Not heated, no animosity. We're just chatting. I'm not even saying you're necessarily wrong. I just see some value in a player like that for peanuts spent. Oh and you're wrong! LOL, I kid, I kid.
Yeah, I could be @Midfield General. Maybe I am wrong, I dunno. You make me DS of Roma tomorrow, and I don’t even consider Ilicic. I just don’t even think he’s good enough to bother this much discussion. I thought the same about Defrel too , and we nabbed him, so who knows? On the flip side, I went to bat for Berardi last summer , and it looks like I might have been dead-ass wrong about him (still want to see him on a different team , though). @Salmeen10 , you were right. We can add legitimate Kolarov types , instead of trying to unearth unpolished Serie A diamonds or “underrated” talent. The talent pool is beyond vast. We have Gerson, Under, Florenzi and potentially Antonucci at RW right now. I understand wanting a more proven option , but I want a younger , higher quality player. I wanted us to sign Bernard on a free , but it looks like Inter snagged him. Those are the type of moves I want us to make. I’m pissed they got him. 25 years old, in his prime, tons of re-sale value , fits EDF’s system (by my estimation) , left foot , good play maker , good pace. Proven Champions League player, and cost nothing. Re-sale value is very important if you’re 30 and not named De Rossi , Dzeko , Kolarov etc. You can damage yourself pretty badly if you miss in that age group, worse than a Walter wonderkid , believe it or not.
Kolarov wasn't a cheap signing really. By June 2020 he'll be 34.5 yrs old, so it's highly unlikely he'll be at Roma any longer than that. It's also unlikely he's sold this summer. So you're left with 2 scenarios. He sees out his contract here (June, 2020) before moving elsewhere for free (or retiring) = 5 mil transfer and 3yr wages. He's sold in the summer of 2019 for peanuts = 5 mil transfer and 2yr wages with a resale value of peanuts. This is all well and good if the player in question is an important contributer as the club hits important targets (Top 4, CL run). So far so good for Kolarov. But you cant afford too many of these types, of which Illicic is one. When it comes to signing these experienced types with little to no resale value, I prefer them to be defenders.
When you look at our midfield you see a potential issue. DDR Gonalons Strootman Nainggolan Pellegrini Issue? It's not the youngest is it. Our 3 valuable assets (another issue, decreasing value for Radja/Stroot) here are Radja, Stroot and Pelle. Selling Pelle makes no sense at this point.
If you don't think this guy could help us, you are nuts. He'd be a much better fit than Defrel and would cost 1/5 of what Defrel cost. I have wanted him since his time at Palermo. You could argue he is a similar skill set to Schick, although Schick is a more of a striker. http://footyroom.com/matches/79944918/hellas-verona-vs-atalanta/review
The objective is to win as many games as possible and to be financially sound. What exactly is difficult to understand about this?
Because the argument is being made that we shouldn't sign players with little to no resale value because of their age. Find players that will help you win and balance your squad with players that are; young, in their prime and veterans. Winning draws fans, fans spend money on merchandise and that will make you a financially sound club. JP said it just a few weeks ago (paraphrasing); If he can get 1% of the worlds football fans to make Roma their 2nd favorite team that 30 million new fans, if they spend $5, not even the cost of a hat, that's $150 mil in revenue. The real money, what separates Barca from Seville and Man U from Everton is merchandising. To get those fans you need to be a consistent winner and that means being a CL regular, a CL quarter-finalist regular etc. Win and draw fans and you won't need to flip players to be financially sound.
I wonder if Roma will partake in the fire sale that Man U might be about to engage in. Martial, Herrera, Darmian, Blind and Mata could all be of use going forward. I can't see us signing any of them because of wages and profile but I wonder if the Club will make inquires.
I would be over the moon for Herrera, but I would be surprised if United let him go. Were more likely to get Felliani, lol. Darmian or Blind I could definitely see here.
I don’t think Mata is going anywhere. Word is Milan has the inside track for Herrera (Italian clubs at least). He’s a good player and has become just a shadow of his Bilbao days. LVG did a number on him I think , and Mourinho clearly doesn’t fancy him. I imagine he’ll be a little too rich for our blood in the end , though. I’d be cool with Blind and Darmian , and Rojo too, if I’m honest. I don’t think I could ever say I want Felliani , but for some reason , a part of me thinks he wouldn’t be awful here. If Mourinho doesn’t want Andres Periera , I’d take him too. Obviously the crown jewel would be Martial, but if he does leave , I’ve gotta think it’d be for a sum far beyond our budget. Good god , what an upgrade he’d be at LW ( and CF) .My guess is PSG will be all over it.
I don't think Herrera has really been allowed to shine at United. Seems like every time I see him play he's stuck doing garbage duty for the other midfielders. I think he'd be a top midfielder in Italy if he's allowed to do his thing.
Patrik Schick admits “it’s not going exactly as I imagined” but “I’ll prove that I’m worthy of #ASRoma”. https://t.co/gbKJXojP9D pic.twitter.com/gD73KWKYyo— Football Italia (@footballitalia) March 20, 2018
If he was the starter you could be starting to ask questions. However he's been injured multiple times and got a few games here and there with no consistency. That's not a base to judge from.
I've already accepted the fact that at best he's going to be like a new signing for next season. This season the most he can do is keep the bench warm for Dzeko.
Exactly, it’s just been one step forward , two steps back for the kid. No pre-season , numerous injuries , and we’re in a dog fight for Champions League so every point is crucial. And due to having almost no secondary scoring , we gotta play our best bet to score goals as much as we can. There’s no room for error right now. We just gotta ride with Dzeko for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, he’s been much better as of late.
Was reading this article on CDS this morning that’s says Real Madrid could insert Keylar Navas and Kovacic in their Alisson bid. It’s intriguing because we could use a player like Kovacic in the team
Reports Liverpool will be receiving 200 million plus bids for Salah this summer. Always nice to read stuff like that with a morning coffee.
i'm not sure he would do as well outside of Liverpool... I think that team is custom made for him and he should stay... but yeah... thats only slightly more than we sold him for... no big deal... i'm not crying... you're crying!