Re: Our next number 9 - thread

[sportsczy]

CR is our striker.  Fekir is not a 10.  He's like an Alexis Sanchez/Griezmann.

[VanDeezNuts]

Fekir should get a mention because he's been absolutely stunning for Lyon so far this season...  in 11 Ligue 1 games he has 11 goals and 4 assists. Lyon is in Europa so he we could snag him in January and he'd be CL eligible.

Should grab Ndombele too while we're at it.

I think Fekir is a great suggestion, not cup-tied, French AND Algerian- maybe we can convince ZZ to swap one French Algerian Lyon boy for the other.

[Doc]

Would Lyon even be open to negotiations for a January transfer considering they have Ligue 1 aspirations and more realistically, Europa? Really think Madrid should definitely pursue Sanchez and then Antoine in the summer transfer. Would greatly improve our team and as seen yesterday, Antoine is literally starved of service in Atleti.

Personally think he has run his course on that team really.

[Mr Nick09]

but we should not be signing guys like Fekir, that's the whole point, however great a player he is, he is a second striker. Goals come to guys like that as opportunities, their main role is not scoring.

we need a leading striker. there is no way you sign Fekir, at the level he is at, and he comes to madrid and "lead", banging goals week to week, no chance.

[Mr Nick09]

If we had any brain we would be going after Alexis right now, whether he fits our transfer policy or not. but i think the City pull is too great.

Elite, mature and he knows how to actually play n9, he did it multiple times.

[sportsczy]

Difference with Fekir compared to the others is that Lyon could be bought... and maybe we send Mayoral and Vasquez the other way until the end of the season on loan so that they don't lose anything.

[sportsczy]

I disagree with the notion we need a lead scorer. We have one. He just can't score if he's smothered as the only threat and gets no service/help from anyone. CR is no longer the CR of old and needs some space/service. Need another viable and consistent threat... and I think CR goes off.

[VanDeezNuts]

Do we need a leading man though? Regardless of form Ronaldo is the leading man, I don't think there is a striker available who can change that.

We need a player who can play centrally and do a job. And by doing a job, that entails being able to play off of Ronaldo. I think Fekir is actually a great option come to think of it. Alexis is a great option as well, and I really don't understand how he could possibly fit into that City team without Aguero leaving.

With all of those criteria in mind, my picks for January would be Fekir, Alexis, Andre Silva, or Icardi. I don't think any of those are bad options, I think they are functional, possible, and would all give us the boost we need in both LL and UCL.

[Mr Nick09]

so spending 100 mil on a players mid season who has done little in a way to prove himself as a top player is a solution in january? i dont think so.

I take issue with signing players like Fekir who plays behind the CF in his team with all the freedom in the world, and will come to madrid to play a different role.

Besides, CR is an exceptional player, a winger scoring as much as a CF. so while Fekir is a nice player, throwing stuff like "CR is our striker, so Fekir can be that too" is misleading. and we saw what Griezmann looks like leading the line for his team, he looks like shit, and he needs to play with a Giroud/Costa to be great.

Fekir is not a good fit, just another fancy name having success in his team because he has all the freedom. Terrible pick imo.

we need a CF, goalscorer, goal getter, that makes runs, push the CBs, tries to poach, etc...

ps: Alexis is the only exception out among those small SS that can lead the line.

[sportsczy]

I completely disagree with your assessment Nick.  Players don't operate in a vacuum.  Assuming CR is here until the end of the season, you can't have another player who likes to operate in the same areas...  and CR is a quasi-poaching CF nowadays.  So you actually need another scorer who is used to working around another striker while scoring and creating opportunities for his CF.

It would also be nice to have a scorer that Isco can actually link up with.  We don't have any right now so Isco's becoming predictable with the things he can do.  Everything we do is wide.  We need to have both threats.

I was hoping that Asensio would become this threat (and he was in the supercup). However, he's become timid suddenly.

[Mr Nick09]

Do we need a leading man though? Regardless of form Ronaldo is the leading man, I don't think there is a striker available who can change that.

We need a player who can play centrally and do a job. And by doing a job, that entails being able to play off of Ronaldo. I think Fekir is actually a great option come to think of it. Alexis is a great option as well, and I really don't understand how he could possibly fit into that City team without Aguero leaving.

With all of those criteria in mind, my picks for January would be Fekir, Alexis, Andre Silva, or Icardi. I don't think any of those are bad options, I think they are functional, possible, and would all give us the boost we need in both LL and UCL.

Yes we do because CR refuses to play CF. he just does, even when we took benzema off yesterday he was not doing that. he wants to have freedom on the pitch, so let's let him have it. If we think Short term, a fix for January which i dont think will happen, then Alexis is the best player you can go for. But as i said, City and Guardiola have been pulling him for 2 years now, and i dont think we have the arguments to draw him

[sportsczy]

CR moves around when he's isolated as the CF... which he is often right now. The only way he get away from being double marked in the box is to peel off. We are horrible at breaking lines/players other than Isco... and he's not enough all alone.

Kroos is actually looking to be a lot more aggressive (which I assume is on orders by the staff). Pretty good at it too. But he has no end product in scoring positions unfortunately.

[Mr Nick09]

I don't disagree that you want to have a player that can do both ideally, i am arguing that your pick for that role, Fekir, is wrong. he plays too like a playmaker, always needing the ball to make things happen.

So if you can't have that hybrid unicorn that can playmake and score at the same time, the safest bet is to go for a number 9 with some decent playmaking abilities, because we need goals, we need a sure thing goalscorer way more than we need a playmaker.

besides, you guys make it sound like clubs will sell us their best assets mid season, it's not happening. specially a club like Lyon which is competing for a CL place.

[sportsczy]

Fekir is a gamble... completely agree with that.  I'm thinking about it in terms of availability and CL eligibility.  Lyon can be bought in January imo.  I don't think Arsenal will allow Alexis to leave in January and there's no way for Griezmann.  

Given the lack of feasible options, I'd rather we take our chances with Fekir in January than do nothing.  We can obviously look at a lot more options in the summer.

[Mr Nick09]

You make a January signing because it's great opportunity and you want to improve depth for the spring run.

you certainly do not gamble 100 millions or so, because that's at least what Lyon will ask you, on a player like Fekir.

you guys are looking for a saviour midseason, that will not happen. Zidane will continue saying that he trusts Benzema and BBC, and when Bale is on his way back, he will be presented as a new signing, you can bookmark this because Zidane will say it.

any important change will be done n the summer

[sportsczy]

They won't ask for 100 million.  It's Lyon.  Give them 70 mil and they do the deal.  70 mil for Fekir is absolutely fine.  

You make it sound like he's some scrub.  Come the summer, you're going to need to overhaul the attack.  All 3 of BBC are gone imo.  Fekir would just be one piece... we'd need 2-3 more in the summer at least.

My target would be Cavani in the summer because, regardless of the makeup you see, all is not well between he and Neymar.

[titosantill]

yeah a 100 mill signing in jan is ridiculous (if the 100 mill rumors are true), those kind of signings are done in the summer. last thing i want is a 100 mill signing in jan, knowing we don't get that kind of quality in the winter, only for the summer to come and the club goes "well we spent 100 in jan, so we won't sign anyone but useless back ups who wither won't play or can't play". yes i want someone to paper the cracks for right now, but i don't want this same squad in the summer.

and i don't want anyone here long term who isn't good enough to warrant a straight forward starting role especially at cf, which we most likely will not get in jan. but 100 million in january is ridiculous, cos imo nobody who leaves their club in the winter is anywhere near that worth.

[titosantill]

70 is still way too much. i'm scared of january signings, i really am. i'm scared of the club using that as an excuse not to have an overhaul and us ending up with someone who isn't really a super elite player able to overhaul the bbc especially bale and benzema.

we've made our bed by not promoting any competition, it is in this period that we should sign small, so if there is any discarding to be done we can make room for it and get top quality in summer in the process. last thing i need right now is some other little excuse for mr modern cf to be our dominant striker for next season....he really should be a sub, but that's not possible when we purposely sign people like mayoral who we know cannot compete nor get minutes

[Mr Nick09]

Lyon asked 60 mil for Lacazette, and with the market going haywire, they will ask that much for Fekir. They think he is more talented, and they were comparing him with Messi before he got injured. and negotiating with Lyon is never straight forward...

Now if we are talking about signing someone for the summer, not even then i would be interested in Fekir, that's just my opinion. i think there are better talents in europe right now, like Pulisic or Guedes

[terrance511]

how good is fakir. is he legit? if so, 70m on him in january definitely better than 120m on some world cup miracle in summer.

i really hope we get griezmann thou if the whole forward line was to rehaul

[titosantill]

i don't think flo will go the world cup miracle route unless the miracle is a player who is already legit. i bet he is still kicking himself for that james deal, especially knowing now that bayern might back out of that 70 mill option.

but signing anyone who is not top notch in january is not the solution. we'd be prizing ourselves out of superstars in the summer, unless the club wants to sign big in jan and sign bigger in the summer, which, based on our just recently acquired financially prudent habits, i doubt the club will do such. and as far as long term goes, i really don't see fekir as the solution.....he still might not even have the clout to bench our modern cf or bale tbh

[sportsczy]

Fekir is extremely talented Tito... until he got injured 18 months ago (knee injury), he was rated (and rightly so) a better player than Martial, Mbappe and Dembele. He's insanely technical. He got all his speed back this year too, which he struggled with when he first returned.

70 mil is actually cheap for him imo. Come of the end of the season, he's going to have 30+ goal and 15+ assists if he stays at Lyon and he'll be worth 120 mil +.

[sportsczy]

France has such a wealth of attacking talent right now that, if you fall off for a few months, you're forgotten. It's brutal if you're forward in France at the moment.

[Mr Nick09]

I have watched a lot of Fekir, he is a good player, he had a torn ACL and he is coming back fine. He is scoring a lot this season, but he is not a scorer. Again, when you play someone behind the number 9, and he is talented, he will get goals. But i hate those players because if you fall in love with their numbers and you move them to your team, put them in a different role and expect the same, they will disappoint.

Think about Fekir like James for Monaco, that's who he is actually. He is not a winger, he said he does not like playing on the wing, he does not have the pace for it, and his work rate is shit. this would be such a bad signing lmao.

Fekir is a no no no for me.

There are better wingers who can create 1v1 on the market, better talent, and if we need a reliable scorer we can find better as well.

[sportsczy]

He's been humbled though Nick... talent without hard work and a good attitude means nothing, which was James' downfall. Fekir got a good dose of football mortality and he's now a very hungry player.

If James was willing to become what the team needed as opposed to what he wanted to be... he would have been a huge success at Madrid. Frankly, that's why Isco is succeeding right now... he left his ego behind and figured out what he needed to do in order to succeed at Madrid.

[Mr Nick09]

before even talking about James as a person, and what he was willing to do to succeed or not, we had issues with what he was as a player.

Fekir is the same kind, he is not a good fit, and he is not great enough a talent that you want to upset the order of your team to fit him in.

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