Ross Barkley

[CVByrne]

1 minute ago, Frodo said:

So an offer of doubling his wages & a 2 year contract with an option for a 3rd from the club would be good bit of business

Yes my thinking too. 2 year deal and club option for 3rd, plus 60k a week salary. Improvement over Dendonker, Iroegbunam or Chambers in CM

[RichiBoi11]

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

This.  We still need someone to replace Kamara.

I think we are looking for two central players tbf, there's a few murmurings of Ndidi on a free, he would be perfect for a Kamara rotation option.

 

Also Barkley has excelled as a deep lying playmaker so see no harm in this signing. Good ball carrier and playmaker which would surely assist with playing against low blocks next season.

[wict01]

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

Yes my thinking too. 2 year deal and club option for 3rd, plus 60k a week salary. Improvement over Dendonker, Iroegbunam or Chambers in CM

This is the crucial bit to me, improving the squad depth but not in a Lambert/O'Neill way of bringing in players the manager cant trust who will sit on the bench all season. Barkley would influence games for us as an occasional starter or sub IMO. 

[Frodo]

4 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Yes my thinking too. 2 year deal and club option for 3rd, plus 60k a week salary. Improvement over Dendonker, Iroegbunam or Chambers in CM

& were offering him Champions league football

[PaulMcGrath_5]

Just now, Frodo said:

& were offering him Champions league football

No, we are now.

[duke313]

6 minutes ago, RichiBoi11 said:

I think we are looking for two central players tbf, there's a few murmurings of Ndidi on a free, he would be perfect for a Kamara rotation option.

Also Barkley has excelled as a deep lying playmaker so see no harm in this signing. Good ball carrier and playmaker which would surely assist with playing against low blocks next season.

Not sure he's good enough TBH.  I can see us making a "Moreno type" signing for a DM, someone relatively cheap to cover and then compete with Kamara when he returns.

[The_Steve]

He’s still not deleted it

[RichiBoi11]

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

Not sure he's good enough TBH.  I can see us making a "Moreno type" signing for a DM, someone relatively cheap to cover and then compete with Kamara when he returns.

I've always liked Ndidi,  but he's not at Kamara's level. The key thing is if Unai wants him. I back him to improve any player, so if he does want him then I'm all for it. Same with Barkley.

 

It's so nice to have a manager you can trust, it makes the transfer window much less stressful

[TheStagMan]

12 hours ago, leemond2008 said:

I remember playing Football Manager drunk, I was second in the Premier League, after a fair few snake bites I woke up the next morning loaded into the game and I was 9th and had signed Emile Heskey 

Hi Martin

[TRO]

22 hours ago, duke313 said:

I think you’re getting two hung up on the term “DM”. Luiz and Kamara are both DMs for example, but completely different. You rightly compare Barley to Youri, who has played quite a bit for us in the pivot, so no reason why RB can’t play deeper in certain games.

I don't believe Dougie is a DM, just because he is played there. He plays there, because we have no one else. I agree with the view that alongside Kamara, he looks better, but that burdens Kamara, in my view.....Dougies skill set, lends it to an 8 for me.

[DJBOB]

Ross is actually probably closer to Tielemans in that he will most likely be used in that second striker position. This is particularly useful because he can hold up the ball, which we struggled with in the second half of the season. 
 
And then in certain matches, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the double pivot. 

[duke313]

37 minutes ago, TRO said:

I don't believe Dougie is a DM, just because he is played there. He plays there, because we have no one else. I agree with the view that alongside Kamara, he looks better, but that burdens Kamara, in my view.....Dougies skill set, lends it to an 8 for me.

I do.  There are different types of defensive midfielders in the modern game, the ball wining type (Kamara) and the deep playmaker type (Luiz).  They are both DMs, they just have different instructions on the pitch.  

[CVByrne]

40 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Ross is actually probably closer to Tielemans in that he will most likely be used in that second striker position. This is particularly useful because he can hold up the ball, which we struggled with in the second half of the season. 
 
And then in certain matches, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the double pivot. 

I don't agree, I think he'll be used mostly one of the two central midfielders. We've Buendia, tielemans and maybe others for the second striker position

[DJBOB]

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

I don't agree, I think he'll be used mostly one of the two central midfielders. We've Buendia, tielemans and maybe others for the second striker position

Buendia is off an ACL and Tielemans has had trouble staying fit.

Wouldnt surprise me to see Barkley in the second striker. Has got all the tools to make it work. 

[AV82]

17 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

I'm chilled out... Emery didn't sign most the squad so what's your point? 

And I ain't your mate.....mate 

He's choosing to sign Barkley.. which says to me he has an idea of how/where he'll play him and therefore hopefully get the best out him. For that reason I'm comfortable if we do take a punt on him.

..Why you're then comparing that to Emery not favouring a player who cannot pass a football (Dendoncker) or a literal child (Tim), neither of whom he signed, is a take as bizarre as your strangely salty responses. I asked you a simple question, I won't waste the time in future.

[VictoriabcVillan]

Unless we have an injury crisis. He will play similar to the Luiz role. He had a superb year as a creative 6. He hasnt got the engine/legs to play wide or further up anymore. Hence why he moved further back for Luton. His heat map last year was very centre of the park dominant.

I cant see Emery trying to take him further up the pitch where he isnt as good. We have Tielemans ,Mcginn, Buendia, Bailey, Diaby, Duran, Watkins, Rogers & Ramsey for those more attacking positions. 

[CVByrne]

23 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Buendia is off an ACL and Tielemans has had trouble staying fit.

Wouldnt surprise me to see Barkley in the second striker. Has got all the tools to make it work. 

Buendia is back from Injury and was in training. It's May, he'll be fine to play in August 3 months away.

Tielemans played in 46 games last season. He was fit enough 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

As a couple others have said, yeah he'd more suit the Luiz deep role.

As we know, Doug played way too many games, so he'd just give us another option with a lower drop off in quality for different competitions, injury and suspension etc.

[CVByrne]

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

As a couple others have said, yeah he'd more suit the Luiz deep role.

As we know, Doug played way too many games, so he'd just give us another option with a lower drop off in quality for different competitions, injury and suspension etc.

I think we would see a lot of control with Luiz, Barkley and Tielemans in the side. Barkley is big a 6'2 and Tielemans dropping off into midfield from s/s.

[allani]

13 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think we would see a lot of control with Luiz, Barkley and Tielemans in the side. Barkley is big a 6'2 and Tielemans dropping off into midfield from s/s.

I agree.  There will be matches where Kamara (or whoever else we sign to cover him), Luiz and Barkley would make sense as a deeper midfield offering more protection to the defence but with enough quality on the ball to provide a real threat when we win the ball back and get the ball into our attacking three.  But being able to rotate Luiz and Barkley would give us a lot more staying power into the second half of the season.

My initial thought to the rumour was "no thanks" but I'm beginning to see how it could make a lot of sense.  Plus it gives us more cash to spend on the Kamara "backup" and / or defence.