Ceballos is a squad player. ZZ started Kovacic in some key CL games. Ceballos not trusted to that level. We had prime KCM and Isco as starting level. RW option became weak due to Bale's injuries and Isco became starter from 2016-18. We have 4 elite midfield talents and RW is open. Rodrygo doesn't have Bale stature as a star. Brahim not benching anyone. 4th spot could go to a midfielder or Rodrygo depending on form.
Minus Ceballos, we still have 6 starting level players (Camavinga, Tchouameni, Jude, Fede, Kroos, Modric). I agree our RW looks weak, but even if we sign no one and play Fede at RW, that's still 5 starting level midfielders plus Ceballos.
Absolutely. Fede is a guy with pretty unique talents and having him played on the wing probably doesn't utilize his best skills as much anyway. Couple that with some private issues and half a season where he's not his usual amazing self and people want to sell him... pfff. Especially when he's so passionate about the crest and the shirt he plays in.
I must be going crazy because Fede's crack breakout season literally came from him playing the right side of a four man midfield yet people keep trying to deny this happened?
I’d love to see a true 4-3-1-2 with our 4 young mids. Bellingham sitting behind Vinny/Rodrygo - and Tchoumeni anchoring the middle with Fede on the right and Camvinga on the left. Problem is shoehorning Kroos and Modric into that formation is a huge problem as they don’t have the legs defensively and Kroos sits deep at the halfway line controlling the attack. I’m looking forward to 2024
I think we are in the tiny minority who want him playing in that RW/RMF role. He was probably the best midfield player in the world for a few months. Benzema or Kane or whoever plays up front, Vinicius is going to be the focus of our attack next season, our team will be left oriented for the foreseeable future (Vinicius era) so having a good and in form Fede on the other side gives us a lot. I for one think we shouldn’t give up on that yet. Unless Mbappe is coming to play RWF this summer. (He ain’t)
So basically he is best playing outside the center lol. Then we wonder why he struggles in a three-man midfield partnered with washed Modric and almost retired Kroos.
I actually thought that he is the best RW/RMF in the world. At the beginning of last season, he was the best. Who else in the world was better than him? Okay. I overrated him. In next two seasons, where can we find or sign another RW/RMF better than him who is a realistic option? The best right sided attackers are probably Salah, Saka, Messi and may be Gnarby or Mahrez. I don't know much about Diaby and Kulusevski. We are not going to sign any of them. The main issue would be where we should play Rodrygo if Fede makes the position his own.
It's hard to make a call on where he's best utilized because A. he's been injured and not training properly for months. And B. Carvajal. As a RW or RCM, he has had to support and cover for the walking corpse with progressively increasing intensity. X City, Carvajal completely lost the plot and was not able to handle Grealish giving him acres of space and failing to shut him down, Fede had to put in 150% and support Dani freeing up Rodri who essentially cleaved our ageing midfield and destroyed the integrity of our team structure. To nullify Fede, you bully Carvajal. This is why I think to get the best out of Fede, you need a better RB than goddamn Carvajal.
I wonder if Fede could be converted to a RB? He seems to have the qualities of a marauding RB with his engine, runs, shotpower and tenacity. I don't really see him beating people with trickery and dribbling when he plays RM. Just a thought.
I really hope he isn't sold this summer; I keep seeing articles pop all over the place about him being sold. I have a sick feeling it might be true now that we got Bellingham.
But does the club think similarly? I keep seeing Chelsea and Liverpool being linked to him. And RM isn't a club to hesitate at selling players even in their prime [Robben, Sneijder, Ozil, Di Maria, etc.
Anything new from reliable sources? Don't bring up rubbish English sources that spammed about Camavinga to Chelsea loan last January. You been spamming on this topic for weeks as if it's the hot topic right now. Some people gotta moan all the time.
If we start talking about Sun, Mirror, Daily Mail etc linking our players to PL clubs, we'd only left with Vallejo and Odri in our squad. "Articles popping up all over the place." As someone who shares so many transfer stories in this forum, mentioning the source is important. Even Xtra and zone have a filtering system where they don't post low tier source. Relevo posted this Fede new few weeks back and several other sources rubbished it. Haven't seen anything unless you are searching deep in Sun, Mirror, Daily Mail, Don Balon type trash.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...lverde-Florentino-Perez-quickly-rejected.html https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2269...madrid-bid-rejected-jude-bellingham-transfer/ https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...d-112m-bid-Federico-Valverde-Florentino-Perez Says we want 85M before we starting talking. Last link says Chelsea is offering 112M. I know Pochettino is a big fan.
Saeta just said to not give these British tabloids any credit because they write articles with info out of their butts and you bring up these same sources to support your argument. SMH. SMH!
We all know Flo is a businessman, and I won’t be surprised if RM will get a proposal of 100M that he would not sell
Fede is a regular stater whether as CM or RM. Tchouameni lost his starting spot after the world cup. So I find this whole theory about Fede absurd. Flo didn't sell Isco when we had prime KCM. Those who left wanted to leave either due to wages or lack of playing time. We are not having a 2009 summer type overhaul so Sneijder, Robben comparison is absurd as well. Of course we had to sell Robben, Sneijder, Huntelaar etc in a summer where we had signed Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Xabi, Arbeloa and Granero. Not to mention VDV stayed as his wife was going through cancer treatment in Madrid. Raul and Guti stayed that summer as well. We are not Beohley's Chelsea to have 30-35 first team players.
He will stay at RM for many more years as long as that's his attitude. We don't even get rid of bums like Hazard and Mariano on 14 ME nett and 4.5 ME nett for years while they contribute nothing on the pitch. Contributing players who wants to stay going nowhere unless their heads get turned by bigger wages elsewhere. Fede had a tough time personally in 2023 and was carrying a knock on top of that. He will bounce back next season and find pre-WC form.