He looks uncannily like my attempts at creating player faces in PES There's some players I genuinely try not to score with so I don't see their nightmare fuel visage in the scoring animations...
Sessegnon Watch Pascal Chimbonda has said that Sessegnon should not move to Spurs...instead saying he should move to a mid-level club, rather than one competing at the top end of the league. I'd suggest the £50m asking price being bandied about is the main reason an Everton, Burnley or Arsenal aren't being linked with him...
I see Alfie Mawson has earned his first Ingerland call up. How the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have kept him out until now is a mystery, although the fact that he doesn't wear a red shirt may have more than a little something to do with it. I said it 2 years ago, said it last year and will say it again this year: would love to see the lad at Spurs. Comfortable on the ball, powerful, loves a long-range diagonal and chips in with a decent amount of goals (albeit all of them are from set pieces so he'd score **** all here). When Toby leaves, he's the player I'd like us to go for. 3 years at PL level and approaching his peak years.
Random Watch Since we're getting to the point of the season where anyone who has two or three good performances is suddenly guaranteed to have a summer move elsewhere, naturally a whole bunch of names are linked with us. First of all there's Sporting winger/attacking midfielder Rafael Leao, who has made the grand total of three appearances for Sporting this season but is being linked with £25m+ moves to all the usual suspects who agents namedrop to get their clients improved deals (i.e. Los Ladrones, PSG and the Manchester money pits) - because nobody told CalcioMercato that we signed Lucas Moura in January, who also happens to be pacy, dribbles past players for fun and has a finish on him. Then there's taurine FC Salzburg midfielder Amadou Haidara, who obviously fulfills the Dembele Replacement role - although Murdoch's Hate Comic haven't figured out is getting a run of games for Salzburg this season so he can be shuttled to Taurine FC Leipzig in the summer to replace the Saltypool-bound Naby Keita. Yeah, that was a sentence... Meanwhile, for whatever reason, Paul Scholes keeps saying that Luke Shaw should join us in the summer, somehow oblivious to the fact he'd need to take a pay cut and be willing to understudy Ben Davies. Lastly, with Hamburg facing the very real possibility of relegation, we've had another round of rumours linking us with Jann-Fiete Arp to be the next victim of our long-standing Second Striker Problem, an issue that has already claimed Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente. I'm guessing that Poch has identified that the real issue is players who have consecutive uses of the same letter in their surname is the issue, so we're instead looking at a player who won't have that issue to anyone outside of Somerset.
Kristof Terreur's posted an article in the Belgian press saying that we've ended contract negotiations with Toby due to him thinking of a big number and saying that's what he should be paid, and we're open to letting him go in the summer for €50m. What stands out most is that Terreur states we ended contract negotiations back in January, when it was first reported he stated he wanted the same wages that Saltypool are paying Van Dijk. While the first part does sound feasible, because unless we're taken over by a Russian/Middle Eastern/Chinese billionaire or receive a free stadium from the government we won't be breaking our wage structure for one player as that would obviously lead to four or five knocking on Levy's door with their own set of demands before the ink's even dried on the contract, but the fee certainly doesn't sound very Levy to me. So with this in mind, expect to see the following players being linked with us a hell of a lot more in the coming weeks... Issa Diop Jonathan Tah Benjamin Pavard And, if there's time... Juan Foyth Cameron carter-Vickers
If we do sell Alderweireld in the summer, then I don't think that we'll replace him directly. It might be more accurate to say that we've already replaced him, actually. Sanchez will take his place, Foyth, Carter-Vickers and/or Dier will be used as back-up and we'll look to bring in a Vertonghen successor. It's tough to find somebody that's a good defender, won't demand an instant place in the starting line-up and that's left-footed, though. Nathan Ake probably wouldn't accept it. Maybe Wesley Hoedt, if Southampton go down?
It depends on which system we play next season. If we stick with four at the back then a Sanchez/Verts pairing with Foyth and CCV in reserve is certainly workable, although if we intend to use three at the back then we will need to bring in someone who can go straight into the team - although with Tah signing a new contract a month ago, Diop and Pavard are the more likely candidates (or we've already been scouting somebody below the radar, sort of like how not a single report suggested we were in for Son until the transfer was announced)
It does seem as though Toby's days at Spurs are numbered, gutting really as he's one of the best in Europe. I think we'll be keeping a back four. The attacking mids are in such good form that it'd be impossible to only have places for two of them in the XI. The system suited Rose and Walker, too, as their speed was required to truly act as wingers as well as FBs, now that Walker's gone and Rose has gone to ****, it's nowhere near as effective. Dave was clearly purchased as the long term heir to Toby so as PNP said, we have somewhat already replaced him. It's hard to tell whether Foyth or CCV have done enough for Poch to see them as genuine first team members next season. If not, then perhaps an experienced head wouldn't go amiss, presuming Toby goes it only leaves Jan as a truly experienced CB. Wouldn't need to be somebody who'll expect to play each week but someone we can rely upon if needed. Seeing as it's inevitable WBA will be going down, Jonny Evans may not be a bad option, can't see his price being anything near what WBA were holding out for last summer or in January. Or maybe a cheeky bid to bring Kev back? He's somehow not getting into that dreadful Stoke side and we know that he's a capable CB on his day, plus I'm sure he'd love to rekindle his bromance with Sonny on a more permanent basis, seeing as both still regularly meet up.
I like him but no chance he'd join to be a back up. Especially now he's in the England squad. Can see someone like Everton moving for him.
Looking at the current England squad, you, Brian and me could probably make the England squad and at least two of us can no longer run!
Then we'll see who in Europe comes in for him. No way should he be going to a PL rival, as the buyer will doing a lot more for their defence than Citeh have got from Walker.
The usual suspects are already being heavily linked (i.e. Barca, Los Ladrones, PSG) Anything to divert attention from Los Ladrones bid for Salah and Bayern's for Firmino, eh?
