I think that they'd be more appropriate for the system and would also be homegrown. It's easy to forget that Dier isn't and I really think he should be, but that's not the case. Adarabioyo and Kelly should both be available at a discount, too. Might be an idea for Postecoglou to have a look at them and see if we need an upgrade in the summer.
That doesn’t take away the fact all are very below par defenders though, I’d pick Davies at CB over all three. We shouldn’t be sacrificing on quality just because they’re HG. HG is an issue we can worry about at the end of the season if need be. Tosin especially is so painfully average that I can’t help but see it as a ridiculous signing if we made it, he hasn’t always held down a spot at Fulham and the fact he doesn’t even want to join us should further push us away from him.
I really don't think they're that bad, especially in comparison to our current options. Davies and/or Dier playing in a two with a high line is something I'd prefer not to witness, frankly. I totally agree about quality, though. The problem we have at the moment is attracting anyone good enough. They're probably not going to displace Romero or van de Ven, almost whoever it is. Who's good enough that's going to be happy to sit on the bench, especially with no Europe?
I'm glad that someone else has seen through Tosin, worst thing for me is chasing a player that doesn't want to come here , I want players who want to play for us
I think that's the problem with our current situation, though. He had the offer from a team where he would probably expect to start. Monaco are currently top of Ligue 1, so he may have been making a good choice. He would also get to play for Adolf. Not sure that's a positive.
I think Tosin is genuinely borderline crap. Chalobah is ok but dealing with Chelsea for a HG player means we’d be basically paying a stupid premium for a backup - it’ll have Richarlison vibes. Kelly is the best of the lot but I really don’t think he’s the answer either. Even without Europe I think you’re underestimating our pull as a club. We were strongly linked with Tapsoba in the summer and he’d have likely joined along with van de Ven if we paid up, I said at the time it shouldn’t have been an “or” situation between the two but an “and”, as CB was and still is a pressing concern for quality. That ship has now likely sailed though but I think there’s still a significant amount of “good” CBs that’d be open to joining us in January if we showed interest, more so if our form doesn’t fluctuate too much between now and the window opening as that’d lead us on course to finishing in a European spot and that’ll further entice potential targets to be a part of that.
I think bringing in an overseas player would have positives and negatives. We may be able to attract someone with greater quality, just from the league's draw. They would probably take longer to adjust and settle in, though. It's early days, but we seem to have avoided that trap with Vicario and van de Ven. That's either superb work by whoever scouted them or real luck. They've impressed the hell out of me, either way. Reacted brilliantly to set-backs, too.
I've been saying since the end of the transfer window his snubbing us in hope that Monaco made a bid is reason to comm to Kelly or Chalobah - and is likely why Kelly emerged as a late target It's odd we seem to be getting linked to forwards ATM, though, asvwe're still a stomach flu outbreak away from our U21 CB pairing getting a few starts
I read this morning that Gift Oban has not scored since 20th August, I admit that I wanted him rather than Brennan , were the club right in their choice , early doors yet
TBH when it was reported Lille were in for him, I was getting my hopes up that there'd be a domino effect of them signing Orban so we could make a play for Jonathan David David'd be brilliant in Ange's system
Norwich's 20yo keeper Dylan Thompson has been training with us, with us reportedly set to make an offer to bring him in
I mean we did have a Guinness World Record for the most youth keepers under contract 2-3 years ago...
Nobody noticed we've reached page 1882 then...? Anyway, I was briefly excited to see us linked with Mikel Merino today...until I realised it was Fichajes linking us with him, which is about the same level of credibility as signing him on Football Manager
Tom Allnutt at The Times...well first of all he must have had a horrible time at school, but in the context of this thread he's saying that Sporting are looking to sign Eric Dier in January