I’d say right now it’s a 2. If we get Danso and Dibling then a 5. I agree about Dibling being a star in the making, I’ve been a massive fan from what I’ve seen and like Gray, Bergvall and co it’s great prospects for the future but that future is never a guarantee and we’ll need stars for the now to also guide them and us through. In a couple/ few years time once those lads are maturing in their performances, it’s very possible guys like Kulu and co (not forgetting Son who’ll likely be done by then) could have already departed.
Danso isn’t a top 6 calibre player, another one who will do a job but not exciting. Tomori wasn’t overly exciting and Danso isn’t his level. Dibling would be good but I doubt it will happen as he will have his pick of clubs in the summer.
Danso is a left field one. He's relatively highly rated but in a league far weaker than the PL. Questions have to be asked: was he our first choice (seemingly not, Tomori and for some reason Disasi were being heavily linked before him, unless they were just a smokescreen?). It's one thing competing with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and United for a player (Tel), but with the greatest respect to them if the only other PL team interested is Wolves, what was stopping us getting this deal done 4 weeks ago? There really isn't an acceptable answer to that second question.
Apparently Spurs wanted him earlier in the window but deemed the price too high. It’s slightly lower now so they’ve gone back in. It just screams of a panic buy to me
Sounds more like penny pinching (see DL for details) to me. If you identify a player and want them you don't wait for last minute sales reductions.
I think they decided to move onto Tomori when the Danso price was quoted, now he’s not an option and the price is slightly lower, they’ve gone back for Danso.
Easy for me to say but any club (including my own) should go for the player they want and pay. Moving on to another player then coming back when you have been turned down does not build the confidence of the original choice but could well make him think he is just a panic buy.
At this point, we’re all so dejected, that we’ll take any player that can bolster the defence. Danso does seem like a panic buy now, though, as Diego and KH have said. The original price was €30m, and we said “no way”. Now we’re paying €25m, which is pittance in transfer fee terms, having played a few more games since our initial interest/bid, where his addition could have been the difference in winning games rather than losing them. However, this position in the squad is essentially adequate cover for Romero and VDV, so we can’t expect anyone of a particularly high calibre, as they will know they’re gonna be benched much like Dragusin was before the injuries. Where we need to invest badly is a DM and and an attacker. Supposedly we’re after an attacker (hence the Tel “bid”) in this window, and we now need to focus on finding someone of first XI standard, as there’s a lot of room for improvement in that area. IMO we’re crying out for a step up in quality, and we need to abandon this policy of collecting wingers like stamps. Time to go all out for some genuine talent that can make an impact asap, whilst considering who we’re gonna offload in the summer in this position. We’re massively overloaded with average players taking up squad places. If we can get a DM too, brilliant. But it’s highly unlikely, and I think that’ll be a struggle even in the summer. There just doesn’t seem to be many decent one in the game at the moment, let alone ones who’d come to us.
So, we walked away from this bloke, at the start of the window, over £4m? That's just ****ing great. Between declining the deal and then signing him, we lost 4 straight league games dropping us squarely into the relegation reckoning. Only when Wolves were due to sign him and Levy's chestnuts were on the fire did we do anything, having ****ed around to no end result elsewhere. It's only when Daniel's feeling the heat around his nethers and we're losing £1,000,000s in revenue (in final league position payments and possibly even being in the PL, at all, next season) do we bite the ****ing bullet and start signing desperately needed players...having entered the season a centre half light to begin with. . More ****ing Levy bullshit. This bloke is now a concrete weight around our feet as we try to swim to safety. He has to go.
Timori was only an option because they probably owe us money for Royale Tel was only an option because they probably owe us money for Kane
I think Archie has all the makings of a player who can emerge as a top, top DM. We need to cling on to the lad like a barnacle. But the midfield does need urgent attention. Archie could emerge as a 6 but do we have a good enough 8? Bentancur gives the ball away too much, while Bissouma and Sarr are dispossessed too easily imo. It could be pushing Gray upfield will help the situation but my gut is we need to upgrade what's alongside him too.
Danso's medical has been slightly delayed as Lens have asked for more time to read over the contract documentation. They probably missed the bit in the small print that says Levy will pay them in Monopoly money.
Of course it's a panic buy, and as Brian says, to quibble over £4m does seem symptomatic of most of the clubs problems. On the plus side, he looks very strong, good in the air and two-footed. But that's from highlights video. I wish they did a lowlights option....
