Isn't it funny with Baines! I thought he would go to Man U and now it almost look certain to be off. Bet Fellaini is feeling a bit sick ha!
Bit about Dani Ayala wanted permanently by Middlesbrough today (see update on original post). Thought their manager's comment was pretty enlightening âWe are working to keep Dani here because he has made great strides,â said Karanka. âBut he needs to keep working. If he thinks heâs a better player than he is then he will make the mistakes he has made in the past.â
Latest player linked is Michael Ciani of Lazio. 29 year old CB, only played a handful of games though since 2012. We seem to be entering panic stations for a CB signing obviously.
I don't think the recent thrashings will help our position when trying to attract anyone decent, we need a good season with convincing performances to do that, so I'm not hoping for anyone spectacular anyway!
Where did you get that info? Transfermarkt suggests he played 38 matches (29 starts) in 2012-13 and has played 18 so far this season. It's a bit odd though, because he looks like he plays only half of the Serie A matches, but all of their Europa League matches! Wikipedia isn't very revealing, but it suggests that he generall plays as the third CB, so maybe it is to do with Lazio's normal away/European formation being three at the back (I know next to nothing about Lazio so this is a pure guess, but given that we picked up Garrido it doesn't seem unlikely). As for him as a player, he was decent a few years back, and certainly is pretty massive so could be a good equivalent to Turner, but I'm not convinced he's any better. He's got European experience though and was obviously highly rated in France. If we do bring him in, could this suggest we might consider playing 3 CBs? (Probably wishful thinking on my part...)
It's something risen from Italy (again). I asked a Lazio fan on Twitter what is he like, his response was. He's not great and is liable to the odd mistake, but given a decent run of games he can do a good job.
When he was playing in France, he was linked to a couple of big Premiership teams, but Lazio ended up getting him. As Rob points out, Lazio tend to change their formation a fair bit. Ciani has been reasonably solid in a back three. It can be said that Lazio have under-performed a little bit this season, but that's more due to a lack of goals than anything.
Ranocchia? Yeah not surprised he turned us down. Still got a fair bit of potential and Dortmund only really have Sokratis and some youngsters as competition for Subotic (who is long-term injured) and Hummels.
Its hard to judge how good players would be for our team based n the opinions of fans of other teams. Lazio are struggling this season but they are a good club and i would guess their fans have higher standards, were looking for a CB who is better than what we have, and he may well be that. Also if he plays as part of a back 3 at times it would be interesting as that is a formation i think we would look very good playing. probably not this season but it would be a good thing to have up our sleeve.
Ciani hardly fits with CH saying only players "we know" are in the frame this window. I'm not inclined to attach much credence to it myself.
Toivonen signed a 3.5 year contract with Stade Rennes today who are paying 2.1 million pounds for him. Good riddance.
If there is anything in the Ciani rumours, I'd assume that it's with the blessing of Chester. If so, I'd trust his judgement, but I don't put much credence in it.
That may be too narrow an interpretation! I'm inclined to think he meant that he wasn't looking at overseas players who usually take time to adjust.
"Looked at" and "know" are very different, especially in light of CH's remarks about his experimenting with Fer early in the season when he said you only really know what you've got when you have them on the training pitch. (That would support ICHB's very narrow interpretation. I guess we'll see exactly what he meant when the next one signs.)
