el Janny Tranny
In hindsight, and I suppose foresight for others, Calafiori was a bad decision because he's just as injury prone as the players he was supposed to replace. However, people were not happy with Zinchenko nor Kiwior as a LB, so we needed to spend money there regardless.
Merino also provides insurance to Rice who is integral in providing physical presence in midfield, whose absence would be sorely missed. So I don't particularly think he was money poorly spent.
There was however a need to refresh the forward line, but for whatever reason we couldn't get someone over the line. Pedro Neto has also only scored 1 league goal all season. Savinho has scored 0. Doku has scored 2. Sancho has scored 2. Williams has 1 league goal this season. (Highlighting some of the players who have moved this season or we tried to sign). I can't help but think signing an attacker who isn't more of the same, and is a genuine upgrade on our existing options is going to be very difficult.
I would definitely look at Kvicha or Rafael.
daredevil I have taken pains to articulate that I am not saying signing an attacker would have worked out. Over and over, I've framed it in terms of risk. We took a big risk on Calafiori, but did not for an attacking player. We took a minor risk on Raheem Sterling. The result was that we failed to improve our forward line because of an inability or refusal to take any real risks on a forward signing.
If we had signed Mudryk, he might be outscoring Mo Salah for us right now. Probably not, but that isn't the point. The point is, we'll never know if we never push the boat out for a big attacking signing.
We know that the beginning of the summer was dominated by us chasing Šeško. And that we tracked Nico all summer. From reliable journalists.
Top forwards are much more hotly contested market than defenders and midfielders because their quality is easier to assess - and even City has had challenges beyond Haaland. Doku, Savinho and Grealish must have 4 goals amongst them in all competitions despite costing £175m
Lookman is excellent. Nusa is better.
Seskos not really looking like a game changer this season. I think given his lack of ambition last summer we should move on.
Every time I've watched him, he's looked mediocre. We should go for Duran instead.
But do we want to pay tons for Duran in January or do we wait for the summer and make the big run at Gyokeres? Or does no one think we will realistically go for him? (i think the Sesko train has already run out of steam)
Looks quality
Sell on Tomiyasu as soon as we can
Duran is a flavour of the moment player - don’t want
Dusan on the other hand…
lorddulaarsenal Tadic is getting on now.
Isn't there some kind of English law that prevents players coming from South America to immediately play in England without being granted 'exceptional status' and requires them to get an English passport first or something. We always seem to miss out on South American players when they are young.
If we are getting a player from Villa then I hope it's Boubacar Kamara. He looked like a DM that could easily play for one of the top teams in europe pre his ACL injury. Very silky on the ball but also reads the game so well and is quality defensively. I'd say he's like a typical nr 6 from la Masia: a playmaker at the base of midfield with excellent technical skills combined with very good reading/understanding of the game.
I remember watching him against City last season (before they went on to beat us in the following match) and thinking "how the feck did this guy end up at Villa!"
Tactics he’s coming along nicely. this is how I described him in 2019:
Boubacar Kamara - you should see this guy. He is deployed as a central defender. He’s 1,78, so not a giant. But he is is composed as a defender, with great timing on tackles and interceptions. And when he gets on the ball, he can slalom through opponents with ease. He’s a total football defender. He could easily do DM based on his ability. You can see why Chelsea are sniffing.