@lorddulaarsenal wrote:
Just thought it was interesting the reports that Lokonga is so highly rated
Don’t want to lose Partey - we need his power.
Chukwuemeka is the player to get. He’s a real star and he’s not renewing with Villa by many accounts
IIRC Lokonga played much as a #6 for Anderlecht and was the main receiver of the ball playing out from defence. I also seem to recall his defensive strength was more about his ability to read the game and be in the right position for interceptions rather than about tackling.
I do think it is possible we may see one or more of KT and Partey depart sooner rather than later, and my main concern would be our ability to extract full value, however full value may also be achieved by player swap deals. For example RM are interested in KT and we are supposedly interested in Asensio (as potential replacement for Pepe?), whilst we have also been 'linked' to other LB options. Similarly with Juve interested in Partey we could look to Vlahovic or Dybala.
Chukwuemeka is a good call as he is HG, and I have been reading about the FA working towards an increase the number of HG players required (possibly in response to Brexit?).
This would explain our links to a number of HG options in addition to Chukwuemeka, such as the likes of DCL, Watkins, Olise. For example if we do sign a non-HG starting CF then I'd expect to see the likes of Watkins as our #2 CF rather than a 2nd 'foreign' player being brought in or Laca being retained on an extension. IMO we would be more likely to retain Laca if we signed / used a HG player as the starting CF.
