Axel Witsel

[Stingray 9,441]

Ok, lets do this! [emoji7]

[stroey 2,525]

Come on Roman, do it!. I want to see it in blue.

And both are now in their prime...

Just waiting for Rob Beasley to mention Witsel and start with ''No matter what you hear, no matter what you read..'' to be again

[Strike 7,250]

I am digging this signing. Witsel- Matic- Fabregas in the big games

Although I (and I imagine most others on the forum) are judging him based on his Belgium games and his Benfica days. I hope he hasn't dropped off from those levels

AC Milan News ‏@Milanello 4 hours ago
Chelsea are ready to offer €34m for Axel Witsel, according to Corriere dello Sport.
Milan have also been linked with the midfielder.

Is Corriere dello Sport reliable?

Sadly no.

[Sovieticus 743]

Wait, what happen to Aranguiz? Thought he would be prioritised above Witsel.

Who? I can only hear Witsel

[Hostedenis 556]

[supporter 3,088]

I would like to see both (Witsel and Aranguiz) WITH us. Witsel as replacement for Matic, and Aranguiz as replacement for Fabregas, and among them two (Wistel and Aranguiz) fighting for third place in our midfield each match when Fabregas and Matic are on our starting eleven.

Witsel to the difficult matches and to play away from the Bridge. And Aranguiz for home games or easy games. This at least initially while Aranguiz adapts to European rhythm.

It would be a perfect solution for us to reach the end of the season with enough fuel to fight for all the trophies (as far as possible in each trophy).

Witsel Matic

or Aranguiz or Witsel (as a wildcard)

Fabregas

Or Aranguiz or Oscar

Willian Hazard

or Oscar or Willian (only for emergencies)

Diego Costa

Falcao

Problems.

1. We have to assume it, Jose will never sell Mikel.

2. Where Ramires and RLC would fit into our puzzle. For me both are untouchables.

3. If we signed him both that would greatly complicate the future of RLC this season...

Regards.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

I like this avatar! every time i see him, the player sign after a few days!

[stroey 2,525]

I would like to see both (Witsel and Aranguiz) WITH us. Witsel as replacement for Matic, and Aranguiz as replacement for Fabregas, and among them two (Wistel and Aranguiz) fighting for third place in our midfield each match when Fabregas and Matic are on our starting eleven.

Witsel to the difficult matches and to play away from the Bridge. And Aranguiz for home games or easy games. This at least initially while Aranguiz adapts to European rhythm.

It would be a perfect solution for us to reach the end of the season with enough fuel to fight for all the trophies (as far as possible in each trophy).

Witsel Matic

or Aranguiz or Witsel (as a wildcard)

Fabregas

Or Aranguiz or Oscar

Willian Hazard

or Oscar or Willian (only for emergencies)

Diego Costa

Falcao

Problems.

1. We have to assume it, Jose will never sell Mikel.

2. Where Ramires and RLC would fit into our puzzle. For me both are untouchables.

3. If we signed him both that would greatly complicate the future of RLC this season...

Regards.

Hi Friend,

Both of them would be like a double Christmas gift, but like you mentioned it's hardly thinkable.

I don't agree on this point:

''We have to assume it, Jose will never sell Mikel.''

At the latest part of the season, when Zouma and Mikel were both on the bench, he brought in Zouma earlier than Mikel every time.

It was like the lock around 80th minute was Zouma, and then final 3-4 minutes was Mikel. Plus Zouma started to man-mark Fellaini while Mikel was also available. I had the feeling from that moment, that Mikel will be sold cause he dropped in the rankings. Yes he was coming back from an injury, but Jose always picks his #1 options whenever they are possible. For example: unfit Ramires played on RW vs Liverpool, or often the unfit Diego Costa started as striker, or Cesc playing while just coming back from an injury. The #1 lock was Mikel, but at the end of the season it was clearly Zouma. So I believe we will soon say goodbye to Mikel.

The problem with having both Aranguiz and Wistel is, how do we give minutes to RLC?

CM: Aranguiz, RLC, Ramires, Cesc,

CDM: Witsel, Matic

That's actually one too much but I'd be really happy with both.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

what are his strengths/weakeness?

Honestly only watched him play couple of times.

[Fernando 6,484]

I like this buy if it's true.

However he will need half a season to get his game like Willian.

Needs to adjust from the lower league level that is Russia to hear.

So don't expect him to be any good for the first couple of months.

[supporter 3,088]

Hi Friend,

Both of them would be like a double Christmas gift, but like you mentioned it's hardly thinkable.

I don't agree on this point:

''We have to assume it, Jose will never sell Mikel.''

At the latest part of the season, when Zouma and Mikel were both on the bench, he brought in Zouma earlier than Mikel every time.

It was like the lock around 80th minute was Zouma, and then final 3-4 minutes was Mikel. Plus Zouma started to man-mark Fellaini while Mikel was also available. I had the feeling from that moment, that Mikel will be sold cause he dropped in the rankings. Yes he was coming back from an injury, but Jose always picks his #1 options whenever they are possible. For example: unfit Ramires played on RW vs Liverpool, or often the unfit Diego Costa started as striker, or Cesc playing while just coming back from an injury. The #1 lock was Mikel, but at the end of the season it was clearly Zouma. So I believe we will soon say goodbye to Mikel.

The problem with having both Aranguiz and Wistel is, how do we give minutes to RLC?

CM: Aranguiz, RLC, Ramires, Cesc,

CDM: Witsel, Matic

That's actually one too much but I'd be really happy with both.

Hi friend!

Totally agree with you. In addition, if we signed him John Stones this summer, we would not need Mikel. It would be totally unnecessary because we may use Zouma in midfield without any kind of problem.

It is true that last season Jose bet on Zouma ahead of Mikel. So I do not understand how we have not sold Mikel yet.

Maybe Jose is waiting to close the signings of Witsel and someone like Aranguiz to sell Mikel. And that would be great news for us.

About RLC I think he would be without space if we signed both (Aranguiz and Witsel) but it is also true that Jose trust him and surely these signings would motivate him to fight for a place in our starting eleven. To me RLC is ahead of Oscar, for example, and I hope Jose thinks so.

Another possibility is to play with no pure right-winger and play with four midfielders constantly rotating their positions as we played at the start of last season and even the end of the season, as does the Barcelona and Their tiki-taka. I believe that modern football is won from midfield, especially in the Champions League. Maybe that could be a good option.

Regards.

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

We could actually go full PEP mode and try something like this

Iva Zouma. Azpi

matic. Witsel

Oscar. Cesc

William. Costa. Hazard

Not sure about which cbs but now I understand why pep has like 11 midfielders + 2 fbs playing there. The amount of running they have to do surely requires a lot of rotation. Did I say rotation? Yeah then it is a big no for mou

[Oscar 441]

YES NO MIKEL!

[Oscar 441]

All this nonsense I've been reading about how United has the best midfield now.......

When they don't even have the best midfield in manchester.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

This guy is a bit of an unknown player, I doubt anyone here have seen him live more than 5 times including myself. However for 35m euros I would certainly hope he is good as that is the type of fee you pay for someone that is in top 10 in the world in their position. Can't really go off statistic and highlight either because he is a CDM and not an attacking mid.

Lets just hope he turns out to be a Willian/Matic and not Afonso Alves/Zhurkov

[Miguelito 459]

This guy is a bit of an unknown player, I doubt anyone here have seen him live more than 5 times including myself. However for 35m euros I would certainly hope he is good as that is the type of fee you pay for someone that is in top 10 in the world in their position. Can't really go off statistic and highlight either because he is a CDM and not an attacking mid.

Lets just hope he turns out to be a Willian/Matic and not Afonso Alves/Zhurkov

Actually I would bet there are a ton of people on here that have seen him more than 5 times, myself included. Now I have not seen many of his club games since he's gone to Russia, but have watched him plenty of times for Benfica and the Belgian NT. (by the way, there are a lot of Belgian members on this forum, so I don't understand why you would think anybody would have seen him play)

And just to let you know, he's not really a defensive mid. Much more of a box to box of sorts. He can do a job at defensive mid, but he is better when he has a little more freedom.

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

All this nonsense I've been reading about how United has the best midfield now.......

When they don't even have the best midfield in manchester.

Who in City's midfield par Toure would get into uniteds team. Fernadindo aka poor mans ramires(Yes even ramires has one) or Fernadado aka Brazilian Mikel

[Oscar 441]

Who in City's midfield par Toure would get into uniteds team. Fernadindo aka poor mans ramires(Yes even ramires has one) or Fernadado aka Brazilian Mikel

Yaya and Fernandinho....Fernando as well.

Nasri in a midfield 3.

All 4 of them actually over carrick, herrera, and the southampton fella.

Watching the game yesterday, even though it was preseason, their midfield sucked against club america...