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MPH

How would you improve the team in January?

By MPH, in Transfer Talk

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Grebfromgrebland

Grebfromgrebland

Posted
Posted

We definitely need another CB in Jan. We're one injury / suspension from playing Morgan for 90 mins and that would completely change the way we play. Brendan's tactics need 2 ball playing mobile centre backs. 

 

Benkovic doesn't seem ready yet maybe due to form, ability or fitness not sure why but CB is probably the most urgent position to get quality cover in.

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Col city fan

Col city fan

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

Our centre-back situation at present does not warrant much change. At least not for another year. Morgan undoubtedly will want to end his career sooner than later and move into management at the club (teaming up with Kolo Touré should be fun). Is Benkovic that good? Maybe a loan would do him the best in order to find back into the swing of things.

 

It's true that the old adage of "never change a winning team still applies. Maybe at some stage, Evans will move to be more of a substitute (à la Wes Morgan)?

 

As potential CB candidates, may I suggest

Nico Elvedi (Gladbach)

Fabian Schär (Newcastle)

Pau Torres (Villarreal - one for the future)

Axel Disasi (Reims - one for the future)

Jeffrey Bruma (welcome back :D)

or

John Brooks (Wolfsburg)

Diego Llorente (Real Sociedad - as mentioned in the other thread)

 

And we'll need another left-back soon, as well - with Fuchs leaving, that leaves a gap. Elvedi can also play as a full-back.

The question here is not to upset Chilwell in any way, not sure we could and should and would go for a full-back as young and talented as him, but I suppose he could use some competition. A more experienced player with some pedigree that would accept playing second fiddle, if you know what I mean:

 

Thomas Delaine (Metz)

Jonas Hector (Köln)

Frank Fabra (Boca Juniors)

Ryan Bertrand

Milton Casco (River Plate)

Aaron Cresswell

 

You’ve been playing too much FM

👍

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OntarioFox

OntarioFox

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'd dip into the market for a Left Back as a priority, personally. I think at this point Chilwell is the standout performer we're most at risk of having poached, and while Fuchs is a more than capable stand-in (as he proved in the first few games of the season), we now seem to have an annual discussion on whether or not he's going to hang up his boots or leave for America. We could seriously get to next summer and lose both of them, so get an understudy to the pair of them in now and then reassess when the season is over. Worked for us with Soyuncu after all. :thumbup:

 

Centre Forward is the only other question mark, because I'll be amazed if Vardy continues to play every game without picking up a knock or a suspension. Personally, I think for now we should persist with Iheanacho as a back-up - I've been impressed with his improved workrate and movement in his cup cameos, albeit against lower league opposition, and I've noticed he's starting to feature on the bench in the first team again now so maybe Brendan is seeing it too. Alternatively, Perez is coming into form now and getting into some cracking positions, so I'm confident he can step into that role if needed. Finally, as a medium-term option, if he keeps banging them in for the U23s (5 in 8 now) we could do worse than give George Hirst a run when the FA Cup comes around and see if he steps up*. A dip into the transfer market is probably fourth choice for me at present.

* Imagine the carnage if this scenario unfolds with us drawing Sheffield Wednesday in Round 3 for his first team debut :ph34r:

Edited by OntarioFox
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Gerard

Gerard

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

I'd dip into the market for a Left Back as a priority, personally. I think at this point Chilwell is the standout performer we're most at risk of having poached, and while Fuchs is a more than capable stand-in (as he proved in the first few games of the season), we now seem to have an annual discussion on whether or not he's going to hang up his boots or leave for America. We could seriously get to next summer and lose both of them, so get an understudy to the pair of them in now and then reassess when the season is over. Worked for us with Soyuncu after all. :thumbup:

 

Centre Forward is the only other question mark, because I'll be amazed if Vardy continues to play every game without picking up a knock or a suspension. Personally, I think for now we should persist with Iheanacho as a back-up - I've been impressed with his improved workrate and movement in his cup cameos, albeit against lower league opposition, and I've noticed he's starting to feature on the bench in the first team again now so maybe Brendan is seeing it too. Alternatively, Perez is coming into form now and getting into some cracking positions, so I'm confident he can step into that role if needed. Finally, as a medium-term option, if he keeps banging them in for the U23s (5 in 8 now) we could do worse than give George Hirst a run when the FA Cup comes around and see if he steps up. A dip into the transfer market is probably fourth choice for me at present.

 

I don't think any key players will be leaving in January unless there is an eye watering offer. The players will accept that as well.

 

I love this team at the moment and the only areas of slight concern to me are a CB cover if Benkovic isn't expected to step up for whatever reason and possibly a wide forward better than what we have if one became available. 

 

I certainly don't think we need to worry about a left back in January as Chilwell is unlikely to be sold and we have Fuchs, the LB situation can be assessed in the summer. Apart from that I'm not averse to snapping up some top young talent at the right price if a situation presents itself like it did with Benkovic and Soyuncu but for me I wouldn't be surprised if we used the January window for no incoming players and an opportunity to shift some deadwood. 

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Fox85

Fox85

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

Offer Bournmouth £55m for Ake and Fraser. Throw Gray in and a year long loan of Benkovic. 

This would be the worst business in the history of football.

 

Gray is starting to show what he is about.

I dont want Ake here ask this question is he better than we have ? Evan's no Soyunchu definitely not.

Fraser is good but there is better out there.

 

In reality bournemouth would want around 100m for both anyway and that's being modest 

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murphy

murphy

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, Gerard said:

 

I don't think any key players will be leaving in January unless there is an eye watering offer. The players will accept that as well.

 

I love this team at the moment and the only areas of slight concern to me are a CB cover if Benkovic isn't expected to step up for whatever reason and possibly a wide forward better than what we have if one became available. 

 

I certainly don't think we need to worry about a left back in January as Chilwell is unlikely to be sold and we have Fuchs, the LB situation can be assessed in the summer. Apart from that I'm not averse to snapping up some top young talent at the right price if a situation presents itself like it did with Benkovic and Soyuncu but for me I wouldn't be surprised if we used the January window for no incoming players and an opportunity to shift some deadwood. 

My thoughts too really.  

 

I don't think we really need to be buying players for the sake of it just because the window is open.  Future planning and cover potentially, but that's about it.  Too many players that would expect to start could risk undermining the harmony of a seemingly close and tight knit squad.

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Scotch

Scotch

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Fox85 said:

This would be the worst business in the history of football.

 

Gray is starting to show what he is about.

I dont want Ake here ask this question is he better than we have ? Evan's no Soyunchu definitely not.

Fraser is good but there is better out there.

 

In reality bournemouth would want around 100m for both anyway and that's being modest 

Ake is better than 2 of our 4 defenders, soon to be 3 as Evan's will start to decline with age. 

 

Fraser was one of the highest creative players for assists in all 5 top european leagues and is out of contract in the summer so will be relatively cheap in january. 

 

Gray has always shown flashes of potential but he's never been able to produce it consistently. Even in the last few games were he's had a hand in goals  he has still proven he has no football intelligence whatsoever up until the point hes created something. The funny thing about gray is hes always managed to do enough to make people out with the club think hes one of our better players so we could still demand a decent fee and replace him with Fraser who is not much older, far more consistent and appears to have a better work rate/ attitude. 

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Xen

Xen

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

Ake is better than 2 of our 4 defenders, soon to be 3 as Evan's will start to decline with age. 

 

Fraser was one of the highest creative players for assists in all 5 top european leagues and is out of contract in the summer so will be relatively cheap in january. 

 

Gray has always shown flashes of potential but he's never been able to produce it consistently. Even in the last few games were he's had a hand in goals  he has still proven he has no football intelligence whatsoever up until the point hes created something. The funny thing about gray is hes always managed to do enough to make people out with the club think hes one of our better players so we could still demand a decent fee and replace him with Fraser who is not much older, far more consistent and appears to have a better work rate/ attitude. 

Bournemouth were asking £70m+ for Ake in the summer off the back of the Maguire transfer. They're not going to let him go for less than that in the middle of the season. Plus we've shown we can do far better by scouring the continent and picking up players for a third of the price. Soyuncu has been amazing and Benkovic would be adequate backup if he was fit, so I trust our scouting team to be able to pick up another ~£20m young player who can fill in as backup.

 

Fraser is good but out of contract in the summer. Anything more than ~£5-7m would be too much to pay, and I can't see Bournemouth accepting that at all anyway - they'll be desparate to get him on a longer contract. I'd much rather keep Gray who has looked a lot better recently (and a much improved attitude under Rodgers) and bring in Fraser (or a better option) in the summer. We'll need the extra depth for our European fixtures, remember. We won't get away with a 1-in-1-out policy for the next few windows else we'll be left with a threadbare squad.

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OntarioFox

OntarioFox

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

I don't think any key players will be leaving in January unless there is an eye watering offer. The players will accept that as well.

 

I love this team at the moment and the only areas of slight concern to me are a CB cover if Benkovic isn't expected to step up for whatever reason and possibly a wide forward better than what we have if one became available. 

 

I certainly don't think we need to worry about a left back in January as Chilwell is unlikely to be sold and we have Fuchs, the LB situation can be assessed in the summer. Apart from that I'm not averse to snapping up some top young talent at the right price if a situation presents itself like it did with Benkovic and Soyuncu but for me I wouldn't be surprised if we used the January window for no incoming players and an opportunity to shift some deadwood. 

Oh nah, I don't expect anyone to leave us in January, we have the clout nowadays to resist such offers and, frankly, they'd be mad to given our current position.

 

It's more once summer comes around - heads will be turned, especially with so many players expected to be going away for the Euros with team-mates from other clubs. I think looking for a backup for LB this window would reduce the impact if we did end up in a scenario where Chilwell and possibly Fuchs leave in the off-season.

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