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Jhon Lucumi - Transfer Rumour

Scorer said:
Quality wise perhaps but really it’s not as well stocked as it seems. Mukiele and Hume are the RB competition leaving Ballard, Alderete and Geertruida as the central defensive options at least some of the time. I love O’Nien but I don’t think we’ll see him as a real option so I think we probably are one short at CB ( or RB if Mukiele is seen as CB). We have Hjelde and Alese that could play there too but I think both will be away on loan in Jan.
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Agree with this. Given we’ve been playing 5 at the back a fair bit, we’re only ever one injury or suspension away from a big drop off in quality
 

smithy83 said:
To be fair, I was basing that off general metrics. Ive only watched Bologna a few times this season and he looked half assed. I just looked into advanced data and while Heggem has been better in defensive duels, Lucumi easily outshines him in possession for pass completion, progressive passes, and progressive carries. Thats likely what we're willing to pay the fee for, or were.
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I see no reason to sign him now, not even Bologna's best CB defensively. He might be good with the ball, but we already have Alderete who is very good on the ball and also a rock defensively (in the top 3 CB's in Spain last season) plus he already proved to be a perfect fit for the Premier League. But who knows, we might need a big squad for European competitions from next season on. 😁
 
woodlebert said:
Agree with this. Given we’ve been playing 5 at the back a fair bit, we’re only ever one injury or suspension away from a big drop off in quality
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I think that would be where bringing the young Belgian CB in makes sense over someone who will expect to play every game like Lucumi on big wages. I'd probably think differently if we got into europe with the amount of extra games we'd have to play.

I don't see it as a position what really needs major attention in January. The summer could be very different with Gertruida possibly leaving and then the possibility of offers from clubs for our defenders.
 
woodlebert said:
Agree with this. Given we’ve been playing 5 at the back a fair bit, we’re only ever one injury or suspension away from a big drop off in quality
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Our weak midfeild is a large part of the reason we have played 5 at the back imho and Hume morphing into MF during games. Diarra is a big miss and ELF isn't strong enough as CM. If we played back 4 we have enough cover and quality if we are signing Geertruida, if not then we need an addition. We need creavity, but it depends on the money and priorities. With our PSR headroom and changing next season it would be a bit silly not to use it up, if we can't with other incomings then we could be making Geertruida permanent if everyone is happy. I would prefer to see more of him on the right side.
 
woodlebert said:
Agree with this. Given we’ve been playing 5 at the back a fair bit, we’re only ever one injury or suspension away from a big drop off in quality
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We could play Mukiele, Hume or Geertruida at RB, then we have Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete and Geetruida that could play CB very well. We could do well against anyone with 4 at the back.
What we're missing are two dangerous wingers and a cover for LB before we ever start yo worry about the CB's IMO.
 
woodlebert said:
Agree with this. Given we’ve been playing 5 at the back a fair bit, we’re only ever one injury or suspension away from a big drop off in quality
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Same. Our defence and midfield in particular are very good when we have close to a full strength squad but we’re pretty thin once that starts to break down. The panic about Sadiki and Xhaka’s four yellows illustrates this.
 
riffraff said:
Gertys already making noises about wanting away for games as it’s a WC year.
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Where's he " making noises about wanting away? "

Do you have a link..... or did the cousin of a mate of a friend who knows someone at the club who's close to Gerty tell you ?
 
Sarnie said:
Same. Our defence and midfield in particular are very good when we have close to a full strength squad but we’re pretty thin once that starts to break down. The panic about Sadiki and Xhaka’s four yellows illustrates this.
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I think a CB and LB are the two additions we need at the back assuming the answer isn’t already here( Hjelde, Alese, Masuaku, Cirkin and O’Nien haven’t really had opportunities but odds are now against them all).
Midfield wise I think Xhaka, Sadiki, Diarra, Le Fee and Rigg is pretty good but I expect Neil to be away and think we might look for one more CM.
Talbi, Mundle, Traore and Adingra is okay out wide but I think we’ll be looking for a bit of star quality. Same for Up front.
For January I don’t expect more than 2/3 though.
 
I agree with who posted that we have played 5 at the back a lot and are only an injury or 2 away from weakening the team massively. So I think the lad Lucumi makes sense.
 
Scorer said:
For January I don’t expect more than 2/3 though.
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I don’t think we need more than that this season given the objective and the performance to date.

There are scenarios where January recruitment was about survival. As it stands it’s about identifying weak spots and improving. Maybe even targeting European qualification as a treat.
 
Geppetto said:
Striker?
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We only play with 1 striker, and we have 3, and Mayenda cannot get a look in, so unless we're bringing in someone better than Isidor, who would assumingly cost a fortune, especially in January, then I just can't see it. Maybe a small chance of a loan deal somewhere
 
horselover said:
We only play with 1 striker, and we have 3, and Mayenda cannot get a look in, so unless we're bringing in someone better than Isidor, who would assumingly cost a fortune, especially in January, then I just can't see it. Maybe a small chance of a loan deal somewhere
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But two generally play, if one's injured we need a third. We also need an improvement on Isidor, as much as I like him. He's missing too many chances.

I's loan Mayenda out.
 
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