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Kalidou Koulibaly

doctor stefan Freud

the tired tread of sad biology
Sep 2, 2013
15,170
72,169
Anyone who can tackle Salah by head butting him in the bollocks is worth every penny

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TheVoiceofReason

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2005
6,320
15,685
Funny that people seem less excited about this because of his age... We’ve been signing 24 year olds for the last decade and won nowt.
 

cider spurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
9,399
23,731
I'm all for it.

Be good to have a player instill a bit of aggression. Been a bit pissed off for far too long with our powder puff approach.

Time we had a few more warriors in the side me thinks. Get KK in, followed by a 'kick-ass, no bullshit' DM.

Been far to mamsy pamsy in our play.Grit and determination help win matches. Prancing round like fairies kicking the ball wherever you fancy, or acting like Bambi on a magic mushroom trip isn't going to cut it.

Only real men need apply.

In conclusion. Yeah, I like the idea of this signing.
 

pablo73

Well-Known Member
Dec 6, 2006
3,978
13,596
That's precisely the point I'm making - investing poorly is not the same as not investing at all.

Given how far we have come over the last 20 years (apparently in spite of Levy, lol) I am prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. Everything is in place now and there are no possible excuses left for not improving our whole recruitment process. Signs from the summer were positive.

Whichever way you slice it, this squad has been woefully mismanaged and allowed to decline and part of that is underinvestment, I'm not sure how anyone can argue that point. Yes, hopefully we will start to see more investment now but given the decline that's been overseen it's going to take big money and very astute purchases just to get us back to the level we were at 3 years ago let alone to push us on any further.

I understand the reasons for that with the new stadium etc but I very much suspect the magic money tree could have been found a year or two ago if it had looked like we weren't going to qualify for the Champs league but the investment just wasn't there to push us on from regular champs league qualifiers to actually winning stuff.

The biggest disappointment for me is that we seemingly abandoned our policy of buying the best young British players which had served us so well. Whether that was down to Levy deciding young British players no longer represented value for money or if Poch didn't fancy the ones offered we may never know but it's a real shame.

As you say, hopefully the whole recruitment process will now improve. Wherever the responsibility lays the last 3-4 years or so of transfer buys (and sales or lack thereof) have been disastrous. Our first team squad is remarkably similar to 4-5 years ago while the teams around us have changed beyond recognition.

I'm obviously excluding the players bought last summer as it's far too early to judge them.

I'd like us to get back to buying the best young talent or at least see some sort of strategy as far as squad building goes. Getting in a good director of football who Mourinho would be happy to work with (eg the guy at Lille) with a degree of autonomy would be the ideal start.
 

pablo73

Well-Known Member
Dec 6, 2006
3,978
13,596
I don't think you can put last summer aside as though it was a one off, I see it as a watershed and a pointer to how we will be from now on. The new stadium obviously plays a part in this, I had hoped we'd start the summer before but at least we've begun now.

Hopefully you're right, it's just a shame we have allowed the squad to decline and go stale to the extent we have.

As I said in my reply to Richie, I understand up to a point the lack of investment over the past few years given the stadium expenditure etc., it's just a shame that during that period we also abandoned our policy of buying the best young British talent that had served us so well. The likes of Grealish, Brooks, Maddison, Ake etc would all have been very realistic buys and would have improved us immeasurably as well as helping with the homegrown quota. I suppose you can say we tried to sign Grealish but trying and ultimately failing to buy an extremely gettable player is not good enough.

You have to go back a very long way to find a signing that you could call an unqualified success (obviously too early to say either way on the signings from last summer). Sanchez is probably the closest but I think it's fair to say the jury is still out on him to a certain extent, certainly in terms of becoming top class. I think you probably have to go back to Son which is nearly 5 years ago, that is a shocking indictment on our transfer policy (I won't say strategy as I haven't been able to detect one) over that time.

It's highlighted by the fact that Kane and Son aside (Dele at a push if you can find a club with scouts who just watch MOTD) we don't have anyone we could even now sell for big money to generate funds for investment in the squad. 3 -4 years ago you could have probably named at least 9-10 players who would have easily fetched £50m plus, that is just shocking mismanagement whichever way you look at it.

Anyway, I obviously hope you are right and that last summer was a watershed, just a shame we let things get to this stage where we need such a major rebuild.
 

THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
based on what exactly? Plays for a team not setting the world on fire. I am not convinced lol.
FFS what is this logic? Just because Napoli aren't great now doesn't mean Koulibaly isn't good, and ignores the fact that Napoli have been excellent in previous years. What would you think if other fans said they weren't convinced about Kane just because we're not doing well at the moment?
 

Syn_13

Fly On, Little Wing
Jul 17, 2008
14,851
20,659
28 is a prime age for a CB. He's a beast and very physically fit. Can play at this level for another 3 or 4 years. He's excelled in a country where defending is an art form. Napoli have struggled this year but that isn't his fault. Prior to this year they've been amazing and very unlucky not to topple Juve, and he's been instrumental in that.

I would take him in a heartbeat. He's an improvement to what we have and in a key area that we're struggling in.
 

Flashspur

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2012
6,882
9,068
FFS what is this logic? Just because Napoli aren't great now doesn't mean Koulibaly isn't good, and ignores the fact that Napoli have been excellent in previous years. What would you think if other fans said they weren't convinced about Kane just because we're not doing well at the moment?

if Koulibaly was so good why hasn’t anyone decent come in for him. I’ve seen Napoli play and he is error prone. He isn’t the fastest either. If VVD is your measure this guy doesn’t cut the mustard.

Where is the proof he is second best CB in the world? Answer the fucking question!

Mate you have a tendency to hyperbole that can be breath taking at times. So I should believe you because you say so? Sorry, your opinion hasnt impressed me in the past and doesn’t impress me now.
 

pelayo59

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2019
1,035
4,588
if Koulibaly was so good why hasn’t anyone decent come in for him. I’ve seen Napoli play and he is error prone. He isn’t the fastest either. If VVD is your measure this guy doesn’t cut the mustard.

Where is the proof he is second best CB in the world? Answer the fucking question!

Mate you have a tendency to hyperbole that can be breath taking at times. So I should believe you because you say so? Sorry, your opinion hasnt impressed me in the past and doesn’t impress me now.

Because he loves the city and De Laurentis earlier would want more than 100m. Now he would want less.
Also, is Son or Kane good when anyone decent doesn't come in for them?
 

SargeantMeatCurtains

Your least favourite poster
Jan 5, 2013
11,764
61,758
if Koulibaly was so good why hasn’t anyone decent come in for him. I’ve seen Napoli play and he is error prone. He isn’t the fastest either. If VVD is your measure this guy doesn’t cut the mustard.

Where is the proof he is second best CB in the world? Answer the fucking question!

Mate you have a tendency to hyperbole that can be breath taking at times. So I should believe you because you say so? Sorry, your opinion hasnt impressed me in the past and doesn’t impress me now.
Using a perceived lack of interest in a player as the barometer for how good they are is literally one of the most unintelligent things I’ve ever heard. Plenty of top clubs have been linked with him but there’s multiple reasons he hasn’t moved. It’s notoriously difficult to get players out of Napoli. Think Marek Hamsik, Edison Cavani, etc. Coupled with the fact he’s 28, seemingly loved the club before this season and has a £130m release clause, a move until now made no sense.

Kalidou Koulibaly is quite comfortably the second best CB in the world and, whilst you’re so adamant he isn’t, you’ve yet to actually say who is better than him?

It’s odd you say he’s so error prone when one of his strengths is his consistency. I read before that he’s not far off of Van Dijk in the number of times he’s been dribbled past over the course of last season.

I genuinely can’t believe you have the audacity to accuse others of hyperbole when you’re guilty of it yourself. I’ve seen you post on this site for a number of years and nobody comes close to you in the shite opinion stakes. Sorry pal.
 

McFlash

In the corner, eating crayons.
Oct 19, 2005
12,740
45,363
if Koulibaly was so good why hasn’t anyone decent come in for him. I’ve seen Napoli play and he is error prone. He isn’t the fastest either. If VVD is your measure this guy doesn’t cut the mustard.

Where is the proof he is second best CB in the world? Answer the fucking question!

Mate you have a tendency to hyperbole that can be breath taking at times. So I should believe you because you say so? Sorry, your opinion hasnt impressed me in the past and doesn’t impress me now.
To be fair, Koulibaly has been widely very highly rated for a few years now.
I think it's generally thought, across the footballing world, that he's one of the best CB's out there.
He does seem to have the attributes to be able to settle (and excel) in the Prem. He's quick, strong, has a good passing range and loves a tackle. He seems to read the game pretty well and sniffs out danger early.
I can't think of many better options out there.
 

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,883
71,188
Just had a quick look and he has a muscle injury but is in training (separate to the rest of the team), so I would expect he'll be back in weeks rather than months.

If it's 90m euros rather than pounds, that's not as bad, but still more than I could see us paying!
About €90m more than Levy’s spending this month too
 
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