goodrobotusses

I knew there was another obvious one!

When he goes we need to sign a new lad whom a handful think is gonna step up any minute and become world class, despite all evidence to the contrary. Chiesa, Nunez, Naby Keita, Le Tallec, Bruno Cheyrou… you’ve gotta have one.

(World’s smallest violin plays in the background)

As Neil says, those are just aggregated quotes from a L’Equipe journalist. Same journalist and another from L’Equipe also apparently say we’re going for Rodrygo if Diaz leaves.

Can see Szobo becoming a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades for us, like a quick Milner. Good player, great engine, super important off the ball last season, versatile, but not better than any of the other specialists in any of the positions he could play.

And he got outpaced by a Preston CB in the first pre-season game. Slot spent the end of last season talking about how we needed quick, agile players. Chiesa is a very talented player but seems to be a bit of a husk of what he was physically. Not to be all ITK, as I heard this 3rd hand, but apparently the staff were a bit bewildered by his physical condition when he joined the squad last season. Struggled to get him up to speed.

Agreed. Never liked that shout. Maybe in individual games for tactical reasons, but otherwise want him with options ahead.

I think if we’re selling Diaz we need to sign a replacement better than Gakpo. Cody is a decent player but a bit meat and potatoes for a winger. Think he’d be a great fourth choice/rotation option though.

Yeah, it’s not really a concern for me. A nice to have, but as long as he can clear it on defensive corners, he’ll be fine.

We’ve come a long way from the days when the problem was the recruitment team fixating on one target and refusing to find alternatives.

The main criticism I’ve read of him is he isn’t very strong or good in the air for someone his height.

It obviously isn’t, but the theory is that over the course of multiple seasons a player should get on average what is expected. A massive xG overperformance such as Cunha and Mbeumo last season is generally seen as unsustainable because you’re then expecting someone to lash in loads of world class goals every season rather than converting easy chances. Long term xG underperformance isn’t good either though, as that’s usually a sign that someone gets chances but is a bad finisher. We kept telling ourselves for two seasons that Darwin was just unlucky, and in a few cases he was, but after three seasons of watching him miss chances and be offside you realise he’s maybe just a hot-headed bird brain. Still, stats nerds continue to hold a candle for him because he gets a lot of chances and hits a lot of shots, as well as being a physical monster. I think Ian Graham said something in his book about good recruitment needing the objective stats people and the subjective views of coaches and scouts to align, so I guess this is an example. Stats will tell you Darwin can’t underperform xG forever because his underlying numbers are so good, but the eye test over three years tells us he’s not the guy we need. All this is to say: Ekitike is a risk, and an expensive one, so let’s hope it works out. Watching clips of him, though, what I think he’ll give us in the worst case is a No9 who knits attacks together and brings the other forwards into play. Darwin’s presence forced us to reconfigure Salah’s game for a while, to the latter’s detriment. I think Ekitike will facilitate Salah, like a lanky Firmino, whereas at times Salah was trying to facilitate Darwin.

Eddie Howe apparently had a habit of not being a team player on recruitment at Bournemouth a la Rodgers. Now he’s chased the sporting director out of NUFC and has a family member doing stuff on his behalf. Going well, I see.

Still have no idea if Ekitike works out but I do trust our boffins, even if they’re maybe trying to squeeze the best out of a crap striker market. Heard Ekitike underperformed his xG by something like 3 last season, so his hard numbers in his best season yet are actually an underperformance. Darwin by comparison overperformed his xG in his final season at Benfica by 10 and has massively underperformed it ever since (and before that last Benfica season IIRC): Ekitike’s numbers pre-24/25 are nothing to write home about but worth remembering he has only just turned 23. His age 22 season is the one we’ve just seen, his age 21 season was 6 months in the wilderness at PSG and 6 months bedding in at SGE, age 20 was as a bit-part player at PSG. And this is him aged 18-20 at Reims:

Imagine we get Isak with a massive PSR diddle as a bonus. We pay NUFC something closer to what they want and they buy Elliott for 50m.

Bizarre from NUFC/Howe, this. Maybe it’s some kind of 4D chess I’m not seeing because I’m too dim, but not exactly sure how they come out of this summer strengthened for all their shenanigans.

Sign Ekitike and Isak. And then sign Wissa. And the ghost of Alan Shearer.

The look of a Boca guy in River colours.

Isak did ask NUFC’s higher-ups for a big new contract, in fairness. Maybe Al Hilal have tempted him with the promise of inheriting Aleksandar Mitrovic’s fabled No9 jersey.

Honeymoon period over Yeah, they’re sponsored by a bunch of the biggest companies in Germany.

This is the important thing to remember about Rodrygo. He’s played mostly on the right, and even a bit as cover up front, but his best position is on the left, so his stats are gonna be a little difficult to parse.

Rodrygo not a 100% thing, no one is, but he’s loved by his teammates at Madrid, which should say something about his ability and attitude. Think the only reason they’re selling is he’s a saleable asset and victim to the creeping “re-galactico-isation” (it’s a word, look it up) happening at Madrid. He’s been shifted around to accommodate others and doing the off-the-ball work Vinicius and Mbappe refuse to do. He’s also someone our scout nerds have liked for years. Robinho comparison might sound clever based on player origin, but Rodrygo could just as easily be another Robben, under-appreciated and ready to explode elsewhere. If we prefer to move beyond Madrid player comparisons, he could also be comparable to Coutinho when he came to us.

He would be. Gakpo would become his backup. Edit: Buying Ekitike rather than Isak probably gives us more wiggle room for a big Rodrygo deal, if we are serious about him. Isak would have commanded far bigger wages than Ekitike, as well as the fee being astronomical.

Nah, reckon he’s gone too. He’d have appeared more last season if Slot rated him. Be weird to be open to selling Diaz and Nunez, whom he used, yet hang on to the one he barely acknowledged.