On the next star thing. I think we must be clear. Torres. Got him Aguero. Fail Griezmann. . Fail Willian fail Mkhitaryan fail. Etc etc. The next star is not 18 or 19. He's 22 or 23 and at a club where he's learned his trade and is ready to break out. Torres is the perfect big money example. His goal record was held back by early youth very like shearer at Southampton and a terrible atletico then.. his talent was obvious. We failed to get aguero. . We got keane. We are buying very young or very second rare it seems to me. Before griezman went to atletico we were linked...... sad to say we were linked in 2013 and 2014 but some tosser bought markovic and lallana.....Hmmm. .
Unless they all perform in the same games, as usually happens when we play the likes of City, United, Everton, Chelsea etc. and don't turn up for the smaller teams of the league.
I think a little context is important. 1. Mane sulked about not going to utd... Let's call a spade a space here 2. Southampton struggled generally. Koeman was scathing of pelle for example and his cm claise didn't work out too well. They tried 352 at one point. 3. When mane played well Southampton played well. So.... what does that tell us? Mane is better than lallana but he's not going to carry a team is he? Pray for Southampton... Klinsmann next up so that famous transfer record will be sorely tested.
I'm not even convinced we are interested. I don't think people have much of a clue who we are interested in as the club have clamped down on things leaking out over the last year or two.
All I can say us if pearce has it on the echo site he's heard something somewhere. I only go by the echo and maybe joyce too. Barrett only speaks up when something done half the time.
Imagine if Mane had exactly the same stats but played for Hoffenheim or Mainz etc. We'd be screaming for him. He's a decent player... won't overly excite us but he'd be a good squad addition. The key this summer is the defence and midfield... if we haven't improved CM or LB by August I'll be concerned. Not arsed if we decide to ship Ibe, Tex etc and bring in Mane.
The likes of Torres, Alonso, Suarez, Mascherano, etc are perfect examples; well known players that clearly have ability but are still young and haven't reached the "star player" level yet. Aka the next star!
Yes. My point is we are not really buying g those types We are trying for all sorts of kids or 25 year olds who we know are not actually going to get to that next level. Torres was a big enough star already Alonso was supposedly well thought of Suarez was huge at world Cup and we only got him as he was unwanted due to his nasty bastard rep Mascherano was odd. Maybe karius is one of these I dunno til we see him.
I've seen 40mil The issue is entirely down to fee. If he was 12 months out from end of contract and cost 11mil like wanyama people would be partying.
The same argument was used against the people who said they didn't want Milner or Benteke. Its not true. Its just that we live in the UK and regularly see these premier league players on the TV and are aware of their weaknesses more than players from abroad. Despite his good record against us I've never been that impressed with Mane as I feel he is never involved unless he is scoring. That's no bad hting if you are a regular goal scorer but if you can go on a run of 10-15 games without a goal then it makes you pretty much redundant when you aren't scoring.
Hector looks like he's at the right club to buy off, looks easily able to cope with the international game... I think he's prob worth the 10mil asking fee. Gotze is interesting... can you poach off a big club or are they all too... cosseted? I mean shaqiri, bojan, tells et all look ok at times but are extreme hit and miss and there's a reason why they get let go. I mean.. while coutinho is our best player he's way off the level of a real Player .. that's why in 2013/14 he was coming off bench while SAS did the job. He's still as inconsistent.
Big no from me for Gotze Mane only if around £15m Hector yes for £10m - but only cos he looks like he knows how to defend !
Hector & Clyne either side of the CBs would offer a solid back line, especially if we get a DM too. That setup would give the other five a licence to attack and roam etc
Hehe to be honest I was using the dark side of the force there Honestly I wouldn't pick him myself. I imagine he's a last resort anyway. The disappointing thing for me would simply be going back to Southampton. Other options are available. Only player I'd take from them is Bertrand. If we sort LB and sign a good midfielder... I wouldn't mind Mane because when he's not doing well we can rotate him. I'd hate him to be a Coutinho replacement though.
