That might be the case but I understand he was promised, for what that is worth, a move last season and he stayed and now he has set his heart on a transfer away. IF it doesn't happen we can expect the "we tried all we could and here is the cheaper and poorer ability wise alternative". That is why I made reference to Danilo @ Porto as being a decent alternative.
While not the end of the world it is slightly worrying that since Collins rejoined in 2012 our best centre back pairing was and still is Collins and Reid (joined 2010). Other defenders have come, some have gone, but none have really been any better, our best two are the same for five years. Certainly at the current time both Ogbonna and Fonte have more mistakes in them and are certainly IMO positionally worse than JC and WR.
For me, we suck it up this season (or at least until Jan) and do our best, then try to sell Ogbonna (doable) and Fonte (could be an issue if he's on high wages) as I am consistantly disappointed with them, and then phase Burke, Oxford and Rice in (still have Reid and Collins of course). I don't want to buy when we have some youths who seem so nearly ready. Next season give them the chance!
Hold on. Collins played well last night against a League 2 CF. If he didn't come out on top then that would have been an issue. Why you would want to sell Ogbonna is beyond me. He's 3 games back from a serious injury and takes all the flak.
Ironherb - not just on yesterdays game regarding Ogbonna. I have felt in his whole time here his concentration is poor and he lets himself down. While good with his feet and a good headerer, his positional sense is pretty poor. I find he is often lackadaisical in his play, and he is often so slow to react. If he could put in full effort and fully concentrate for 90 minutes he would be a fantastic defender with his ability. However we are now going into the third season of him here and he has not improved on this. As a result he makes too many mistakes and lets the oppostion get in too frequently. Obviously all defenders make mistakes but if making that many I would rather play youths if they are good enough (Rice, Burke, Oxford) who will also make mistakes but may improve given time.
As for Collins, yes the opposition was only league 2 yesterday but you can only play what's in front of you and he did it expertly. Some of our other players were also playing a league 2 side yest and weren't as effective.
Slav has said we've offloaded players to give us the budget to buy a quality CM but if we don't get our target we won't bother. If we've got the budget and Carvalho is the target why won't we just say here's the €40M and stop the messing around.
If the alternative is blowing the money on somebody who isn't good enough and will be a stupid panic buy, then yeah, we hang onto the money and wait until the next window.
Slav has said we've offloaded players to give us the budget to buy a quality CM but if we don't get our target we won't bother. If we've got the budget and Carvalho is the target why won't we just say here's the €40M and stop the messing around.
but its clear Sporting want the release clause for Carvalaho. Seems odd if they know the release is 40m and they go in with 30m rejected 32m rejected 35m rejected that they want the full 40m or its not happening. Seems like time wasting. Why would Sporting settle for less than 40m in todays market.
That's the nature of any business, though. Just because somebody sets an asking price for a house doesn't mean you steam in with an offer of that amount straight away. At least try your luck first.
Comments
That might be the case but I understand he was promised, for what that is worth, a move last season and he stayed and now he has set his heart on a transfer away. IF it doesn't happen we can expect the "we tried all we could and here is the cheaper and poorer ability wise alternative". That is why I made reference to Danilo @ Porto as being a decent alternative.
For me, we suck it up this season (or at least until Jan) and do our best, then try to sell Ogbonna (doable) and Fonte (could be an issue if he's on high wages) as I am consistantly disappointed with them, and then phase Burke, Oxford and Rice in (still have Reid and Collins of course). I don't want to buy when we have some youths who seem so nearly ready. Next season give them the chance!
Why you would want to sell Ogbonna is beyond me. He's 3 games back from a serious injury and takes all the flak.
As for Collins, yes the opposition was only league 2 yesterday but you can only play what's in front of you and he did it expertly. Some of our other players were also playing a league 2 side yest and weren't as effective.
However, when Reid plays with Oggy, Reid plays well personally, however the entire defensive unit resembles a circus act
;hmm
The William Carvalho transfer is in danger of outlasting the DFS sale.
It's a stupid decision as well.....why get rid of players to free the budget if they might not even get anyone
So if we can't get a CM what do we do...go with the squad we got....it just isn't strong enough
I was responding to Thorns comment at 7.18. Missed the page turn. ;ok
Would be great running a stall in the Kasbah souk.
kyle walker offer rejected
shows that we are far from the only club (and miles from the wealthiest) who don't simply pony up the first number a selling club thinks of.