Transfer: Winter Transfer Thread

[Havre]

Clearly others are more knowledgeable than me about what is going on in Germany, but why would Leipzig sell Upamecano now?

A) He is not living up to his earlier hype - and Leipzig would like to get rid of him before that hype fades away.
B) Liverpool offers Leipzig such a ridiculous amount of money that even if they like him, and need him in the CL, they would be inclined to sell.

I don't really see any situation where Liverpool gets out on top doing this in January. Would he force such a move? I wouldn't know, but very few players force a move in January - something special kind of have had to happen (ref Atalanta).

 

[Evilo]

One is a healthy player in a pretty good CL side. One can't stay fit.

Upamecano also makes less errors. But that's not the complete story in it. Gomez hasn't been in form for a while now.

I'd even ask : what does Gomez do better than Upa?

 

[Chimaera]

I'd even ask : what does Gomez do better than Upa?

He might be faster. I do think Gomez carries the ball well at times, but I don't know if it's clearly a skill where he's loads better.

 

[robertmac43]

Xhaka to Inter, Eriksen to Arsenal. Make it happen, get it done, all that jazz.

 

[Havre]

Not sure how useful it is to evaluate players based on specific skills. Alderweireld was an amazing CD for Spurs for a couple of seasons (looks good again now), but apart from his diagonal passing I can't really say he has one attribute that particularly stands out. Not especially fast, strong, good in the air, technical or anything. Not that he is absolutely useless at anything particular either. Still from the summer of 2015 to 2017 there are very very few CDs I would have rather have had. Considering the way Spurs played I'm not sure if there were any.

Upamecano just looks so good when he is playing well. I just wonder if he at the moment looks better than he is. Time will tell.

 

[Havre]

Xhaka to Inter, Eriksen to Arsenal. Make it happen, get it done, all that jazz.

I wouldn't mind. I just don't see Eriksen being the kind of player to lead the way.

And right now he just looks slow and uninterested to me. Absolutely astonishing considering players in that mold often play their best football quite late in their career. To me he just looks done with football. The last half a year at Spurs were a joke, but he wasn't at his best even before then.

At his best absolutely brilliant. To me he was more important to the team than Kane during the best spells under Pochettino, but he just isn't that player any longer. Just comparing YouTube-clips from then and now (or even back in late 2018) - the difference is ridiculous. Is it possible to get back on track again? Yes. Would Arsenal be the right club? I seriously doubt it.

 

[robertmac43]

I wouldn't mind. I just don't see Eriksen being the kind of player to lead the way.

And right now he just looks slow and uninterested to me. Absolutely astonishing considering players in that mold often play their best football quite late in their career. To me he just looks done with football. The last half a year at Spurs were a joke, but he wasn't at his best even before then.

At his best absolutely brilliant. To me he was more important to the team than Kane during the best spells under Pochettino, but he just isn't that player any longer. Just comparing YouTube-clips from then and now (or even back in late 2018) - the difference is ridiculous. Is it possible to get back on track again? Yes. Would Arsenal be the right club? I seriously doubt it.

As long as he can pass the ball forward and won't get silly red cards, I'd be fine with the signing...

 

[YNWA14]

One is a healthy player in a pretty good CL side. One can't stay fit.

Upamecano also makes less errors. But that's not the complete story in it. Gomez hasn't been in form for a while now.

Statistically speaking Gomez makes fewer errors. He also has been playing at a higher level for longer, and that last sentence just isn't true, especially before he got injured again after van Dijk went out Gomez had stepped up and filled the void pretty cleanly (oddly enough, switching sides and being asked to be less aggressive left fewer holes to be exploited, especially being separated from Trent).

If you want to argue health that's fine, but Upamecano has not shown to be better than Gomez at maybe anything, and given how hot and cold he's been at Leipzig I'd love to see how he would adjust to Klopp's system, especially playing the more aggressive of the two CBs. No point in really rehashing this so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[cgf]

Does he not start next to VVD?

No, because Bayern aren't buying VVD as well.

 

[Evilo]

He might be faster. I do think Gomez carries the ball well at times, but I don't know if it's clearly a skill where he's loads better.

IIRC, Upamecano was the guy who moved the ball (in his feet) longer than anyone else in the CL last year.

 

[Havre]

As long as he can pass the ball forward and won't get silly red cards, I'd be fine with the signing...

Really no risk of him tackling anyone.

I wonder what he will do. He seems like a very intelligent guy for a football player. I think he wants to retire in Denmark, but I'm not sure if he is desperate to go back to London before potentially moving home. My guess he would rather go to a "new" new place. Then again who knows what will happen if he is offered a big contract in London again (even if he clearly turned down Spurs even if Spurs matched any offer from elsewhere).

 

[robertmac43]

I wonder what he will do. He seems like a very intelligent guy for a football player. I think he wants to retire in Denmark, but I'm not sure if he is desperate to go back to London before potentially moving home. My guess he would rather go to a "new" new place. Then again who knows what will happen if he is offered a big contract in London again (even if he clearly turned down Spurs even if Spurs matched any offer from elsewhere).

I think an Eriksen move would have the potential to perpetuate the feeling that Arsenal is a place to go for a big pay day and relaxed atmosphere. In that regard I would not be down to sign him, but if he could add even a little more creativity to the attack it may be worth it.

I don't see Arteta getting a big fish this January, may be stuck looking for a move like the one in discussion.

 

[Havre]

I think an Eriksen move would have the potential to perpetuate the feeling that Arsenal is a place to go for a big pay day and relaxed atmosphere. In that regard I would not be down to sign him, but if he could add even a little more creativity to the attack it may be worth it.

I don't see Arteta getting a big fish this January, may be stuck looking for a move like the one in discussion.

Yeah. I don't see the upside here for either party. I also believe that it would take a lot for Eriksen to move to Arsenal. I don't think there was any bad blood between him and Spurs when he left. On the contrary he seems to be very much a Spursfan. That can go out the window when millions come flying of course....

 

[East Coast Bias]

Eriksen probably goes somewhere on loan. Conte might not even be at Inter next season. Which is the issue for him re fit and system.

I think you’ll see a lot of players on loan this winter. Fills a need short term for clubs, without muddying up their balance sheets when they don’t really know the full financial impact of this season.

 

[Havre]

I'm not sure if it is the system. Eriksen at his best is very versatile. Except for the lack of tackling he can do most things. At Spurs in his peak he covered a lot of ground and played with a very high intensity. Both qualities Conte seems to value.

Eriksen the way he has been playing the last at least 12 months is quite useless at everything.

 

[Savant]

Klopp also doesn't sign from the French market, Fabinho being the exception.

Yeah that too. Which is a shame. Hard the complain though.

 

[Savant]

Clearly others are more knowledgeable than me about what is going on in Germany, but why would Leipzig sell Upamecano now?).

Release clause this either this summer or next summer. Forgot which.

 

[cgf]

IIRC, Upamecano was the guy who moved the ball (in his feet) longer than anyone else in the CL last year.

Would make sense, as Upa is excellent with the ball. He plays a higher-risk style than most CBs and just like with Hummels (who plays a very similar style), that causes some folks who don't watch him regularly to focus too much on the times those risks bite him.

Missing how many more chances he cuts out before they even have the chance to materialize and how many chances he erases with his pressing-resistance on the ball. Klostermann & Konate are both very good, but they will have a much tougher job when Upa moves to Bavaria and we'll see them "suddenly making a lot more mistakes" than they were with Upamecano around.

Obviously, the kid can still improve his consistency further & he'll improve as he gets more experience against the best of the best, but some posters on here -- ironically some of the same ones who had no problem seeing this with Hummels when we were having these debates about him -- have been dramatically under-rating him & trying to judge him as though he played the Konate/Subotic role; rather than recognizing that he is the next evolution of the role that Mats pioneered.

 

[cgf]

Release clause this either this summer or next summer. Forgot which.

Yeah. Without a doubt Leipzig would rather keep him, but unfortunately, Bayern seems to have already secured a summer transfer for Upamecano.

 

[Burner Account]

Does he not start next to VVD?

I don't watch him. Does he?

 

[bluesfan94]

still think they look for a guy who can cover two positions like Ben White if being realistic.

Would you be interested in one slightly used David Luiz?

 

[Burner Account]

Would you be interested in one slightly used David Luiz?

You can't get burned by Mohamed Salah if he's your teammate.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Out of curiosity what makes Upamecano better than Gomez?

Upamecano is terrific bringing the ball out from the back. He's as good with the ball as you'll see from a CB, and I think he's also more athletic.

 

[Savant]

Would you be interested in one slightly used David Luiz?

How about that unused William Saliba?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Clearly others are more knowledgeable than me about what is going on in Germany, but why would Leipzig sell Upamecano now?

A) He is not living up to his earlier hype - and Leipzig would like to get rid of him before that hype fades away.
B) Liverpool offers Leipzig such a ridiculous amount of money that even if they like him, and need him in the CL, they would be inclined to sell.

I don't really see any situation where Liverpool gets out on top doing this in January. Would he force such a move? I wouldn't know, but very few players force a move in January - something special kind of have had to happen (ref Atalanta).

He has a release clause that is pretty low in the summer, and they may want to cash in now. I don't think they will, but that'd be the reason to sell him in January. I think he'll go in the summer.