Few sources say we are in for him from Sporting Lisbon along with Newcastle and Arsenal. Any thoughts

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

Few sources say we are in for him from Sporting Lisbon along with Newcastle and Arsenal. Any thoughts

I think our scouting team ought to be sacked if we're willing to pay £70m for this guy who cost £11m a year ago, as well as mega money for Gyokeres who cost about £25m 6 months ago, quite frankly.

The guy could be the next Franco Baresi for all I know but another centre back will leave us with Diomande, Silva, Disasi, Colwill, Badiashile, Chalobah, Fofana, Humpheys, Gilchrist, Sarr on the books for 2 centre back spots which is absolutely f**king ridiculous. Admittedly half of them will be injured at any one time but still we should be getting rid of some dead wood before making any further signings.

Replacing Silva with a 20 year old is all kinds of silly. 

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Replacing Silva with a 20 year old is all kinds of silly. 

Gonoir Beniashile is right in that we don’t need any more CBs even if Thiago leaves. We have way too many defenders as it is, and spending big money for another quality defender should be way down our list of priorities.

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Gonoir Beniashile is right in that we don’t need any more CBs even if Thiago leaves. We have way too many defenders as it is, and spending big money for another quality defender should be way down our list of priorities.

So you are trusting Fofana's fitness and Disasi being good enough to start at RCB?

I sure don't. 

Him and Silva from Benfica appear to be our plan for a CB partnership for a decade, both 20 years old. If you believe the ITKs that is.

What about Colwill, Badiashelle, Fofana and Disasi? Weren't they all supposed to be our CBs for the next decade?

7 minutes ago, Zeta said:

What about Colwill, Badiashelle, Fofana and Disasi? Weren't they all supposed to be our CBs for the next decade?

Probably sold for pure profit, backup, injured all the time, and sold at a loss respectively?

I agree with getting a new CB but I am very uncomfortable replacing Silva's experience and elite understanding of the game, for a 20 year old. 

9 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

So you are trusting Fofana's fitness and Disasi being good enough to start at RCB?

I sure don't. 

How many CBs do we need? 1st choice pairing can be Badishile & Colwill with Fofana as backup while we monitor Fofana. We can always keep one of Humphreys/Gilchrist as 5th choice CB (like Liverpool with Quansah). A new £50m+ CB signing won’t be coming to a mid table club to sit on the bench.

 

5 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I agree with getting a new CB but I am very uncomfortable replacing Silva's experience and elite understanding of the game, for a 20 year old. 

I am afraid what you are demanding just doesn’t exist. That is why Pep spent £70m on Gvardiol, Arteta £50m on Timber. The only ones I would probably consider if they became available would be Milt (Madrid) & Marquinhos. I would be wary though after seeing how Varane & Casemiro have phoned in their performances at Man Utd. 
Varane the 30yr old 4x CL winner & World Cup winner could potentially be available this summer for a reasonable fee, do you want him here after watching his performances at Utd? He ticks the elite understanding & come with a wealth of experience. 

11 hours ago, ducavis said:

How many CBs do we need? 1st choice pairing can be Badishile & Colwill with Fofana as backup while we monitor Fofana. We can always keep one of Humphreys/Gilchrist as 5th choice CB (like Liverpool with Quansah). A new £50m+ CB signing won’t be coming to a mid table club to sit on the bench.

 

I am afraid what you are demanding just doesn’t exist. That is why Pep spent £70m on Gvardiol, Arteta £50m on Timber. The only ones I would probably consider if they became available would be Milt (Madrid) & Marquinhos. I would be wary though after seeing how Varane & Casemiro have phoned in their performances at Man Utd. 
Varane the 30yr old 4x CL winner & World Cup winner could potentially be available this summer for a reasonable fee, do you want him here after watching his performances at Utd? He ticks the elite understanding & come with a wealth of experience. 

Until I see the day I actually see Poch field Badiashile & Colwill as a pairing, I won't consider it a possibility. It's the pairing I certainly want to see it as much as you but so far they've only played LCB and LB respectfully. 

I think a lot is dependent on Fofana. The chances of coming back 100% from a leg break or an ACL tear on their own is already slim. The poor lad suffered both. That's 2 career defining injuries. There is also then Disasi who's greatest value atm is his fitness. Not certainly someone I would trust starting week in week out atm for a club trying to win the league. 

That Todibo lad checks a lot of boxes. 

5 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Until I see the day I actually see Poch field Badiashile & Colwill as a pairing, I won't consider it a possibility. It's the pairing I certainly want to see it as much as you but so far they've only played LCB and LB respectfully. 

I think a lot is dependent on Fofana. The chances of coming back 100% from a leg break or an ACL tear on their own is already slim. The poor lad suffered both. That's 2 career defining injuries. There is also then Disasi who's greatest value atm is his fitness. Not certainly someone I would trust starting week in week out atm for a club trying to win the league. 

That Todibo lad checks a lot of boxes. 

Cracking opportunity for Gilchrist ... which has opened up out of nowhere really, as it did originally seem like we were quite well sorted for a decade for centre backs. Ditto for Humphries, albeit I don't think he's quite shining enough on his loan ... 

17 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Until I see the day I actually see Poch field Badiashile & Colwill as a pairing, I won't consider it a possibility. It's the pairing I certainly want to see it as much as you but so far they've only played LCB and LB respectfully. 

I think a lot is dependent on Fofana. The chances of coming back 100% from a leg break or an ACL tear on their own is already slim. The poor lad suffered both. That's 2 career defining injuries. There is also then Disasi who's greatest value atm is his fitness. Not certainly someone I would trust starting week in week out atm for a club trying to win the league. 

That Todibo lad checks a lot of boxes. 

I don't know about the ACL tear but Maradonna proved that a leg break is no problem and indeed if you are Shane Warne can even be turned to advantage.

6 hours ago, ozboy said:

I don't know about the ACL tear but Maradonna proved that a leg break is no problem and indeed if you are Shane Warne can even be turned to advantage.

Ankle break. 

On 04/01/2024 at 15:47, ducavis said:

Gonoir Beniashile is right in that we don’t need any more CBs even if Thiago leaves. We have way too many defenders as it is, and spending big money for another quality defender should be way down our list of priorities.

we actually aren't as stacked as you think. Sarr (😂), Chalobah and Silva are leaving and Fofana cannot be trusted at all.

That leaves us realistically with just Colwill, Badiashille and Disasi as our only CB options and as much as I think Disasi is actually an okay CB and gets unwarranted flack a lot of the time, he is still at best a decent bench option.