Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

I wrote Lo Celso off as straight I didn’t see anything about him at all and I wasn’t wrong there

I’m definitely not saying these 3 will flop and they’ve all become first choice players very quickly which is great, I just hope they can keep playing well over a long period of time and get even better.

 

Conte articulates it better than I can regarding Romero. I know a few here rare him very highly and not saying I don’t but he definitely has a lot of room for improvement.

 

His yellow last night in particular is a case in point, and something Conte will want to work on. He just simply wasn’t aware of the Brighton player being there. That awareness is the kind of thing he needs to improve, as well as the occasional positional discipline issue.

He looks a hell of a player though. Not just a very good defender right now but also a very good footballer, with potential to be a great in both categories.

 

I might be patronising Conte here, but I don't think he exactly means room for improvement.
I think he's talking about potential and his capacity to improve.
It sounds like harsh criticism, but I think he means that he can be top class but he's not there yet.

Romero's concentration, communication and discipline all need work.
He often has good games, but makes significant mistakes in them when he doesn't need to.
It's his first season in a new country though, so he's had a promising start.

 

It does have to be said that, if our midfield could sit on games instead of get bypassed (as even Leeds were doing at times) the number of cheap yellows that Romero picks up will naturally decrease due to the lessened workload

 

That’s part of it too, if we had closer to 60% in some games rather than mostly hovering around 50/50 at best then it would help. There’s still things he needs to work on as an individual though, in terms of discipline.

 

Gibberish Watch
Albert Roge claims that Barca are looking to sign Reguilon from us this summer

Because if there's one thing guaranteed to make Los Ladrones trigger that buyback clause...

 

Wouldn’t surprise me if Madrid trigger the buyback just to sell him on to someone else for even more money if that’s the case.

 

That tends to be what buyback clauses are used for, as demonstrated by Alvaro Morata pinballing around Europe

 

I don’t get why big clubs keep buying him. If Spurs sold Kane and bought Morata I’d be done with the club

 

Morata scores a decent number of goals, so I sort of understand why people buy him.
He misses loads of chances and his overall play isn't all that, though.
Doesn't justify the money spent on him, in my opinion.

180 goals in 487 club games, plus 23 in 50 for Spain is a respectable return.
He's done it playing for Real, Juventus, Chelsea and Atletico, though.
A truly top-class striker would have scored more, I think.

 

Yeah he’s not terrible but I don’t see him as an elite striker.

Think how many goals Kane would score in 487 games playing for those sides though.

 

Strikers who are strong in the air always thrive in Serie A, which is why Juventus have signed him twice, why Lukaku looked like a worldbeater at Inter, or Dzeko is an asset at the age of 36

On the other hand they don't seem to thrive in La Liga, barring outliers such as Benzema, hence he has good numbers in his various stints but always seemed wasteful

 

Benzema's got more strings to his bow than Morata and works harder, in my opinion.
He contributes more to the team than goals.

 

Dybala Watch

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...and no, that doesn't mean we should sign Messi and Mbappe as well

 

Yeah Benzema is levels above Morata.

Benzema is up there with Lewandowski and Kane as the best strikers in the world.

 

Surely his most likely destination will be PSG or Barca. I don’t think he’s a Conte player and though his numbers at Juve are by no means bad (113 in 283 in all comps) I just don’t think he’s ever developed the consistency you’d want to see from such a technically superior player. Plus I don’t think anyone’s ever really worked out his position.

That said I think he’s in the category of players we could look at. We can’t compete on fees all the time but we’ll be able to compete more on wages now the stadium is properly up and running, so ‘big players on a free’ isn’t a bad category for us. Where I’d see him fitting in is as a false 9 if Kane left (obviously he can also play off the right, though I’d worry about his work rate) but I don’t think he matches the goals output or everything else Kane brings to the team, so it would need Kulu and Son to massively step up.

All in all I don’t see it as one we should be pursuing.

 

This is how I feel too. Plus he’s better than Lucas and Bergwijn so even if it was a case of signing him and selling one or both of them then I’d be happy with it.

 

If we continue playing 3421 there's a couple of spots in the team for Dybala, as either as CF or AM depending on who is or isn't in the team, which allows rotation

Obviously there is the potential issue of meddling with a system which works, and it has to be said that dropping Deki (as nobody expects Son to make way, do they?) does feel pretty harsh - although it does have to be said it would certainly seal Bergwijn's fate, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas also made way because at that point we'd have Son, Dybala, Deki and Gil vying for the starting spots

Alternatively we could play the 3412 that Inter used last season, although that one's more complicated as surely one of Kane, Son or Dybala would be nerfed by shuffling them around