McKenzie remained stuck on the bench to start the new season. Club Brugge 3-2 Genk Lost a 1-2 advantage. PK conceded in stoppage time. With McKenzie not playing, you love to see it!
Otasowie doesn’t count. We’ll talk in Jan. McKenzie is good enough but the situation at his club is ridiculous. 4 CB’s, two that were expected to begone by now going nowhere. Ugh. The other guys are all marginal for the most part TBH.
Right CB with the 2nd lowest sofascore out of Genk outfield players: Hoping McKenzie gets a shot next week. Oddly enough, OO's replacement for Brugge was the worst rated player on his team 16th out of 16. Is it strange that I all of a sudden have more hope in the evolution of OO as an elite CB rather than McKenzie? Mark has none of the mental baggage and has a ton of experience but OO is just so friggin talented. If he can just keep his head on straight he could be the Yank breakout star of the year. Yeah... I know. It isn't the most likely scenario but just two months ago we would have said he had zero chance to be that guy. Now he is primed to make his mark (no pun intended).
Does this mean McKenzie is marginal? We were counting on players leaving for him to get playing time? Are they so good they were expected to leavev? Serious questions - I haven't followed the league or team.
They were supposed to leave at the end of the season he got there, but it didn’t happen. Now they are playing better than McKenzie enough to bench him, but not well enough to obviously earn a transfer.
No. He played quite a bit. The manager last year rotated all 4 CB’s regularly to get them time. Mark was good overall, but did have his fair share of down matches, and a few bad blunders (They all did from what I saw TBF). With all of the rotation, and a team that was wildly open in how they played it was a tough environment. When they bought Mark they expected the Colombian Lucumi to be sold. Sevilla had interest but it didn’t happen. No real interest last year, and doesn’t seem like any this year in his last year I believe. He was supposedly a big prize, but in the dozen or so matches I have seen I see little that says he is all that special TBH. The other Col, forget his name, maybe starts with a C was supposed to be next up, but he looks no better than Mark to me. We love making excuses for our players but this one has been terrible with regards to circumstance and timing. Genk expected a nice fee from Lucumi and now they may get little to nothing. They have 3 other possible starter worthy CB’s rotating with him. Not great. We’ll see what happens this fall but this has been a tough one. Has Mark really proved himself. No, but he hasn’t shown he doesn’t belong. All the rotation and uncertainty at CB can’t help. Here’s hoping he isn’t pencilled in as a bench player now as they try and stabilize.
That’s the other guy beginning with a C! He is nothing special. Maybe Mark isn’t either, but this guy isn’t IMO.
#MERCADO Página 2⃣1⃣ 🗞️ CdS — 🇨🇴 Jhon Lucumí (@KRCGenkofficial) y 🇳🇱 Perr Schuurs (@AFCAjax) son los candidatos para reforzar la defensa del #BolognaFCGiovanni Sartori (director del area técnica) tiene negociaciones avanzadas con el Genk para fichar al zurdo caleño pic.twitter.com/ISN3p0bMoq— Mauricio Andrés Luna Aroztegui (@MauricioAndrsL6) July 28, 2022
Well. Mark stayed on the bench and while I only saw the last 25 minutes over breakfast Genk looked good. Lucimi also looked good. Hope it’s to ensure his transfer. Didn’t pay that close attention, but it looks like stability will be the Genk play this year. Announcers hinted at it. Oh well. Here’s hoping Lucimi gets that move.
🚨 Primera oferta que llega al #Genk por Jhon Lucumí (24): #Bologna. Los italianos han ofertado 5M€ +1.5 en bonos por el colombiano👀 De momento, no hay respuesta por parte de los belgas. #Bournemouth, #Fulham y #Atalanta también han seguido de cerca la situación del defensa pic.twitter.com/GVtuZ5l9SM— Pipe Sierra (@PSierraR) August 1, 2022
🚨 #Bologna sigue interesado en Jhon Lucumí (24). Recibió la contraoferta del #Genk: 8M€ y ahora analiza el asunto. La primera fue de 5M€ +1.5 en bonos 🇨🇴👀 En el círculo cercano del defensor esperan una propuesta de otro equipo en los próximos días pic.twitter.com/zsBT1Queyt— Pipe Sierra (@PSierraR) August 4, 2022
For those who can't immediately translate this (or can't be bothered): "Bologna is still interested in Lucumí, they've received an 8M Euro counter offer from Genk that they're assessing. Their first offer was 5M + 1.5 in add-ons. People close to the player expect bids from other teams in the next few days." Seems a deal is very close.
I believe McKenzie was around 6 million USD. I really hope the Lucumi transfer happens. I am still burned by what happened last summer.
Well I am assuming so, McKenzie was as much a part of the CB rotation last season as anyone else, so I think they still hold him in some regard. I think he deserves the starting spot more than Sadick for sure. One specific detail that has been lost in things that could play a role is that Lucumi plays LCB whereas in his time at Genk I think McKenzie has only played RCB. But McKenzie was very comfortable at LCB at Philly so I would expect him to be fine there for Genk too.
#MERCATO WOW — El comentarista de Eleven Sports 📺 dijo que @HellasVeronaFC también empuja fuerte para fichar a Lucumí (¿aceptó pagar el valor de la clausula?), igualmente #BolognaEl internacional 🇨🇴 al parecer espera la oferta oficial del #Marseille pic.twitter.com/bM8MMi9As1— Mauricio Andrés Luna Aroztegui (@MauricioAndrsL6) August 6, 2022 #MERCATO 🗞️ CdS — #Bologna pagará la clausula de 🇨🇴 Jhon Lucumí (€8M)Ahora, la tarea es convencer al defensor del #Genk, quien habría recibido otras ofertas#Marseille entró en la competencia por ficharle pic.twitter.com/GTFiAZHDBU— Mauricio Andrés Luna Aroztegui (@MauricioAndrsL6) August 5, 2022
#MERCATO Página 2⃣2⃣ 🗞️ GdS — Informa @scouser77 ⚠️ 🇨🇴 Jhon Lucumí será jugador del #Bologna I Rossoblù pronto pagará la clausula del defensor central del #Genk El zurdo caleño es el candidato #1 del DT Sinisa Mihajlovic pic.twitter.com/qKQgAkm0Td— Mauricio Andrés Luna Aroztegui (@MauricioAndrsL6) August 7, 2022
🚨 Aún no hay acuerdo entre #Genk y #Bologna para que el defensa colombiano Jhon Lucumí (24) se convierta en jugador del equipo italiano. Ya hicieron nueva oferta de 8M€ (bonos incluidos)👀 Esta semana les responderán. Además, hay otro club interesado que no ha ofertado pic.twitter.com/i5tnEP7zXS— Pipe Sierra (@PSierraR) August 8, 2022
#MERCATO Página 5⃣ CdS — Reporta @GiorgioBurreddu: "Bologna- Lucumí, acuerdo logrado""Mañana quizás bajo las dos torres: el defensor colombiano se salteará la carrera de la Jupiler Pro League hoy con el Zulte"(la 📷 es de Carlos Cuesta 🤦♂️🚫) pic.twitter.com/y3LrFw168N— Mauricio Andrés Luna Aroztegui (@MauricioAndrsL6) August 14, 2022
It's probably too late for his WC hopes, but this is probably best case scenario for Mark. Lucumi is sold, he get's a clear full half season as starter to claim the role. The ball is in his court now. Assuming best case scenerio, he is still at the age that CCV was when he first went to Celtic and EPB at Troyes - and those two are WC hopefuls over McKenzie at this point. So, McKenzie can still turn things around and become a bigger part of the 2026 cycle atleast.