That's a failure of some kind. Tzolis has some talent. It's too bad we could never help him progress.
I think that is a good piece of business. He looks good in his highlight video esp. heading and passing. (I know. Everybody does).
Really depends on the rest of their transfer window, but Southampton could have a squad that's far too strong for the Championship and bounce right back. Bazunu Aarons Bella-Kotchap Lyanco Walker-Peters Lavia Ward-Prowse Tella Alcaraz Sulemana Adams They still have plenty of depth too. If Aarons feels like the only way to the Premier League for him is to get promoted and keep a club up, then Southampton aren't the worst bet.
It's strange, but having watched Stacey and Fisher through the preseason, I think we're well placed for Max moving on and the money could give scope to further strengthening. Strangely, he's much better suited to the PL than the Championship, where height and strength play a bigger part.
I would appreciate somebody relating the Pink Un article on Omo concerning the proposed bid from A C Milan.
"...As highly rated as Omobamidele is, he doesn’t appear essential to his head coach’s system, and that’s why AC Milan’s €7.5million bid for the 21-year-old has caused debate amongst City supporters. But at Championship level even €7.5million is a serious sum, especially given the Canaries’ tight financial situation. Although further additions are not expected by the club at this stage, Omobamidele’s departure is one of few that would change that situation, and Webber would back himself to reinvest that money wisely ( ) It’s been more than two years since the last big-money sale for a club openly run based on those high-margin deals. It was hoped that the sales of Omobamidele, Max Aarons and Milot Rashica could be the latest batch of income drivers for the Norfolk club, but Galatasaray remain stubborn in their valuation of the latter, and interest has not been forthcoming in the young pair. Reports have suggested they’d be willing to let Omobamidele go for £15million, and even that figure has caused controversy amongst the fan base. But buying clubs will have seen the inconsistency of Omobamidele’s performance, and they will have observed the poor defensive run of form when he was left without an injured Grant Hanley. For these reasons it’s tough to justify why the central defender is worth more than has been touted - more so if he fails to retain his place in a team that finished 13th in the Championship." Copied a few of the pertinent paragraphs out, assume €7.5m is £6.5m? Basically I agree with the thoughts, though feel £6.5 is low I'd aim a couple higher. Generally think we (fans) over value our players because we see them as good starters or they played well for 5 games, yet ignore the other 20-odd when they didn't. I can't see he's going to develop much more. Hope I'm wrong!
This is the main jist of Seaman's article: "As highly rated as Omobamidele is, he doesn’t appear essential to his head coach’s system, and that’s why AC Milan’s €7.5million bid for the 21-year-old has caused debate amongst City supporters. There’s no doubting the frustration it would cause for a valuable asset to be sold for what is a relatively insignificant amount of money in today’s market. Stuart Webber revealed this summer that he had previously received a bid worth more than £20million for the 21-year-old, and it’ll feel like failure to sell for a third of that. But at Championship level even €7.5million is a serious sum, especially given the Canaries’ tight financial situation."
This signing, if it happens, and that of Emmanuel Adegboyega, the young CB from Ireland, who will both turn 20 next month, strengthens the underpinning of the squad. This is where Webber has performed well IMO, as the likes of Omobamidele, Gibbs, Rowe, Springett and Fisher show how much this can mean to a self financing club like ours. According to Seaman, "Montoia turned down the offer of a new contract at the Estadio da Luz in favour of a move to Norfolk to continue his development. The Portugal under-20 international made 29 appearances for Benfica's youth side last season - scoring on two occasions. Montoia has spent 13 years with Benfica having progressed through the ranks after joining from GD Coruchense in 2010/11. He signed his first professional deal with the club back in 2020 aged just 16."
……….“Not essential to the head coach’s system”….. Sorry, I don’t follow that at all. We have only two other CBs, plus an injured Hanley unlikely to return to playing anytime soon. What system precludes an emerging talent like Omo? Do we assume that he is surplus to requirements?
When Ben Godfrey first broke into the starting eleven following the injury to Klose, a week or two before Xmas 2018, he so firmly seized the opportunity that, when Klose recovered, he couldn't reclaim his place as first choice LCB from Ben. Omo has been presented with several similar opportunities over the last two years, but has never managed to similarly usurp the position of the older, more experienced alternatives above him in the pecking order. For the most part, injuries to others have been the main reason for his selection. This is a big disappointment, but I don't see anything changing and, as in Max's case, it's probably better for the player himself to move on and a replacement brought in.
I think I can make some sense of it. Omobamidele is a right-footed CB who has primarily played LCB for us. In Wagner's system, McLean drops between the CBs and forces them wider, whilst McLean acts as the primary ball-distributor in the back line. For Omobamidele: The wider role doesn't suit him, because he's using his weaker foot a lot more. Gibson being left footed is using his dominant foot when at LCB. McLean acting as distributor means Omobamidele's strengths in this area are less valuable. Duffy is also good on the ball, much better than Hanley is, so again the need for a second ball-playing CB is reduced. With that said, Omobamidele is distinctly more mobile than our other CBs, I think there's definitely going to be times that lack of pace in a Gibson/Duffy pairing is exploited, but equally Hanley's return, fingers crossed, is a potential solution to that issue. I think given the value Omobamidele has on the market, whether that's £7m or £25m, that's still £7m more than any of our other CBs are getting sold for. Omobamidele doesn't leave without a replacement coming in, and there's potential for that addition to be better suited to Wagner-ball. We'd probably be looking for a mid-20s left-footed CB who is fleet of foot and strong, and as long as they can make a short pass their ball-playing will be adequate.
Did Omo not take Gibsons position at the start of the Premier League campaign only to lose it through injury himself and then suffer reoccurring back issues that kept him out of the side for the rest of the season? He also started 27 games last season whilst Gibson only started 20
I can see your logic, DH, and it makes sense. I thought Omobamidele really struggled in the last 10 games when he took on the captaincy playing alongside makeshift partners and with McLean injured as well. I would love to see another left sided CB come in as you suggest. I've been calling for that for years, but left sided CBs are hard to find, and to afford. One answer is for McLean to drop back on the left side of the back 3 instead of in the middle, though that makes his role as deep playmaker more difficult. I wonder whether McCallum might be considered another possibility, given that Placheta has been switched to LB in recent games. Against Olympiacos, McCallum came on at CB while Placheta stayed at LB.
Suffolk, I think you'll find that Hanley and Gibson were the first choice pairing at the start of the EPL campaign. Then we switched to a back three of Kabak, Hanley and Gibson. Omo only made two appearances during that early period. He replaced Gibson when the latter was suspended for one game after his double booking against Chelsea, and he played in the win against Brentford, but in a back four, paired with Gibson, not in place of Gibson. Going by that season's Wiki, he only made two other starts, plus one appearance as a sub, before the back injury put him out for the rest of the season. I think we all hoped that last season would be his break through season. I can remember posting, with an eye on the future, that he and (the left-footed) Gibson should be our first choice pairing ..........
As I said, that view was "with an eye on the future". My opinion was that we needed a substantial rebuild at that point, and I didn't see GH, or BG for that matter, playing any great part in a future Norwich EPL team. But Gibson is left-footed, with no obvious replacement at the time (still the case, hence Wagner's current first-choice pairing of Duffy/Gibson).
