Nice guy and hard worker but man he was tough to watch. Just always looked so uncomfortable in almost everything he done. Wish him all the best though, Serie A's emphasis on good defending might suit him more than the Premier League's emphasis of being a technical attacking and defensive player.
Barca linked with Reguilon again. AS are reporting that Cancelo negotiations are tough/ stalled so Reguilon's now their main target. No idea how they'll pay - or play - him, rumours are that they can't even register Olmo at the moment due to needing to sell players. Jason Burt's also claiming Scarlett's in talks with Oxford Utd over a loan.
They play on opposite sides though, don't they? Wouldn't he be replacing Marcus the murderer? Give them Reguilon and Lo Celso for Raphinha. Sounds fair to me...
Oh no, the bloke's name reminded me of a particularly scandalous story involving somebody named Burt and where he had his name tattooed which I heard in the queue outside the Brixton Academy once...
He played about 75% of last season at LB for them, played LB a lot for City too IIRC as he couldn't displace Walker. I'll take the deal you're talking of all day long though!
I found it bizarre that Guardiola decided to ship him out, then went with playing an inverted left-back or a centre-half there, instead. Did the same with the admittedly vastly weaker Zinchenko.
I think it was partly because he and Pep clashed but also because he simply can't defend for ****. Probably don't need to do much defending at City but Cancelo's defending is a thing of beauty for all the wrong reasons. Don't know why he doesn't pursue a role further up the field, stick him on the wing or behind a striker and you've got a great technical playmaker who can pass and cross superply, not got a bad shot either. Zinchenko is equally criticised at Arsenal for being **** defensively as well, the fact they've now signed Calafiori would probably further back that statement up.
whilst i don't think cancelo is the best defender around i still think he's pretty decent in that department. The only side i would say he faulters is that hes attacking so much hes sometimes out of position or he's not pegging it to get back (since he's been up and down all game). He's one of the best attacking defenders though and it must be a big falling out between him and pep cause i was shocked when city shipped him out. Also i think he did start a lot over walker and he's so good he can play on either side.
I think from an attacking pov he’s probably the best in the world but defensively he ranks way down the list for me. His tackling is below par and is always caught out of position, very poor at marking/ picking up a man too. I think he started around 25 games over Walker, that’s probably a similar amount to what Trippier did when he and Walker were at Spurs.
But do we really need to hold on to him though? He's had a few - admittedly short - opportunities to impress, but he hasn't shown any spark to suggest that he's likely to progress sufficiently that he will be required in 25/26. Lankshear has already jumped ahead of him and may well retain a squad place this year to cement his development. So, maybe it would be fairer for all concerned to sell rather than loan?
I think it's far too early to write him off to be honest, still only 20. It's possible Lankshear has a higher ceiling but I still wouldn't just cast aside Scarlett. There's every possibility that one good loan could do wonders for him. I think we should take similar action to like what we done with Parrott, he was 22 before we decided to sell and it's still not even clear if selling him was the right decision or not but we've at least got a sell-on clause on top of the £7m we made from him. If we sold Scarlett now it'd likely be for peanuts and little to no sell on clause.
He’s gotta produce the goods this season probably. If he can’t shine at Oxford then probably time to sell next summer. If he does well then be interesting to see what Spurs do with him.
Not an easy ask to be honest, Oxford are newly promoted, they are one of (if not the) smallest clubs in that league and amongst the favourites for relegation. I hope he gets regular time and obviously scores a few but my expectations would be that if he gets between 7-10 goal involvements and helps them to be competitive whilst being involved in (hopefully starting) most of their matches that will be a successful loan.
Wont be easy but top level football is never easy. If he can shine at Oxford then it will do wonders for his development and career no matter where he ends up
There was a report claiming we’ve opened talks with Monaco over a €40m move for Vanderson as an Emerson replacement but Ali Gold has seemingly poured a bit of cold water on it by implying links with him or Kabore are wide of the mark and insisted Ange wants Spence to be part of the squad. Good too, that money should be prioritised towards either a RW, DM or LB. Wouldn’t make sense spending that on a position we’re already very strong in whilst other positions need considerable strengthening.
Starting to get a bit twitchy about our remaining business. I think we’ve cleared the decks well so far and made some exciting signings but the lack of movement on players for RW, to compete with Johnson, and the defence is starting to worry me. Udogie is a difficult player to find an equivalent for and Ange’s comments about being reluctant to play VdV at LB, along with only having 3 senior CBs (I count Davies as more of a utility player than a specialist for either CB or LB) mean I’m not keen on Mickey being the primary replacement for Destiny. If we add another CB then I’m a bit more comfortable with it but still. The other problem position is at 6. None of the options have me dead set that they’ll fix the issues that were caused both in and out of possession by the midfield imbalance last year. Bissouma is good there if he can stay consistent, Bentancur is a bit of an unknown quantity as a lone 6 in the PL and needs to show his injury issues are behind him, and I think Gray could be amazing there but he’s young and doesn’t have PL experience. I think I we still need at least 2 players, basically, to round out the squad. We’re in a better position than at the end of last season but work to do.
