OneMoSalah

Sancho isnt on Mbappes level. Not at all for me. I think Mbappe has already established himself as a world class player. He was absolutely vital in dragging France to a world cup win aged 19 and for me that is as big a sign of being world class as anything these days. Considering the players that France side had too, Mbappe was the deciding factor in a some of the bigger games - Argentina and Croatia particularly. Throw in his performances in the CL as well as throughout the season Monaco won Ligue 1 (aged 18 he scored 26 goals in 44 games across that season) and then what he has done for PSG in terms of his performances and goals to games ratio since then at such a young age (84 goals for PSG in 115 games), I think its fair to say Sancho hasnt scratched the surface of what Mbappe has done already in his short career (Mbappe has won and been a key part of the sides, winning 3 Ligue 1 titles, 1 World Cup and 3 Domestic trophies already in 5 seasons as a professional). I think Mbappe will hands down be the best footballer of his generation and at this rate, he could do so virtually unopposed because I dont see any outstanding candidates at present who could compete or go past him. Not even Sancho, who I think does have a big future in the game, will reach the same level if Mbappes career continues at this trajectory. I think if he ever moves he will eclipse Neymars fee.

Sorry but did you see Ziyechs performances last season and this season in CL? Different player to Sancho but I dont think Sancho has replicated anything like some of his Bundesliga games in the CL against bigger teams either. Could be wrong but again didnt Dortmund crash out in last 16 losing 5-0 v Spurs? Wouldny say Sancho is an superior player to Ziyech and not to the degree your making out.

Still doubt we will get Sancho regardless even more so if Barkley and Willian stay. Ziyech hopefully plays centrally but if Lampard persists with Mason and developing him he will play Ziyech wider.

I hope we never play without a CF ever again. It doesnt work sustainably in the longrun unless you have Messi in that false 9 role and that has been proven for years now based on Peps and Germany's attempts to recreate it with Gotze to us here with Eden and various others at other clubs. I still remember when Man City played James Milner as a false 9 under Pellegrini, what the fuck was that cunt smoking?

I think back 3 could be an option. Even more so based on the previous game v Spurs. Maybe not but I think it might help us tighten up a bit. Kepa Azpi Rudiger Tomori James Kovacic Jorginho Emerson Willian Giroud (hopefully) Mount/Callum

Not neccessarily. Dealing with Porto and Benfica is never easy though either. Image rights, agencies/other clubs owning percentages of rights etc too. Im not totally against signing Chillwell if the price is not over the top. 50m max maybe. As hes young and English you have to pay a bit more but he has huge potential to grow as well. He is good, maybe not at the level that fee warrants but a long term investment at LB isnt necessarily a bad thing.

As much as I have respect for FLs legacy as a player he has to get the top 4 or he will be out in my opinion. Mauricio Pochettino and Max Allegri are sitting there unemployed for fuck sake. He isnt invincible. Also if Simeone came here it wouldnt be as bad as many expect. His record at Atletico is pretty much excellent and his development of younger players as well such as Koke, Saul, Gimenez, Oblak, Courtois, Rodri, Thomas among others as well as bringing the likes of Falcao, Griezmann, Turan, Godin, Filipe Luis, Costa etc onto better levels is a testament to the sort of manager he is. This season Atletico are maybe in a bit of limbo, they arent sure if he will stay or go but one or two seasons after what 8 at the club? Can hardly discredit what hes done. Theyve only lost 41 league games since the 2012/13 season. Plus we wouldnt be a soft touch with Simeone in charge either. Not saying it would happen think the club would prioritise Allegri or Pochettino ahead of him if they decided to make a change but he would be a viable option if they didnt want to come here. Still think FL can maybe pull it back a bit with the bigger games but he has to take responsibility for underwhelmingly selection Batshuayi ahead of Giroud tonight and also seeming to have discarded Giroud as worthless since after the Super Cup match as well as other selection issues and tactical things. I am worried though.

Frank has marginalised him for no reason other than this own stupidity this season. What was he thinking? Batshuayi? Really? I have been mentioning Giroud not playing for ages and when he eventually does take him on he looks capable of altering the game.

Another shite result. Regardless of performances the results in big matches this season have been awful. Yes we beat Jose's Spurs but that was one game. Top 4 place is starting to become more and more open and with City potentially missing out we are not in a good place. Also whoever wrote that Sarri has shortened Kantes career, fuck off, really? Is it Sarri's fault that Kepa has regressed? Or that Kante, Rudiger and Emerson also picked up injuries after beung rushed back earlier in the season? Theres only one man who could possibly be blamed for these reoccuring injuries and his name is Frank Lampard. Mentioned it earlier in the season with those 3 and some people out it down to pot luck, I think theres a more underlying problem.

Missed this post when you replied. Not sure how I did but I did. I am not 100% sold on 25 not being young for a GK because in terms of their playing careers they can still play at the top level to they are late 30s compared to outfield players bar the exceptions who seem to decline before their mid 30s. Other than Neuer, Courtois, de Gea, Oblak, Alisson, Lloris and ter Stegen in recent times I havent thought of many world class GKs by the time they are 25 in the last 10 years for say, probably missed a few, would say Cech as well is definitely in there but he would been older, again, wouldnt say there are lots and lots of them. Ederson could be in there too but I have seen some issues in some games hes played where he has conceded some goals youd expect him to save. Yes Cech and Casillas regressed but again those 2 had been at the very very top for close to 15 years at least and that consistency is difficult to maintain for a lot of players regardless of position never mind throwing in injuries over time too. Buffon who is now 42, few years ago before going to PSG, he was still putting in very impressive performances in the CL in for Juventus the year they made the final and the season afterwards. Even Neuer who was outstanding for Schalke and Bayern over a period, had a bad injury and people thought he was finished when he still has plenty of life left in him. I still have huge faith in Kepa, it just takes a string of matches where he plays good to come out of this slump. Just as it does with any player and starting with the United game tonight, who knows? I mean look at the developement of Woijech Szczesny, he is now a very good GK imo and it took him until he was maybe 26 before he ironed out huge flaws and became a very very reliable GK in Serie A. Keylor Navas went to Madrid aged 27 or 28 and Claudio Bravo particularly had a late resurgence to the top level as well when he went to Barca probably in his 30s. Alisson also didnt become very well renowned as a GK in Europe until 2017 as well. He would of been 25 or 26. Samir Handanovic only got real recognition as a geniune top level GK when he was around 27 or 28 as well around Europe. They may decline earlier but it depends on different circumstances, I dont think the majority of world class GKs are established as world class by 25 though. As I mentioned I maybe missed a few in that list but in the last 10 years particularly I cant think of many GKs who had it all by age 25 bar the Oblaks, de Geas, Courtois, Ter Stegens, Neuers etc.

All these clubs, even the likes of Ajax, have to adapt at somepoint and keep up by investing in youngsters from other clubs that may be seen as someone with outstanding talent as opposed to usual traditions. Their academy is brilliant, no doubts, but for someone like van Basten to slam Ajax over one signing it seems like bitterness more than anything. I mean its hardly as if theyve shut ther academy for this guy is it? Or shunned someone from it for this guy? Ziyech was arguably the key to their team, sometimes you cant replace that with an academy player and get the same results straight away. As I expect we will see at Man City when David Silva goes at the end of the season and Pep either uses Bernardo Silva in that position, shunning Phil Foden as his successor as he keeps calling him or signs another 8/10 and keeps Silva outwide, again shunning Foden. Again would Ajax have spent 30m euros if they had a player of that quality in that position in their academy? I doubt it really. Because the nature of how they are run is they buy/promote players and make a profit off them I wouldnt be surprised if this guy is maybe someone who could be a replacement for Neres who has been talked about a lot the past 18 months or even Ryan Babel who is there on loan more as opposed to Ziyech as well. Also if your at a club who loses de Ligt, de Jong and Ziyech in 2 seasons I think you can be entitled to spending a bit more on one or two players and not be criticised for it..

Wouldnt be surprised if FL goes for Kepa, Azpi/James Rudiger Tomori Emerson, Kante Jorginho Kovacic, Willian Tammy Callum/Mount.

Lets be realisitic, Kepa and Pulisic are going nowhere. This isnt FIFA or FM where you can sell somebody with ease 1 or 1 and a half years after buying them. We arent selling Jorginho either. That would be stupid. Even if his agent has said that about Juventus and other proposals I wouldnt be surprised if its a ploy for a new deal. Selling 3 of our most expensive signings in one window, what have you been smoking?

You must of not watched Kepa or any of our games last season then.... hes had a bad half a season but last season he was pretty good which nobody seems to mention. Hes hardly too average at everything, hes regressed but theres been talk of new GK coaches for a while now and when Sarri left the one on his staff also left. If we sign a new GK but the GK coaching behind the scenes isnt pushing or improving the GK then it will be same again. Onana, although a pretty decent GK, seems to be flavour of the month but I really have my doubts whether he is a major improvement on Kepa or not.

But his last season here there were lots on here saying he was average and costing us matches...... particularly in the CL. Thats why I compared him to Kepa right now. Courtois is a world class keeper though and he has shown again this season after a difficult start at Madrid how good he really is. It just shows how fickle fanbases are and thats what I meant regarding Kepa who was ranked as better than Courtois by fans here last season....

Has been very much outstanding this season for Real. Back to his best.

Again, just seems like over complication to me. If we are that desperate for 20 or 30m okay, but we are hardly skint I mean it seems like a lot of fucking about. Hes a half decent player but hes hardly an improvement on anything we have so I dont see what the big fuss is about. I mean I doubt Barcelona were genuienly interested in him and I doubt he would play here regularly if we signed him as well. I mean he strikes me as someone like Andre Schurrle, a lot of hype st a smaller club but in reality, average.

While I dont quite think we should go for Boga, who I always feel has been slightly overrated from his time here as a youth player even to now with all the so called experts acting as if they watch Sassuolo every week and as if he is head and shoulders above a lot of guys in the same position (there are much better players) in Serie A and anything we currently have, it strikes me as a waste of time and just a huge over complication signing him to sell on again. Firstly, moves can fall through for whatever reasons. Then ultimately your left with a player youve signed only as a money making scheme on the wage bill. If we want him to play, okay use the clause, that makes sense but if he wont play, just let Sassuolo sell him if he is going to be an asset to another club. For the sake of a club of our size and financial stability trying to go through buy back loopholes to gain an addition 10m or 20m, it seems like overkill. Even more so if he did come to be resold, the move ended up collapsing or not happening as this reported interest from Napoli is just bullshit like a lot of rumors then we probably add another player to the scrapheap of loan players with no immediate or long term future at the club. Even then, the player might not want to come here, he might not want to be fucked about, coming here being resold etc. Or even if he was to play, as weve seen with Lukaku (who I know wasnt a buy back clause but similar case in my view) and might yet see with Nathan Ake, he might rather go somewhere else, having already been at Chelsea and didnt quite happen so theres that to consider too. Think it would be hugely arrogant to just assume that he will be willing to return here at all, yet alone only to be sold on. I think the only real case of that I have seen is with Morata going from Madrid to Juventus to Madrid again because there was a lot of rumors they would sell him after resigning him? But even then he ended up being played at Real afterwards before moving here because he wasnt their first choice but at least he played and wasnt just a quick cash gain move (although they did make a profit when they sold him to us, like 25m at least excluding add ons but that was because their buyback clause was 30m euros).

Doubt he will want to play in League 2 anyway.

Not just Kante, Emerson and Rudiger also. Hopefully win this game but our record in big games and against United in particular has been very poor recently.

If they dont get in the CL next season because of this and we somehow fuck it up, serious questions will have to be asked. Even with the whole FL we are underdogs for top 4 finish comment because before that we looked reasonably secure before we dropped silly points in silly games. Thats the harsh reality. Because I would think that it means 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th would then get the CL spots it City dont get it, right?

Like Zidane at Real, Sarri is lucky he can count on Ronaldo when they play poorly. Juventus are a top team with a good squad but the likes of Pjanic, Costa, Ronaldo, Higuain, Matuidi, Khedira, Bonucci, Chiellini, Cuadrado are older and cannot play every game every week like Sarri seems to prefer doing with his preferred 11 at every club. Not using Can (loaned out to Dortmund now so not an option), Manduzkic (gone now as well), Rugani, Ramsey more frequently earlier/in the run to the finish of the season could go against him. I think theyll turn it round even under Allegri they had spells where they scraped games after running out of steam. Be interesting to see what he does in the market in the summer if he stays on. Because other than Bernadesci, Dybala, Deminal Rabiot, de Ligt and Bentancur they have an older squad that regardless of manager, needs some refreshing eventually.

Every game for Scotland u21s Ive seen him in live or on the tele he has been hands down our best player (which may not seem much to some folk) so I dont see how he looked ordinary to anybody. If he were English or Spanish or French or whatever theyd be raving about him 10 times more. I honestly think he will be just as good as Mount if not better. Mount is just ahead of him in his development because he had the 2 loan moves before playing regularly. Different players but Billy's technique and footballing intelligence is probably better as well.

Good young English GK. I think hes actually better than Pickford but no way United sell him to us. Hes made a few mistakes this season though and I am unsure if he would be an improvement on Kepa, probably not, Kepa having a bad season but think he will still be here in the long run as he is a good GK with huge potential.

more if he was called James Maddison.