Muzzy_Larsson

Well at Celtic when he was linked with the West Ham job he did, he came out and said he’s in his dream job and there’d be no club in the world who could tempt him at that point in time. When the Leicester job came up his narrative was a lot more vague, similar to it is here, hence my slight concern. Like I said I’d be really surprised if he jumped ship just now though, would be a huge gamble.

I’m not arguing the detail or logistics of why he would or wouldnt leave, I’m simply interpreting what he’s said and from what I can see he’s been given the chance to rule it out bluntly and hasn’t as yet. Like I said I don’t think he’ll go but he could stop all the speculation by publicly ruling himself out, he hasn’t hence it’s a bit of a media frenzy at the moment with it.

It’s still his choice, paying the compensation only allows any club to speak to him. You aren’t suggesting the club would push him into leaving, come on now that’s ridiculous.

O’Neill came to us in the summer, not this point in the season.

That’s not the same thing though is it, as countless on this thread have also pointed out. For what it’s worth he said similar less than two weeks before he left Celtic.

I don’t see him leaving tbh, not do I think it’s cut and dried he’ll be offered it. What would concern me though is he’s been probed on it in a few interviews now and for someone who communicates very well with the media he’s elected to skim round the subject and not rule it out. All he has to say is Arsenal are a great club but I’ve got a job on my hands at Leicester I’m relishing so I won’t be leaving here anytime soon. He hasn’t though.

Woah lol! Lovely from Iheanacho!

It was as clear a dive as your likely to see, there was no contact.

Never a pen

Yeah it was pretty much common knowledge at the time, was in all the papers lol! Celtic launched a formal investigation!

Another impressive win for the hoops tonight in the EL, winning the group with a game to spare whilst resting half our team!

Yeah there are a few, mainly at the Celtic and Rangers who typically get left out on plastic pitches. Although 25% of clubs have them you tend to find that Celtic and Rangers anyway don't play 25% of fixtures on them because of the way our league work's up here with the split. Teams with those pitches bar Kilmarnock in recent years tend to finish in the bottom 6. There have been a few serious injuries on these pitches and I for one think they are embaressment but a duty of care litigation is very far fetched imo given there are a number of league's all over Europe who now use them and as such are approved by UEFA.

He never played on plastic pitches in Scotland last time after his first injury, he was always left out, I'd imagine that would be the case even more so if he were to come back on a loan capacity.

I'd imagine there is a lot more to it than simply that, I'd trust Rodgers on this one if the interest is indeed true, he's worked with the player for a fair bit of time, developed him and will know exactly how he could improve Leicester and develop further. Furthermore, I really don't know where you are getting the injury issues thing with Ajer from at all, he made 50 appearances for us last season and is on close to 30 already this year.

Hmm it's a tough one, I've hummed and hawed quite a bit on this. If you take the injuries away I'd say Benkovic, when fit he really was a rolls royce, strolled through games and looked a real cut above anything we had at the back at the time. Ajer can still be quite naive with basic defending at times, getting caught on the wrong side and diving in a bit. That said he's only been playing the position a few years so he has time to iron that out. If Benkovic can get over his injuries and get playing I'd say he's the more polished player and more likely to have a better career. However, if things stay as they are I could see Ajer overtaking him as he's playing a lot of games and being given the chance to develop. The big reason Rodgers will want Ajer is his ability to carry the ball into midfield and put teams on the back foot, very similar to what Maguire used to do for you guys.

I'd be surprised if we let him go in January in all honesty. As much as I'd love him back at some point, letting Ajer go and replacing him with Benkovic on loan in January, someone who has been injured pretty much all season and will require months just to get up to speed would be far too big a risk. I could be wrong but I see more chance of this one happening in the summer.

Yeah I'd say that would be a fair price for him for sure.

In what way would you be amazed? He can't even make your match day squad at present, signing Ajer would make that even more difficult for him, he seems to pick up injuries a lot and furthermore he cost you guys peanuts in relative EPL terms (£13m?) so it's not like you have a lot of cash to recoup on him. Whether he goes to Celtic or not it feels to me like Benkovic is someone they may look to cut their losses on if there was a decent bid.

I'd take that tbh.

I’m not sure about Bowen, looks a great player at championship level but not convinced he could make the step-up and be as effective, lacks a good bit of pace. Different types of players of course but could see parallels with how Che Adams has struggled since making the step up.

Having watched him do you really think he does enough off the ball for Rodgers to even remotely entertain? In my opinion I really don't think so. Him and De Boer apparently have a bit of a frosty relationship due to this also, guess in the MLS he'll get away with it due to the volume of goals he scores. He also strikes me as someone who would need to play week in week out to maintain that match sharpness that makes him such a deadly finisher, cameos and impact substitute roles wouldn't suit him I don't think.

We'll need to agree to disagree here I think but your record signing, who happens to be an attacker, who scored a glut of goals at his previous club, not breaking his duck within a year would suggest a fairly significant struggle to me, irrespective of fan opinion. A quick google of Newcastle blogs there suggests he isn't as popular as your making out also, for example, https://www.geordiebootboys.com/opinion/newcastle-fans-have-big-doubts-over-miguel-almiron/

If the Almiron fee is anything to go by then they'd want circa £25m for him which is a lot of money for a player from the MLS imo. If your spending that sorta cash there would be far less risky options than him imo. Also it's probably a total non-starter as he doesn't do anywhere near enough off the ball to survive in a Rodgers side, he's very much your old fashioned penalty box striker.

They like him as he works hard, he's yet to score a single goal though and he was brought to chip in with goals as he done in the MLS. Given he's their record transfer at £20m+ and 12 months in he's yet to score a single goal I'd say he's disappointed.

Watch quite a bit of the MLS and he’s a great finisher for sure, Id have concerns over him making the step and the MLS would demand around £20m+ for him if you were to use Almiron as a gauge. On the subject of Almiron he played in the same side as Martinez and tore the MLS to shreds and has struggled big time in the EPL.