Winter mercato 2022

[ACMmike]

The question with Kessie really is do we need another version of him if he leaves? My opinion is no, I would rather us go after a hard working technical midfielder. Someone who can create and defend, because in reality Kessie leaves us limited on creativity.

A lot of the top teams who have won in recent years have had a good balance, but if we compare... Modric, Kroos, Casemiro or Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets - none of those players lack technically as much as Kessie does.

Even in Chelseas midfield, Kante is a hard worker but he also drives forward steadily and has a much better range of passing.

In essence, I think Kessie is not even the right type of player to take us to the top, we need someone industrious, hard working but also better technical ability. At this point I'm happier if he leaves than renews.

[nefremo]

So, another Tonali?
I agree with you btw

[slifersd]

I hate the idea of Kessie leaving for free, but in all honesty, replacing him shouldn't be the most challenging thing in the world. All due respect to Kessie as a player, but physical midfielders who runs a lot but doesn't contribute much on offense isn't exactly the most difficult to find in soccer anyway. Ligue 1 teams pump those out by the dozens every season. If we can get some money for selling him, I think we can do a good job replacing his production.

[ACMmike]

So, another Tonali?
I agree with you btw

Essentially   but really midfield should be able to do it by default. I think it benefits the team greatly to have all players with technical ability. Players like Kessie/Yoko should more so be back up and bench players to serve a specific purpose in certain types of games

[ACMmike]

I hate the idea of Kessie leaving for free, but in all honesty, replacing him shouldn't be the most challenging thing in the world. All due respect to Kessie as a player, but physical midfielders who runs a lot but doesn't contribute much on offense isn't exactly the most difficult to find in soccer anyway. Ligue 1 teams pump those out by the dozens every season. If we can get some money for selling him, I think we can do a good job replacing his production.

LOL this is strangely so true about the Ligue 1 comment

[honsano]

I think one thing we can all agree on is his style is suited for serie a. He is limited (though his goals and assists last season speak to a little more offensive influence than admitted) but he holds the ball well, can shut down players and generally leads by example. He also helps shield our more offenisve players (Theo, Leao and to some extent Bennacer previously) while making our CB combo stronger too.

Of course every player is replaceable. The problem is that without player continuity, it is hard to build a winning side. We aren't aiming for CL anymore. We are aiming for trophies. Just because you buy another player, there is no guarantee they'll play as well or assimilate quickly to the side or the league. If we keep Kessie AND Romagnoli, we are going to enter a positive cycle. No more rebuilding. We put that at risk if we don't. We got lucky with the replacements for Hakan and Donna. It's a gamble to try that again.

BTW, I'm really getting nervous about Diaz. He is getting hacked left and right and there is no clear sub for him aside from Maldini. I'm not sure if the plan is Krunic or Messias, but that guy def needs rest.

[porcho]

I think one thing we can all agree on is his style is suited for serie a. He is limited (though his goals and assists last season speak to a little more offensive influence than admitted) but he holds the ball well, can shut down players and generally leads by example. He also helps shield our more offenisve players (Theo, Leao and to some extent Bennacer previously) while making our CB combo stronger too.

Of course every player is replaceable. The problem is that without player continuity, it is hard to build a winning side. We aren't aiming for CL anymore. We are aiming for trophies. Just because you buy another player, there is no guarantee they'll play as well or assimilate quickly to the side or the league. If we keep Kessie AND Romagnoli, we are going to enter a positive cycle. No more rebuilding. We put that at risk if we don't. We got lucky with the replacements for Hakan and Donna. It's a gamble to try that again.

BTW, I'm really getting nervous about Diaz. He is getting hacked left and right and there is no clear sub for him aside from Maldini. I'm not sure if the plan is Krunic or Messias, but that guy def needs rest.

Yep. He gets no protection and gets absolutely hammered every time he gets the ball. I think the plan was Messias would be able to help as CAM and RW but he's not ready to go yet. Krunic would be able to assist but he's injured

[Arildonardo]

I think we should offer Krunic to Bordeaux in order to get Adli already in January instead of next summer.

[porcho]

I think we should offer Krunic to Bordeaux in order to get Adli already in January instead of next summer.

Probably not such a bad idea. Aldi looks the goods and Krunic could do well there. Although I'd try see if we could loan Krunic there to bring in Adli early. or come up with a loan with cheap option or something to that affect

[Demonbanana]

So far next year our midfield is : Bennacer, Tonali, Bakayoko, Adli, Pobega and Krunic. This isn't including AM or wide player's.
Franck needs to make a choice with what he is doing.