Can't give him a contract extension with his recurring calf injuries. Ideally they sell but with his unique skillset it could make him hard to move, similar to how City have tried and failed to sell Cancelo. You can make an argument that after the CM who plays next to Rice, the weakest spot in the starting XI is LB. Oh there are plenty of options, but Kiwior is a natural CB, Tomi a RB and Timber a RB or CB based on where he played at Ajax. I haven't seen a name that makes sense as a clear upgrade over the other LB options and also fits Arteta's style of play. Basically a left-footed Tomi or a more skilled Kiwior or a more defensive Zinchenko.
Agree on OZ's "unique skillset" but if we do want to sell, I think the difference between he & Cancelo is the fact that he has a good number of minutes playing CM at the international level. May not be able to sell to any bigger clubs but you have to think that there are a few clubs out there that would be very willing to take a flyer on him as a MFer. I don't know who that right fit would be. Only link I recall reading was Miguel Gutierrez from Girona. He is former Real academy player and I think they have a buyback on him. Only young left-footed FB I recall seeing play inverted is Ian Maatsen from Chelsea. He's currently on loan at Dortmund and putting up good numbers on FBRef. Prior to Poch he was getting some playing time at Chelsea as an inverted LB and I thought he looked pretty good.
Competitively, he played a community shield and half a league match. Coming off a serious injury, I'm not ready to give him the starting LB role yet. I'd love to see him earn it. Agreed. I think Edu/Arteta want a left-footed defender physically capable of playing CB but also good on the ball, that's what I was trying to suggest with the last line of my post. Arsecast mentioned how the original target was Lisandro Martinez before they pivoted to Zinchenko.
I don't disagree with this, I'm just saying he looked better as a LB. that makes total sense. I would prefer a defender who can pass, and I think that was the vision with Kiwior and it has worked, tbf.
I'm not following the convo very closely. But if you rule out our direct EPL rivals selling players to us, then we'd never have signed Jesus, Zinchenko, Havertz & Jorginho. And that's just the most recent ones. Edit: Another example of CFG selling to rivals is Palmer, who I just heard had a stellar night tonight.
It was amazing to watch such a dominant performance and yet also see the same team be utterly shambolic.
All of those were existing City/Chelsea players who were deemed surplus and made available for sale. Girona isn't just a typical La Liga club that can do what they want, if City decide they want one of Girona's players, they will get him.
We have timber who could be a very good ilb and Tommy can cover also, Kiwior has been great so I’m not worried about that more pressing is attacking wise and a cm to add in. Kai is not that guy and looks much better up top. I would rather keep him there and pay big for a world class cm
Agree that Timber looked good but (a) that was a small sample size, (b) we need competition, (c) need a legit left-footed option and (c) we tend to rotate FBs so I think we should really have 4 on the roster. We need to have 7 solid options for defense each season, with atleast a couple able to play multiple positions. Think he is a good situational LB but if he is gonna play there a ton we need to consider a backup CB. Personally I would rather a more mobile LB and use him at LB situationally. Yep..... can't find the graphic now but saw something the other day that claimed we have a 88% win rate when Havertz starts at ST but something like 50-60% when he starts in MF. He needs to become a ST that occasionally subs/backups MO. Spend big on a DM/CM and then spend medium on a young backup ST and a rotational W that can push Marti. Move OZ to MF to make up for the loss of some of the vets that are likely gone.
The question on that is whether it's Havertz starting that makes the team much more effective or whether it's not having Jesus start up top that makes the team better. Jesus has 11 starts at CF and 3 of our 5 losses have come in those games. Nketiah started the other two. It's a small sample size for Havertz as ST though.
🔴 News Willian #Pacho | Arsenal and Liverpool are still interested in Pacho and inquired about him. Eintracht Frankfurt is aware / #LFC➡️ The 22 y/o is allowed to leave Eintracht in the summer if someone pays between €50-60m in transfer fees. This price tag has been set. #SGE… pic.twitter.com/8ZBdvdi3lt— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) April 16, 2024 Don't know much about him. Young (22) left-footed CB that has played LB a few times. TM says he is worth 30m euro. Solid WhoScored & FBRef numbers. Seen a number of people (fans mostly) refer to him as "N'Dicka regen"
There are a number of different ways you can interpret that data. And honestly it may be a little of both but the reactions from fans when he plays MF vs CF is also quite telling for me.
I assumed you meant that CFG wouldn't want to let him go to, and enrich, a direct rival like Arsenal. I didn't think you meant that Citeh would want to snatch him up themsleves.
IMO we have a big issue at 6 because Partey is done. Jorgy was a great signing of the kind we didn't used to make - but he is also 33 this year.
By all accounts, a central midfielder is on the priority list for this summer. Unclear whether it will be an 8 or a 6/8 hybrid.
Probably a 6, an 8, and a 6/8 hybrid. Jorginho, and Elneny have expiring contracts, ESR and Partey should be sold. I'd sell Vieira too - the guy just isn't built for the premier league. Havertz is a striker, not a midfielder. So that leaves you with Rice and Odegaard. We are going to have do what Liverpool did and bring in 3 midfielders in one window. Probably follow a similar "level" of deal as well. One 60m player, a 35m player, and a 15m player. That will take us out of the running for a high-end striker (Gyokeres/Osimhen/Isak), but it is what it is. As well as Havertz has done over the last few weeks, that transfer was a mistake. That money should have got us a starting midfielder or striker. All we have is a very expensive soon-to-be-backup striker. Depending on how player sales go, we may need to make the most out of that Havertz fee and leave him as our starting striker, and put all of our money into midfield, LB, and RW.
I think they'll probably see Zinchenko as the backup 6 if all of Partey, Jorgy and Elneny go. We need to unload Partey's wages, So maybe 6: Newbie, Rice, Zinchenko 8: Rice, Havertz, ???
Zinchenko is probably getting sold. His contract is at the point where we need to renew or sell, and I doubt we are going to renew him to let him play him in midfield if we weren't letting him start in midfield this season with a huge gaping hole there, and are supposedly in the market for another LB. We should also stop playing Havertz in midfield. A midfield with Odegaard and Havertz in it just doesn't work. The season is almost over and we still haven't made Havertz in midfield work. The guy is a forward, and if we are going to play him - that is where he should play. Even earlier in the season, when Havertz was completely out of form, as soon as we gave him time up top, things seemed to click for him.
You make good arguments but i doubt we can sell/release all of Partey, Ninny, Jorgy, OZ, ESR, Vieira as then we need to buy 5 midfielders and a starting left back and a 9 I think Kai is more than good enough to be the 3rd 8, if not the 2nd choice. Rice will probably be the 2nd choice 6, and maybe Jorgy stays as 3rd choice
Elneny was only here to finish his rehab. Jorginho's contract is done, and he wants a 2 year deal (which teams in Italy are offering). Vieira barely gets minutes when fit. Partey is finished (in addition to being bad PR, and a 250k/week sub). I don't see Zinchenko being renewed when his performances are so poor, and we don't play him in midfield anyway. ESR's time is likely done. He cant' quite do the Odegaard job, or play on the wings for us. I'd expect 1 of those players to stick around just because we will be too busy buying/selling to get complete sales of all of them in one summer. Either way, that still only leaves us 3 players for 3 positions.
Elneny has played 28 league minutes, Vieira 228 minutes and ESR 331 minutes. I don't think Elneny needs to be replaced and one of Vieira or ESR can be kept as cover for Odegaard. For that matter, Partey has 369 minutes with a lot of those coming at RB.