Anzac wrote:
jones wrote:
Not extending Ramsey is one of the few good things the club has done this season. We'd be looking at another Özil situation with the added bonus of hoping it'll be one big injury keeping him out instead of two small ones so the insurance money kicks in.
I think his season ending injury during the run home perhaps underlined this.
I'm amused by this line of arguing. He's so vital that we can't win against Brighton and Crystal Palace without him, so therefore we might as well let him go for free? Would it have been better if he had been injured during the months when Emery didn't play him perhaps?
The problem with Ramsey this season wasn't that he got untimely injured towards the end. It was that we didn't properly use him for a long time. If we had we'd been in Champions League right now, without having to bank on winning the European league cup to get in.
Anzac wrote:This is where team balance comes into it.
So far as replacing Rambo goes Bennacer looked to have plenty of energy and willingness from the little I've seen, and he also showed some technical ability. Don't know about many of the other CMs we've been linked to.
Yes, but Bennacer is 21. He has a whooping one season of Serie A experience, doesn't score goals and barely assist them, and he generally plays deeper, like a mix between Xhaka and Torreira. He creates chances and has a lot of drive in his game, but he's a youth project. Ramsey is a readymade player you could throw on against Real Madrid and feel comfortable that he'd perform well.
If you want a like for like replacement for Ramsey from Serie A you'd be looking at a bloke like Milinkovic-Savic who costs £80-100 million. That's the sort of capital we just gave up for free. No wonder Juve were interested. Everyone's looking for industrious top-end midfielders and we give one up because it fits some absurd logic about saving money. Screw performance levels, if you get injured with six weeks left of the season you don't deserve a decent wage? How much is it going to cost us to find a replacement on a similar level now?