I tend to agree with you, but there’s a few ways of looking at it - if Gibson and Hanley stay fit for almost all the season, it’s almost not something to worry about. Omobamidele would get some cup matches and a bit of league time, all helping his development. But if Gibson or Hanley get one of their 1-3 matches out type injuries, I would rather, personally, we had a Gary Cahill who can step in for those handful of matches than put that sort of pressure on Omobamidele (even though he did reasonably well in that exact scenario towards the end of the season). On the other hand, if Gibson or Hanley is ruled out for a long period my preference would of course be that we had bought a new, quality centre back. Failing that, I think I would actually prefer Omobamidele to play that long stretch and accept it is either a bad situation or look to bring in cover in January. Ultimately, it’s all a risk and you can never quite be sure, and I accept we’ve been burnt on aged experienced players before, but I’d have sympathy for the club in taking a calculated bet that Hanley and Gibson are more likely to have short periods out with injury.
This is a curious one. We have 4 CBs and Sørensen who can also play there. Much will depend on how DF intends to play. If it's 2 at the back and 3 in midfield then that should be enough. If it's 3 at the back, that doesn't necessarily require 3CBs as Sørensen has shown in pre-season games. Yes the PL will be a far stiffer challenge but we have also been playing without both Gibson and Hanley. Huddersfield will provide a further test, but might it be a better idea to pay around £5m for a player like Yokuslu who can play at both DM and CB and has PL experience as well with West Brom last season. That would also solve the DM problem and allow money for a quality attacking player.
"City feel they are in a position to keep their players fit." (Connor Southwell) What exactly does that mean? How come we are suddenly able to prevent hamstring injuries and groin strains? Are we employing a Hollywood stunt man to teach Pukki how to collide with the goalpost without injuring himself? Or Zimbo how to ride a studs up tackle from an 82kg centre forward?
Yeah that sounds very strange? Could be an acknowledgement that they stuffed up the training last time we were in the prem? Though a lot of the injuries were caused in match rather than on the training field
Sounds more like good old-fashioned spin to me. Translated into plain speaking it reads: "We've failed to land any of our several CB targets; looks like we're just going to have to go with what we've got."
His contact expires June 2022 so if he's refusing an extension and we get £20m plus then let him go . We are not in the business of letting players leave on a free. When he and Emi sulked at the start of last season he claimed that he was desperate to play Premier league football but it's clear he just wants to get paid more . Well at least we have Gunny back as our local lad. Villa are mega rich so hold out for as much as we can . Slightly disappointed but we can put the money into a few more signings.
We have just signed a big bad German striker on a 4 year contract . https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footba...ew-four-year-deal-at-norwich-city_456401.html
My comment was tongue in cheek, Robbie, but I agree they might want to balance training needs with retaining fitness, as best they can. Don't agree about it meaning "we're just going to have to go with what we've got" though. We're not done yet.
I'm not sure any of the links look reliable just yet? The year on his contract is concerning, although I think the club have an option for an additional year. There's been rumours swirling since May that he's signed an extension, I think Todd himself hinted at it. I think there's been an element of stage-managing the release of contact renewal news over the summer, which makes sense in terms of controlling the media narrative and giving each player/contract some time in the spotlight. It seemed pretty clear before the end of the season that the club+journalists expect both Farke and Webber to sign new deals.
I thought Webber would see out his contract and move on , if this is true and he's staying put then that's fantastic news
I think the pandemic and a feeling of unfinished business has made him rethink that to some degree. I'm not expecting him to sign for another 4 years, but maybe 1-2 more. Tthinking about it, I'm surprised that Farke has agreed a 4 year extension with Webber's future (outwardly) undecided. Farke will have to work very closely with whoever replaces Webber, you'd think he'd be reluctant to commit to 3 years post-Webber. Alternatively, perhaps Farke (and maybe Webber) aren't planning on seeing out contracts until 2025, but it's a mechanism by which they can help the club be ensuring there's a fee involved when the pair of them move on.
On Sky Sports that Brentford have completed the signing of Ajer now for £13.5m, so that’s his name off the rumour list.
Perhaps missed in the Farke announcement: Domogalla, Reimer, etc have signed on too, so Daniel will have continuity with his backroom staff.
If we can somehow lock Webber in for a few more years, that would probably be the best bit of club business since getting Pukki on a free.
Cantwell going, for me, is not a big issue. From what I have been led to believe, physicality is the name of the game in the PL and I don’t think he is particularly physical seen him easily knocked off the ball. Spends much time appealing for fouls when he has lost the ball. Must admit he had flashes of outstanding excellence but would never measure up to Buendia for all round contribution. Perhaps we will have enough money to go for Billings who seems to be DF’s midfield of choice. Aarons has been linked to several clubs, but despite all the rumour, there has not been any news of a solid bid. If he does go then we could have approx. £60m to play with.
