Asier Illaramendi

[3sphinx 18]

We have Oriol who's 22 and Chalobah who's 20 (and Josh who is 21). We can't always be the spoiled brats who throw away yesterday's toys whenever we see a new shinny toy in the hands of someone else..

Well, Romeu is 21, Josh is 20 and Chalobah is 18. I'm not saying that we must buy Illaramendi, but we should not hold back from buying good players because we are holding out on the possibility that our youth might become the players we wish them to be. It's like saying we shouldn't have bought Hazard or Moses because we had Piazon.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

oriol is 21 and always injured , chalobah is 18 like i said , and josh is 20 and nowhere near good enough and needs to perform better in the championship before he is considered for a higher level. this guy has had a brilliant season in la liga and helped his team to 4th spot and is simply far more ready than all 3 put together. he is the same age ramires was when he was signed.

Oriol will be 22 by next season and he is not always injured. He literally had 2 injuries since joining us two seasons ago but he was unlucky that one of them was so long term. I won't go into the Josh debate here. Chalobah has had a pretty good season with his team too.

I'm not saying that he is not currently better than all of them, just that we have our own young prospects who could become better than him. We can't just throw them away just because some young player had a good season with his team. What if we bought him and he found himself mostly rooted to the bench and young player X has an incredible season with his team. Do we throw him away too and get player X?!

There will always be players having better seasons than your own players but you can't just keep spending to get the most hyped talent out there. I'm not saying you should not try to improve your team, but at some point you have to put faith in your players if you are to succeed as a team.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Well, Romeu is 21, Josh is 20 and Chalobah is 18. I'm not saying that we must buy Illaramendi, but we should not hold back from buying good players because we are holding out on the possibility that our youth might become the players we wish them to be. It's like saying we shouldn't have bought Hazard or Moses because we had Piazon.

No that is completely different. Whether or not we signed Eden, Moses would have been a squad player and Piazon would have been loaned out regardless. This is like we should not sign Rodallega because we already have Moses.

[lucio 5,418]

we cant just put out some kids in midfield vs toure and fndinho. these guys need to mature and develop in the premier league at another club like lukaku to prove themselves. and then come back when they have a realistic chance of being good enough to play for us.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

30 million euros release clause, can't see us paying that.

Good player though. More than good enough too. Linked with Arsenal and Real Madrid also though. Hes been compared to Xabi Alonso numerous times.

[Leif 6,006]

I watched nearly every Real Sociedad game this season (they were amazing to bet on if you put Over 3 Goals every single game ). He's one of those players who never grabs headlines and will always be under appreciated but he's actually the player quietly starting each attack and recycling possession well.

That said, he doesn't impose himself on the game. He won't tackle you hard like Alonso, isn't as expansive when it comes to passing like Benat and doesn't have the work rate someone like Chalobah has.

He's a player you 'settle' for when you can't quite get the very best in my opinion - which is why Arsenal is the club for him

If we want a future great, a young Spaniard who will be the undisputed best playmaker Spain has one day, then we can do no better than Atletico Madrid's Oliver Torres. Tracked him for 2 seasons now. He's incredible. At times he's like Pirlo, at others he's like Iniesta, at others he's like Xavi.

This is probably my favourite game of his:

[JDY 1,290]

^ I don't agree with much of that, especially the middle part, but each to their own I guess.

[Leif 6,006]

These rumours and pricetags only started popping up after this U21 tournament, especially after the game vs. Italy's U21. Italy's U21 is mainly made up of Serie B players.

6 of Italy's players were from Serie B. All of Spain's U21's were from La Liga; so of course they impressed. The remaining non-Serie B players were Borini (bench player), Immobile, Insigne out of position, Verratti and Florenzi out of position.

When you watch Asier against senior opposition who are actually from a decent league he often goes missing and often collapses under pressure. He averaged around 79% pass completion each game last season in La Liga which was definitely down to panicking when on the ball and being closed down. People talking about him being a potential playmaker need a slap.

His defensive side is good however. He averages nearly 2 interceptions a game and over 3 tackles per game. So if you want a cheaper and not quite as good Javi Martinez I guess this is the guy you want.

[JDY 1,290]

These rumours and pricetags only started popping up after this U21 tournament, especially after the game vs. Italy's U21. Italy's U21 is mainly made up of Serie B players.

6 of Italy's players were from Serie B. All of Spain's U21's were from La Liga; so of course they impressed. The remaining non-Serie B players were Borini (bench player), Immobile, Insigne out of position, Verratti and Florenzi out of position.

When you watch Asier against senior opposition who are actually from a decent league he often goes missing and often collapses under pressure. He averaged around 79% pass completion each game last season in La Liga which was definitely down to panicking when on the ball and being closed down. People talking about him being a potential playmaker need a slap.

There was talk of him on here before the tournament, his price was known when he signed a new contract last year.

This is simply not true. His role throughout the season for Sociedad was different to the role he played for Spain at the Euros, anyone who watched him enough would know this. With Sociedad he played alongside Markel who was the deepest of the pair, akin to what Illarra was doing for Spain this summer, albeit in a 4-3-3 for Spain. Illarra for Sociedad had the freedom to join the attack and link the play knowing the he had Markel behind him to cover the space.

It's illogical to compare the player that played for Spain to what he did for Sociedad all season. The two teams contrast in styles are totally different. Sociedad are mainly a counter attacking side, whilst Spain are the polar opposite. And as I said before, he played a different role. It's easy to just look at the stats and draw up your own conclusion, but they often don't tell the whole story.

[lucio 5,418]

he averages more tackles per game than alonso...

[Leif 6,006]

There was talk of him on here before the tournament, his price was known when he signed a new contract last year.

This is simply not true. His role throughout the season for Sociedad was different to the role he played for Spain at the Euros, anyone who watched him enough would know this. With Sociedad he played alongside Markel who was the deepest of the pair, akin to what Illarra was doing for Spain this summer, albeit in a 4-3-3 for Spain. Illarra for Sociedad had the freedom to join the attack and link the play knowing the he had Markel behind him to cover the space.

It's illogical to compare the player that played for Spain to what he did for Sociedad all season. The two teams contrast in styles are totally different. Sociedad are mainly a counter attacking side, whilst Spain are the polar opposite. And as I said before, he played a different role. It's easy to just look at the stats and draw up your own conclusion, but they often don't tell the whole story.

I'm not talking about whatever his buy-out clause may be. I'm saying that his evaluation has shot up after this U21 tournament which I feel should be questioned when you take into account the fact that he performed against players not even in the top leagues in their country. He hasn't shown anything during this tournament that he hasn't already shown with Sociedad. The media like to pick a player and just put them into the spotlight, it's how they do things, and they've just decided they'll go with Asier now. He's not done nor has he been doing anything special.

He played around different players but he was deployed in the same position and role with Spain. Regardless whether Spain play possession football or Sociedad play counter-attacking football he has always stuck to his position, limiting his runs forward, looking to break up play and get the ball to a playmaker - usually Thiago or Prieto - to then make a final decisive pass as he's not capable of doing this himself (whereas other deep players are more than capable of this.)

He's played like a more agile Romeu. Their strengths and weaknesses are almost identical. He's simply around players who better suit his chemistry with that U21 squad than he is with Sociedad which of course makes people rate him higher. He's barely worth £10m in my eyes. He doesn't bring something new to a team. He's simply an above average decent at most things player. That's what you want at a club as a back-up option when your real talent get injured or need a rest. He's a player Arsenal would go for in hopes he magically turns into the next Fabregas. He's not what a top club like Chelsea should take a second look at.

More testament to my point regarding him losing his head a lot is a very simple stat - he had the most yellow cards for Real Sociedad last season - and committed the most fouls - and he only made around the 8th most appearances for Real last season while doing that. So he doesn't have anything to suggest he can be a playmaker, so in a deep role you'd expect his 'qualities' to be profound in defence - yet he doesn't do them any better than our current options do. He's a machine at giving the opposition free-kicks. He's a machine at getting dribbled past. He's a machine at fouling.

He's 23 but he plays like a child still learning the game. That is simply not good enough at all.

[Leif 6,006]

he averages more tackles per game than alonso...

Because Real Madrid have the ball more then their opposition unless they're facing Barcelona whereas Real Sociedad's whole game plan is to let the other team have the ball allowing their defensive midfielders to rack up tackles and try starting a counter-attack. Alonso's primary job is being a playmaker and the tackles in that team are mainly instigated by Khedira.

Now if we compare him to Khedira you'll notice the German does his job with far less fouls and also better pass accuracy.

[lucio 5,418]

he anchors the midfield and has fantastic passing and can tackle well. what else are you expecting? thiago is the playmaker for spain u21 just like someone like oscar would be for us in a midfield 3.

[Leif 6,006]

Not trying to 'base opinions off of a Youtube video' but I just Youtube'd him to see what came up. Found this showing exactly what he does consistently at club level. Always winning the aerial duels - but heading the ball back to the opposition and giving them possession while committing a foul as they then attack Real. Lots of dwelling on the ball and then being tackled too. Also note how many passes he attempts when his teammate is clearly offside.

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

Its really scary how good Spain are and how much talent the have coming up