Philippe Coutinho

[Patricks_Berger]

crazy to think that we paid £8.5m for him 5 years ago and we now want £130m + football is ****ing nuts

When I was younger I used to think the money coming in was exciting. But it's gone too far.

[gratziani]

What about Banega , Goretzka and Keita for next year ?

with the same front three

[Doc_Piptorious]

What about Banega , Goretzka and Keita for next year ?

with the same front three

Banega is a fine player. Cannot quite understand why a bigger club than those he played for never took a risk on him.

He has always looked very good for Sevilla and Valenica. Very adaptable player too as he looks as at home as a DM as he does as an AM.


Would love to have a player like him come in and play the Milner role in our squad. That experienced head who is still good enough to challenge for a first team place type player.

[marcus50bucks]

Similar-ish would be guys like Dybala or Fekir (albeit the latter is playing in a more advanced role this season to last and has been banging in the goals since that positional change).


Someone like Veratti would be a different style of player and play much deeper, but he would bring a level of top class quality to the centre of the park that could replace the quality of Coutinho although not in a like for like manner.


That guy at West Ham, Manzini looks similar-ish in terms of style but is difficult to know how good he actually is with dross around him in the attacking third of that team.


Lorenzo Insigne at Napoli can play in a similar role too, but from what I have seen of him this season he seems to be playing more on the left side of attack.


Draxler I think might be able for the role too as he is good on the wing and as an AM. He is fast, skillful and around or just over the six foot mark so decent in the air. But would still be a bit of a gamble although a very talented gamble.


Very few of those I named would be on Coutinho's level in terms of sheer ability/quality right now though. Dybala and Veratti would be at the same level or maybe a touch above, but the most of the rest are guys who are good but who maybe can get to the same level with better attackers around them.

Fekir would be the wildcard there as I suspect he may actually be a lot closer to being a top class player than the others and may already be at the level to step into a a starring role with a bigger club than where he is at .


Of course if we got in a player who is currently 75% or 80% as good as Coutinho ( which would still make that player a very good addition) and we added another quality player, then it could be argued we would have a stronger starting X1 without Coutinho than with, but that is in the realms of ifs and buts.


But remaining in that realm, let's take PSG for example, it is being said that they need to move players on to meet FFP rules before they can buy big again. Draxler there is meant to be available for around the 35m to 40m mark. If we got 130m for Coutinho, then maybe offer the lot for Draxler and Veratti.

Do think that we could get one of the maybe players from above (Fekir, Draxler, Manzini, etc) for something in the 35m to 60m range depending on which one. If we got 130m for Coutimnho then that leaves somewhere between 70m and 95m for a second high quality addition. Simplistic yes, but not exactly something we have not seen other teams do when they get big fees for a single player.

Yes a big fee can be wasted by buying too many average players, but spend it on a couple of higher quality players and maybe, just maybe, we could end up being better off thanwe are now.

Can't argue with that. I'd prefer Fekir though as I said the other day as he not only offers us the close control and dribbling ability that Coutinho offers us, he's a very good finisher too. Think we'll end up with Lemar though which wouldn't be bad either.

[Tee]

What about Banega , Goretzka and Keita for next year ?

with the same front three

[Snigger]

Ladbrokes odds

Dani Ceballos – 6/4
Leon Goretzka – 9/4
Julian Draxler – 5/2
Thomas Lemar – 10/3
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 4/1
Christian Pulisic – 9/2
Riyad Mahrez – 6/1

[gratziani]

Banega is a fine player. Cannot quite understand why a bigger club than those he played for never took a risk on him.

He has always looked very good for Sevilla and Valenica. Very adaptable player too as he looks as at home as a DM as he does as an AM.


Would love to have a player like him come in and play the Milner role in our squad. That experienced head who is still good enough to challenge for a first team place type player.

Same here mate , every time have seen him play he controls the game very well from midfield and would cost 20 million would we think ?

[Exiled_red]

Ladbrokes odds

Dani Ceballos – 6/4
Leon Goretzka – 9/4
Julian Draxler – 5/2
Thomas Lemar – 10/3
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 4/1
Christian Pulisic – 9/2
Riyad Mahrez – 6/1

I know we were linked with him once but surely they wouldn't sell to us (it least for a sensible price) even if they are desperate to get rid.

...not that i'd want him anyway

[Irishnev]

Lemar and Mahrez dont strike me as Coutinho type players. They would seem more like Mane/Salah type players (pacey wide players / attackers)

So if we are buying one of these lads as his replacement we are altering the focus of how we play and how we supply the forward players

Who out there plays similar to Coutinho

Coutinho is almost unique and you'd need a few players with different skill sets to compensate but Fekir is someone who is similar or Iniesta 😀

[Norbs]

I know we were linked with him once but surely they wouldn't sell to us (it least for a sensible price) even if they are desperate to get rid.

...not that i'd want him anyway

Yep, he can go **** himself after turning us down*

*Obviously doesn't apply to Salah

[Doc_Piptorious]

Can't argue with that. I'd prefer Fekir though as I said the other day as he not only offers us the close control and dribbling ability that Coutinho offers us, he's a very good finisher too. Think we'll end up with Lemar though which wouldn't be bad either.

If it came down to Fekir or Lemar, then Fekir every day of the week for me. Looks a far more complete player and would struggle to pick anything that Lemar has over him. Maybe a tiny bit more pace but even that is debatable.

Of course Lemar is a few years younger so maybe he may go on to be as good as Fekir is now, but Fekir has looked good at Lyon as the guy who sets up the attacks when Lacazette was at Lyon and currently looks great as the guy who finishes the attacks now that he has stepped into the main attacker role.

What I really like about Fekir as a player is how he slots into so many attacking roles and each time has you thinking that THIS must be his best role until you see him in a different role and start to think that must be his best role.

Cannot make up my mind as to how good he actually is though. I know he is a good player, but as I said in my earlier post I have that suspicion that he may be on the cusp of being a top class player and all that is holding him back is not having a higher calibre of player around him for him to play off of.


Do think if Coutinho goes, that Fekir + another first team addition from that money would be a fantastic bit of business. Basically two first team quality additions for one leaving.

[Fuzzy]

Wow, with all these names I'm almost excited to see the curly cunt **** off... Ceballos, is he the Spain player with all that trickery in the last youth tournament who went to Real?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Wow, with all these names I'm almost excited to see the curly cunt **** off... Ceballos, is he the Spain player with all that trickery in the last youth tournament who went to Real?

Had to google him to check who he was.


He joined Real in July 2017 and from what I can see online is meant to have clashed with Zindane already over his lack of game time.

[Doc_Piptorious]

and some Fekir for the EST feckers.




[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BWnPpyoSx4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BWnPpyoSx4[/ame]

[Kenneth]

Had to google him to check who he was.


He joined Real in July 2017 and from what I can see online is meant to have clashed with Zindane already over his lack of game time.

I've no idea who any of these people are tbh. But as long as they're expressive I'll be reassured.