Player watch: Christian Eriksen

[Johnny J]

To be perfectly honest the best we can hope for is an Eriksen/Isco swap deal, replace Toby with Foyth and hope he keeps stepping up. Then use the Toby money, the Trippier money (my wish) plus whatever else we manage to raise to buy a class CM. That way there’s a small chance we could be half a percent better off.

Much more likely though is we can’t get the quality we need and end up spending the money on a decent Eriksen replacement and a decent CM but overall as a team we are not as good, much like when Walker left. Our way of working at the minute is textbook gradual regression.

Gradual regression is exactly what's happening. We have a fantastic manager and some fantastic players, and we have come a very long way. But our lack of investment in midfield has cost us already this season, and it could get worse. Our full backs have been repeatedly found out this season.

Moura hasn't shown anywhere near enough. Lamela hasn't shown enough either, but at least he has a good excuse. And if Eriksen goes, I do not believe for a moment we'll find an adequate replacement.

The most frustrating thing is that we have totally lucked out with Kane, who cost nothing and is one of, if not the best, strikers in the world, and loves the club. When will we get a situation like that again? Probably not in my lifetime. We need to invest now.

 

[scat1620]

The Eriksen situation is the biggest single problem at the club currently, IMO. I genuinely fear that the failure to deal with this last summer - either convince him to sign a new contract like Dele did (which delighted and also astonished me) or if that wasn't possible then to sign the player(s) who will eventually replace him in the side (even if that means replacements in different positions, in a re-jigged team) - is going to be the iceberg that will breach our hull this coming summer. We might yet avoid sinking as a result, but I'm not optimistic and the whole club is going to have to perform some minor miracles to avoid dropping down a level in quality and results from next season and onward into the medium term.

I don't think Eriksen will sign a new contract now (if he was ever going to it would have been last summer like Dele; he now has too many tantalising options becoming available to him as he moves into the last year of his deal), so I think it's inevitable that we will try to sell him in the summer. And without his replacements already being brought into place 6 months ago, with the combination of our seeming paralysis in the transfer market and the prospect of Eriksen either going 'cheaply' [relative to his value if he had 2+ years left on his contract] this summer or for nothing at all the one after, I think we've already made the fatal error and now all we can do is hope for the best and pray that somehow it all works out.

The ramifications might not hit us for another year or two, but the gun we've aimed at our own feet has already been fired and we're waiting for the bullet to hit and see how bad the damage will be.

#sunshinelollipopsandrainbows

 

[punkisback]

The Eriksen situation is the biggest single problem at the club currently, IMO. I genuinely fear that the failure to deal with this last summer - either convince him to sign a new contract like Dele did (which delighted and also astonished me) or if that wasn't possible then to sign the player(s) who will eventually replace him in the side (even if that means replacements in different positions, in a re-jigged team) - is going to be the iceberg that will breach our hull this coming summer. We might yet avoid sinking as a result, but I'm not optimistic and the whole club is going to have to perform some minor miracles to avoid dropping down a level in quality and results from next season and onward into the medium term.

I don't think Eriksen will sign a new contract now (if he was ever going to it would have been last summer like Dele; he now has too many tantalising options becoming available to him as he moves into the last year of his deal), so I think it's inevitable that we will try to sell him in the summer. And without his replacements already being brought into place 6 months ago, with the combination of our seeming paralysis in the transfer market and the prospect of Eriksen either going 'cheaply' [relative to his value if he had 2+ years left on his contract] this summer or for nothing at all the one after, I think we've already made the fatal error and now all we can do is hope for the best and pray that somehow it all works out.

The ramifications might not hit us for another year or two, but the gun we've aimed at our own feet has already been fired and we're waiting for the bullet to hit and see how bad the damage will be.

#sunshinelollipopsandrainbows

I agree, as I've said not buying players when our good players are leaving, injured or ageing is a mistake. You can't replace the fullbacks, eriksen, dembele, toby, all in one window. And this is without adding to the gaps in CM and up top! Squad building is a gradual thing and I think it's been lost on the board.

 

[SpartanSpur]

I think it's pretty clear De Jong was earmarked as the Eriksen replacement, and would have been an incredible one.

Problem is the elite have had to shop lower down the ladder than ever before since Neymar/Mbappe broke the market. Before they would wait for someone like us to buy the player before taking them at the top of their game...

 

[WiganSpur]

£25m for Toby and say, £75m for Eriksen. Doesn't buy you much nowadays sadly. Maybe one decent CM/AM, and a young CB prospect but then we'll probably still baulk at the prices/wages/agents' fees.

The £100m budget will magically appear once those two have gone, you watch.

Personally wouldn't bother with a CB, would just drop Dier back and use Foyth. Spend the money on a CM and a CAM. But they're not gonna be anywhere close to replacing Eriksen.

 

[morriss]

Need a right back too

 

[dtxspurs]

The £100m budget will magically appear once those two have gone, you watch.

Personally wouldn't bother with a CB, would just drop Dier back and use Foyth. Spend the money on a CM and a CAM. But they're not gonna be anywhere close to replacing Eriksen.

Then Dembele money, hopefully we sell these two jokers at RB theres some more money. Janssen peanuts, Nkoudou peanuts, Wanyama peanuts. Cant wait, net spend here we come.

 

[Johnny J]

The £100m budget will magically appear once those two have gone, you watch.

Personally wouldn't bother with a CB, would just drop Dier back and use Foyth. Spend the money on a CM and a CAM. But they're not gonna be anywhere close to replacing Eriksen.

Surely we have to be constantly investing in the best youngsters, if we aren't buying - for whatever reason - established stars. We did that well with Foyth.

But we have absolutely no succession planning for Eriksen or Dembele. Skipp is not the answer.

 

[WiganSpur]

Then Dembele money, hopefully we sell these two jokers at RB theres some more money. Janssen peanuts, Nkoudou peanuts, Wanyama peanuts. Cant wait, net spend here we come.

The worst thing is we could still have a great squad with zero net spend every year, but we are just so bad at both selling and buying.

There's money to be made on one of the right backs (my choice would be for Trippier to go), Toby, Eriksen, Dembele, Wanyama, GKN and Janssen. Vorm and Llorente will go on frees helping to bring down the wage bill. There's got to be 150m plus from all that lot.

 

[Johnny J]

The worst thing is we could still have a great squad with zero net spend every year, but we are just so bad at both selling and buying.

There's money to be made on one of the right backs (my choice would be for Trippier to go), Toby, Eriksen, Dembele, Wanyama, GKN and Janssen. Vorm and Llorente will go on frees helping to bring down the wage bill. There's got to be 150m plus from all that lot.

Well, the only way we can sustain our position, while maintaining a zero net spend, is if we are significantly better and smarter at buying and selling than our rivals.

We did this incredibly well with many of our first 11, and Foyth looks like a great signing. But recently we've largely sat on what we've got, and the players we've bought in haven't really cut it Moura and Aurier have been disappointing imo, and GKN and Janssen just aren't good enough. And we've neglected CM badly.

 

[St José Dominguez]

The £100m budget will magically appear once those two have gone, you watch.

Personally wouldn't bother with a CB, would just drop Dier back and use Foyth. Spend the money on a CM and a CAM. But they're not gonna be anywhere close to replacing Eriksen.

Exactly the same as the summer when we were being told we had 150m to spend it was because Toby + Rose + Dembele plus the unwanted fringe players at that time was going to potentially add up to 150m. Turned out we couldn’t or didn’t shift anyone thus bought no one. I am baffled why more of us can’t see it, it’s so clear, we operate on a pretty much zero net spend budget and have done for like ten years.

 

[WiganSpur]

Well, the only way we can sustain our position, while maintaining a zero net spend, is if we are significantly better and smarter at buying and selling than our rivals.

We did this incredibly well with many of our first 11, and Foyth looks like a great signing. But recently we've largely sat on what we've got, and the players we've bought in haven't really cut it Moura and Aurier have been disappointing imo, and GKN and Janssen just aren't good enough. And we've neglected CM badly.

Not only are we skimping on prime targets, we're now not even bothered about picking up prospects. It's truly fucking bizarre.

If Tielemans goes to Leicester for 20m i'll be fuming. We could have brought him and Josh Maja in for the combined total of about 25m. CM would be patched up for now and we'd have got 6 months to assess whether he could play in Eriksen's role when he inevitably leaves. What the fuck is there to lose if they're no good. At worst we'd lose a few million quid on Tielemans, but the potential upside could be enormous.

 

[viktorviktor]

If Tielemans goes to Leicester for 20m i'll be fuming. We could have brought him and Josh Maja in for the combined total of about 25m. CM would be patched up for now and we'd have got 6 months to assess whether he could play in Eriksen's role when he inevitably leaves. What the fuck is there to lose if they're no good. At worst we'd lose a few million quid on Tielemans, but the potential upside could be enormous.

This has been our transfer strategy for the past 5 years at least. Buy low risk-high reward players to maximize our chances of adding to our squad. So what's there to lose? How about a chairman who can't accept a loss on a player, making us be stuck with deadwood for two years. And a manager who only plays players that he is confident in, giving the deadwood no chance to prove themselves.

 

[T-Love92]

This has been our transfer strategy for the past 5 years at least. Buy low risk-high reward players to maximize our chances of adding to our squad. So what's there to lose? How about a chairman who can't accept a loss on a player, making us be stuck with deadwood for two years. And a manager who only plays players that he is confident in, giving the deadwood no chance to prove themselves.

Think Josh Maja would not want to come in and sit on the bench... he choose a club that guarantee him time on the pitch, and not the prospect of being understudy to the english top striker...

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Not only are we skimping on prime targets, we're now not even bothered about picking up prospects. It's truly fucking bizarre.

If Tielemans goes to Leicester for 20m i'll be fuming. We could have brought him and Josh Maja in for the combined total of about 25m. CM would be patched up for now and we'd have got 6 months to assess whether he could play in Eriksen's role when he inevitably leaves. What the fuck is there to lose if they're no good. At worst we'd lose a few million quid on Tielemans, but the potential upside could be enormous.

Fuming lol

Maybe our scouts just don't rate Tielemans and Maja.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Fuming lol

Maybe our scouts just don't rate Tielemans and Maja.

Though I see & understand your point, wasn't it the very same people who rate (rated) the likes of N'jie, N'Koudou, Janssen, Llorente etc?

Difficult to know who to trust really mate.

 

[WiganSpur]

Fuming lol

Maybe our scouts just don't rate Tielemans and Maja.

We aren’t talking about 100m worth of players here though are we? We’ve been after Tielemans since he was 15 and he’s technically very good. With Poch’s coaching he could become a top player. He’s still very young so huge scope for improvement and if it didn’t work out we’d still get quite a bit for him.

 

[nicdic]

Though I see & understand your point, wasn't it the very same people who rate (rated) the likes of N'jie, N'Koudou, Janssen, Llorente etc?

Difficult to know who to trust really mate.

No, Paul Mitchell is gone. We're also in a completely different position now to when we were bringing those players in.

 

[Colonel Dax]

No, Paul Mitchell is gone. We're also in a completely different position now to when we were bringing those players in.

Yep, now we don't sign anyone

 

[SpartanSpur]

Tielemans does look an interesting option currently, but there is a fair concern with him being one of these FIFA/FM whizz kids that never quite hits the same heights, certainly after his Monaco spell. The little I've seen of him however does suggest there's a spark there and Poch could work wonders with him. The question is whether Poch is willing to take him.