Perhaps he'd be a good player. Many German fans have been unimpressed with the progress of Marin, even before he got injured. Decent player at a good price but I wouldn't be surprised if his career stalled at Chelsea á la Sidwell and a long list of others.
We'd still need to sign a backup for Huddlestone and given his recent injury problems I'd rather we didn't rely on Huddlestone as first choice and rush him back. We could of course promote Tom Carroll but he's very untried and I feel he'd also be being rushed in. Definitely agree with not blowing all the money on a replacement but we will need a new player that can play his role.
who was that other player that a few people have been saying we should go for? I'm pretty sure Dona and someone else were adamant that we should signing him. he was spoken about around the same time marvin martin was brought up. he plays abroad in spain/portugal/italy (somewhere like that I think). i think he's quite a short player too. (not moutinho by the way, this guy is less well known). It's bugging the hell out of me. and sorry for the terrible clues.
Ever Banega of Valencia? The twat ran himself over in his own car, which resulted in a broken leg and him missing the end of last season.
Pienaar if we bring Moyes in. Carroll might get game time next year. I liked the look of him in europa league and it looked like he'd been learning from Luka. Not a replacement yet though. Heard good things about Pritchard too.
YES PNP! it's been annoying the hell out of me for about an hour. Hero! has there been any official links to this guy at all? or was he just a favourite amongst fans?
ok, I'm just trying to find out what sort of players are out there as it looks more likely that Modric will be in his bike. more importantly, what players might still be available as decent replacements, by the time some of this managerial lark is cleared up.
I'm still dubious as to whether he will leave. Will Levy accept £30m? I find it highly unlikely. The price will have to go a bit higher before we have to worry.
It might require another Modric-style signing, Roo. Someone who's not quite broken into the big time, but who other clubs aren't willing to take a risk on. Edit: Nuri Sahin doesn't seem to have been given a chance at Real and if they signed Modric, then he'd be pushed back even more. He seems very highly rated by a lot of people, though I'm not particularly familiar with him.
The various "Modric replacements" we've been linked to are... Ever Banega (Valencia) Hernanes (Lazio) Ganso (Santos) Casemiro (Sao Paolo) Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV) Given it's halfway through the Brazilian season, there's a downside in bringing in Ganso and Casemiro (also, Ganso's value will probably be inflated by his agent planning a vacation at the end of the season) whilst Banega has a broken leg due to running himself over, so won't be available for pre-season training. There is the advantage of Wijnaldum being left out of the Dutch squad so his value won't be inflated (not that the Dutch performances would've inflated anyone's value...) We could sign Milan Badelj or Mateo Kovacic to be Hudds' understudy, in view of him growing into a first teamer a season or two down the line. I don't think either will have their value inflated, either - Kovacic didn't make the squad whilst Badelj made the squad but never played, but both would be a gamble, Kovacic because he's only just turned 18 and only has a couple of season's experience to this point, Badelj because you may as well hold up a sign saying "Modric Lite" until he makes a first team place his own.
someone will pay it though, even if it is close to £40mill. To be honest, if he's going to be able to sell him abroad, I wouldn't be surprised if Levy knocks back £30m, to encourage a slightly higher £31-33m bid, then just accepts. Would you rather us get £7-10 mill less and him go abroad? or play against him next year, where he's going to make a rival stronger, but have upto £10 mill extra to spend?
I would much rather he went abroad Roo, but that £10m ain't my money So, this may be a stupid question as i'm not experienced in such matters, and no-one else has asked, but.....how do you run yourself over with your own car???
30 m is the opening bid i think he will settle for 33-35 m with madrid and be happy not to sell to a premier league team
He left the handbrake off when filling up at a petrol station and it rolled onto him. Hopefully his actual intelligence doesn't reflect upon his footballing intelligence.
Wow. What sort of slope was this petrol station on? I drive, and if you are coasting you need a pretty steep hill for the car to start moving with immediate speed. I would've thought that being a footballer he would have enough pace to have avoided this 1mph (estimate) car. Hell, i'm really unfit and i would still back myself to avoid a coasting car from a standing start.
I agree PNP. I like the idea of this. However, when we signed modric, it was an expensive buy, for someone that no one knew anything about. - and it's been a good buy, thank goodness. Now that we're going to potentially be on the receiving end of a 30-40mill deal, we have to buy someone that everyone's heard of, at least. even if it's someone who's been good abroad and got to prove themselves in the prem, or might be out of form, or might be "known" to have potential... it's just got to be someone that football fans know. top quality players generally come with a premium. to replace Luka properly, it's very very likely to cost us a decent chunk of that cash, even if we go down the route I mentioned above. we've built so much in recent years, the club must make some sort of statement with his replacement. otherwise, again, we will look like the club who just sells it's best players. (although we're getting better at covering it up)
