Jon Flanagan

[Fosterbloke]

Well Kompany was playing in a **** league at 18 so I wouldn't consider him. The others were all well known youth talents but were older than 18 before they became first choice for their clubs. Arguably Phil Neville was a regular for 6 months at 18...

Sol Campbell was a regular at 18/19 I believe.

[Red_Polo]

Sol Campbell was a regular at 18/19 I believe.

Yeah but when he broke through he played all over the ****ing place though, defence, midfield and up front

Edit: According to wiki he only played once for them while he was 18 - he came on for Barmby and scored!

[Fosterbloke]

Yeah but when he broke through he played all over the ****ing place though, defence, midfield and up front

Edit: According to wiki he only played once for them while he was 18 - he came on for Barmby and scored!

But he made 40 appearances in 1993/1994 season and he was born in Sep 1974 so that would make him 18yrs 11m at the beginning of the season?

Ah didn't know he played everywhere though!

[yamiedo]

No idea, is it any good?

Potentially, too early to say though.

[Roboklopp]

'got a mate....' Never begin a sentence like that. For starters, it just sounds so implausible

Says the bloke that spends his eintire "life" on the tinternet...

[Neil Young]

Says the bloke that spends his eintire "life" on the tinternet...

That's why he never begins a sentence like that.

[MrMichael]

In a way though I do think there is a problem with Johnson in defense but it has nothing to do with him attacking and being out of position. Too often when he is back and one on one with a player they do a simple trick and are then able to either get the cross in or move into the box. He does tend to keep harrying people who are past him which is good but I still think he is very vulnerable when isolated and has trouble holding a player up to wait for support.

Agree with this. I just don't think he's a very consistent defender.

I'm not seriously suggesting we look to sell him or anything, I've just never really been that enamored with him as a player, either before or since we signed him.

[DeeTheDog]

Kelly's injury record is a worry and would mean that there is no way that we should entertain the notion of selling Johnson (for the record, I think currently Johnson is the better of the two.) In his first two seasons in the first team, Kelly has had three prolonged absences. Further, I think I recall that he almost missed a full season at youth level through injury, can anyone corroborate this?

[Rudo]

Agree with this. I just don't think he's a very consistent defender.

I'm not seriously suggesting we look to sell him or anything, I've just never really been that enamored with him as a player, either before or since we signed him.

same with me. said before loads of times, i've never rated Johnson as a defender and never will.

Was gobsmacked at Rafa paying £18m for him...and i was generally pro-Rafa.

Judging by Rafa's back signings like Josemi and Arbeloa - Josemi started off well but then turned ****...but the fact is he was a tough tackling, no nonsense type of player - same with Steve Finnan - not a Rafa signing but he was a regular for a good 3 seasons during Rafa's reign.
The point i'm trying to make is Rafa before signing Johnson seemed to like his full-backs to be defensively sound as opposed to attack-minded.

[RedReet]

Kelly's injury record is a worry and would mean that there is no way that we should entertain the notion of selling Johnson (for the record, I think currently Johnson is the better of the two.) In his first two seasons in the first team, Kelly has had three prolonged absences. Further, I think I recall that he almost missed a full season at youth level through injury, can anyone corroborate this?

He was out for 2 years with a back injury.

I suppose the only comforting thing is he isn't picking up recurring injuries. As far as I'm aware he's been out with his ankle, his knee and now his hamstring. It could suggest that he's a potential crock like Agger and Aurelio and the hamstring is a bit of a concern, but fingers crossed it's just been a bit of bad luck.

[Arn]

Selling Johnson would depend how much we can get for him. The fair play rules means that we can't spend that much money if we don't sell a couple of good players. Aquilani and Johnson are probably the only big names we could sell without it weakening the squad to much.

If we can get something like £20m for Johnson then we should sell him.

[Mike]

Thought Flanagan was ruddy brilliant the other night. Seen a lot of him especially in the last 12 months and i know its rich saying it now but i wasn't too worried when i seen him play - I've always rated the lad.

[Rudo]

Selling Johnson would depend how much we can get for him. The fair play rules means that we can't spend that much money if we don't sell a couple of good players. Aquilani and Johnson are probably the only big names we could sell without it weakening the squad to much.

If we can get something like £20m for Johnson then we should sell him.

Could get decent cash for Johnson, no doubt about that - Spurs have been linked with him before and Johnson might fancy moving back to London.

I for one would be happy if Kelly and Flanagan were our two right backs next season and with the money for Johnson, we could use to buy new players.

[kris90210]

Woodgate was very young as well wasn't he?

[Mostar]

Selling Johnson would depend how much we can get for him. The fair play rules means that we can't spend that much money if we don't sell a couple of good players. Aquilani and Johnson are probably the only big names we could sell without it weakening the squad to much.

If we can get something like £20m for Johnson then we should sell him.

Firstly you will not get 20m for GJ secondly why would we do that? Who would you get instead and for how much?

Neh, we should keep him.

We need genuine competition for each and every position.

Kelly's injury record has not been the greatest and Flanagan is not ready yet for more regular role to contemplate that thought.

Also it could be a very risky to sell him and then try to replace him with someone for 1/3 what we got for him and in the process weaken the squad.

We did that last few years and see how that came back to bite us in the arse.

We don't sell for the sake of selling. It has to be a very good reason to do that here and I personally don't see it.