Pedro Almeida says Gil's loan could include an option to extend for a further 12 months, not sure how I feel about an 18 month loan for him in Spain... Plusses are that Valencia have produced/ developed some decent players in the past and if he can get regular minutes/ starts then yeah, a prolonged spell of first team football is good for his development. Negatives are that he'll still have little experience of English football and so whilst he'd likely develop as a player in Spain, would he then return definitely ready to make an impact in the Prem? A 6 month loan to them and then a 12 month Prem loan would feel more ideal I'd say. Tough one.
If anything, Bentacur is closer to Hojbjerg while Amrabat is closer to Skipp (or at least the way Poch envisioned Skipp playing, Conte is moving Skipp into more of a Parker-type CM) Or, to look at it another way, Bentacur shows a form of logical progression in the CM targets, given the obvious comparisons are Weston McKennie, Matthias Svanberg and Nahitian Nandez - however that doesn't cover all of them linked in recent days, not just in the case of Amrabat but also the likes of Antonin Barak and Kristian Thorstvedt who are attack-minded CMs In other words, it seems that stiffening up our midfield is the first priority, which has been the case since Conte arrived given not only has Conte said exactly that and also routinely used the reliably solid pairing of Skipp & Hojbjerg, but the midfield targets we're linked with do consistently meet this profile of being reliable in possession and battling when not, which Ndombele isn't and Lo Celso hasn't been this season (and that also probably pours water on any talk of Aouar, given he's a bit of a shirker when it comes to the whole defending thing)
Fat Frank could actually be a good manager for Dele tbf. Now you’ve said it, I can picture Dele at Everton
More likely that no team is convinced to sign any of them on a permanent deal. I think Spurs would sell Dele, Ndombele and Lo Celso in a heartbeat if someone stuck in a half decent offer
Just a reminder, but Juve thought Rabiot and Ramsey would be smart acquisitions That would be the Aaron Ramsey currently refusing any and all offers to return to the Premier League as his wages would decrease by one digit as soon as he's out the door
I'd honestly take £15m for each and be done with them. Wouldn't even equate to what we paid for fatty but just get them out and off the wage bill. Astonishing too when you think we probably could've sold Dele back in around 2017/2018 for about £80m+ easy if we wanted.
Ramsey (and Rabiot) are both on £175k For context, Ramsey was on £120k at Arsenal and Rabiot £60k at PSG, so the markup is particularly lunkheaded Now I wonder what happened to the DoF who signed them for such ridiculous...****
Ramsey has to stop sitting on his thumb. He is a key player in Wales' World Cup ambitions but, like Bale (what is happening with him?), he needs game time. He won't get that at Juve. Both he and Bale should live off their undoubted, considerable wealth for 6 months and come home to Cardiff for free. Dreaming is free?
So what he saves the club on transfer fees, he lost them on big wages. That’s the problem with free transfers, they can demand big wages and signing on fees
The dilemma of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" . Or in this case : CAPEX (transfer frees) vs OPEX (wage costs) .
Sounds like Ndombele’s move to PSG is off… thanks, Poch… Villa have apparently withdrawn from the race for Bentancur, leaving us clear to sign him (we’ll still mess it up).
Can't remember wanting to see the back of a player more than I want to see Ndomebele going out of the door.
