Different but very distracting rumour of Papu, maybe regressing to Italy… Agent talk, stuff maybe. Not sure. Hard to tell how hard its pulling on him personally, but he looks happy in Sevilla as far as I can see. Also a different italian name Bryan Cristante coming in our direction, for the defensive (or central) mid position. 27 year old soon, with a good amount of games for Italy as well. Could fill Fernando’s shoes in the future, or for now Gudelj.
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Absolutely. Can’t see this happen at all, just a rumor most likely.
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It would be a shame if Papu left now. He seems to have found his form now and looks like he is enjoying his time with us at last. Plus I imagine Seville probably fits his lifestyle from what I can gather. 
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Papu is just hitting his stride. I’d hate to see him leave.
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Papu himself, clearing the air today, We goood 
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Wow. Betís winning out on Luiz Felipe. Not sure if pre contract or anything is signed or bonusses or anything is paid already but apparently the agents confirmed. Big transfer for Betís lets see if we can top them in our defensive acquisitions. They might have been negociating for a long time, so winning Luiz Felipe on the personal aspect of it. Congrats to them.
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Why is such a fuss being made about Luiz Felipe? He’s part of a team that conceded 39 goals, the most in top 8 Serie A table.
If we’ve thought of him as the replacement for any of DC/Kounde then we clearly don’t have our priorities straight. He’ll suit Betpiss as they are a team much below us in pedigree, so not much is expected in that team.
I think there are other defenders better than Luiz Felipe in Serie A in similar market value. To count a few:
Amir Rrahmani of Napoli.
Berat Djimsiti of Atalanta.
Roger Ibanez of Roma.
Alessio Romagnoli of Milan.
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Well without paying 30m for a good young defender with experience on high level. He would have been a very good addition. I think :poop: did good business here. Low risk, with potential to be great. But we’ll see what Monchi comes up with.
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Ibanez is young too, but 27-28 is not really old for a defender. I actually tend to trust the experienced ones more and by that age, not only a defender but a player of any position is well-seasoned and ready to play for a top aspiring club.
I don’t think that anything less than 30m will cut it if we want a high quality defender that will potentially replace DC and/or Kounde - both are better than any of the starter defenders in Serie A imo.
It’s not going to be easy as any mess up and it’s an experiment, which we can’t afford if we want to aspire bigger things.
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We’re linked with 2 CB’s for the summer window. One is Marcos Senesi of Feyenoord. who we were previously linked with and Gleison Bremer of Torino. Bremer is at the 20m range and Senesi at 12m - both will turn 25 by June this year.
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Isco rumored to be a done deal, joining us for free in the summer on a 4 year contract.
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I’m not too excited about this… but maybe he can find his old self he could be useful
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Same, we have to be careful not to get too many of those players who can play well on a sunny day. But in a rough day, don’t offer anything. I hope Isco will work himself back into it but i’m 50/50 on him.
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I’m the same as you guys… Good player on his day, but another part of the Dad’s Army we seem to be building.
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Ivan Perisic next up, becoming a free agent next summer. Not the first time, we hear his name. But after ‘picking’ up Isco, he could be next and considering his age and position. We are kind of horny for those lately, one plus one is two in that sense. And apparently Monchi asked Rakitic, to help convince so maybe these practices have started and are working? Croatian welcome commitee.
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The good thing with Ivan Perisic these days is he is a lot more than just a Left Winger, often used on either flank as a Winger or as a Wing Back, but occasionally up top too if needs be.
Plus he is a bloody good workhorse, I can’t ever knock his effort and work rate.
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Perisic is a very good player, I like him - but he’s 33 already. We are creating a team full of veterans that are close to retirement and have maybe 2-3 years max left in the top level. That only means one thing, going all in with the risk of having to replace most of the squad in 2-3 years time. If we don’t win a meaningful title like La Liga with the veterans, then it all goes to drain.
Surely you can’t tell me we’re going for 30+ players to be in top 4 all the time? That’s wasteful.
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I agree with you @ShendM it isn’t ideal and I hope to see some younger players in the coming years, but I have to admit I’m all for Perisic to Sevilla, especially on a free.
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I would welcome Perisic also, no doubting he’s a very good player.
However I do agree that we need to be doing more with younger players, as Perisic probably only has two to three years at the top level left.
We used to do this with Navas, Alves, Capel, Puerta, Ramos etc… where are these players coming through now?
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Well there are players there. Just Lope isnt that keen on using them.
I said on a thread recently, if it came down to it and we needed to I would have no issue with us having to play either Valentino or Jose Angel at RB, or Pedro Ortiz in CM. I even reckon Zarzana could do a job on the Wing, so there are players there, just Lope’s job seems to be worth more than us developing promising young talents.
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