Exactly, this is why I feel a bit short sighted having a dig at anyone we've just signed. Ramsey was same for Woolwich, honestly though Sagna and Koscielny were shite too, big difference one season can make.
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Exactly, this is why I feel a bit short sighted having a dig at anyone we've just signed. Ramsey was same for Woolwich, honestly though Sagna and Koscielny were shite too, big difference one season can make.
I dont think it was strange at all. He did well for us, "ok", he wasnt looking like a superstar. He came through the ranks and so cost us near nothing, and we got a £10m deal for him replacing him with a in international who looks a more accomplished player.
And thats aside from the talk he actually had personal issues at the club, and had already made it clear he wanted games
That honestly didn't seem to strange to you? Sell a promising English player at a position we weren't sure we'd be strong at that close to the start of the season? It had all the reek of a player who wanted out.
Big fan of Chiriches, got everything in his locker apart from the odd suicidal take on 5 players run and loose the ball moment, quick, as good if not better on the ball than verts and reads the game well, a future star no doubt. I suppose it would have been nice to keep Caulker in hindsight as he is a good stopper, with Verts bad attitude, Kaboul's knees and Dawson's old legs he would have been a good stopper to keep. If a choice is needed between Chiriches and Caulkers then its Chiriches no question.
Chiriches is a fantastic player, but it has nothing to do with him. He wasn't in yet, and medically speaking we couldn't possibly have had complete confidence in Kaboul's fitness going forward. I don't know what to tell ya mate, but it all made complete sense when the rumors of his comments came out.
People see things differently, its part of what makes it all interesting.
For me Chiriches coming and Caulker leaving were directly linked. One facilitated the other, wouldnt have happened otherwise.
On an either/or basis Im very happy we came out better with Chiriches and £££.
I think, if we are honest, it was obvious Kaboul was not going to be fine - but perhaps they had reason to think otherwise.
Else we would have ended up with 5 CBs and different kinds of problems...
Hopefully the likes of Velj can be filtered through to make up an extra CB next season with Fryers perhaps looking decent in that position too and ready to be developed.
Oh I'm certainly not arguing the connection between the Chiriches acquisition and Caulker's departure, nor that different vantage points are the very reason a place such as this exists. In fact, the only reason I picked your post out was because I tend to agree with you more often than not on just about everything, so I was surprised to see you have such an opposing opinion on this from my own.
I've no doubt the club knew they'd be selling Caulker for a bit of time and as such we saw and heard many rumors of our CB pursuits. While Chiriches is an excellent replacement, even with such a quality addition we were left him, an aging and very plainly deteriorating Dawson, Vertonghen after not buying another LB and pushing out the only other senior left back in the squad after Rose and as such was inevitable was to provide LB cover, and Kaboul with an injury that always merits concern going forward as far as fitness. With all that in mind, my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw the sale of a promising, young Englishman at the position.
Lest we forget, Naughton is 26 this year. Needs to be used or sold on, otherwise he'll be another Khumalo...
....Khumalo
There's a CB we could recall and use
I gathered the immediate issue with Veljkovic is the coaches' impression he's not quite physically ready. Good touch and game-reading, but not ready to battle in the box. Makes sense in the context he's frequently been deployed more as a CDM with the youth squad.
Get this lad and Lamela in a bulk-gain program over the summer with endless supply of eggs and Muscle Milk, and we're talking a massive benefit to the squad.
If Cardiff get relegated could there be some form of buy back clause?
I suppose that depends on whether or not you link LB and CB etc. For me they were seperate issues.
Vertonghen was clearly top man, Dawson had a good season last year - its only this year he has clearly gone backwards, were Kaboul expected to be fit rounding out with Chiriches would leave us with more than enough.
And of course, January was only a few months away.
As it worked out Kaboul got broken (predictably IMO), Vertonghen and Chiriches werent available and Dawson hit the wall. A succession of issues took what should have been a decent group and tore it apart.
It was rumoured at the time there was a buy back/first refusal clause. All the more reason for it to be a no brainer IMO
Vertoghen / Kaboul / Chirches / Caulker ??
I would be happy with that with Fryers, Sandro and Capoue all able to player there as a last resort.
We just need a truly class left back.
I would be happy with that on the caveat Kaboul would stay fit. Sadly I think he is finished, regular games seem to be beyond him.
Doom mongering, I know, but I can forsee a situation where we need to buy 2 or 3 CBs this summer.
Kaboul retiring, Dawson not being good enough/being offered a good contract at a Villa or somewhere/Vertonghen being poached by a bigger club...
I certainly concede a bit of bad luck has to be pointed to while looking at the current situation, but I maintain the situation was not desirable even as of the summer at the point of sale. I haven't even taken my first round of medical boards yet, but even I know that with Kab's injury you simply and absolutely cannot assume he will be fit. I do connect the LB and CB positions because AVB himself said at the beginning we didn't address the LB situation AND sent out BAE because he felt Naughton and Vertonghen were adequate cover. Full backs are always more likely to be injured than CB's because they take on men at pace and are hence more subject to ligamental injuries. Sure enough, Vertonghen sustained a long term injury playing at the position covering for Rose. It was a bad situation, but your next statement certainly provides some context:
Now this is very true, and I hope a part of why we made the deal. Would make honest sense considering the unpredictability of going to a newly promoted side, and in the context of uncertainty at the position. Really hope this clause is a reality.
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I think you're right Kaboul will retire. That's been rumored for about a month now pretty heavily on SC. I'd be okay with keeping Dawson to preserve/divert funds elsewhere, as long as we a) reacquired Caulker or b) made another top quality addition. We could do worse than Dawson as a fourth choice CB, and I think he'd be humble and loyal enough to accept it at his age and use it to push the other three.