Super Jack will be a good signing. Knuckled down, beefed up and improved his game playing in a more deeper role at the tail end last season. Was only three years ago he was regarded as the best talent in the country, lost his way a bit but seems to be back on the right path. Poch will love moulding him into a great player. Davies counts as HG though I think, Welsh are included in the English HG ruling. Dier definitely doesn't due to his upbringing in Portugal but I'm 99% sure Davies is HG.
I’m pretty keen on Grealish joining us. I think Poch will really improve his game. I guess it comes down to who departures though. It was once looking like Dembele and Toby were dead certs to leave, but isn’t looking as likely now. As things stand, I’d be happy for Grealish to sign, and maybe someone like Rondon to fill the “curse of the second striker” role. However I think we need to seriously be looking for a top CM, regardless of wether Dembele goes or not. He’s not got much left in the tank, and our other options are bang average, IMO.
Nope. Some stupid ruling because of Swansea and the Welsh FA, so Davies misses out by a year, IIRC. Dier misses out by a similarly short margin, I believe, having spent a year with us and at least six months at Everton.
My mistake, sort of. Davies is homegrown for the prem but not for Europe because he was trained by Swansea (i assume) under the Welsh FA. It's some bollocks like that
There was a rumour floating about that we're no longer looking for a second striker. But we're instead looking for another Sonny so to speak, in that they can play as a wide forward and also up front when required, which somewhat seems plausible considering we've been linked with Martial and Plea, albeit the latter has just signed for Gladbach. Think the club acknowledges that while Kane's here, an outright striker just won't get sufficient game time but someone who can play in multiple roles naturally has a greater chance.
I'm also pretty pro Martial. I think Poch will be able to get the best out of him and he'll just rot under Maureen
Same but it'll take a miracle to persuade Utd to sell him to us. Only way I can see it happening is if Toby goes the opposite way.
I can see the logic in that, although I hope who ever we go for would have a bit of a creative spark about him. Also takes the pressure off of Eriksen to pull the strings.
The alleged state on their side is that they : 1. Will not allow a swap arrangement to happen 2. Want to claim that Martial is worth far more than Toby (well their valuation and not the likely Levying) . All of which seems to be some feeble attempt to proclaim they are not a "selling" club, do not sell decent talent to PL rivals etc.
It looks like he'll be Son's understudy on the left wing, with maybe some cup games through the middle, so from that standpoint it's a good signing - the problem is that it doesn't really come across as a signing that'll improve the first team, so from that standpoint it's disappointing (and I'll step off here, before I go into another 2500 word rant about our central midfield needing an overhaul...) Or, you know, Martial doesn't sign a contract extension. We'll see how bullish they are in January...
You don't think he's more of a replacement for Dembele? Along with, hopefully, a fully fit Winksy on a share/form basis?
Not based on where he's lined up for Villa Attacking midfield: 82 appearances Left wing: 64 appearances Right wing: 16 appearances Central midfield: 2 appearances Left back: 1 appearance
Grealish was first used as a LW but he’s been more central over the last 2 years. More recently he’s been played deeper and he’s flourished, bulked up a lot as well to help with the physicality of playing CM. Wouldn’t surprise me if Poch may see Grealish as someone who could potentially take over from Dembele for the long term. Different style of CM but with similar aims of getting the ball forward. Grealish is somewhat more in the Modric mould, just not as small (or as good, obviously). He only got a year left on his deal?
Pavard Watch There's been a noticeable increase in the sound level of our purported interest in him over the past few days - of course, thanks to Djibril Sidibe and Benjamin Mendy both carrying knocks in the buildup to the World Cup that forced Pavard to start every game at right back, Stuttgart have no doubt increased their asking price to what it was in June.
Pavard looked really good but will Bayern be all over him? I'm still reckoning that, despite price, we're after de Ligt. If he was going to Juve, it would probably have been done by now? They don't have to wait for cash [well, they didn't, prior to spunking everything on 'You Know Who'] or sell to free up places. Any player who has asked to leave and then disappeared into a Bermuda Triangle is probably one that we're heavily interested in - Martial is one of them and Barkley was last season.
Bayern already have Hummels and Sule, so unless Boateng leaves this summer I can't see them being in for another centre back - and if they were in for another centre back, wouldn't their first tactic be to check which centre back at Dortmund/Leverkusen/Schalke/Hoffenheim is in the final year of their contract so they can pounce? In terms of Pavard, from a tactical sense he is a very good fit considering he has the pace to cover Trippier, but what I like is he's capable of some Modric-like through balls that would do a hell of a lot to speed up the transition between defence and attack which pacy players like Son and Lucas could do a lot with. It's probably worth mentioning that, after spending the second half of last season cheering us on via Twitter, he's now moaning to the Standard that it's not fair he didn't play half of last season due to a combination of injury and acting like a ****ing dick in contract negotiations.
Lots of speculation that Boateng may be available and it might be that Bayern are happy to let Pavard play one more season at Stuttgart and pay even less for him next season. I'm claiming no particular insight, apart from looking at what they have done previously but if Bayern want him.....
What is the Dembele update ?? Is he now in "eat your cake and have it" mode, whereby he wants a PL-level weekly wage whether he plays or not, but not want to play every PL game ??
There was a headline on (I think) HITC yesterday saying he's happy to stay at Spurs and let his contract run down next season. In other words, Inter told him where to shove his wage demands...
