a bit. Who is actually very versatile, he rarely shows it though because he's adamant about playing his favored position, in the hole. I'm not sure if that's how Erisken feels too but I think he can play a few positions for us. Also I should say he really doesn't have the ability to be versatile, his body is breaking down.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxiHC7ugzvw"]Christian Eriksen vs England - YouTube[/ame]

So what does Lamela become then? He's not a finisher. You keep him as a striker and watch his already abysmal strike rate get worse?

What's wrong with this look:

------------? - Borini--------
-----------Lamela-----------
----------------------------
-----Pjanic-------Eriksen----
-----------De Rossi---------

The Barcelona model is based around two play making CM's, one that is very attack oriented (Iniesta) and one that lies deeper and looks more to spray the ball around and feed the attack-oriented CM (Xavi).

If Pjanic is our Iniesta, where's our Xavi? It's not Marquinho, and it's obvious De Rossi is our DM. It seems to me that Eriksen would be a natural fit and he and Pjanic could play off one another before you make a decision on who the attacker is....imo Eriksen would be the more natural Iniesta and Pjanic the more natural Xavi.

I think if you make Pjanic the Treq, then you basically have wasted Lamela. He's always been a supporting player, never a front line attacker.

I can see where DDR is coming from but Guarda Redes pretty much sums up what I was thinking. Pjanic would be a deep lying playmaker like a regista then Eriksen would take on the role of a more attacking midfielder

There remains also the small matter of Eriksen's fee...or rather, Ajax'. With the amount hype, rightly or wrongly, surrounding him - Cruyff never letting a chance to praise him pass by, De Boer saying he could be as good or better than Michael Laudrup (a tall order indeed) - this kid wont come cheap. And the money may be better spent elsewhere.

Last year at this time there were the England friendly and the Anderlecht game, both of which he dominated and where he made his reputation. There hasn't been comparable games for him just recently, I think we have to admit

But what I really mean is that it's his team mates that are holding him back right now - he needs better players around him and Roma has that. In my personal opinion, if he arrives here he will bench Pjanic if it comes to that, but I'm not convinced that that is what Roma needs the most.

I believe 10-12 million euros is all it would take. Ajax needs all the money they can get right now.

At that low I don't see why he wouldn't be worth the risk. Pjanic, Lamela and Eriksen could all rotate into playing different areas of the team. Though our main priority should most definitely be CBs

Cruyff has stated he wants him to stay for 5 years and that's not just a disinterested piece of advice. If Ajax are serious about anything, he is the key player to hold on to for the next few years, as they don't have a replacement lined up, like Lyon had with Pjanic. Eriksen's current contract runs to 2014 so they are not under pressure to sell him this summer. And we still have the EC to play before anything happens. His market value may increase even though Denmark will only play 3 games there!

That said, Eriksen may force their hand, those words from his agent can't be misunderstood

I would expect him to be. To fire him now would be ridiculous. It's the defence to blame, not his tactics. It's obvious we can score, it is also obvious we can't defend with these players.

No, but Zeman would. And I have to be honest here, a lot of Tifosi would give him a chance over <insert name of Italian coach here> given the way the team is currently constructed.

If we change our tactics and formation (ball on the ground, possession, pass for an openning and 4-1-2-1-2 or 4-3-1-2, however you want to call it....we are presently devoid of wingers and tall strikers, so there isn't a philosophical change that could occur without buying players that we don't currently have.

IMO, this summer, defence comes first, second is Eriksen and let's see what happens from there.

I'm not trying to be literal. Of course there will never be a comparable to Messi in our squad, but it's not difficult to mimic the other types of players. We have a good chunk of the types of players we need, the problem is we don't have a complete 11, we have perhaps 5-6 of 11....we need an entire back 4 and another midfield. You could make the argument for a striker, but I'm quite satisfied going into next season with Totti, Lamela, Borini, Osvaldo.

I think Eriksen, Van der Wiel and Vertonghen would be a pretty great start to getting us the rest of the way. Ajax plays the same free flowing game that we aspire to play, you'd have instant chemistry with not just those three, but with VdW and Vertonghen, and as a goalkeeper myself, I cannot over emphasize how important GK to Defender chemistry is.

I think the bigger question is, where do we get the 30 odd million to get those three players. Well declining the option on Kjaer is 7 million saved right there, now we need 23 million. Well, I'm sure an investor could be found to take over Unicredit's interest...

He looked very good IMO.. Versatile as well seeing that he covered as left back half of the game..

I always wondered how the guy is still in Serie B? How much do you think he would cost?

I would expect he wouldn't be THAT dear to Torino. In fact we could probably get a knock down price for loaning a couple of players back to them...Serie B teams are always looking for Serie A calibre players so they can make the jump. I'm sure some euros and 2 loaned players would land Ogbonna.

We wanted ogbonna in the summer, torino demanded 10 m. We went for kjaer at the end.

I dont think defenders are the main problem tho, its the system. I dont think juan heinze decided to stay 60 yards away from goal. Its the high defensive line which is killing us. Whoever we sign we will suffer.

........

Not sure I completely agree with you.. But either way 3 out of our 4 center backs are over 30, we need youth at that position.

I would bring in Garay, Bocchetti and Ogbonna to replace Juan/Heinze/Kjaer

Kjaer was sabatini choice, and he has seen kjaer play in palermo under him.
Make no mistake about it.SO Sabatini knows Kjaer is actually good.

Anyway, whoever is signed will fail. I mean here if we sign defenders who are great markers with no good skills on the ball.
The most important feature for our new defenders should be they should be good on the ball (assuming LE stays at the helm, I hope not). If you get a great marker, who isnt that good with the ball.You will end up seeing backward passes to stek and him hoofing the ball.


More or less the new defenders should have ability to play as midfielders. If LE is still here.

Ogbonna is exactly the mold of a defender that this system needs to work, he's quick and powerful so playing such a high line won't be as big of a risk as he has speed to get back and able to stop counter attacks with the occasional 'professional foul'.

Fagner - "the new Dani Alves" - RB - Vasco de Gama - 4.5 Million euros

My family are Vasco fans. He's a good player but the "New Alves", Christ. They seem to do this will all Brazilian players now. He's your typical Brazilian FB good going forward average to above average defending. If that's what we're looking for then he can be an option.

Remember Jonathan that Inter signed in the summer was touted as the new Maicon and he's now been offloaded on loan to Parma with Parma having the option to buy him. We have to be wary of the comparisons they make.

I don't think he was voted the best defender in the league. I think what it means to say is that he was one of the right-backs nominated in for team of the year in Brazil.

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES (from December 5th 2011):

Goalkeeper
Fernando Prass (Vasco)
Jefferson (Botafogo)
Julio Cesar (Corinthians)

Right-back
Bruno (Figueirense)
Fagner (Vasco)
Mariano (Fluminense)

Centre-back (right)
Antonio Carlos (Botafogo)
Dede (Vasco)
Rhodolfo (Sao Paulo)

Centre-back (left)
Emerson (Coritiba)
Leandro Castan (Corinthians)
Rever (Atletico Mineiro)

Left-back
Bruno Cortes (Botafogo)
Juninho (Figueirense)
Kleber (Internacional)

Defensive midfielder (right)
Arouca (Santos)
Ralf (Corinthians)
Romulo (Vasco)

Defensive midfielder (left)
Marcos Assuncao (Palmeiras)
Paulinho (Corinthians)
Renato (Botafogo)

Right midfielder
Deco (Fluminense)
Diego Souza (Vasco)
Lucas (Sao Paulo)

Left midfielder
Montillo (Cruzeiro)
Ronaldinho (Flamengo)
Thiago Neves (Flamengo)

Striker 1
Julio Cesar (Figueirense)
Leandro Damiao (Internacional)
Neymar (Santos)

Striker 2
Borges (Santos)
Fred (Fluminense)
Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo)

Best Newcomer
Bruno Cortes (Botafogo)
Leandro Damiao (Internacional)
Wellington Nem (Figueirense)

Fans' Best Player
Neymar (Santos)
Dede (Vasco)
Liedson (Corinthians)

Coach
Jorginho (Figueirense)
Ricardo Gomes & Cristovao Borges (Vasco)
Tite (Corinthians)

Gaston Ramirez rumors return.