Muzzy_Larsson

Was gonna say similar, value can't always be directly proportioned to goals or assists.

Nail on head.

If you can get a replacement that is obviously an upgrade on Benkovic and Soyuncu, someone like Tah or Ake then by all means I agree with you. My point was more around I don't feel Dunk is an obvious upgrade on what you already have and when you add in the very large fee it's not a wise move. Someone like Ake for example if you could get him for around the same price would be a far better proposition. Agree entirely on the latter around drip feeding them into the side this season if need be, that's really what will have to happen imo if they are to make it, more loans and they'll just be consigned to the wilderness.

Guess it's down to opinion but from what I've saw Maguire is a far better player than Dunk, the fact one is an England regular and attracting the likes of Man City, Man Utd etc and one isn't definitely suggests that also. I don't see clubs battering the door down to get Dunk, in fact I've not heard anyone linked with him other than Leicester. Easy to say that but however you get to a World Cup semi-final is not to be sniffed at, if anything it enhances Maguire's reputation further as that run was built on a strong defence and he was a threat in both boxes.

I get that but sending them out to France or Germany for another couple of years isn't going to do much good at their age for equipping them for life in the EPL. At age 22 and 23 if your not considered good enough having already been at the club for a year to play 10-15 games then imo your never going to be good enough. They aren't going to rock up at 25 with no EPL experience to speak of and suddenly be good enough. I can't speak for Soyuncu but having watched lots of Benkovic he's already good enough imo. Having seen the likes of Van Dijk, Denayer, etc, etc come before him he'd be more than comfortable in the EPL now, even your manager has said so himself countless times. Benkovic stands a far better chance of becoming a first choice EPL centre back by playing games in the EPL now, even if thats 10 games in the league and the domestic cup matches, as opposed to being sent on loan back to Scotland or Germany or somewhere like that.

You'd definitely get Tah and Upacameno for less than Dunk, maybe not Dias mind you!

I'm not so sure it would be as black and white as that, the sell would be to use folk like Maguire as the example and say, give us a couple of good years and you can go to one of Europe's top clubs as first choice as opposed to going now and perhaps sitting on the bench. The tielemans scenario is very similar.

There's not and I accept that argument but that also shouldn't be an excuse to pay way over the odds for a player close to home. Dunk also has never been tested a team that isn;t fighting relegation and is not constantly on the back foot either, that is also a risk, he'd be asked to play in quite a different way at Leicester.

Maguire is an England internationalist, had a great world cup and is attracting the likes of Man City who are the top team in the country and one of the best in Europe. Dunk has a single England cup that he'll likely not add to, is older, not tested at anywhere near as high a level and plays for a side who barely stayed in the league last season. For those reasons alone I don't think it's outlandish at all to suggest Maguire is 3-4 times the player and as such 3-4 times more valuable.

Agree entirely, would be far better value and potentially one of the best centre back's in Europe in a couple of years.

Agreed, if Dunk signs for the money being reported he'll be the fifth most expensive defender in history, let that sink in. For that sort of money you could get far greater value on the continent.

The age both are I'd disagree, if they are not ready to play some sort of part by now then they won't ever be, they aren't going to get much better sent out on loan to another club in another league imo.

Spot on.

£50m, absolutely no chance! That would be a completely bonkers move, I get all the he's worth what someone is willing to pay but lets be honest in reality it's debatable he's worth even half that sort of fee!

That's about it yeah, broke down in the first half against Rangers at Ibrox, looked obvious he wasn't fit to play in the first place. Think he arrived with an injury too as he missed the first few games so I think with an injury free pre-season behind him and not having to play two games a week every single week of the season he'd be fine. Was having a look through transfermrket there at centre back's (obviously not taking the valuations as gospel) and £45m or even less could get you some of Europe's most promising centre back's, someone who could quickly be worth double or indeed treble the initial fee. The one that jumps out immediately is Jonathan Tah. Dunk strikes me as a bit of a lazy signing tbh.

You said it lol, just need to make space for him first by offloading Rogic, McGregor and Christie

Tbh that's one of the things Rodgers is huge on, he loves centre back's who dribble out from the back and run through the midfield to create space, he always had a defender he instructed to do this at Celtic and our young Norwegian centre back, Kris Ajer, who was originally a midfielder until Rodgers turned him into exactly the type of CB you speak of.

I've said it before but I really don't get why you wouldn't just partner Benkovic with Dunk, I watch loads of the EPL and also watch Celtic every week and he's already every bit as good as Dunk and will only get better. What's the point in signing these guys last summer in Benkovic and Soyuncu to just send them out on loan or play them in the Carabao cup. He's also not plagued with injury, he played almost 30 games for us last season. He did struggle with injury at a couple of points in the season but he's far from injury prone I'd suggest and that's something that he may well grow out of as he's still young, he'd also be expected to play a helluva a lot less games at Leicester over the course of a season which will help no end in this regard.

Dunk is a decent player imo but no more than that imo. £45m for him, even by EPL standards is bonkers imo, smells of them driving up the price as they know your about to get circa £80m for Maguire. A fit Benkovic is already as good a player as Dunk imo and with a year or two of EPL football under his belt will be far better.

Tbf I’m sure Rodgers has known what a top quality EPL centre back has looked like for years, he’s got plenty of experience managing at EPL level already and was at Chelsea when Terry moved through the system and became one of the best CB’s in EPL history.

No club likes to see any of their best players go but of all your best players I’d say Maguire is the easiest to replace. Furthermore you could use the huge fee being reported for him to really push the team onto that next level, just look at how Klopp managed to transform Liverpool with the Coutinho money, went out and bought what is now the best CB in the world and one of the best goalkeepers. i have doubts over whether this is a good move for Maguire in any way other than financially though, Man Utd are a basket case of a club and can see it hitting the skids even further next season under OGS.

Would be a terrific signing if so, seen him up close in the EL this year and he is a rolls royce of a defender, still very young also so could be frightening if he develops further.

Nail on the head this post. I'd disagree slightly with the rest of the SPFL bit though, maybe the bottom 3-4 teams are league one level but clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs would probably survive as mediocre championship clubs, Aberdeen for example gave Burnley a fright in the Europa League and Hibs have sold a few players that have done well in the championship in recent years, McGinn the obvious example, if anything McGinn looks a far better player this season when I've watched him than he did with Hibs.

Agree entirely, those pitches are an embarrassment and I've yet to watch one decent game of football being played on them. Like you say it really damages the credibility of the league further and I don't buy into the economic aspect of it as there are semi-pro sides up here who can maintain a decent grass pitch all year round. I don't know of any formal plans as yet but I hope with all the bad publicity the clubs that have them's hands are forced or they get relegated.

I get that, as I said in previous posts, I can accept the SPFL is a poor standard overall, I'm not disputing that, it's more the arrogance and the hypocrisy of some posts, most probably from people who haven't watched two minutes of it, saying the very same things they get enraged about when Man Utd fans say similar about Leicester. Anyway, think we've laboured that enough. With our current squad I'd say we'd be fighting relegation tbh, with decent luck with injuries I reckon we could stay up though. With our squad of 18 months ago, including Dembele in particular and all our other top players at the top of their form I think we'd have probably done what Burnley or Newcastle done last year, around 15th-13th. If we were in the EPL and got access to those vast riches though I reckon we'd comfortably be able to build a team that would finish mid table in the first year or two though.