GK

He doesn’t respect himself or have any ambition in football if he still wants to stay there post Gordon deal

It’s why the specialist vs generalist argument is an intriguing one. He has bigger weaknesses than most of our targets but he has a genuine WORLD CLASS trait in his passing ability. A specialists success is more team dependent but they can peak higher if platformed right.

@istanbullah I hope he stays at a good club for sometime and builds a good legacy there with top contributions instead of bouncing around on loan every year.

@istanbullah If he accumulates G/A at a great rate and helps Villa take the next step, I’ll be fine ngl. He has a league title now and Don Emery is a good coach for European ties.

i genuinely feel physically sick thinking about the narratives around rashy after this 💔

@istanbullah Villa or Italy

@10Hagplease there's fucking no one left, such a pisstake. barca have taken him for a MUG

@mxmntex 💀

@mxmntex Which piece is this from? If he still hopes to stay, I don’t know man. Can’t believe he’ll still want that post Gordon deal.

Yeah he needs to find his way back to his strengths instead of moving far away from it. He needs to get back to his USP (which led to all his big moments as a player) instead of trying to be what he’s not (they are atmost his secondary strengths over his main ones).

At his age, I feel like it’s useful for him to develop these skills and stay closer to goal instead of moving away from it by staying wide. Flick stressed about Rashford’s pace, power and ability to play centrally multiple times in pressers. Rashy’s interpretation was different

instead of scoring/creating goals close to the center with his ball striking, movement and pace. I feel like Rashford doesn’t like to turn with pressure at his back, needs players close to him for lay offs if he’s central. He has to improve that for sure.

I kind of agree. Flick wanted Rashford to stay close to central zones, combine and run in behind and score. But Rashford interpreted the role in a different way I feel. He stayed very wide and tried take players on and create something from very far out (not his top strength)

@mxmntex Ferran scored 20 goals as a striker and frankly his movement is quite decent. Not sure if Gordon’s movement is as good but he can improve.

Wow 80M for Gordon. If Barcelona and Bayern are interested, they see something in him (OOP work, runner profile in possession). But I’m not sure if he’ll be as good as this price suggests.

@istanbullah He should get back to that and focus more on off the ball movement, getting goals and assists and creating big moments for his team rather than continuing with this wide player with little impact on goal gimmick.

@istanbullah Yep he has to introspect too. He had a decent season but his OOP work has dropped off by quite a bit and his in possession impact has been very inconsistent due to Barcelona’s play style and his insistence on staying close to touchline. He’s output oriented player

pricks man, guy's nowhere near worth that. the level of those clubs going for him too, feel for rashy so underlooked but he needs to deep this honestly

@mxmntex Kobbie deeper, Ederson higher but still his weaknesses doesn’t make sense for us. Inconsistent first touch, inconsistent pass appreciation for 40M is extremely meh.

@mxmntex I think it’s mostly because he doesn’t want to take risks and lose possession there. Flick kind of shifted Barcelona more towards a classic positional play side with risk averse footy after Nov/Dec. That’s why I didn’t want him to stay there for quite a while.

More detail coming on Ederson but I managed to watch a few games today [vs Chelsea, vs Bilbao & vs Milan] and it's a very mixed bag. I'll start with the good; he's a brilliant runner, way higher than the average whether it's his first step or over longer distances. He's good. He can make late box runs, has a good feel around the box and can sniff out a goal in the right spaces. Gasperini has spoken previously about him OOP and that he is very intelligent in pressing situations. I'd also say he does have good steel + robustness & there's certainly a defensive IQ to work with but........... I'm not impressed with him in front of the CBs or in possession generally, yet, to be honest, his first touch is very loose under pressure. He often times delays his actions for far too long and spaces close around him. In my opinion, he can't really play in front of the CBs & with EPL pressure on his back I wouldn't be confident in him holding the ball in the first bit. He can clip balls with pace to the full-backs and his carrying is scrappy but certainly a tool but the on ball stuff really worries me, far less than the off ball stuff. There's a very mixed bag for me. I like his work off the ball, think he'll score a good few goals and replaces that element of Casemiro but I don't think he'd push us far beyond as a starter in there so I hope that the +2 ahead of him will be 1st/2nd choices.

@mxmntex @giveittoidkwho Wages and age is a big issue. No club would pay that much for a 28 year old due to FFP.

Can't wait for the barca will still approach united with a loan deal talk from taprizio now, certain people will lap it up too saying we should accept just like they mentioned we should agree a loan with option last summer lol, that's as good as no deal