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Transfers Summer 2022 Transfer Thread.

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On the one hand, the swirl of centre-back interest can be explained by a simple market dynamic of Club A needing to replace a player going to Club B. It’s merely circumstantial. On the other, the swell of players in the position moving this window is, to an extent, a consequence of a tactical trend. More and more elite clubs are playing with a back three. Chelsea won the Champions League with one in 2021. Eintracht Frankfurt and Roma became Europa League and Conference League champions deploying the same set-up in 2022. Bayern and Dortmund were often seen in the same three-man outfit last season and at his introductory press conference, Christophe Galtier, the new coach of PSG, said: “We’re thinking about playing a back three.”

It’s why the French champions have been in prolonged talks with Inter Milan about the acquisition of Milan Skriniar. The Slovakia captain has operated in a back three since moving to San Siro five years ago, first as a stop-gap on the left and then moving to the right once Alessandro Bastoni returned from his Serie A internship with Parma. The anticipated Skriniar-sized hole in Inter’s defence will have to be plugged with Fiorentina’s towering Serb Nikola Milenkovic, while the league’s defender of the year Gleison Bremer is expected to succeed the ageing Stefan de Vrij and swap Torino’s back three for a new one.

The defence Antonio Conte turned into Italy’s best is changing in personnel just as he is equipping Tottenham’s to align more closely with his own philosophy. After replacing Nuno Espirito Santo last November, Conte settled on a makeshift configuration with Ben Davies, Eric Dier and last summer’s big signing Cristian Romero. The season-long loan in the works with Barcelona for Clement Lenglet isn’t the sexiest option, but it is functional and that’s all that matters to Conte, who wants his wide centre-backs to step into midfield and participate in attacks.

By utilising a back three rather than an orthodox centre-back partnership, teams need more cover and need five defenders for those positions rather than four. Manchester United, for instance, have six and weren’t expected to be in the market for a centre-back this summer, especially after the signing of Raphael Varane last season. But here they are again rivalling Woolwich for Lisandro Martinez, the diminutive midfielder-turned-centre-back, as Erik ten Hag assembles a team with recruits schooled in the Ajax way. As with Lenglet at Tottenham, Martinez would redress the balance at United where the two-footed Varane is the only leftie at centre-back.

The demand for these players, as my former colleague Tom Worville analysed, is especially high, particularly with playing out from the back and build-up becoming ever more important to this generation of coaches. It’s a factor in the interest both Manchester clubs and Tottenham have shown in Villarreal’s Pau Torres and was incidental in the valuation of Sven Botman, who finally moved to Newcastle at the end of last month for €37 million plus add-ons. The consideration Chelsea are giving to bringing Nathan Ake back for another spell at the club owes something to Malang Sarr being the only leftie Tuchel can call on at centre-back.

Whether a new record fee will be set for a player in this position over the summer remains to be seen. United set a high bar by paying Leicester €87 million for a 26-year-old Harry Maguire, a price influenced by interest from City and what Liverpool had invested in Virgil van Dijk 18 months earlier.

Some believe the valuations reflect scarcity and the dwindling pool of top centre-backs. Premier League clubs can, for the most part, afford to overpay and make mistakes because the league’s model allows it. Rolling on the existing domestic TV deal and signing bigger and better international rights deals mean it is by far the wealthiest league in the world. It’s why Bayern signing Hernandez and Juventus paying what they did for De Ligt constitute outliers unless, that is, both clubs were counting on the stock in centre-backs continuing to rise with a view to then selling to PSG or an English club for a profit later down the road.

Other sporting directors look at it in terms of opportunity cost and won’t risk paying more than €30 million or €40 million for a centre-back for the simple reason the difference in player quality is marginal and if the big money centre-back gets injured or flops, the club loses a lot of money that it won’t make back.

It’s a fascinating sector of the market, particularly when you look at the hinges on which Premier League title races have swung in recent years. In 2019-20, you could argue it was Aymeric Laporte’s injury. In 2020-21, you could argue it was Van Dijk’s. Anecdotal it may be, but Chiellini couldn’t help himself at his unveiling with LAFC last week. “Attackers sell tickets,” he said. “But defenders win the league.”
 
I’m not even sure we need to replace Stevie B. I think 5 senior options for 3 positions in Kane, Son, Kulusevski, Richarlison and Lucas is fine, especially if one of Gil, Parrott or Scarlett is ready for first team football too.

We also currently boast 3 lwbs, two of which are very used to playing in a front 3 in Sessegnon and Perisic. A new attacker would be nice but really not a priority for me.
 
One day I'll browse this forum and find an entire day where you've not fucking moaned.

But clearly it is not this day.

We've had plenty of incomings already, and there'll be a couple more.

This isn't fucking football manager so if thats what you're after, get your ass off this forum, back to your basement, and go spend the day playing FM whilst sitting in your soiled pants and eating a bumper sized pack of cheetos! Fuck sake man.

"Fab Fridays" can be about both...it's just as important (if not more so) we clear out the deadwood now, as it is to bring in more players.

Bore off you frustrated, sad, miserable goat :contethumb:

You're the one who spends your whole life on this forum throwing your considerable weight around attacking people for no reason :contelol:


Anyway, kiss you and have a nice day :contekiss:
 
It's easier to coach a player how to defend properly than it is to help him be more skilful or pass the ball better. That's why it's harder to improve fhe likes of Sanchez and Tanganga to be more comfortable on the ball but Dier and Davies greatly improved how they defended whilst already being better with the ball. Conte obviously likes what he has seen of Lenglet when he plays forward from the back and feels he can improve the defensive side of his game.
It's actually easier set than done. It's depend on million factors, so you can't say what is easier and what not.
I have been training football from very small kids, till i was around 20. Graduated at Sport School, played in amateur league here in Bulgaria, has tons of matches, and have tons of training.
After that i have been doing martial arts and still working on my body and improving on physical shape. I'm 33 now.
So i know a thing or two.
One of the hardest thing to teach is exactly the things that came naturally, like positioning and being in the right spot at the right time.
Physical capabilities depends on tons of factors so i don't want to even start on that.
Also when someone is taught/learn the wrong fundamentals, then it's a nightmare to relearn/correct him.

As far as Conte, we don't really know what is happening behind the scene. Just because X or Y guys have said that he is happy/unhappy with certain things, doesn't mean they are true.
A lot of the information is totally b.c. or influenced to fit a narrative.

Lenglet is clearly not our first choice, but will he be a solid alternative, we will find out.
But i'm tired of getting quote over him, when all i said is that he is very error prone, which is proven, and he is not a fast defender, he is kinda slow. His position is also terrible. It could be terrible due to the system and style he was playing, or just because naturally he is not good at that.
He also maybe a tactical nightmare to work with. Who really knows? Just like it could be Barca are totally **** in tactical approach(yeah they really are), and lack good coaches in that defensive area.

Still for 1 million time i never said i didn't want Lenglet here or that he will flop. All i have been saying about him is his skills that he have shown so far in Barca. I also said million times that i will judge the player only wearing our shirts, the moment he become our player. Just like everyone should do, and not have a biased opinion, cause he failed or was great in his previous club.

But saying all that some people on here just never learn their lesson, and they keep repeating the same thing, and every player we sign, they are like, oh this guy will be world class and all of that nonsenses.
But if our competition sign the X player, let's said that would be Lenglet, they would have s**** all over him. Tell me if that ain't true? Some people need to remove their pink glasses.

This is my last post on Lenglet. Cause i don't have that much time to begin with, and no sense to waste it that way.
I hope he become our player, i hope he improve, and i hope he will be helping the team do great things.

What i'm not happy tho is that we don't have a buyout option clause. This is just bad business. But maybe he will be just a backup option, so then it's okay, but if not, it's not good.
There are no other clubs interested in him, and he have very high salary, and Barca are desperate to move on him, cause of the big salary, and he is also not used there.
 

The Athletic have now revealed that Tottenham’s desire to complete their signings early was a key reason why the club decided to step up their pursuit of Clement Lenglet over their other left centre-back options.

If some of the reports over recent days are to be believed, Lenglet is now close to completing a season-long loan move to Spurs (Sport). In fact, Fabrizio Romano has now given the deal his ‘here we go’ seal of approval.


The Athletic report that Josko Gvardiol, Alessandro Bastoni, Nico Schlotterbeck and Sven Botman were all ahead of Lenglet in Tottenham’s wish list when the summer transfer window opened.

However, it is explained that Leipzig were demanding a huge fee for Gvardiol while Inter were reluctant to let Bastoni go.

In addition, Schlotterbeck was said to be keen to remain in Germany and Tottenham reportedly felt that Botman would not be a good fit for the back three, which is why they allowed the Dutchman to go to Newcastle.

So, rather than waiting until later in the transfer window, hoping that Leipzig or Inter change their stance on Gvardiol or Bastoni, Antonio Conte’s men allegedly decided to bring in Lenglet to add experience and competition to their backline.


It is asserted that a move for the Frenchman represents something of a ‘compromise’ from Spurs, with the club viewing the 27-year-old as a temporary ‘stop-gap’.

Rather than spending relatively big money on Sven Botman or Pau Torres, who might not be ideal fit for Antonio Conte’s back three, it makes sense for the club to use Lenglet as a temporary stop-gap, and try again to sign one of Bastoni or Gvardiol next summer.
Getting your signings done early is great and all, but picking your 5th choice just because they're available doesn't make sense to me.

Still, In Conte We Trust
:contepoint:
 
87 M euros for the new signings
38 M euros from the exits.

from winks (10-15), GLC (15), ndombele (15) we go near to 0 net spending
That 15 million for Ndombele is doing a lot of work! Plus if we count Romero, Deki's loan fee and Bentancur as last year, that was £100 million net spend. I don't think we can tell mid-stream whether we are spending more or not - we aren't signing Perisic, Bissouma, Lenglet and Richarlison without paying them like our top earners irrespective of fees. I'd hope we've got one more wow signing to come though.
 
Getting your signings done early is great and all, but picking your 5th choice just because they're available doesn't make sense to me.

Still, In Conte We Trust
:contepoint:
Yeah i completely agree with you on this. It's a well known Fabio have alternative over alternative over alternative, but there is level to this sport, so .... And this is a ***** crucial position in any given team, so your defense should be rock solid.
Let's see how that plays out.
 
Bore off you frustrated, sad, miserable goat :contethumb:

You're the one who spends your whole life on this forum throwing your considerable weight around attacking people for no reason :contelol:


Anyway, kiss you and have a nice day :contekiss:

You're the one whose always miserable fella - moaning for no bloody reason.

Me, being the brilliant true yid that I am, am in a right good mood!

I wish you well on today's adventure on footie manager - try taking Crawley to the CL final - pob lwc!
 
Bore off you frustrated, sad, miserable goat :contethumb:

You're the one who spends your whole life on this forum throwing your considerable weight around attacking people for no reason :contelol:


Anyway, kiss you and have a nice day :contekiss:
Main reason i put him on ignore, and few others. Some people are just so aggressive, and they just do everything to fit their agenda. They just read between the line, twist your words and more. No reason to lose any nerve in any given forum. Forums should be for positive emotion and when you are sad after bad result to get backup.
But some people just want to force their opinion, and not accepting someone else have different view. The best way to deal with this guys is the ignore option, instead of feeding them.
 
Main reason i put him on ignore, and few others. Some people are just so aggressive, and they just do everything to fit their agenda. They just read between the line, twist your words and more. No reason to lose any nerve in any given forum. Forums should be for positive emotion and when you are sad after bad result to get backup.
But some people just want to force their opinion, and not accepting someone else have different view. The best way to deal with this guys is the ignore option, instead of feeding them.

Sleep Yawn GIF
 
That 15 million for Ndombele is doing a lot of work! Plus if we count Romero, Deki's loan fee and Bentancur as last year, that was £100 million net spend. I don't think we can tell mid-stream whether we are spending more or not - we aren't signing Perisic, Bissouma, Lenglet and Richarlison without paying them like our top earners irrespective of fees. I'd hope we've got one more wow signing to come though.
all right, but I am talking about this summer
 
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