The thing with replacing/upgrading Richy is doing so does come with a question: Do we replace him with another high-pressing forward, or do we want midfielders who press high up the pitch? Let's start with the strikers, which is probably a good place to start given Sonny and Richy were the top two forwards across Europe's Big 5 for pressing high please log in to view this image And here's the thing with that list: if you remove players who... - Scored <10 goals last season - Are wingers instead of CFs - Play for clubs who won't sell to us (unless facing PSRmageddon) - Won't see us getting priced out PDQ (which is likely with Sesko or Oyarzabal) ...the list does basically come down to Jonathan David, Dominic Solanke or Elijah Adebayo - and David is certainly front of the queue for me by a clear margin However, if we beef up our midfield with more CMs who press high up the pitch like Sarr does - and we do keep getting linked with them, most obviously Ederson and Conor Gallagher - that does potentially change the profile of CFs we're looking at due to having the midfield do the work and the striker polishes off the chances they create by force, which is presumably where a couple of the strikers Alasdair Gold said last month were top of our list, namely Dusan Vlahovic or Viktor Gyokeres, fit in alongside David...though we're surely getting priced out on Gyokeres, let's be bloody honest here So...Jonathan David, right?
The stats showed that we were miles better with Richarlison on the pitch than without him, despite him being an extremely limited player. The quality of our wide players (especially the FBs) and goal threat from elsewhere meant all we really needed from a striker was to be a pain in the arse for defenders, something Richarlison excels at. But it is also clear that if we want to take a step up to the next level, we need a player with more to his game than El Pombo.
The stats also showed last season that Richy is one of the better one or two touch finishers out there, weirdly enough. Which is what Angeball is designed to create for strikers. I agree he’s a frustrating player but we need someone in that mould. He’d probably have scored about 15 league goals last season if he’d played every game. You want more from a striker obviously but it’s far from an awful return when he also started a few games out wide. I don’t love Sonny through the middle. I think him and Kulu as a 10 are ideas that a lot of the twitter tacticos seem to love, but that have failed the eye test more times than they’ve succeeded IMO.
Son as a 10 would never work, he simply isn't good enough at passing. I was one pushing strongly to give Kulu a run of games as a 10 during Maddison's injury but as you said, there isn't enough evidence he can play the role (albeit he was never given a proper run to adjust to it). My suspicion is that he isn't quick enough with his decision making to suit what's needed there, where a player cannot afford to dwell on the ball.
Yeh I don’t mind Richarlison in our squad he’s unique people don’t like him but he’s no Maupay, he does have a use in the team remove his absurd price tag and I think he would be judged differently, far worse in our squad than him
Meant Sonny as a 9! Kulu just can’t a 10 for me. I don’t think he has the instincts to play it naturally, in terms of receiving the ball in traffic. A few people pop up and suggest him as an 8 in the Sarr role too which I always find bizarre. He works hard but lacks the learnt off ball quality that a more natural midfielder has.
My concern now is that he may be an injury basket case (so to be consistent the same focus should be put on him as for GLC etc) .
Ben Jacobs reckons we’re braced for offers for Richarlison from Saudi. Al-Ittihad and Al-Qadsiah have both expressed interest.
If true and the price is even remotely close to what the club paid then he has to go. He’s never going to be the solution for Spurs and selling him would mean big money available for someone that Ange wants.
Apparently prepared to pay close to the £60m fee we paid. Whatever happens we need to speed things up, both outs and especially ins. Ange said he wanted a few new signings early doors, not sure that meant two young players who'll likely be eased in and a backup winger we already had last season that most didn't even want back.
Given we could reportedly get Jonathan David for something in the £30-40m bracket, selling Richy and having up to half of what we received in our pocket does seem to make sense, in the Football Manager sense of the phrase
If Milan make a second bid for Emerson, it’s definitely gonna be lower than the first. More we play that dud the more his price will drop. Should’ve forced him out in Jan when the Saudi’s offered £20m. Awful footballer. Truly horrific.
Not a chance he'll go. This is the issue with a player earning successive transfers for £50m+...they start to believe the lie. That plus the fact that Richarlison does seem to be quite a genuine and hardworking variety of footballer means that I think he'd see a move to Saudi at this stage of his career as a huge insult. He said as much on Insta almost the moment the season finished. Not a chance he goes there.
I’m not as desperate to bin Richarlison as I once was. My view hasn’t changed on him as a player, he’s bang average, nothing more nothing less but there’s a way his inefficiencies can be quietened down by adding more creativity as well as goals to the side. Said it already but if we find a pair of bollocks and add Neto and Eze to this XI then we have a situation where even an outright dog awful striker would still manage a few goals and thankfully Richarlison ain’t quite dog awful so assuming he remained fit, I think he could grab about 16-18 goals, possibly even 20. Maddison and Eze supporting from behind and Son and Neto flanking, that's a group of players that’d be a striker’s dream.
McTominay is better than Gallagher and home grown. If the manager wants him then you have to go along with it even though he wouldn’t be my first choice.
Methinks this story was planted to either a.) See if we can nudge Gallagher and/or Chelsea towards the negotiating table b.) Show fans there's worse options than Gallagher
