Transfer: Summer transfers rumors and bickering

[Il Mediano]

You have to tell yourself if he is a significant upgrade over Smalling, Bailly or Lindelof and I don't really see it. It is more of the same.

You don't think Manolas is a significant upgrade over Smalling? Oh boy..

And if we're talking Bailly's first season under Mourinho , I could see your logic - I thought he was gunna be a star .. but in terms of consistency and form ... it's not even close between the two in recent memory.

I kinda hope he does go to the Prem now , just because of this nonsense.

 

[The Abusement Park]

You don't think Manolas is a significant upgrade over Smalling? Oh boy..

And if we're talking Bailly's first season under Mourinho , I could see your logic - I thought he was gunna be a star .. but in terms of consistency and form ... it's not even close between the two in recent memory.

I kinda hope he does go to the Prem now , just because of this nonsense.

He'd probably be a top 10 CB in the prem.

I mean you have
VVD
Laporte
Christensen
Luiz
Vert
Alderweireld

I think those are the only guys truly better than him. I'd probably take him over Alderweireld and Luiz now actually.

 

[les Habs]

Who is going to do the defensive work when Kroos, Neymar, Mbappé and Coutinho are on the field together?

Not Rabiot.

Griez is going nowhere.
Also, **** him

I don't care where he goes so long as it's not the Camp Nou.

 

[S E P H]

Don't want Kessie

Kessie is a solid player and has become very good once he figured out how to use his physical attributes. But considering we have to constantly deal with brain-dead Xhaka every game, Kessie is like the last thing we need.

 

[Milos Krasic]

Cagliari is always looking to sell.

 

[Gecklund]

Marca saying PSG offering Ander Herrera 150K a week. He’s close to signing.

 

[Havre]

Classic underrating of Smalling. Yes, he is clumsy, but defensively he is excellent. To buy Manolas as an upgrade of Smalling would be pretty pointless (one more good, but not excellent CD - they got plenty of those already). Either you try to really upgrade him with someone like KK or you might as well keep a pairing that is actually working fine right now.

 

[Milos Krasic]

Manolas isn’t a significant upgrade. Hell, he was almost playing in Russia under Mancini at Zenit.

 

[Evilo]

He’d be a great depth piece for you guys imo.

He would.
For them.
Because he can't play for the NT.

 

[Il Mediano]

lol.... this is the last I'll compare Smalling and Manolas. You guys who think it's close don't know what you're talking about :

More Than The Score

If it doesn't load properly, hit the "All performance scores" button. You should see the massive difference laid out clearly afterwards.

Once again, it's not remotely close.

Manolas isn’t a significant upgrade. Hell, he was almost playing in Russia under Mancini at Zenit.

Like Paredes?... who just moved to PSG? Not to mention that was 2 years ago. It's almost like players (especially defenders) improve in their mid 20's ... weird.

.... I give up.

 

[Cassano]

Classic underrating of Smalling. Yes, he is clumsy, but defensively he is excellent. To buy Manolas as an upgrade of Smalling would be pretty pointless (one more good, but not excellent CD - they got plenty of those already). Either you try to really upgrade him with someone like KK or you might as well keep a pairing that is actually working fine right now.

Exactly how I see it. No one said Manolas is a scrub lol chill.

 

[Havre]

Nothing stimulates a good discussion as a good old LOL. You are proving your point linking to a site that shows that David Luiz is a better player than van Dijk? That Jorginho is the best central midfield player in the PL this season?

Am I missing something?

I am not a huge fan of Smalling, but him and Lindelof for whatever reason seem to work. At the moment Smalling should be judge by that and not the complete chaos that Utd was under Mourinho. Not to mention his injury problems this year.

Clearly I don't follow Serie A as closely as I follow the PL. There might be things I'm missing from Manolas. The same way most people underrated Alderweireld (me included) before coming to Spurs.

Generally speaking though breaking up a central defensive partnership that works, even if it is not sexy, shouldn't be done unless you are fairly certain you got a significant upgrade. To me it is not LOL-worthy suggesting Smalling - Lindelof works well enough not to bother with Manolas (even if Manolas is better than Smalling).

 

[Cassano]

lol.... this is the last I'll compare Smalling and Manolas. You guys who think it's close don't know what you're talking about :

More Than The Score

If it doesn't load properly, hit the "All performance scores" button. You should see the massive difference laid out clearly afterwards.

Once again, it's not remotely close.



Like Paredes?... who just moved to PSG? Not to mention that was 2 years ago. It's almost like players (especially defenders) improve in their mid 20's ... weird.

.... I give up.

More Than The Score

Mustafi has a pretty awesome performance score in a better league and more mins.

He is currently behind 1-legged Koscielny the pecking order.

 

[Cassano]

He'd probably be a top 10 CB in the prem.

I mean you have
VVD
Laporte
Christensen
Luiz
Vert
Alderweireld

I think those are the only guys truly better than him. I'd probably take him over Alderweireld and Luiz now actually.

Maguire, Sokratis, Gomez, Stones, Rudiger and Alderweireld are just as good if not better. Agreed with him being better than David Luiz though.

 

[Havre]

IMO that list is heavily influenced by the teams these players are playing for. Only CDs from Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Spurs?

Of course if there is only 4-5 teams with good CDs (as Utd is out of favour these days) then yes - anyone half decent would be a top 10 CD in the PL.

Not that I'm suggesting that solid players playing for teams as good as for example Roma wouldn't be good enough to become a first choice at a top PL team, but timing matters. I'm not a huge fan of Sokratis, but he came when Arsenal needed someone. Even more true for Mustafi. Whatever people think of Smalling Utd don't have a big hole in the central of their defense. They also got players like Bailly, Rojo and Jones. They need top class quality if they want to make changes - not some small upgrade.

 

[Il Mediano]

You are proving your point linking to a site that shows that David Luiz is a better player than van Dijk?

If that's the case , then completely disregard it , and I apologize. When it comes to comparing players playing in different leagues, I didn't know how to bridge the gap to those who don't follow Serie A.

I generally don't use those sites , but I was under the impression it was better than the fabled whoscored. Won't happen again.

I am not a huge fan of Smalling, but him and Lindelof for whatever reason seem to work.

Other than Roma , United's the team I follow the most. So when you say "classic case of underrating Smalling" , it irked me. I've watched a ton of Smalling , believe me. I also try to do my best to be as objective as possible about Roma players. Nothing bothers me more than people who vastly overrate the players on the team/league they follow.

Alisson, Rudiger, Salah (and eventually Emerson, I believe) have shown what they can do in the EPL. Kostas would be no different.

Manolas' strengths are perfect for the English game. He has the pace to keep up with almost anyone , and is perfect for the high-pressing/high-lines in vogue. Not many CB's in the world are comfortable defending 1v1 in space anymore , but he's one of them. If he gets isolated against a Sterling (for example) it wouldn't be a disaster like it would for so many others. His recovery acceleration and agility allows him to be much more aggressive than most CB's in the world are able to be. He takes away time and space FAR better than a guy like Smalling. He would also allow Lindelof to push even higher up the pitch , because he knows he has someone with Kostas' attributes covering for him.

And I know I said Manolas is poor with the ball, but that was relative to Lindelof or CB's I would consider to be good at it. He's definitely on par with Smalling that regard , and I'd say he's actually comfortably better.

To me it is not LOL-worthy suggesting Smalling - Lindelof works well enough not to bother with Manolas (even if Manolas is better than Smalling).

It is LOL. Smalling is not that good, man. His best form came under LVG for a short stretch - other than that, he's been a rotational piece on a team with title aspirations. Manolas has been the clear-cut #1 on a CL side for years now.

People keep saying United should just roll with what they have unless they can get Koulibaly (or the like). Well, those guy aren't available to them - especially Koulibaly. It's not going to happen unless they pony up 100m.

To suggest United should just leave their defense alone unless they can get a top 5-10 defender is ridiculous to me. They need to continuously improve. Waiting for a unicorn is just going to keep them at the level they're at.

If you want a truly elite CB , you either pay an insane fee (and VVD is a super rare case of a top player at a mid-table club, so I cringe at that rationale) , or you develop one. And if you choose option # 2 (which is more likely) it still doesn't make a Manolas signing superfluous. Finding an upgrade (that's fantastic value) for the here-and-now , makes clear sense.

There , now I'm finished.

Also, Cassano, keep tossing out those hot-takes, homie.

 

[Havre]

Fair enough on my comment "classic". Unnecessary on my part as I'm judging you based on what I believe is others superficial judgement of Smalling. Still think your LOLs are way over the top, but OK.

Smalling is clumsy - especially in possession - which I believe is one of the reasons why he is generally speaking underrated. Maybe more so from fans from countries which value technical ability more than what they do (at least historically) in England.

It sounds nice just improving step by step, but there is so much uncertainty around players changing teams and changing leagues. Not necessarily because they move to a better team or league, but because they change. Fazio is on my top 5 list of the worst central defenders I have ever seen play. He was clearly more suited to play for Roma than Spurs (for whatever reason). If you are going for small improvements (I see you think it is big, but I don't think people will generally agree with you there even if they think the difference is bigger than I think) it all drowns in the uncertainty. Especially when you got to pay significant money for it.

Confirmation bias with van Dijk of course. But I do believe Utd are in a position to either go big or not do anything at all.

 

[Il Mediano]

Not necessarily because they move to a better team or league, but because they change.

Yes, this is true. I shouldn't act as if it's a certainty. But for the reasons I highlighted, I think Kostas would be a hit in the EPL. Of course other factors come into play when discussing how a player does in a different league/country. They're humans after all and there's tons of variables.

And yes, I think the truly elite players offer more certainty , but even in those cases, it sometimes just doesn't work out.

Fazio is on my top 5 list of the worst central defenders I have ever seen play.

Don't worry, he's still that guy.

He was clearly more suited to play for Roma than Spurs (for whatever reason).

Pairing his slow-ass with one of the fastest CB's in Europe certainly helped. Also the slower pace of Serie A , and playing him in a back 3 helped too (for a short time)

Still , he's terrible.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Marca saying PSG offering Ander Herrera 150K a week. He’s close to signing.

Not sure I buy it. The report everyone’s talking about is Marca referring to a report from the Sun.

I think Ander either signs with United or goes back to Spain. He’s not a highest bidder type guy.

 

[Evilo]

Not sure I buy it. The report everyone’s talking about is Marca referring to a report from the Sun.

I think Ander either signs with United or goes back to Spain. He’s not a highest bidder type guy.

It's in every PSG source.

 

[maclean]

This guy's a dink.

Haha, can't figure out what's funnier, the idea of people eating this shit or the idea of it actually being true

 

[Cassano]

If that's the case , then completely disregard it , and I apologize. When it comes to comparing players playing in different leagues, I didn't know how to bridge the gap to those who don't follow Serie A.

I generally don't use those sites , but I was under the impression it was better than the fabled whoscored. Won't happen again.



Other than Roma , United's the team I follow the most. So when you say "classic case of underrating Smalling" , it irked me. I've watched a ton of Smalling , believe me. I also try to do my best to be as objective as possible about Roma players. Nothing bothers me more than people who vastly overrate the players on the team/league they follow.

Alisson, Rudiger, Salah (and eventually Emerson, I believe) have shown what they can do in the EPL. Kostas would be no different.

Manolas' strengths are perfect for the English game. He has the pace to keep up with almost anyone , and is perfect for the high-pressing/high-lines in vogue. Not many CB's in the world are comfortable defending 1v1 in space anymore , but he's one of them. If he gets isolated against a Sterling (for example) it wouldn't be a disaster like it would for so many others. His recovery acceleration and agility allows him to be much more aggressive than most CB's in the world are able to be. He takes away time and space FAR better than a guy like Smalling. He would also allow Lindelof to push even higher up the pitch , because he knows he has someone with Kostas' attributes covering for him.

And I know I said Manolas is poor with the ball, but that was relative to Lindelof or CB's I would consider to be good at it. He's definitely on par with Smalling that regard , and I'd say he's actually comfortably better.



It is LOL. Smalling is not that good, man. His best form came under LVG for a short stretch - other than that, he's been a rotational piece on a team with title aspirations. Manolas has been the clear-cut #1 on a CL side for years now.

People keep saying United should just roll with what they have unless they can get Koulibaly (or the like). Well, those guy aren't available to them - especially Koulibaly. It's not going to happen unless they pony up 100m.

To suggest United should just leave their defense alone unless they can get a top 5-10 defender is ridiculous to me. They need to continuously improve. Waiting for a unicorn is just going to keep them at the level they're at.

If you want a truly elite CB , you either pay an insane fee (and VVD is a super rare case of a top player at a mid-table club, so I cringe at that rationale) , or you develop one. And if you choose option # 2 (which is more likely) it still doesn't make a Manolas signing superfluous. Finding an upgrade (that's fantastic value) for the here-and-now , makes clear sense.

There , now I'm finished.

Also, Cassano, keep tossing out those hot-takes, homie.

No hot takes in this. Manolas isn't that good.

I would be content with Utd making him their big summer defense signing.

 

[The Abusement Park]

No hot takes in this. Manolas isn't that good.

I would be content with Utd making him their big summer defense signing.

But he is good... he’s better than every CB at Arsenal and United bar maybe Lindelof. His pace and tackling ability are fantastic. Lol Smalling is most definitely not just as good as Manolas lol.

 

[Cassano]

But he is good... he’s better than every CB at Arsenal and United bar maybe Lindelof. His pace and tackling ability are fantastic. Lol Smalling is most definitely not just as good as Manolas lol.

I'll take Sokratis

 

[The Abusement Park]

I'll take Sokratis

Woulda been a good pick a few years ago. Manolas is easily the better player of the two now though.