New defender

[Palace_1905]

Been excellent for us Cahill would be a great signing for you guys as an experienced head/back up option. Proper classy defender. 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

2 minutes ago, Palace_1905 said:

Been excellent for us Cahill would be a great signing for you guys as an experienced head/back up option. Proper classy defender. 

Was having a read of twitter and some Palace forums that seems to be the general consensus. He wants serious wages though so it'll come down to whether we want to pay it.

Edited 1 August 2021 by Chocolate Teapot

[moore_94]

 

[MGLCFC]

Yeah, can see Cahill as a possibility

Edited 1 August 2021 by MGLCFC

[vanity]

We could do much worse than Cahill on a free. We need someone both Fofana and Soyuncu will respect. That is why Evans is so critical, he is the player every young defender listens out for in terms of instructions. Bringing in a kid like Kabak gives us depth, but isn't what we need in terms of leadership on the backline.

 

Not that we necessarily want to play a back 3, but Cahill between Soyuncu and Fofana would be very workable. Besides, he made 20 starts last season, he can play well if his minutes are managed. And his aerial prowess would shore up our crap set piece defense. Seems like a no-brainer to me that we kick the tires and meet with him.

 

Who else? Is Jerome Boateng still available? Is Toby Alderweireld sorted? Nikola Maksimovic out of Napoli on a free, did he get signed yet? Most if not all of these old-heads are on a free, can do a job, and have the high-level experience to be respected. Guys like these may view Leicester as their last chance at a bit of glory, battling for the top-4 and playing in Europe. 

 

Just think we are a bit too much on this whole "we need young, sellable players" mindset. We could do with a couple formerly elite, early 30s players who have been replaced with younger guys, just to round things out and inject some of that winning experience and confidence into our younger players. Like if we could snag Jordan Henderson bc of some contract flap w Liverpool -- I mean, most likely he chooses elsewhere, but we should be looking to add a player or two of that ilk, aging winners who can help our youngsters get that steel in their spines. We may have to overpay, but it seems to be the main thing we were missing the last two seasons.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

Would Rodgers know cahill from his Chelsea days?

[moore_94]

1 minute ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Would Rodgers know cahill from his Chelsea days?

Nah Rodgers left Chelsea in 2008 and Cahill didn't join them until 2012

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

3 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Nah Rodgers left Chelsea in 2008 and Cahill didn't join them until 2012

Rodgers knows virtually every premier league player ever so he won't know him from that but you can bet he's one he stops and chats with.

[moore_94]

Jerome Boateng? Although I imagine he would probably want big wages and a multi year deal

 

Only missed 3 games for Bayern last season - 1 due to suspension and 2 due to compassionate leave

 

He was hoping to join Man Utd but they have turned him down after getting Varane

Edited 1 August 2021 by moore_94

[Ric Flair]

41 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

 

That doesn't make sense, you say no it wasn't then say the same thing?

 

Simple maths pal, in a back 4 when one of those got injured the 3rd one slotted in but in a back 3 the 3rd player was either Amartey or Castagne in a back 3 and we got took apart in games. We do need a reliable 4th choice CB though. I'd love Benkovic to stay fit but it's a huge gamble. If we can get am experienced CB in for a modest fee or on loan then great.

[Ric Flair]

8 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Jerome Boateng? Although I imagine he would probably want big wages and a multi year deal

 

Only missed 3 games for Bayern last season - 1 due to suspension and 2 due to compassionate leave

 

He was hoping to join Man Utd but they have turned him down after getting Varane

Would be a phenomenal coup.

[kingfox]

As I kept saying the other week, all that’s needed atm is a stop gap.

 

Cahill is the most realistic option, hence my constant mention of him. Boateng will probably be too expensive in terms of wages, plus I don’t see him playing back up. Umtiti can be injury prone, not sure he’d want to play back up either.

 

Zouma has been made available, doubtful we’ll fork out for his price though. Godin has been made available by Cagliari. 
 

Other than that, there’s always the likes of Phil Jones, Erik Dier, David Luiz or Shkodran Mustafi  

[moore_94]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Would be a phenomenal coup.

For some reason I thought he was quite injury prone, but he really isn't

 

Sounds like wants a CL team though, and supposedly wants €4m a year (I imagine that is net as €4m is only about €75k a week) so basically double it to about £125k-ish a week

[Dan LCFC]

Zouma's going to Sevilla as a part of the Kounde deal is he not?

 

I can see some logic in Cahill actually.

[moore_94]

3 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Zouma's going to Sevilla as a part of the Kounde deal is he not?

 

I can see some logic in Cahill actually.

Not necessarily, apparently he may want to stay in the PL and in London (West Ham) - Chelsea are asking for £20m+ anyway

[Ric Flair]

If Soyuncu isn't going to sign a new deal this notion of a 4th choice CB might be misplaced anyway. If there's a good defender at a reasonable fee (like Zouma) then it could tempt us to go for it.

[Outfox the Fox]

Ben Mee anyone ?  All the speculation is that we were after Tarkowski, as he only has 1 year left on his contract.  Yet Mee also only has 1 year left, he's older than Tarkowski and isn't an England international.  Burnley have paid Stoke big('ish) money for Centre Back Nathan Collins, so do they need 3 first choice Centre Backs?  And Mee has a City track record, playing half a season for us - and doing well.

 

Just a thought.  I haven't seen any speculation about Mee going (anywhere), but Burnley might want to sell, an older player with just a short time left on his contract.  I'd take him, as an experienced back up Centre Back, IF Evans is to be out for a while.

Edited 1 August 2021 by Outfox the Fox

[lcfc sheff]

I don’t see why amartey, benkovic and nelson can’t be adequate cover till evans is back, what’s the point I’m having these players as cover if we aren’t going to use them as such? Plus we’ve got the options of castagne, Ndidi and justin playing Cb if shit was to really hit the fan. It seems really odd to be targeting a cb when we’ve got 4 senior ones fit at the moment?

[Ric Flair]

Just now, lcfc sheff said:

I don’t see why amartey, benkovic and nelson can’t be adequate cover till evans is back, what’s the point I’m having these players as cover if we aren’t going to use them as such? Plus we’ve got the options of castagne, Ndidi and justin playing Cb if shit was to really hit the fan. It seems really odd to be targeting a cb when we’ve got 4 senior ones fit at the moment?

Maybe because of the horror shows at Burnley, West Ham, home to Newcastle and Spurs in that final 3rd of the season? 

[peach0000]

Just now, lcfc sheff said:

I don’t see why amartey, benkovic and nelson can’t be adequate cover till evans is back, what’s the point I’m having these players as cover if we aren’t going to use them as such? Plus we’ve got the options of castagne, Ndidi and justin playing Cb if shit was to really hit the fan. It seems really odd to be targeting a cb when we’ve got 4 senior ones fit at the moment?

Exactly my thoughts. Surely the point of players like benkovic and amartey are to cover for the better CBs when they are out. Even with Evans injured we still have Fofana and Soyuncu, surely that's enough centre backs, unless three at the back is the aim? Also it might be hard to persuade anyone of quality to come when they know we already have 3 quality centre backs who will be very hard to displace.

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, peach0000 said:

Exactly my thoughts. Surely the point of players like benkovic and amartey are to cover for the better CBs when they are out. Even with Evans injured we still have Fofana and Soyuncu, surely that's enough centre backs, unless three at the back is the aim? Also it might be hard to persuade anyone of quality to come when they know we already have 3 quality centre backs who will be very hard to displace.

Is it hope or blind faith though that Fofana and Soyuncu sharpen up as a pairing very quickly next season? Also look at Benkovic's horrific injury and lack of playing record in the last 2 seasons and Amartey's general portfolio of hospital passes and its a fair concern for us to have with Evans possibly out for a while, long term if it doesn't clear up. 

[peach0000]

7 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Is it hope or blind faith though that Fofana and Soyuncu sharpen up as a pairing very quickly next season? Also look at Benkovic's horrific injury and lack of playing record in the last 2 seasons and Amartey's general portfolio of hospital passes and its a fair concern for us to have with Evans possibly out for a while, long term if it doesn't clear up. 

Hope more than anything. Soyuncu is the problem for me, he's really lost his way. I just think it's a risk to overload a squad with too many players in one position, that's all. If one or two CBs were moved on then that would be a different story. 

[Ric Flair]

Just now, peach0000 said:

Hope more than anything. Soyuncu is the problem for me, he's really lost his way. I just think it's a risk to overload a squad with too many players in one position, that's all. If one or two CBs were moved on then that would be a different story. 

I love Soyuncu but I think he always needs that intelligent and disciplined player like Evans alongside him to enable the defence as a whole to prosper. Individually he's brilliant but he has a few flaws and he can't reign it in if he needs to be the linchpin when Evans is out and Fofana in. 

[peach0000]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

I love Soyuncu but I think he always needs that intelligent and disciplined player like Evans alongside him to enable the defence as a whole to prosper. Individually he's brilliant but he has a few flaws and he can't reign it in if he needs to be the linchpin when Evans is out and Fofana in. 

It's definitely a mental thing. He has all the ability in the world but he struggles to use that ability in constructive ways sometimes. It may well be the experience of Evans that helps him. The problem is when Evans is fit who starts with him? That's already a bit of a problem without adding a new centre back into the mix. 

[Ric Flair]

Just now, peach0000 said:

It's definitely a mental thing. He has all the ability in the world but he struggles to use that ability in constructive ways sometimes. It may well be the experience of Evans that helps him. The problem is when Evans is fit who starts with him? That's already a bit of a problem without adding a new centre back into the mix. 

That's the dilemma and what probably twisted Rodgers arm to go 3 at the back and stick with it even when we possibly could have gone back to a back 4 in the final 5-6 games of the season.