The Skipper

Perfect as Matic's understudy.

Apparently out for just two weeks (15 days) so will still make the WC.

If we buy Shaw now he'll be considered as 'club trained' in three seasons.

Considering Man City won the double this year, a £5m difference is very negligible. If anything, the fact that our brand is only £5m off City despite winning no trophy this year is an achievement in itself.

WhoScored is pretty useful in certain instances but its ratings system vastly suit some players more than others. It's okay to use in an argument but I wouldn't swear religiously by it for example - it has Skrtel, Debuchy, Evra and Curtis Davies as the highest rated back four in the PL, which we all know is completely wrong.

https://twitter.com/Mourinhoesque/status/470811452639809536

Don't forget Ivanovic and Kalas can play as a CB so there would be no point in signing a CB, especially if we get in a good left back - which means Azpi will play in his natural position more often. For fullbacks: Azpi, New LB, Ivanovic, Kalas For CBs: Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Zouma, Kalas. Signing a new CB would be unnecessary.

RR it is then. The price is too good.

If we're bringing Courtois back and keeping Cech then Courtois - Cech - Blackman, If not then Cech - Schwarzer - Blackman will suffice as well.

It's always been 3 pal, just United fans making stuff up again on Twitter.

Not that I agree with him but if you're looking for a "reliable" defender then Vertonghen is a very bad example because he is practically the same type of defender Luiz is.

Which is fair enough - I'm not disagreeing with you on Luiz's inconsistency levels. Far from it. I wholeheartedly agree with you that he has been inconsistent and that has been his main downfall. The whole premise of my argument was to counter the opinion that he's not suited to the PL and that it's more to do with the system - as with any other player; it honestly is just a basic belief I hold. My whole initial point had to do with Luiz finally putting that inconsistency behind him this year which he obviously didn't - in fact he regressed even; and I tried to point out reasons why he didn't - i.e. having no real summer break, no pre season, coming back injured, lacking match sharpness and JT + Cahill both just picking up form greatly and staying fit for the majority of it... Again, it's hard to say whether or not he'd win a lot at City, Arsenal or Pool - that seriously isn't quantifiable just by how he would performed in those teams to begin with... There are obviously a lot of other factors that affect that and it's pretty far away from the main discussion here.Arsenal and Pool as we both know have very naive managers so City would actually be a great example - they are attack first but are still quite responsible at the back as their manager isn't as naive as the other two mentioned - he can slightly switch it up and shut it down if they need to. They implement an attacking system in the right way unlike Arsenal or Liverpool so City's system for example would've been great for Luiz. Luiz - Kompany would be a very impressive partnership if both are fully fit and on form (with form comes confidence and consistency). The discussion isn't about whether Luiz can be part of a team that can attain domestic success in England, we can't really discuss that as there are a whole lot of other variables that affect that. You think Luiz can't be a reliable defender and have brought valid points to back that up but at the same time I think he can be in the right system where he's given a consistent run in - regardless of what country he's playing in. Luiz nor myself probably won't change your mind on that because the conditions to see who's right or wrong doesn't even exist and most likely never will (considering he's now in France) so it's probably best we agree to disagree mate .

Agreed. I was saying the exact same thing - he saves that easily if he moved his feet. It's an easy save that way and he still gives Atletico some sort of hope for the rest of extra time.

Modric, Di Maria and Ramos (especially Sergio) we're exceptional. Never seen Ramos play this well, he was vital to almost everything they did and won so many balls back for Madrid and he was the key reason they kept on the pressure. World class performance from Sergio. Congrats Madrid.

Ramos has been unreal.

I agree with her and I'm not Brazilian. 3-4 mental lapses a game is just completely overstating it, you're pretending that's the case. Brazil have the best back four in the world. T. Silva and Luiz are outstanding together so it isn't really an outrageous thing to say.

Tadic is predominantly a winger and plays in the Eredivisie. He's certainly above that level but he's not on Pogba's level at all.

Fair enough, that's a valid concern but I think as Pogba matures we'll see less of that - plus with Mourinho as manager it won't be as big of a problem. He's more than manageable in that aspect. He might be slightly arrogant with his belief in his own abilities but it's sort of justifiable - he is a very good player after all and does have the potential to be THE best in his position. I'm willing to overlook it as long as he produces which I'm certain he will do.

He surely does have a certain arrogance to his game but I'm not sure you can compare him to Balotelli in that aspect. Balotelli's mental problems are far bigger than that... That has more to do with him believing in his own abilities. It can definitely be managed by Mourinho because Paul's a very hard worker and doesn't lazy about like Balo does. Paul's attitude is much better than Balo's simply because he's more of a model professional than Mario.

They would definitely prefer to but I don't think clubs are after him - Pogba is the one that is attracting interest and they'd also get a very sizeable fee for him if they were to sell him on - so it's not really about who they'd prefer to sell.

They can afford to lose Pogba because they've got a great player to replace him already in Marchisio. I'm pretty sure they'd be thinking hard about an offer in the region of £35m.

They are, and Azpi has been better than Shaw this season but that doesn't mean Shaw is only in there because he's English. He's actually had a really good season, and is definitely one of the best LBs in the league already, so it really isn't that outrageous.

So the likes of Neville and other pundits don't watch football?

Emenalo is a guy a lot of people used to slate but ever since he's come in we've done extremely well with our transfers. The majority of the players that we signed have mostly increased in value - that alone should tell you how wonderful the board and him have done since his appointment. A lot of credit has to go to him. Now, with Mourinho here we'll be able to attract even more players because of his prestige as a manager. Him and Emanalo are going to make a good team. I trust them to get it right this summer - because if they do, we'll have the right squad to dominate for years. Costa, a world class CM and a top LB and we're done.