https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Seri...765269302_amp.shtml?__twitter_impression=true Italian media saying we want him and hope to have it done in the next few days. Milan want him too. Apparently there is a different Italian paper (Corrieré?) that the Pozzo’s leak stuff to if it’s close so not sure the above is accurate.
In and around Deeney. Deulofeu out on the right. He's also left footed and with us looking at lefty wingers Pereyra becomes vulnerable or off. JMO.
Hughes is left-footed. Pereiro seems more like a different option to him from what I’ve read and he plays more centrally than Pereyra. I think if we sign him, he will be the first real CAM/No.10 that we have. How that fits in to last season’s rigid formation though, no idea. Maybe we are finally working on having a Plan B... Given Deulofeu’s good form as a striker last season, I can’t see us shifting him back out to the wing often. Same reason why I don’t think we will be signing the clinical striker some clamour for - I think we already have one as good as we can reasonably expect to have.
PSV fans seemed to be very mixed about him. Doesn't turn up enough for them. Can't honestly see where he would play. As Burnsy said a CAM. So a formation change is needed. But then I would prefer Will Hughes in that position. All the Derby fans I've spoken to said we're playing him out of position and are wasting him on the right. Maybe we could play a diamond formation with him at the top.
Hughes shouldn't be starting for us, whether as a number 10 or right winger. Good squad option, but is too slow and lacks any real attacking threat considering he's supposed to be a creative player.
I agree with Burnsy that I doubt we'll shift Deulofeu to the wing when he's already been doing so well in the "in and around Deeney role". Plus, if we were to shift him I doubt this will be the guy we'd do it for as he seems even less of a striker than Gerard. He also looks too slow to be a winger. Were we to try and stick him out wide we'd end up with exactly the same problems getting up the pitch and creating as we have had whenever we've used players such as Hughes and Jurado out there. Maybe we'd move to more of a 4-3-3/ 4-5-1, with this guy being at the tip of the 3 in the middle with Capoue and Doucoure, then say Pereyra and Deulofeu as two wide, roaming forwards. However, it would then be absolutely pathetic and nonsensical if we had such a talented midfield all working around a centre forward as limited and immobile as Troy. What would be the point in creating a comfortably Europa League level 5 man midfield if they were trying to assist for a striker that wouldn't be out of place in the Championship?!
Buying a winger or using Lukebakio, and having this guy as CAM with Deulofeu as the striker could be an option. Deulofeu and Lukebakio in particular could be interchangeable as well. But I think we all know that as long as Deeney is at the club and kept as captain, then he will always start. Hence why I believe it would have been a good idea to move the captaincy away from him this summer to start the process of the club not feeling so reliant on him. Wouldn’t surprise me entirely if a new contract for Deeney was announced soon - he was making noises about it last season and I doubt the club weren’t listening seeing as who was talking.
That could work; it'd be fairly similar to Liverpool's setup. Although there'd be absolutely zero aerial threat, while at least Firmino can head the ball for Pool. Deeney could be after one, but shouldn't get one. Deeney has also said not too long ago that he's been at the club a long time and has a good relationship with them, so would understand when they felt the time was right to move him on. Hopefully it's not too far away. I don't think him being captain per se is a guarantee of him starting though, plenty of clubs have had their club captains as experienced older heads who aren't necessarily first pick any more, e.g. Terry while he was still at Chelsea, and perhaps Kompany at City.
Why would you want a player to move on who scored 11 goals and had 5 assists last season. We looked a lot better with him than without him the majority of the time.
It would be like Brazil 82. Intricate genius moves at which point it eventually got to that shovelfoot upfront who would blast it into the horizon.
Yeah, though the problem with Deeney is more that he struggles to get on the end of final balls in the first place.
If either of them come good in the way that is being speculated (certainly in JP’s case), I wouldn’t expect us to hold on to them for anymore than a year really.
The only way that this sort of thing slows down is for us to win enough to get European football regularly. Even then, of course, were we to get young Champions League star calibre players, for any foreseeable length of time we could be outbid to keep them. Still, it's a better problem to have than we were used to... like hoping Collins John's short leg grows over the summer, or Douglas Rinaldi really is the next Ronaldhino ...
Don’t be silly. Rinaldi was better than Ronaldinho.... On a serious note, I said something similar earlier in the season but it’s CL football that attracts players. I don’t think many players heads turn at the thought of playing Thursday nights in the Europa League - when a lot of teams rotate until the latter stages anyway.
Assuredly the CL is more attractive, especially for truly world class players. The Europa League, however, for a club like ours who can really only afford mid-tier talent and/or "diamonds in the rough" does separate ourselves from the likes of West Ham, 'Muff, etc by gaining Europa league ball.
Theoretically, it would separate us by virtue of being in it. But we aren’t realistic winners of it. I really don’t think realistic transfer targets would come to us if we were in the Europa League over the likes of Everton/Leicester/WHU etc. They are bigger clubs. That’s a bigger sway than Europa League football. Our selling point to the players you speak about is that we won’t stand in their way when a bigger club comes in for them. And we provide good conditions for that to be realistic. Clubs like the ones above might make it difficult as Leicester seem to be doing to Maguire.
I'm in the camp that doesn't understand why we would buy a playmaker/No.10 like this when we don't have a striker capable of playing the lone forward role required to facilitate any formation that would make use of said playmaker/No.10. It's bad enough that Hughes is constantly wasted in such an auxiliary position for him, but to purposefully spend money bringing in another player to be logjammed seems profligate. That's not to say I wouldn't like players like that to come in; it's just that until an appropriate striker comes along with them there's little point, and that really doesn't seem like it's about to happen this summer.
Likely because even a subpar striker would do better with better service. Additionally, we saw many instances last year where (in particular) Pereyra and Deulofeu saw things and were playing passes that our other forward players usually did not. Having another player on that technical and mental level will create more chances for everyone - especially those two.
We will when, in its slightly expanded format, it takes in the top 30 English teams. Prelim round started in 1987.
If you weren't there on the day of their latest achievement back in May, I doubt they'll accept you. Lack of commitment and all that.
That was the day I turned Sky Blue. Their shirt looks nice on my wall next to my Real Madrid , Barcelona, Bayern, Liverpool, Brazil and Germany shirts . I refuse to support France as a matter of principle.