Miguel Layun

I've never slagged him but he was a straight average Prem player. He's playing now in the Portugese league which doesn't come close in quality, and doing well with 3-4 other Mexican players in that squad. Good luck to him but he would never get back into our 18, and assuming we strengthen further in the summer, our 25.

 

What had he done for us that showed us he was worth anywhere near £4.6m or £6m? No doubt he's a good player, but didn't do fantastically here.

 

He's played most of his career at LB and has also played much of it at RB because he is a right footed full back .

Geez, talk about hard work . Sometimes it's like Sesame St on this forum.

Today we did the letter S and the numbers 3 and 6 .

 

With the amount of assists he has got this year and with clubs looking at stats more closely (it seems) when buying players I reckon we could get a decent fee for him if Porto don't take up there option to buy him.

I don't have much enthusiasm for him tbh, some players suit English football and I don't think he does. Lacks pace and physicality and never saw him tackle, although perhaps played out of position he was **** in the Championship for us.

He is more suited to midfield if played in a three in England, in Portugal when playing against Maritimio or Sporting Braga I'm sure he looks decent as a left back.

 

He was brought in in January in a new country etc etc. He clearly had quality and ability but didn't have enough time to show it. I can see the appeal of the deal we were offered but I think there was always a decent chance he could rediscover his form from Mexico once he was settled and built up confidence.

 

I'm not sure I buy this whole "new country" thing, seems like a cliche that just gets trotted out all the time. I reckon that for the vast majority of players they're either suited to English football and able to make an impression pretty quickly or they're not and never will be. Once in a while, there might be a player that takes a bit of time to adapt but I would imagine they're normally younger than Layun.

From what I've seen of him, both playing for us and for Porto, he's a good player but not for us. We didn't help him by playing him in central midfield in a league where he was regularly up against a load of cloggers but even so, don't think he'd be right for us as a full back in the Premier League. Nice guy, good footballer, wish him well etc etc but don't think we'll see him playing for us again.

 

The Portuguese league is absolute pap.

See you next season Miguel.

 

His first name isn't Will and I don't see why they would do a feature on him!

 

I don't understand the stick he gets. The Portuguese league may be weaker than the Prem but he hasn't done badly in Europe which is when I last checked a higher level than the Prem.

If Porto don't take him I would be delighted to have him back next season.

 

You say it's just a cliche and then say that sometimes players do take time to adapt? So you agree with it? I don't know how you can disagree, we've seen it happen in front of our own eyes in the last few years!

 

I think he left people a bad impression on some due to being a bit lightweight and not playing very well in the Championship for us imo..

He always seemed to try his best though so wouldn't mind him back, perhaps he didn't have time to adapt.

 

If you had a twitter account and every time you went on it, there were loads of messages saying you are crap, you might just get a bit peed off with them. I don't do twitter so just guessing.

 

Have we? Who?

 

I hope Layun features, if purely for sentimental reasons, rather than footballing ones (I know that goes completely against my ethos but he was my favourite player, and I'd like to think he can replicate his Porto form here).

 

If it's up to Porto, surely we won't see Layun here next season.

I thought it was a weird move letting him go, especially considering Flores put him straight into his team, and of course considering the added confidence a goal can give.

He provides competition in several positions, and is clearly a very, very good player. He wasn't as good as some thought he would be last season in the Championship, but he has absolutely excelled in Portugal and in Europe, and his first game in the Premier League was pretty decent I think we can all agree.

The way that the supposed £6m ish fee we have negotiated with Porto is being talked up as 'good value' by a few news outlets makes it sound like the club don't see his future here for whatever reason though, and I'd be surprised (albeit pleasantly) to see him at WFC next season.

 

Erm mainly the guy who is now our top scorer? The guy who was written off by a lot of people by about October last season?

 

Surely it is up to Miguel himself? We can't just make him sign for Porto.

 

Ighalo scored 3 in his first 4 starts in the league. I see it as more a case of forcing his way into the team (from starting off as 4th choice striker) rather than having to adapt to English football.

Most of our other best signings from abroad have shown their ability from the very first few games without this long "adapting" period - Abdi, Vydra, Cassetti, Angella, Toszer, Prodl, Britos, Nyom all looked the part straightaway. If anything, some of them started well and got worse (for a variety of reasons) rather than the other way round.

I just think it's a cop out used for players that are unable to make an impression or unsuited to English football.

 

All of them well used to European football, you seem to forget Layun switched continents.

 

The list of great foreign premier league players who took a season or more to adapt is almost endless.

The one that springs to mind most is Henry. Another is Ozil. The list is truly so very very long, that I really don't need to get into it.

 

I disagree that there's a huge, almost endless list of Premier League greats out there that took a long time to adapt, I wouldn't even agree with the two examples you've given. Henry rattled in 26 goals in his first season (which he started as a left winger) and Ozil began his first season very well before having a dip in form after a few months. I don't consider that either of them took a long time to adapt to English football.

This isn't a slight on Layun, it's just an opinion that he's not suited to the English game. I'm sure he'll either stay at Porto and be a great success or get a move to a decent team in Spain.

I just think that needing more time to adapt to English football is one of those things that has been repeated so often by lazy pundits and journalists that it's become accepted as true and is now something that's used as an excuse for signings from abroad that fail to make an impression. You disagree, fair enough.

 

Arsene Wenger also disagrees with you. I'm inclined to think he knows what he is talking about.

So does Per Mertesacker. I'm inclined to think he knows what he is talking about too.

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...acker-admits-it-took-time-to-adapt-in-england