Saelemaekers

[Stadt]

Never scored more than 4 in a season and the most assists he's ever had in a season was 6 for Anderlecht in 18/19. I hope it's just a rumour, put the money towards a starter.

 

Spending a significant sum on back up players has very rarely worked for us.

[Ric Flair]

It's fine to pick up Cordova-Reid on a free but adding muck like this for the same price we'd pay for Gronbaek or Nanasi will absolutely rile me.

 

Under no uncertain circumstances should this be pursued, he's hideous.

[AKCJ]

Loading up on squad players is exactly why we ended up in this mess.

 

He doesn't improve the starting 11 so we shouldn't be paying money for him.

 

Use free transfers and loans to bulk the squad up if needs be.

[GingerrrFox]

Screams wingback for 3 at the back. He’s a more glamorous Marc Albrighton tbh. 

[honeybradger]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

It's fine to pick up Cordova-Reid on a free but adding muck like this for the same price we'd pay for Gronbaek or Nanasi will absolutely rile me.

 

Under no uncertain circumstances should this be pursued, he's hideous.

I dont think he's a hideous player. Similar to Albrighton he's good enough to play the role of a consistently decent performer in a good team. He's never going to be the standout player in a team though and we absolutely should not be paying £10m for him.

[Nalis]

He was shit for me in FIFA 22 in a gold pack.

 

For that reason alone it's a no from me

[Bluearmyfox28]

3 hours ago, GingerrrFox said:

Screams wingback for 3 at the back. He’s a more glamorous Marc Albrighton tbh. 

See I think he intends to play a 4-2-3-1 and is looking to sign players that are interchangeable in the 3 behind the striker.

 

Hence Reid, Soule and potentially Saelemaekers.

[Lambert09]

7 hours ago, Scotch said:

That's the spot I thought BDR was going to fill but who knows anymore? 

you’re not wrong i guess. Could see us shaping up with bdr and Easy-E for the top 6 games and fatawu and mavi for the lower half teams. 

[LFEFox23]

Another rumour that doesn't excite me, would be an average joe squad player.... Which clubs need, but for £10m, eye watering stuff!

[MGLCFC]

2 hours ago, LFEFox23 said:

average joe squad player

Sometimes the average Joe squad players turn out to be hugely successful - Albrighton, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Winks, Solano, Fuchs, Okazaki to name a few. Just think sometimes it's how they are managed. Take Vestergaard last year - certainly below Joe average prior to the start of the season, yet was one of the players of the season, albeit at Championship level. 

Edited 17 July 2024 by MGLCFC

[TheGoldenGod]

Screams another Dennis Praet type - never really did a lot and we've just got rid of him. Seems a waste of time imo

[Ric Flair]

7 hours ago, honeybradger said:

I dont think he's a hideous player. Similar to Albrighton he's good enough to play the role of a consistently decent performer in a good team. He's never going to be the standout player in a team though and we absolutely should not be paying £10m for him.

A sure fire way of struggling for goals is to recruit players like him, Skipp and Cordova-Reid and playing them in a 4-2-3-1

[coolhandfox]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

A sure fire way of struggling for goals is to recruit players like him, Skipp and Cordova-Reid and playing them in a 4-2-3-1

Whilst I understand your point.

 

We went down because we didn't have players with workmate and passion.

 

We need some grafters, who can excute a structure and game plan.

 

It's about balance.

Edited 17 July 2024 by coolhandfox

[Dahnsouff]

8 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Whilst I understand your point.

 

We went down because we didn't have players with workmate and passion.

 

We need some grafters, who can excute a structure and game plan.

 

It's about balance.

He is not called @RicGraft though is he….  

[honeybradger]

6 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Whilst I understand your point.

 

We went down because we didn't have players with workmate and passion.

 

We need some grafters, who can excute a structure and game plan.

 

It's about balance.

We were able to find players with workrate and goal threat in Mavididi and Fatawu though. It's fine to sign solid players like Cordova Reid on the cheap but for £10-12 mil you would hope our scouts would be able to find a more exciting player with some end product.

[Ric Flair]

8 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Whilst I understand your point.

 

We went down because we didn't have players with workmate and passion.

 

We need some grafters, who can excute a structure and game plan.

 

It's about balance.

But the balance will tip quite quickly. We currently have zero midfielders who can score or create. We do need another defensive midfielder but that's not Skipp, he's a bit of a water carrier I'd rather a destroyer and then focus on creativity. 

 

There's absolutely no need for Saelemaekers, Cordova-Reid has great work ethic and Mavididi and Fatawu are extremely proficient defensively. 

[kingfox]

It’s been very evident over the past season that wingers with good defensive input seems to be our theme. 
 

Fatawu, Mavididi, Albrighton and McAteer all gave us good input on the defensive end last season. 
 

Replacing that defensive graft that we’ve lost with Albrighton, with the signing of De-Cordova Reid is hardly a surprise. 
 

I can’t see McAteer being good enough for the Premier League, therefore there’s an open space for someone to be competition for Mavididi. 
 

I have to say I’m not surprised Saelemaekers is linked again, going through his defensive input during his seasons with AC Milan, he averaged slightly higher than what Fatawu gave us last season, in terms of defensive actions and duels per90. 
 

But looking across the leagues, Saelemaekers is the type of player I’d rather take on loan. I’d preferably prefer someone more homegrown, I’d use Jon Rowe at Norwich for example, good potential, potentially good sell on value, can play right, left and central and had similar defensive input than Fatawu last season. 

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, honeybradger said:

We were able to find players with workrate and goal threat in Mavididi and Fatawu though. It's fine to sign solid players like Cordova Reid on the cheap but for £10-12 mil you would hope our scouts would be able to find a more exciting player with some end product.

I think people are being a little hard on  Saelemaekers, 25 goal contributions in 7872 minutes in Serie A, which is roughly 1 every 3 games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moore_94]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

But the balance will tip quite quickly. We currently have zero midfielders who can score or create. We do need another defensive midfielder but that's not Skipp, he's a bit of a water carrier I'd rather a destroyer and then focus on creativity. 

 

There's absolutely no need for Saelemaekers, Cordova-Reid has great work ethic and Mavididi and Fatawu are extremely proficient defensively. 

I can't see us signing another destroyer now Wilf has resigned unless we move on Hamza unfortunately

[moore_94]

6 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I think people are being a little hard on  Saelemaekers, 25 goal contributions in 7872 minutes in Serie A, which is roughly 1 every 3 games.

 

Good chunk of that game time will have been him playing as a wing back as well

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

But the balance will tip quite quickly. We currently have zero midfielders who can score or create. We do need another defensive midfielder but that's not Skipp, he's a bit of a water carrier I'd rather a destroyer and then focus on creativity. 

 

There's absolutely no need for Saelemaekers, Cordova-Reid has great work ethic and Mavididi and Fatawu are extremely proficient defensively. 

We are in for a number of attacking midfielders in O'Riley and Soule.  

 

I personally like Skipp, he's has something about him, if he was at the right price, I think he would add something to the squad.

Edited 17 July 2024 by coolhandfox

[honeybradger]

24 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I think people are being a little hard on  Saelemaekers, 25 goal contributions in 7872 minutes in Serie A, which is roughly 1 every 3 games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Demarai Gray has better end product than Saelemaekers. Saelemaekers is the better player due to being more rounded but there's no denying that his end product is lacking.

[coolhandfox]

24 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Demarai Gray has better end product than Saelemaekers. Saelemaekers is the better player due to being more rounded but there's no denying that his end product is lacking.

It could be better, but I think he could be useful.

[dooflip]

50 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I think people are being a little hard on  Saelemaekers, 25 goal contributions in 7872 minutes in Serie A, which is roughly 1 every 3 games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s a decent player though for 10m.

 

Was a regular starter for Milan for 3 seasons and just had a great season at Bologna playing with Kristianssen.

 

I always try and remain balanced.

I can see the reasons for people being apprehensive.

 

On a personal level though, I think he could come good for us for multiple reasons. 10m is not a lot in todays market - especially if we can get around that for Kasey.

We don’t know how we will set up under cooper yet, but he could fit the system if we are operating with wing backs or deeper wide players. 

[honeybradger]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

It could be better, but I think he could be useful.

He would be a good purchase at £5mil in my opinion, not £10mil. We need to be using our money more wisely than throwing £10mil at players who dont automatically improve our starting XI.