Could be the new Holebas if you look at Nkoulou’s Instagram…. I’m no sartorial king - but there’s some seriously dodgy threads going on.
It still makes me genuinely laugh out loud when I think of the whole Pape Gueye situation. I’ve made my peace to an extent with the rest of the nonsense. But this is still hilarious to me.
You can see it a week's time: tries in the first minute to flick it over Mo Salah's head and.... whoops.... 0 - 1.
This from an Italian friend who is a football obsessive and knows his onions… Nkoulou has always been a potential top player Great central defender, technically great. But two years ago he let all Torino supporters down by playing a horrible game vs Wolves (game for the access to Europa League). He basically was not in the pitch. His Head was definetely somewhere else. Then he kind of justified himself by saying he wanted to leave the club because he deserved a better club than Torino and the club won't leave him go. Well, he deserved to leave After performing the two previous seasons on High level, but I Guess he didn't realize the damage he apported to the club After that game. Basically I'm telling you that he really is a top defender. Trust me. I'm not exagerating But he needs to be focused totally in this new season. If the club and Ranieri Will be able to valorise him, he will be a top defender. He really is a good defender.
Major coup this. We beat off Spurs, Barca, Roma, Melchester and Jossies Giants to land his signature.
The inference is the club were ok about soldiering on with three fit centre backs, but Kabasele’s injury on top of Sierralta’s has meant they urgently needed this (potentially very decent) signing
I don’t think this is a laughing matter. Gino is still exploring the best way to assert his rights on the issue.
Cam we start a petition to get Nath the position of Sporting Director at the club? Also he'd tell Gino in no uncertain terms how sh*t the players are.
His passing looks fine to me, he was even breaking the lines with some of them. Something our midfielders can only dream of...
In fairness, this move has just greatly reduced the open spots left in the squad we operate in case we might decide to pick anyone up from the free agent market - serious profligacy, and a rare case of Gino and Scott not doing their business properly.
Embarrassed yourself by getting cut-off on 5-Live though. I’m BWO for life so I can forgive you - but if you want to get COG’s onside, you’ll need to do better.
They thought they cut me off, but little did they know that I sat in the car and continued ranting to myself for at least another three hours, so I think it's clear I'm the real winner there.
I expect he's got a clause for an extra year if we stay up - and a separate clause to leave on a free if we get relegated.
Tbf, if back then he thought he was too good for Torino, I hope the penny might have dropped that this is something of a last chance saloon given that he's 2 years older and hasn't played a game since May! You'd like to think he'll be grateful for the opportunity and will knuckle down!
Surely the clause to leave if we get relegated is pointless as he would be out of contract anyway! In reality, he will be 32 at the end of the season. Unless he rolls back the years and is unbelievable, I'd still hope we look for a permanent, younger starting CB next summer.
The one year contract probably suits both parties. He's got himself a shop window. If he does well, the contract could be extended or he could walk into another EPL club. He can also walk if we go down too. From the club's POV, he's probably on a decent contract, which can be afforded as it's short term. If we go down then we don't have a big contract to deal with. Plus, he might be past it, so we're not going lumbered with dead wood for too long. Hopefully he'll turn out to be great. We stay up and he enjoys playing for the club, so he's stays for a little longer.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I’m just aware that you have to be a class operator to be a CB beyond 32 at PL level. Obviously we all hope he turns out to be at that level - I guess just years of underinvestment in that area leaves me thinking he could be bang average, 32 and Gino still extends the deal because it’s the easy thing to do and would mean he could go another year ignoring the CB issue. I guess what I’m saying is I still think CB is as much an issue now as it was in the summer. Even if Nkoulou turns out to be brilliant short-term business, I still think it’s a position that needs urgently looking at.
