Sky linking us with Chelsea youth product and FC Volendam defender Xavier Mbuyama. Would be an excellent signing.
In time honoured fashion, I've gone from never having heard of this guy to deciding he's our saviour on the basis of one highlights video. He's bloody massive, a menace in the opposition box, loves a last gasp slide tackle using his telescopic legs and doesn't treat the ball like a live hand grenade. I'm in.
I’m really impressed with the players we are being linked with at this stage. Being linked is one thing but signing them is a totally different ball game. However, it’s very encouraging nonetheless.
Genuine question and please don't take this the wrong way but how do you know he's any good? I've never even heard of him or the team he plays for and I can't imagine you've seen a lot of FC Voldemort so is it just stats based?
It’s a few things. Had a very good reputation at Chelsea and Barcelona (he joined Volendam last year). Has been linked with Ajax and other big Dutch teams. Has been an ever present in his first senior season. And his stats on fbref look decent too. But yes, you’re right, I’m assuming he is good based on his reputation and stats. Never watched him play.
This forum has ****ed my brain. Spent 3 minutes trying to work out what the pun was here. Have he a um buyer? No that doesn't make sense. FC Roll Em Down? What? Should have just scrolled down.
Let's mbuy him! But on a more serious note, having watched had a watch of some Volendam highlights while he seems to have a decent amount of potential I'm not entirely convinced. He seems good in the air and a big threat from attacking set-pieces, but he currently seems hugely error-prone, is hit-and-miss with his passing and seens to have some of the worst traits of Porteous and Hoedt combined defensively - the training cone-esque lack of agility of Hoedt and the clumsy clearances to the opposition of Porteous. Maybe playing in a back 3 would partly help to cover those deficiencies, but I think he'd be a liability in a high line as he's slow and currently lacks concentration. Aspects of his game could improve with time of course, but we'd be compounding an already error-prone back line next season having him alongside the likes of Hoedt, Porteous and Andrews. On an additional note, I saw Celtic are the other club Sky claim are watching him. If we're looking at players in the Eredivisie, one player I'd really like us to sign, albeit who could be out of reach, is the 23 year-old striker Douvikas at Utrecht. He's rapid, probably shows up quite well on pressing stats, and generally seems ready-made to thrive in the Championship. Celtic also happen to be the club currently linked the most with him.
It's amusing that his highlights include a last-ditch tackle at 1:00 where he didn't get the ball and was sent off for (vs Feyenoord). To further temper some of your excitement, watch him with the ball at 1:10 here: And his two attempted passes here at 2:50 : It's understandable given that he's still young for a Centre-Back, but I've spent the last hour watching highlights of Volendam games and he seems to currently make at least 3 terrible errors per game which we'd castigate any of our current CBs for making one of. He could have real potential, but he'd be the kind of signing you'd have to accept some short-term drop in performances and potentially game costing mistakes while getting there; similar to where Andrews is currently.
Weren't you saying just the other week that when an article says a club is looking at someone it basically means they're already on their way?!?! (jk jk, I know you corrected your post eventually)
It was a light hearted post. I obviously don't think you can judge a player on a five minute YouTube video.
I am aware your post was light-hearted, but given that I was also watching highlights of him at the time your post was written I thought it reasonable to add some of my additional observations to the back end of it. I'd have posted those clips at some point anyway.
Stats aren't amazingly convincing, but always worth taking CB stats with a pinch of salt as it's often a hard position to evaluate with data alone.
Always concerning when people on here start hyping up a player as they usually turn out to be a bit shyte based on the forum track record.
Well those pass adjusted tackles and interceptions stats, combined with his turnover and pass completion rate, just supports my comments above based on watching Volendam highlights that he's practically a training cone when defending and he often gives the ball away to the opposition in dangerous areas. He might have potential, but I think in the short term he'd cost us more goals than we even currently give away.
Even if we don’t sign him it’s encouraging we are being linked with this profile of player with Ubenga in charge of our transfers.
