William Carvalho?

[Lineker's Left Foot]

With Champions League a likelihood, Ndidi at AFCON and Mendy gone he’ll get games.  Great player to have in the squad 

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, Lineker's Left Foot said:

With Champions League a likelihood, Ndidi at AFCON and Mendy gone he’ll get games.  Great player to have in the squad 

Diallo from Brest is the one we are likely to be after

[sacreblueits442]

54 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Diallo from Brest is the one we are likely to be after

...just watched the usual Youtube video!!

The caption said leadership is not one of his strong points. Just watching him in action seems like he controls the game, always looking to go forward strong on the ball, can pick a pass and sets a great example on the pitch. Their are people who shout incessantly, trying to pull players into position, encouraging and is greatly respected through out the team and their are those who lead by example.

  This is a player who I definitely would welcome to this team and would be a great asset, we need the midfield control and with Praet as another option we would have the personnel to fight on all fronts if Europe does become an option.

[Ric Flair]

6 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...just watched the usual Youtube video!!

The caption said leadership is not one of his strong points. Just watching him in action seems like he controls the game, always looking to go forward strong on the ball, can pick a pass and sets a great example on the pitch. Their are people who shout incessantly, trying to pull players into position, encouraging and is greatly respected through out the team and their are those who lead by example.

  This is a player who I definitely would welcome to this team and would be a great asset, we need the midfield control and with Praet as another option we would have the personnel to fight on all fronts if Europe does become an option.

When we supposedly bid for him in January I was surprised, but the word back then was that the club and player wanted to wait until the summer. Now it seems Arsenal and a few other clubs are being linked but knowing how we work, i'd put us in pole position for him if we really want him. Probably already made lots of positive interactions with the club and players representatives and subject to the pandemic scuppering what we had planned with transfers he'll be coming in. Looks very good, the amount of academy players Monaco and PSG flog for a pittance that within a year or two go on to be big money signings elsewhere is mad.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

On 21/05/2020 at 13:17, Ric Flair said:

Diallo from Brest is the one we are likely to be after

He was linked with us when Rodgers was at Celtic a couple of times.  Seems like Congerton is working from the same list when you hear about Castagne and a couple of others, either that or lazy journalism.

[Nicolo Barella]

On 13/05/2020 at 12:20, Lambert09 said:

I’m a huge Hamza fan, but honestly if he’s going to have a chance here he needs a good season long loan somewhere. 

 

Get him to a championship team fighting for promotion, where he can play every game and see how he actually develops.

 

5 games a season just isn’t going to be enough if he’s ever going to break into our first 11. 

 

When the dreaded day comes that we loose wilf, a more experienced hamza could fill the void. Currently though, he’s too raw 

Honestly I think he could get a PL loan. He had some fantastic performances last season. 

[lcfcnsk]

 

[urban.spaceman]

 

 

[coolhandfox]

3 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

 

 

Would be a good signing in my eyes, lot of International and European, at times we have missed a mature head in the middle of the park, think this spell the end of Mendy if true. 

[urban.spaceman]

1 minute ago, coolhandfox said:

Would be a good signing in my eyes, lot of International and European, at times we have missed a mature head in the middle of the park, think this spell the end of Mendy if true. 

Mendy's contract is up next week though I think they've extended it to the end of the season.

[sdb]

Looks like a player starting to decline a bit, and ex Sporting midfielders worry me now. Not sure why but I'm pessimistic about this one.

[FoxinNotts]

Classy player. Hope this is true. 

[frany104]

I can’t see the downside to this signing. We need competition for Nididi and also gives us a lot of experience which we lack in our squad. Hopefully we pull it off. 

[GingerrrFox]

This only happens if Mendy doesn’t agree a contract extension is what I’ve heard. 

[jeffschlupp]

Lots of reasons to like this if it happens.

 

We will struggle to get a better player as cover for Wilf, let's be honest. And if Mendy goes it's an important position to fill given Hamza is less than convincing as the lone deep player.

 

He adds a bit more power and I would say more upper body strength than Wilf, that might help us in scrappier games or in games against 'big' sides like Palace.

 

But he's clearly got that technical side of his game like Mendy has, that kind of Busquets ball recycler role. It's a position that Rodgers has liked at other clubs - we saw he began to phase out Lucas for better ball carriers like Gerrard and Can in the holding role, and at Celtic he used players like McGregor deeper at times, as opposed to Brown or Ntcham.

 

The Sporting thing doesn't worry me much - Ricardo and Fernandes are two recent imports from Portugal who have done very well. And there's an argument to say if under better circumstances, Silva and Slimani would've been a success here.

[StriderHiryu]

Mendy replacement I guess.

 

Not the most exciting signing, but look what happened when Ndidi was out, and we can't expect Wilf to play 60 games a season. Hamza is a good player, but I don't think he's specifically a CDM, in fact he's often come on to replace Tielemans with Ndidi still on the pitch.

 

Carvalho was once really highly rated when he was young, but I see he's 28 now! Time really flies. He's more than decent though and a good squad option.

[Glorious Leicester Fan]

Just spoke to a Portuguese friend who said that whilst technically a DM, what really stands out is his passing ability. Apparently he was a number 10 in his youth. I can him playing along side Nidi in many of the big games. 

[Ric Flair]

Big physical player which is a bonus given how small we appear to be when we come up against the likes of Watford, Burnley and some other aggressive teams. 

 

I've no idea what sort of nick he's in now, as others have said Sporting players have often moved countries and flopped and he seemed to be linked to huge clubs and then stayed a few extra years only to end up at Betis where he's had injury problems.

 

 

[coolhandfox]

11 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Mendy's contract is up next week though I think they've extended it to the end of the season.

I was thinking more that it signals that they aren't going to change their mind and offer him an extension for next year. 

 

3 minutes ago, Glorious Leicester Fan said:

Just spoke to a Portuguese friend who said that whilst technically a DM, what really stands out is his passing ability. Apparently he was a number 10 in his youth. I can him playing along side Nidi in many of the big games. 

Good shout, I think in the big games against Man City and Liverpool we have been far to open with both Youri and Maddison playing. 

[st albans fox]

I’m just looking forward to all the yanited dumbos that will think this means we’re selling wilf to them !

 

[StriderHiryu]

I believe West Ham had a deal all wrapped up and done to sign him when Bilic was in charge but it fell through as they changed manager. So he was super close to a Premier League move before.

 

I actually think he could be somewhat of a coup, Arsenal for example are desperate for a player like this. I think it speaks volumes that we can sign someone like this to not even be a first team player. LCFC are massive!

[Blue and white]

There's definitely been a shift in transfer strategy since Rodgerston arrived, and its a shame as it was working so well. We seem to be going for established experience players now between 26-32. (Perez, Praet, Bennett, Carvalho, Lallana?)

 

The signs so far are that its not a good thing either, as none of the older players we've signed have shown particularly good form to nail down a starting place.

[FoxinNotts]

3 minutes ago, Blue and white said:

There's definitely been a shift in transfer strategy since Rodgerston arrived, and its a shame as it was working so well. We seem to be going for established experience players now between 26-32. (Perez, Praet, Bennett, Carvalho, Lallana?)

 

The signs so far are that its not a good thing either, as none of the older players we've signed have shown particularly good form to nail down a starting place.

I guess it’s all about having a balanced squad in terms of age. We have a good few young uns too

[Innovindil]

To the people that think Tielemans is slow, wait til you see this dude run. 

[moore_94]

4 minutes ago, Blue and white said:

There's definitely been a shift in transfer strategy since Rodgerston arrived, and its a shame as it was working so well. We seem to be going for established experience players now between 26-32. (Perez, Praet, Bennett, Carvalho, Lallana?)

 

The signs so far are that its not a good thing either, as none of the older players we've signed have shown particularly good form to nail down a starting place.

Its all well and good having a young squad when you only have domestic competitions, but European football is that next step up where you need more experienced players especially with the increased squad rotation we will have next season