Houssem Aouar

[BlueLyon 9,359]

What? 

Yes Fekir has suspectible knees, but his last 3 seasons were absolutely amazing.

Also Id rather have Guimares and Aouar than Rice and Havertz. Would make us 10x more balanced.

[Vesper 27,272]

12 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

What? 

Yes Fekir has suspectible knees, but his last 3 seasons were absolutely amazing.

Also Id rather have Guimares and Aouar than Rice and Havertz. Would make us 10x more balanced.

Havertz is a very different style of player than Aouar

they deffo could both start and would never be competing for the same position on the pitch, especially if Havertz plays on the wing or as a SS or as a double 9 or even a false 9

tbh, the same could even be partially said for Rice and Bruno and obviously if Rice ends up at CB

that said, Rice and Bruno in a double pivot would be frightful, and due to age, I think he might be a better buy than Thomas, as AM no longer seem to be giving an inch on Partey's price

alllllllllll that said, good luck ripping away both Bruno and Aouar from Lyon, especially if they pull off the impossible and win the CL

I could see them demanding £140-150m for the pair

[BlueLyon 9,359]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

Havertz is a very different style of player than Aouar

they deffo could both start and would never be competing for the same position on the pitch, especially if Havertz plays on the wing or as a SS or as a double 9 or even a false 9

tbh, the same could even be partially said for Rice and Bruno and obviously if Rice ends up at CB

that said, Rice and Bruno in a double pivot would be frightful, and due to age, I think he might be a better buy than Thomas, as AM no longer seem to be giving an inch on Partey's price

alllllllllll that said, good luck ripping away both Bruno and Aouar from Lyon, especially if they pull off the impossible and win the CL

I could see them demanding £140-150m for the pair

Rice and Haverz would cost 160m too, so there isnt much difference.

I know they dont play same position, but for me its more important to have a solid midfielder who is good under pressure, mobile and can move forward than another AM like Kai.

If we put defence on pause, because all 5 could or should be replaced, but thats impossible, Id prefer

Kante-Guimares-Aouar

Ziyech-Werner-Puli 

Plus there is CHO who I still think could be a top player if he gets regular playtime. And we have Kovacic, Mount, RLC for rotation. 

Kai is simply an overkill to me. Super talent indeed. Maybe will regret if we dont buy him. But with him, our offense goes from great to amazing. We already scored plenty of goals even without Werner and Ziyech, without fullyfit Puli and CHO will get better and better as will Tammy and Mount. Regardless we should be bossing attack next season. So Kai is just that extra IMO. 

But our midfield with Kai is still shit. Kante doesnt fit his current teammates, so that needs a change because he is still great player and you cant find his type elsewhere. Kovacic is extremely limited. Yes he keeps the ball, but in 70% games, he is just static and doesnt push forward. Without Kai, we can adress that and buy someone who does like Aouar/Thiago etc. 

As for Rice or Guimares, both will cost around the same, they are big talents, but right now there is no doubt Bruno is the better player. And Lyon without CL next season (unless they win it😁), they will have to sell a few. WHU will hope to hold on Rice forever which will force us to panic buys.

If we talk about defense, I honestly dont belive James and Chilwell will be good enough to form elite fullback pairing. Zouma or Tomori could maybe work next to a great CB. Kepa needs replacing with Onana or someone. 

Thats alot of upgrades and it can be done in around 2/3 summers. But not if we go and spend 80m on extra Kai and 65m on Chilwell etc.

[Vesper 27,272]

7 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

Rice and Haverz would cost 160m too, so there isnt much difference.

I know they dont play same position, but for me its more important to have a solid midfielder who is good under pressure, mobile and can move forward than another AM like Kai.

If we put defence on pause, because all 5 could or should be replaced, but thats impossible, Id prefer

Kante-Guimares-Aouar

Ziyech-Werner-Puli 

Plus there is CHO who I still think could be a top player if he gets regular playtime. And we have Kovacic, Mount, RLC for rotation. 

Kai is simply an overkill to me. Super talent indeed. Maybe will regret if we dont buy him. But with him, our offense goes from great to amazing. We already scored plenty of goals even without Werner and Ziyech, without fullyfit Puli and CHO will get better and better as will Tammy and Mount. Regardless we should be bossing attack next season. So Kai is just that extra IMO. 

But our midfield with Kai is still shit. Kante doesnt fit his current teammates, so that needs a change because he is still great player and you cant find his type elsewhere. Kovacic is extremely limited. Yes he keeps the ball, but in 70% games, he is just static and doesnt push forward. Without Kai, we can adress that and buy someone who does like Aouar/Thiago etc. 

As for Rice or Guimares, both will cost around the same, they are big talents, but right now there is no doubt Bruno is the better player. And Lyon without CL next season (unless they win it😁), they will have to sell a few. WHU will hope to hold on Rice forever which will force us to panic buys.

If we talk about defense, I honestly dont belive James and Chilwell will be good enough to form elite fullback pairing. Zouma or Tomori could maybe work next to a great CB. Kepa needs replacing with Onana or someone. 

Thats alot of upgrades and it can be done in around 2/3 summers. But not if we go and spend 80m on extra Kai and 65m on Chilwell etc.

lots to digest

number one, I want Kante cashed in on, gone, he is already massively devaluing, and is now very injuring prone and doesn't fit our tactical schemes unless you pair him with Rice or some other rock sold trad DMF in a  double pivot. Bruno is not that type of player I fear.

I know my Kante stance earns me a lot of stick on here, but I truly think I will be proved right, unless we do use him in a double pivot, and that means we must buy a beast trad DMF. If Lamps rams him in again at RMF plus we buy no DMF, and we fail on Havertz, I predict DOOM. I really do. Jorginho is so not the answer there. Pair him with Kante in a double pivot all season and we are going to be lucky to get CL next season, especially if we fail on Havertz and do fuckall at winger (see below) And that is even assuming we bag a great CB and a new GK. Our MF with a rammed in Kante played out of position is courting disaster, especially when he goes down with yet another injury. In that 3 man midfield you listed, Kante will end up back as the base holder I fear, and he is simply not at his best there either. Perhaps a double pivot of Bruno and him might work, but again, I would prefer Rice. Rice IS capable, more than capable of being that base DMF, and would be an upgrade over Kante there, as he is more technical and a better passer, plus has the discipline to sit and hold, something I am not convinced Bruno is going to do

Number 2 zero chance we are going to buy Thiago, he is dead money (turns 30yo in early spring) at his age and we are not Victimpool, who are just in depth replenishment and tinker mode.

Also, IF we do get Havertz, he is going to play at striker or SS in more than a few games

Aouar is not capable of that

I am NOT at all arguing against Aouar, I think he is the best 22yo and under CMF on the planet, in fact, taking into account all age groups, the only players I rate over him at CMF are Saul, Verratti, de Jong and Pogba. He is streets ahead of Kovacic there.

Do not agree at all, however, that Bruno is a better trad DMF than Rice. Also Rice can play CB.

As for winger, Willian is gone, and we are down to only 3 true wingers, and one is strictly a RWer (Ziyech, who also can play AMF)

CHO and Puli are injury prone, and both are better on the LW than the RW,

Havertz is a natural RWer (versus LWer) when he plays on the wing, should we not have Ziyech there, Ziyech is very slight of frame, we surely cannot expect him to play 55 games a year, especially after getting tossed into the EPL thugball meat-grinder

I absolutely do NOT rate RLC, or Mount or Barkley as legit RWers, and hopefully Barkley is soon gone anyway

I am not a Chilwell fan, Reguilon is a better player, and far cheaper, but apparently RM only will sell with a  buyback clause, which is not going to work

if Reece doesn't become as good as most all think he will, then that is yet another position that we are screwed in, as Azpi is pretty done as a high level player in a couple years

I still never have had anyone give a good explanation as to why Tomori simply was disappeared by Lampard

that is highly worrisome IMHO

finally I deffo rate Rudiger over Zouma, all day, all night

I think he will come good again, but obviously we need a strong new CB as well

if all this takes 3 years to do, Lampard will be well sacked by then

if we completely cock-up the rest of the window, meaning no more signings at all of any import, he will be sacked before season's end, even with Ziyech and Werner

the team is too fucked in too many other places to make it work

I doubt we sign zero more, but if we do cunt it up that badly, then bye bye Lamps coming season's end

[kellzfresh 7,226]

I'd love this guy here. I'm absolutely convinced that he'll be a top player for us if he comes here.