Man U have overpaid immensely for both players. No way Lukaku is worth more than Aubemeyang, who has done it at the highest level. But i guess we are in an overly inflated market. What is does say is how good value Lacazette is in this crazy market.
Was just saying on the PL board, provided Lacazette can transfer his abilities to the PL, you got a really good deal.
You'd think he should be able to if he has Sanchez, Ozil and Mahrez/Lemar, which is looking like a good possibility. I'd say at least 15-20 goals in the PL. The only issue i can see being problematic is the Cazorla one, who will be able to cover the little genius's ball play in the centre of the park.
Fabregas is an ideal replacement but i can't see him making a comeback. The closest we have that is in our squad is Wilshere. The problem is Cazorla is so damn good on the ball that it's hard to find a like for like replacement in our current squad that matches his technical ability. I think we'll end up having a variety of players deputising for the role, including Xhaka, Ramsey, Elneny and Wilshere, all of which will alter our style of play. We won't be able to maintain possession as well without Cazorla. I would go out in the market and get another CM that matches his attributes.
Tricky though. Wenger gets very little credit for bringing in a player of Carzorlas quality for as little as £15 million. It's gonna be hard to get anyone of that quality for less than £35m.
Yes he got a cracking little player for so little. My guess is he's going to have to go back to Spain to get a similar player, unless we somehow, miraculously get Fabregas back. For me that would be a dream reunion, never has a player been so perfect in our system. Just imagine the ball play between him and Ozil in the middle of the park, awesome.
Disagree, if you had Fabregas and Ozil you would be even more pansy than you guys already are. Fabregas at this level is a passenger defensively. He's brilliant offensively though. Sadly, we may never see Cazorla play again. Wengers genius wasn't that he got him for 15m although that was a good price at the time (you can't compare to now), what Wenger did that was genius was take him from being a inside forward/attacking midfielder ala ozil and made him a midfield playermaker ala pirlo and xavi. Cazorla for me is far better in that role than fabregas because 1. he isn't as slow and weak so can defend much better but 2. Fabregas has better passing and vision but he needs 2 to tango like ozil. Cazorla was a little magician like Modric is at getting out of tight spots and knowing where the pressure is coming from. So he makes the right pass (like fab) but more importantly, he can dribble himself out of trouble as he has that little burst, something which Fabregas can't really do. Also being both footed Cazorla could literally go anywhere on the pitch. It's a shame he got injured as for me he is one of your most importantly players
You make some good points. But Fabregas was quite good defensively for us, the main issue we had in those days was not having a disciplined midfield. All too often our DM's used to rush forward and leave gaps behind in front of our defence, this isn't the case nowadays. Maybe his role has changed since he left us, but i remember his ball retention and vision was second to none. He was very hard to disposes in midfield and he generally controlled things with short and long range passing. Ball retention is proving to be harder nowadays for us, which was something that we were so good at when we had players like Fabregas, Rosicky and Hleb. We have more competent DM's in our squad that would allow an Ozil and Fabregas partnership. But i guess we'll never know.
Not saying he's easy to dispossess. He still has good awareness of where the opposition is so either he will pass it off or turn into space. However, he cannot take his man on and if its very congested and he doesn't have a pass on, he can lose the ball easily as he doesn't have the strength to hold off or the burst to run past these midfield athletes. Defensively, he gets the work in (running everywhere) but he just doesn't have the pace or the strength to be good defensively. Anyone running at him and on the counter, people just breeze past him. If you go for ozil fab, you playing 2 dms? if so you only have 1 striker and the wingbacks to provide the width making runs past the defenders. If you play fab as DM, then you only really have 1 dm playing
Agreed, the biggest problem with him was his pace. But i guess if you have quick runners around him and the right system to support his strengths, then he is a very dangerous player.
I'm wondering if the rumours of Sanchez demanding 400k per week are true? He has been coming out with some rather gradiose claims lately: 'I have reached a level where I can compete with great players,' said Sanchez. 'I do not feel inferior to anybody.' 'I liken [my qualities] to Messi and Ronaldo. I have the same abilities as them.' Now Sanchez is great but Lionel Messi's worst Season is still better than any Season Sanchez has ever had. (Messi's worst Season over the last 10 years was a mere 38 goals - his best was a 73 goal Season in 2012)
Wow he really said some of those things. Undoubtedly he is one of the best in the world and would get into most first 11's, and i get what he means by matching their ability, but Messi and Ronaldo are in a league of their own. Not many players in history can rival their consistency in skill or output, and we will struggle to see any players in the future do the same.
He hasn't been sold yet. Strangely no one seems to have gotten close to getting him, reports say he is pricing himself out. Not sure what is true. He could well stay on with Dortmund.
I thought Aubameyang was off to China on something like £700k wages. If that's the case then it's no surprise that nobody is in for him. Lukaku is way overpriced at £75m. But it's Man Utd, so they will get mugged.
Those wages are wild. He could still command a huge wage playing for another top club, but obviously not at those ridiculous levels. To be honest, the average PL wage is huge.
