02 Aug 2024 11:46:52
Mazraoui and De Ligt joint bid in .
02 Aug 2024 11:53:50
Rejected must mean they are confident or close to selling awb and mctom or linder/ maguire.
02 Aug 2024 11:57:16
Where you seeing that mate?
02 Aug 2024 13:35:25
David ornstien had reported it AR.
02 Aug 2024 13:51:49
I can't see Maguire or Lindelof leaving in this window with Yoro out, regardless of whether or not de Ligt comes in.
02 Aug 2024 14:55:26
De ligt makes 0 sense unless both Maguire and lindelof are leaving for me even then I think chalobah would be a better option.
I'd be looking to get a deal done for branthwaite you then have cover for licha and yoro.
Maguire is the same as wan bissaka for me can do a job but changes to style of play to accommodate them making it harder to focus on 1 style this is the key reason we have to move them on.
02 Aug 2024 16:00:53
Chalobah makes a lot of sense to me.
He's a very good homegrown player who can play at CB, RB and CDM, all positions we need strength and depth in.
Maybe the ideal scenario would be signing Branthwaite, Ugarte and Chalobah. That would give us two homegrown players, as well as sufficiently strength in depth in defence and defensive midfield.
02 Aug 2024 16:52:53
We still need a ball player from midfield shappy I'd hope to get something like mazroui (or a similar attacking RB/ LB) zubimendi, ugarte on loan with option/ obligation and then Branthwaite only pushing for chalobah if we can move on Maguire and lindelof.
02 Aug 2024 16:57:00
Dbrooks,
U just can't have Licha, De Ligt, Yoro and Branthwaite, no club in the world has 4 CBs who all want and are all capable of playing first team football. Licha, Yoro and De Ligt/ Branthwaite is great. 3 very good players, plus Maguire, Lindelof and Evans. (One would definitely have to go)
03 Aug 2024 00:49:31
Licha Yoro and de ligt is a licha injury away from terrible, literally the same issue as last season.
I agree 3 is best with older/ younger back ups licha Yoro Branthwaite is perfect Branthwaite covers both sides.
Maguire requires a different style to play him the defence will defend deeper and I think de ligt will have the same issue in the prem.
Chalobah covers multiple positions also so would be a good 4th be cheaper and on a lower wage than de ligt if needed.
If I had a choice let Maguire go keep lindelof lower wage shorter contract and you'll get a smaller fee for him, then have licha Yoro Branthwaite with evans and lindelof as backups, scout for a young CB for next season I'd there isn't one front he youth team ready.
03 Aug 2024 10:25:43
H94,
City do and they haven’t done too badly the last few years.
03 Aug 2024 13:24:32
Not only do they have all those CB but they happily start CL finals with all 4 CB starting.
04 Aug 2024 09:12:47
Man City have 5 top class CB's, yet three of them (Akanji, Ake and Gvardiol) can and often do play at full back. While Stones moonlights as a midfielder.
City are able to keep those players happy due to the very unique way they play and with some squad rotation.
Unless you play with a three at the back system, or start a CB in a fullback position then you will either struggle to keep four top class CB's happy with enough game time, or have to rotate far too much in a position that needs consistency to perform to the highest level.
If we are going to play with a back four consisting of two CB's and two fullbacks then we need 3 top class CB's, and two solid squad options (vitally who suit the way the team look to play and can slot in without having to change the system) .
With Martinez and Yoro now at the club we need one more top class CB, ideally someone who can cover LCB and RCB and is comfortable playing as either the aggressive front foot CB or the calmer sweeper. Whether such a player exists or is attainable is the question.
Personally I think Branthwaite fits that pretty well, whether he is attainable within budget is the question.
We then need a couple of solid squad CB's, Evans looks like an ideal option for one of them, it's then choosing between Maguire and Lindelof as to who should be the other. While Lindelof might be better suited tactical, Maguire has shown good character last season. Ultimately it might come down to what offers we get for either of them.
Either way, whichever one doesn't leave this summer will leave next summer and need replacing, along with Evans. Hopefully we can find a good option in the market next summer as a squad option and maybe one of the academy lads can step up as the other.
04 Aug 2024 11:49:56
60 games a season could easily satisfy:
Yoro, De Ligt, Branthwaite, Martinez.
Yoro and Branthwaite can cover FB.
Chalobah ahead of De Ligt could make sense due to his versatility.
05 Aug 2024 13:07:12
Utd Road, could it though?
City last season played 54 games, Dias made 43 starts (79% of available games), Akanji made 44 starts (81%), Ake made 41 starts (75%), Gvardiol made 39 starts (72%) and Stones (who was injured for a large part of the season) made 25 starts (46%) .
To keep those players happy they tend to need to start around 75% of the time (when fit and able) .
If united play 60 games next season then there are 120 chances to start at CB (assuming we play with a back four) . Roughly each player will want to start 45 games at CB to be in that 75% of available games.
With a maximum possible 160 chances to start at CB between 4 first team CB's you can give three players 45 starts and one player 25 starts.
Which kind of backs up the idea that you want three top quality first choice CB's and one solid squad option along with either an old head or youth player as a 5th choice option to cover for injuries.
While in reality you actually don't want to be regularly rotating players in defence. Statistically every single season the teams that rotate their defence the least also concede the least.
Arsenal conceded the least amount of goals in the league last season with Saliba starting every game, White 35 and Gabriel 34. With LB being the only area with some rotation with Zinchenko starting 20, Tomiyasu 10.
While Gabriel and Saliba started every single game for Arsenal in both the UCL and the FA cup. Highlighting the importance of consistency in defensive selection.
It's not a coincidence that we had the joint second best defensive record in the league during EtH's first season when we had a fairly settled defence with Dalot, Shaw and Martinez all starting over 75% of the games, with Varane starting 68% of them.
While last season Dalot was the only defender to start more than 20 EPL games across the entire squad. With us then dropping down to having the 8th best defensive record in the squad with both Palace and Everton conceding less goals than us.
Ideally we need one more CB good enough to be first choice to come in and compete with Martinez and Yoro. Beyond that we could do with a really solid squad option 4th choice CB who is more suited to how the team want to play to replace Maguire. But that would require both Lindelof and Maguire to leave this summer.