Nemanja Matic

[lionsden 4,689]

mourinho and benitez beg to differ on DL's worth as a DM.

And Capello, one of the greatest managers of all time, begs to differ on Heskey's worth as a striker to the England national team. . . . . . see where I'm going with this?

[didierforever 7,349]

And Capello, one of the greatest managers of all time, begs to differ on Heskey's worth as a striker to the England national team. . . . . . see where I'm going with this?

so u just compared heskey's striking prowess to DL's defensive prowess. seems legit!!!

[lionsden 4,689]

We don't need a playmaker (we've got three of those behind the striker), we need a really good all-rounder who can move the ball forward quicker than our current players, so that said three behind the striker have more time and space to do their thing.

I will argue that we need two not one technically sound midfielders if we are to significantly improve the quality of our football. Ramires simply isn't gonna cut it as a first option in midfield against packed defences which accounts for roughly 80 percent of the teams we face. Lampard isn't a CM and he's old, Jose doesn't rate mikel highly enough to be a first option and Essien is well not good enough anymore.

[lionsden 4,689]

Oh I know but he just seems no where near the world class bracket yet and in these type of money are paid for those players, if a decent mid like Matic is £20m then what for the likes of Yaya,Gundogan,Khedira,Alonso...etc? A lot that is for sure. So I am not saying he is a bad signing, just saying the amount we are paying is sort of overpriced.

Btw just found out he is 26 so basically at the peak now, you are right no more potential. Still maybe he isn't that much talked about because he plays in Portugal, but then so did Moutinho, Falcao, Hulk...etc at 1 point.

mere "decent mids" don't win the portuguese player of the year award ahead of the likes of Moutinho,Jackson martinez,rodriguez,Mangala et al and he's valued accordingly at £37 million by benfica,who have more information and knowledge to make accurate judgement regarding his value and how good he is. You make it seem like we are signing freaking gareth barry here.

[The Mak 4,459]

We'll know from Matic's reaction after the game. If he starts waving goodbye then it'll be obvious, but if he doesn't...

It kind of adds up when you think about it though:

- We're especially stuck for CMs at the moment as Luiz is playing there - Mourinho won't want to play all of his main CBs in every game for fear of injury.

- We bid £12m+ for Guarin which was rejected - Mourinho has since said he's not interested in him.

- KDB looks like he's on his way - which frees up some extra funds.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

mere "decent mids" don't win the portuguese player of the year award ahead of the likes of Moutinho,Jackson martinez,rodriguez,Mangala et al and he's valued accordingly at £37 million by benfica,who have more information and knowledge to make accurate judgement regarding his value and how good he is. You make it seem like we are signing freaking gareth barry here.

Who is known to have forced other clubs to overpay for their players. But yeah I suppose you are right

[lionsden 4,689]

so u just compared heskey's striking prowess to DL's defensive prowess. seems legit!!!

No I just wanted to show that managers are not flawless immortals that never make questionable decisions. fergie, who's arguably the greatest manager of all time, decided Pogba wasn't good enough when he played a defender, Rapheal, ahead of him in midfield in a game where they were short of options in midfield which eventually proved to be a terrible decision. so even the best managers get it wrong sometimes is the point I'm trying to make.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

If he is valued at 40mio, why would they sell him for 20-30? They sold Witsel for 40 and they said that Matic is even better than Witsel. Unless we have some release clause or Benfica is in huge financial trouble, they simply wont sell him for cut price.

I hope we buy him though, summer should be priority for striker, Lb and possibly CB, I doubt we will look for CM too, 3 top players are just too much in summer...one problem needs to be solved in january.

[lionsden 4,689]

Who is known to have forced other clubs to overpay for their players. But yeah I suppose you are right

Who are also known to consistently sell top quality players every year to top teams around Europe. The popular opinion amongst benfica fans is matic hasn't made the loss of Witsel noticeable. Do you think they would be expressing such strong opinion about a decent, run on the mill midfielder?

[Strike 7,477]

I thought this was a nice place to be. You are cruel.

Haha but it looks like we've got him and the source isn't the Daily Mail or the Daily star

It isnt funny. Seriously get a hobby.

Relax. It's from twitter

[Strike 7,477]

Also, Matic, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard are 4 good starting options. Matic-Ramires, Matic-Lampard is the best midfield pairs among them. better than all current options i think

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Who are also known to consistently sell top quality players every year to top teams around Europe. The popular opinion amongst benfica fans is matic hasn't made the loss of Witsel noticeable. Do you think they would be expressing such strong opinion about a decent, run on the mill midfielder?

Yes if he is the best player in their team, doesn't mean he has to be world class. For example Long is the best player in West Brom team, they obviously would have high opinions of him but he is no where near world class as we know. Also to be fair Portuguese League isn't known to be the strongest league, the fact that Porto lost Hulk, Falcao, James and others yet still challenging at the top of the league just tell you about its state. But I suppose I underrated Matic a little bit, partly due to me not seeing him play much elsewhere apart from his CL, Europa league appearances last season.

[lionsden 4,689]

Yes if he is the best player in their team, doesn't mean he has to be world class. For example Long is the best player in West Brom team, they obviously would have high opinions of him but he is no where near world class as we know. Also to be fair Portuguese League isn't known to be the strongest league, the fact that Porto lost Hulk, Falcao, James and others yet still challenging at the top of the league just tell you about its state. But I suppose I underrated Matic a little bit, partly due to me not seeing him play much elsewhere apart from his CL, Europa league appearances last season.

Are you comparing a certified champions league team to West brom?

And porto are still able to challenge for the portuguese league despite losing there best players each year because they have, by far, the best scouting team in world football and can cherry pick on the best talents in south America due to zero legal restrictions on foreign players in the portuguese league. they replaced falcao with jackson martinez and James Rodriguez filled into Hulk's boot after he was sold and the cycle will always continue as it's being the case since forever. their circumstance is different to most clubs in Europe. so your point is mute in that sense.

[laura90 556]

Combo of Matic and Ramires would be better than what we have but still not good enough to improve our central midfield dramatically .

If creativity in central midfield is not important how come Barca plays Busquets, Bayern won everything when they got Martinez and now are playing Alcantara I guess, City scores a lot with Fernadinho and Yaya who is more offensive than defensive oriented, Juventus improved significantly when they got Pirlo, Real plays with Alonso and Modric, Dortmund has Gundogan ect.

In fact the only team who was successfull without playmaker are Man United but they made up for it with great wingers, strikers and superb coach.

Just because we don't have genuine playmaker for ages we can't underestimate benefits of having one.

Genuine playmaker is even more important when you have creative mids up front to get the best out of them not the other way around.

Matic with playmaker would have taken our central midfield to a whole other level , up to the City’s even better. Matic with Ramires not so much. There is the difference.

[bluesman2610 1,416]

Luiz in midfield is a stickly plaster option just like Essien in defence was, Rafa and Jose are only doing it due to lack off options.

If we sign Matic and MVG makes a return sooner rather than later the only way David is going back in the only pivot is if we have a stupid injury crisis.

Don't forget we still have Romeu who seems to be doing well at Valencia even under new manager if reports out of Spain are correct as well.. we may have some very talented mid options in the very near future