Illarramendi [Illarramendi]

[Exiled_red]

Southampton do seem very shrewd with their targets.

As regards Illara he's a deep lying midfielder, sure we have Can,Allen & Henderson who can do that role. Personally I would rather we either keep Lucas or if Lucas is sold buy a specialist DM.

We should stop buying their players and just bring in their scouts, we'd save ourselves a fortune

[Charly]

Remember when we signed Hamman, No one saw that he would be the perfect holding player, as he was thought of as more attacking minded. And for me, he became the model of exactly how the position should be played. He did have a superhuman ability for drawing fouls though.

On the other hand, he may be being bought for a more attacking role (which to me makes no sense).

[Doc_Piptorious]

Which is why they probably don't need Imbula. Those two are powerful but not so creative so you'd think that Kovacic or Hernanes would be the other one of the midfield three. Depends on what formation Mancini goes with but I remember he likes two holding

Was not the case at Sevilla. Medel used to get forward a lot the season he and Kondogbia played together and he was pretty good at joining in with attacks and being part of the build up.

Medel is actually a pretty decent box to box midfielder when his defensive duties are lessened, and it added a different element to Sevilla's game when they had a player of his combative nature (not to mention of his ball winning abilities) popping up in the final third of the pitch.

Then when Sevilla were on the back foot they had both Medel and Kondogbia dropping deep to act as a shield in front of the back line.

Medel is not creative in a flair player kind of manner, but he is a clever passer when pushed forward and he has the energy and aggression to make life difficult for defenders.


Would love to see him at Liverpool sitting in the deep midfield position in a diamond formation. Would be like having a Mascherano style player lying in wait for any attacker that broke through our centre.

[Harv]

Battletoad

[Angryred]

Please Rafa, let this guy come to us as we will return the favour...

[Darkon]

Yes, with all the transfer power vested in Real managers that is going to work

[Irishnev]

Signed for Inter didn't he?

Looks like Porto now

Andy Brassell @andybrassell 43m43 minutes ago
RMC now reporting Imbula to Porto as imminent. €23m (which would be FCP record), 5-yr deal. Doyen reported to be coughing up half of fee.

[DannyMan2006]

I want Illara but we probably need some beast as opposed to a graceful player. I'd have paid through the nose for Kondogbia or Carvalho. Links to Illara & Kovacic smacks of going back to exciting football though.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Looks like Porto now

Andy Brassell @andybrassell 43m43 minutes ago
RMC now reporting Imbula to Porto as imminent. €23m (which would be FCP record), 5-yr deal. Doyen reported to be coughing up half of fee.

Cheers mate, assumed the deal with Inter was done.

[Liverpel]

Asier Illarramendi is set to move to Liverpool after the Anfield club came up with an improved offer of £14.2m.

The Express reports that the bid is line with what Real are hoping to receive for the defensive midfielder, and a deal should be completed this week.

Illarramendi arrived at the Bernebeu two years ago, but has failed to establish himself as a regular starter and completed the 90 minutes in La Liga just seven times last season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/11779661/Liverpool-transfer-rumours-and-news-Asier-Illarramendi-set-to-complete-Anfield-move.html

[Fosterbloke]

I'm guessing the Telegraph aren't a reliable source?

[Muddled]

I believe we have representatives in Spain. The Express ran with the story that we were in for Illarramendi; The Telegraph thought it was Denis Cheryshev; Whilst The Metro knew we were after Traore.

Ergo, it's the Metro who has the scoops.

[Fivex]

[Norbs]

Illarramendi [Illarramendi]

Thread title suggestion

[Cormack74]

This is from a few days ago.

http://www.marca.com/en/2015/07/29/en/football/real_madrid/1438206849.html

Asier Illarramendi is going to have another go. His future seemed at one time to be away from Real Madrid, after two seasons which have not turned out the way he hoped, but the player has decided to continue trying to win his place in the team under Rafa Benítez.

For one thing, the manager believes in him, and although there was an offer on the table from Liverpool, it was Illarra himself who rejected it, believing that during his third season at the club he can make his presence felt much more in the side.

For Rafa Benítez, getting the most out of Illarra is also going to be a challenge. He firmly believes that the ex-Real Sociedad player has a lot more to offer than has been evident in the past two years under Ancelotti. Benítez sees him as being very like Xabi Alonso, who was at Liverpool with the manager, a player whom he signed when Alonso was just 22 years old and worked with right up to when he signed for Real Madrid at the age of 27.

Additionally, the new Real Madrid manager believes that Asier has not had much good fortune at Real Madrid. Injuries and lack of continuity led to his second season not taking off in the way that had been expected.

In fact, during the winter and with the arrival of Lucas Silva, Athletic de Bilbao made a move for him, but Illarramendi stood firm, as he is doing now, believing that he will triumph with Real Madrid.