2020/2021 Defenders Rumours Thread

[CafeCordoba]

Oh man. This Darmian thing is apparently a gentlemen agreement. Not sure why. Maybe because they bought Karamoh from us? Why we stack defenders like this? Is Darmian the Ranocchia replacement then if Rano leaves for Genoa (for free, obviously) ?

And 5m€ sounds like a horrible overprice for Darmian.

 

[Il Drago]

Since the meeting things are getting from bad to worse. What a depressing mercato.

Btw don't you love we didn't even have money for freaking Fares but suddenly we are going to spend 5m for Darmian?

 

[GenDire]

Since the meeting things are getting from bad to worse. What a depressing mercato.

Btw don't you love we didn't even have money for freaking Fares but suddenly we are going to spend 5m for Darmian?

Soon to be 31 year old Darmian.

You can't mention a bad transfer on FIF without exposing and rounding up their age.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Though Di Marzio tells we have the gentlemen agreement to buy Darmia this summer for 2.5m€. 5m€ sounded indeed too big fee.

 

[nurko]

Well perhaps Conte knew this was the mercato to expect (cheap over-the-hilll alternatives) already before that meeting and he raged, so they essentially used to meeting to calm him down and explain him how they will make things better after this mercato when they manage do sell some of the dead weight. Much more plausible to me than for example him playing FM in real life and choosing whom to sign.

 

[Il Drago]

Though Di Marzio tells we have the gentlemen agreement to buy Darmia this summer for 2.5m€. 5m€ sounded indeed too big fee.

My issue isn't (only) the price. I wouldn't even want Darmian for free. We shouldn't be anywhere near players like 35-year old Kolarov, 33-year old Vidal and 31-year old Darmian and yet here we are. Some people like to bring the argument of continuity when they talk about the coach but with his strategy for experienced players what kind of continuity do you have with players who can offer you 1-2 seasons AT BEST (let's not even go to the worst case scenarios as we would have to discuss about players like Forlan, Vidic and Nainggolan we have got throughout the post-treble era).

 

[PHM1605]

Well, to be fair the those cheap signings would not cause significant damage to us. Neither did Vidic, Forlan. Deals which blocked our Mercato and which we could not get rid of were the “young” but overpaid ones e.g. Mario, Dalbert... Gags Vecino to some extent.

 

[IM21]

gds - 5M agreement in principle for Darmian

 

[diamen]

The problem with Darmian is that there is no place for him. On the right wing we have Hakimi, Candreva, D'Ambrosio. And there is also this Greek kid Vaggianidis and Ashley Young can play there as well. On the left there is Young, Dalbert, Asamoah, Kolarov and Hakimi or D'Ambrosio can play there as well. We are also stacked in defence, because next to De Vrij can play Skriniar, Godin, D'Ambrosio, Kolarov or Bastoni. Darmian is not better than any of them. So what is the point? If we don't have money not buy anyone.

 

[CafeCordoba]

5m€ for Darmian is a ridiculous price and I don't understand this gentlemen agreement if they had that for 5m€.

I can see his place as the RCB backup. They let Ranocchia go. De Vrij/Skriniar CB. Godin/Darmian RCB. Bastoni/Kolarov LCB.

I know, doesn't make sense that Skriniar is De Vrij's backup, I think he's gonna play more as RCB than CB. But in numbers, it's 2 players for each position. The problem, we could say, is D'Ambrosio. Is he going to be Hakimi backup, and we try to get rid of Candreva?

Nevertheless, 5m€ for Darmian is just mindblowing business.

 

[Il Drago]

5m€ for Darmian is a ridiculous price and I don't understand this gentlemen agreement if they had that for 5m€.

I can see his place as the RCB backup. They let Ranocchia go. De Vrij/Skriniar CB. Godin/Darmian RCB. Bastoni/Kolarov LCB.

I know, doesn't make sense that Skriniar is De Vrij's backup, I think he's gonna play more as RCB than CB. But in numbers, it's 2 players for each position. The problem, we could say, is D'Ambrosio. Is he going to be Hakimi backup, and we try to get rid of Candreva?

Nevertheless, 5m€ for Darmian is just mindblowing business.

Conte never tried anyone else but Ranocchia as De Vrij backup so if he's gone we need to get a replacement. They probably want Darmian because he's versatile. He can play on both wings and even in the defensive trio. Coaches usually loves this type of players. I see Darmian more as a Candreva replacement than Ranocchia's. The question is who's gonna be Ranocchia replacement? I don't see any cheap replacement on the market.

Edit: Question for those who may have watched Pirola in the Primavera. Could he play in the middle?

 

[diamen]

I think Pirola was always on the left. Kinkoue plays always in the centre.

 

[.h.]

candreva carries cost on the book to the tune of about 7.5mil a year - he's worth getting rid of with Hakimi here IMHO.

I do still think Godin will go - his book cost is nearly the same as Skriniar, but at least Skriniar is still heavy amortisation driven rather than salary driven. Godin is all salary. Ranocchia and Godin would save us nearly 12m a year, include Candreva in that you're basically up to 20mil a year of costs.

I think that leaves us Dambro/Darmian/Skriniar RCB, De Vrij CB, Bastoni/Kolarov LCB. With Bastoni or Skriniar going to CB if De Vrij is out for some reason. Ranocchia didnt really play much this year, so if you think we mainly had De Vrij, Godin, Bastoni, Skriniar and D'Ambrosio for CB, that ties in reasonably well, and gives us extra capacity with Darmian.

I think we'll look something like:

Handanovic/Radu

Skriniar/Dambro/Darmian De Vrij/Skriniar Bastoni/Kolarov

Hakimi/Dambro Young/Emerson
Barella/Nainggolan Vidal/Gagliardini
Eriksen/Sensi
Lautaro/Sanchez Lukaku/whoever?
​

With 2 or 3 more peolpe on the bench for depth (Pirola, realistically Vecino, and another midfielder)

 

[vex]

Hopefully parma made us a promise regarding dalbert, he said he wants only to play in italy, so one trashcan for another. Only slight positive I can think of :rollani:

 

[CafeCordoba]

So effectively we would sell our starter in Godin and replace him with Darmian? Fantastic

This is fucking Thohir banter era all over again.

 

[.h.]

well, its about putting faith in Skriniar and making him the starting RCB I think right?

 

[CafeCordoba]

well, its about putting faith in Skriniar and making him the starting RCB I think right?

Yeah but it's odd given we got Godin to bring experience to the locker room and play in 4-man defence so one top guy would sit anyway. Now we just give up with what Godin brings to the table and replace him with a average Serie A player (though versatile)?

This is fucking peak mediocrity if true (I know you are just speculating).

 

[.h.]

cost reduction tbh - 8-9mil a year on a player who has only really ju st adapted to be OK in the 3 at the back...

If it was either sell godin+keep skriniar or sell skriniar+keep godin, what would inter fans go for

 

[CafeCordoba]

Sure if those are the only options, Godin should go. But this is what I referred to with the "peak mediocrity".

 

[Universe]

Why in the fuck would you sell Godin? Let alone why in the fuck would you get rid of Godin and replace him with a fucking bum like Darmian who isn't fit to kiss Godin's boots? Ranocchia has probably had his best season in years too. If you sell him, you need to replace him, but Darmian sure as fuck isn't a Ranocchia replacement.

I've stayed away from judging the mercato as harshly as some, especially so soon into it. But this is shaping up to be a fucking mess. What exactly do these mongoloids even think they're doing? Nothing makes sense. From here it seems like they're just chopping and changing shit haphazardly with zero thought as to whether these pieces even fit together.

What next, sell Brozovic and replace him with Vidal, leaving us with no DM? How about we trade Sensi for De Sciglio and Ashley Young for Perin?