What's that? Big money signings struggling to adapt to the PL? Who would have thought such things. Well certainly not the pundits anyway, who are supposed to know more than us but seem to be assuming that all the big signings will be successful. (Sadly however, if they are not, certain teams will just go out and buy more.)
Or, and this is just a theory based on little more than guesswork, perhaps Guardiola is thinking of doing with Stones what we did with Dier last season - although, if that is the case, he'll look pretty stupid if it turns out he spent the best part of £50m on a hunch that didn't work out. Matthew Pennington got a few run-outs last season, while Brendan Galloway, Callum Conolly and Jonjoe Kenny are capable of playing centre back (although Galloway's being linked with a season-long loan to Newcastle)
The better your team, and the higher they press, the more important it is to have ball playing CBs. It's revealing, though, I think, that the last two PL teams that bought a title built those teams around a traditional CB (Terry and Kompany). The one that just won one has two of them. Though we may have other names for Terry and Huth than traditional CB.
I'm not sure what SAF could have done. Pogba was 19, he wanted first team football, but his opportunities were limited, so his agent ensured he got a move. It turned out that he had effectively signed for Juventus long before the end of his contract when he told Utd he was leaving. I'm not going to try to justify the fee, but the fact he played for the club before is irrelevant. It might have been an issue had SAF still been the manager, but it's immaterial to Mourinho. And it's a fact of life for most leading clubs that they end up paying big money for players they may have had the chance to sign as youngsters or they discarded. Most good young players are on the radar of all the top clubs, but they can only sign and/or retain so many. How many make it?
I've seen a few sources, not least the BBC, report that Man Utd "sold" Pogba for £1.5m - which is utter twaddle, as the money they received was not a transfer fee as they did not sell him, it was compensation. It's not hard to tell the two things apart, really it isn't.
It's also revealing that the last two title winners didn't actually play amazing football, nor did they press high up the pitch, whereas the one team who has tried to win the title by playing the 'right way' (Arsenal) have failed miserably every single time. Ball-playing CB's are all well and good but they have to be world class to win you things. I've said it before and I'll repeat it as it does worry me but we cause too many heart-in-mouth moments because of all the piddling around at the back between Hugo's terrible distribution and Toby/Jan insisting on playing everything on the floor. As someone who plays as a CM (albeit at a very amateur level!) I can say that there was something very reassuring and calming about having a no-nonsense player at the back to just mop up and get on with it. Teams are paranoid about conceding possession to the opposition (we were almost bored to death by this paranoia under AVB), but the reality is that - like the football you people play over there but to a lesser extent - territory does count towards overall success. Having the ball 80 yards down the pitch but at the feet of their keeper is often more liberating than having it at your own defender's feet with 2 opposition players hunting him down 20 yards out from your own goalmouth. It's why I feel that, given time, Wimmer could well blossom into the more effective foil for Toby. I like Jan, dot get me wrong, but as a ball-playing CB he simply isn't in the same league as Toby. The latter' impressive ability to spray Dawsonesque diagonals is the crucial difference in my opinion, as one of those opens up the field of play and renders opposition pressing redundant. Towards the end of the season in particular when the mental strain was really getting to us, I think having a player like Wimmer as the last line of defence actually helps settle the nerves tremendously, as the rest of the team - fatigued after a gruelling season - can rest assured that they don't need to form intricate triangles to tippy tap the ball up the pitch whenever we get the ball in our own half. Anyway I'm waffling here. Fact is Stones + Kompany has the makings of a class partnership, but the latter is barely fit.
hbic and me did that last week. The next day the press gossips reported that the Spanners were putting in a bid for him.
What the press said would happen City will be gracious enough to let Everton have Bony as part of the Stones deal so they'd stop being meanies and let Lukaku live his dream and play for Chelsea What actually happened None of the above
Busy day today it seems. But super "pundit" that I am, I can tell you it won't help those clubs one bit.
Everton agree a fee for Bolaise. That's an interesting one there - if he cuts the diving out of his game and ups the work rate he's a top, top quality player on his day. Although I wonder where this will leave poor old Lennon
Ferguson bringing Scholes back from retirement instead of playing Pogba was a big part in him leaving. The player has suggested it himself, as has the Ginger Hatchetman. If he wasn't going to retire and had the best long-term interests of the club at heart, then I know what would've happened. There's no doubt that the man is Man Utd's best managers and one of the best that the British game's ever seen. He took his eye off the ball towards the end and took a very short-term view, in order to seal his legacy. The squad that he left Moyes was over-the-hill and missing key figures and Ferguson knew it.
It'll be interesting to see what becomes of that Fosu-Mensah kid. He looked outrageously good when they played us. It was heading for a 0-0 until Darmian replaced him and it all went to pot for them.
He seems to have some fitness issues and has signed with a dickhead agent (Barnett), but he's clearly very talented. Bailly, Smalling, Jones, Rojo and Blind might be ahead of him in the pecking order, though. I suspect that there might still be some movement in the Man Utd defence before the window closes, too.
Spurs fans seem to rate him more then United fans do he get his chance next season. Going out on loan would do him good.
Well that's probably due to the fact that the only time most of us have seen him play would have been in your 3-0 reverse at the Lane where he was your best player by a mile until LVG replaced him with that inept Italian you blew £15m on.
