Neco Williams https://tbrfootball.com/southampton-approach-liverpool-about-signing-neco-williams-permanently/
Surely not? £20m ?! At least double what he is worth. We should not fall into the Bournemouth trap of being mugged off by Liverpool and allowing them to subsidise their superstar purchases Especially when it is somewhat suspicious that the Mane sale has been structured in such a way that we get nothing from it even though they wanted 42m How do they get away with their valuations? Contract length or not can they really claim with a straight face that he is worth 2/3 of Mane. Especially as they clearly do not want him as they have the new Scottish youngster as the new understudy for Trent We will surely not be paying that much for a right back this summer as one of the other ones would need to go and it won’t be Tino
12-15m here. More like it. https://www.thisisanfield.com/2022/...neco-williams-interest-but-fulham-favourites/
Ah reading the article explains it - sought a loan move in Jan 2021 before reviving interest last summer Jan 2021 - we had two fit full backs and Valery and Vokins were still loaned out because they weren’t considered good enough Summer 2021 - we were signing full backs. We went for Tino instead. Presumably because Liverpool gave us this laughable valuation So this would seem to be a simple recycle of an old rumour perhaps boosted by Tino’s long term injury. But clearly the big club press don’t realise that most clubs can’t spend 12-15m on a player where they have a long term injury just as a back up for the existing first team player they have there
There’s no point counting Tino as a full back for next season because we have no idea how his recovery will go. So that leaves us with just KWP and Perraud. And with the way our wing-backs operate, it’s vital that we have adequate cover. I don’t want to see Salisu at LB again. Also with 5 subs available now, we have the chance to sub players in positions that typically play the full 90. With 3 subs no one tends to sub the full backs, but with 5 you can. And considering how much they run up and down the channels, this should be something we look to utilise. Hopefully Small will step up.
It will be interesting to see what we do with the full back positions given we have so many other positions to fill too and this position we ‘just’ need cover. It wouldn't surprise me if we just bring in one player that can be a versatile back up for both sides.
Which is why I made sure to mention that a club with our budget does not spend anything from 12-20m on a backup full back. Regardless of how many subs are allowed We seem loathe to spend 20m on attacking players - let alone a Liverpool cast off who won’t get in our first team. And yes I am using the larger figure here because Liverpool have form for absolutely shafting fellow premier league clubs on transfer fees More likely this is to give a push to Fulham and forest because Liverpool really want the money coming in. I wonder if by the same token we will see a regurgitated link to Phillips to try and hurry someone like Bournemouth up
I remember going to a game when either were playing and EXPECTING them to score. Seems a lifetime ago.
Next season, possibly more so than ever before, it'll be important to have a deep squad. The introduction of five subs, the existence of the World Cup, the PL finally accepting that a few Covid absentees isn't a reason to postpone a match. I'm not saying I want to spend more on a player than he's actually worth - obviously I don't want that. But just because we might already have a decent option (or two) in a particular position I don't see as a reason not to strengthen that position.
I can't remember the opposition but you're bang on. He picked up the flight of the ball very early and got onto the end of two corners in a handful of minutes. I thought it might be the start of a bright spell for him. Oddly, for all the vitriol poured on him as a defender, Bednarek has the same skill of picking up the flight of corners faster than everyone around him, a good part of the reason he scored four goals to Broja's six and Che's seven. Vin
Ha! I remember having a crush on the dark haired girl, Denise something? Anybody remember the just as cheesy TV show from the '80s with the same title? "Boss, it's de plane, de plane!"
Don’t really remember much of Neco Williams, but unless we have a much larger budget than I expect I can’t see us spending that much on a full back when there are more pressing areas. Unless you are buying from the smaller leagues or younger players who haven’t established themselves yet it seems like players are costing £20m+ so with us supposedly after lots of areas we re going to have to be picky/shrewd with our money. We aren’t exactly in a position where we only need 2 or 3 players to make us a good side
From what I’ve seen of Williams when playing for Wales (he plays left back there for us) is that whilst he is a bit raw, he is one hell of a talent who usually picks the right option going forward and has a very decent cross on him too. He would, in my opinion, be an immediate and significant upgrade on Perraud and I would be very happy if we were in for him…even at £20million I think we would make a good profit on a resale
Yeah I think very much the appeal has got to be that he is comfortable at either LB or RB. Better to buy one player who can cover both slots, than two separate ones.
So if we sign Williams we have 4 excellent fullbacks (1 injured) and no strikers. As mentioned above why won’t we spend £20m on an attacking player?
