Praet looks like a baller. Want.

Andersen is 190cm tall. That's better.

i like.

If we're looking for someone to replace what Ramsey brings to the team, in terms of driving the ball forward by making deep runs from midfield, then Praet should be one of the first names on our list. I've seen some comments about him from people who probably haven't watched him lately, but the guy really is good.

He doesn't score or assist much, but people shouldn't get caught up too much on the numbers. He needs to improve on them in England, but few midfielders in Italy rack up the end product. It's a much more tactical game there, and the fact that Praet manages to control (and often raise) the tempo so much despite not being a deep playmaker is to his credit. Looking at Arsenal over the last two years one of our biggest weaknesses is that we become immobile far too often without Ramsey, and Praet will help a lot in that respect. Guy's a good dribbler but above all he's got a bit of fire in him.

The biggest issue is that I think he has looked better without Torreira, and an article I read the other week made the same point. Sampdoria have Albin Ekdal this season who's quite underrated; very capable defensive midfielder who dominates the short passing game, and he opens up space for Praet. Then again I have no idea how we're going to line up next season or what longterm role (if any) that we have in mind for Torreira.

We should 4-3-3 it and stick Praet next to Torreira + another CM.

Klaus wrote:

If we're looking for someone to replace what Ramsey brings to the team, in terms of driving the ball forward by making deep runs from midfield, then Praet should be one of the first names on our list. I've seen some comments about him from people who probably haven't watched him lately, but the guy really is good.

He doesn't score or assist much, but people shouldn't get caught up too much on the numbers. He needs to improve on them in England, but few midfielders in Italy rack up the end product. It's a much more tactical game there, and the fact that Praet manages to control (and often raise) the tempo so much despite not being a deep playmaker is to his credit. Looking at Arsenal over the last two years one of our biggest weaknesses is that we become immobile far too often without Ramsey, and Praet will help a lot in that respect. Guy's a good dribbler but above all he's got a bit of fire in him.

The biggest issue is that I think he has looked better without Torreira, and an article I read the other week made the same point. Sampdoria have Albin Ekdal this season who's quite underrated; very capable defensive midfielder who dominates the short passing game, and he opens up space for Praet. Then again I have no idea how we're going to line up next season or what longterm role (if any) that we have in mind for Torreira.

Ramsey was dreadful when being pressed how does this guy handle it?

Also what do you think of Anderson?

Is Praet a box to box midfielder then?

Couple of clips showing his game. And yes I think he can play both box to box and has the range and ability to play deep lying. Should be a hit if he can adapt to the pace of the premier league

Decent read on Andersen, very complimentary:
https://www.footballwhispers.com/blog/scout-report-joachim-andersen

Paints him very much as an Emery type of defender, or at least what we saw Emery asking our defenders to do early this year (high line, play it out of the back wide, etc.)

JazzG wrote:

Ramsey was dreadful when being pressed how does this guy handle it?

Also what do you think of Anderson?

I'm not sure. In Italy midfields operate more like a unit and it's generally harder to press an isolated player. This was part of my point regarding Ekdal: he helps out a lot and buys Praet time. Jorginho struggled a bit with pressure in England for the first half of this season too, and it's probably going to be the same for most players we pick up outside England.

I haven't paid as much attention to Anderson, but I know he's generally considered to be one of the better defenders in Serie A this past season. I'm ambivalent about him personally because I think he's a bit slow and cumbersome, and with all respect to Per I don't particularly want another Mertesacker in a high line. His distribution is very good as far as I've seen though.

goon wrote:

Is Praet a box to box midfielder then?

Yes, I think that's his strongest game. Juve almost bought him last year, and if someone hadn't given them Ramsey for free this season I think they would have gone for Praet again this summer and used him similarly to how they claim they want to use Rambo. It has become fashionable to call that position a mezzala in Italy, but really it's just a box-to-box mid positioned slightly ahead of the others in a three-man central midfield. Praet plays in a two-man midfield at Sampdoria though. As long as he's able to make his runs he'd bring a lot of flexibility to us.

The lack of pace is worrying if we're signing this guy

So this would be the CB and B2B

That leaves winger and LB

If we make big sales e.g. xhaka, mkhi, ozil we might be able to make 1 more move for a big fish

Praet looks really good in compilations. Good close control and I really like how he releases the ball quickly. Hopefully he's a Xhaka/Ramsey replacement.

JazzG wrote:

The lack of pace is worrying if we're signing this guy

I cannot comment on this guy as i do not know him but i feel, as we cannot afford the best all-round players, we should work on filling up this and the lack of physicality weaknesses in our squad by targeting more athletic players.

Seems like this one has legs.

Hope Praet does too. Need to replace that Ramsey engine.

Prefer Saliba and Palacios, more potential for growth in value.