Raphael Varane - Man United

Kounde looks fantastic but at 80 millions it’s not happening.

No one can hate on Varane if his mindset is to either seek a new challenge or get a higher paycheck. He's won everything there is to win at Madrid and has been incredibly solid in the last decade. We put faith on Varane when he was young and he has delivered for both club and country. He's only 28 and losing this guy when he is still early in his prime years is a massive loss.

This scares the crap out of me because it's a guarantee Ramos is leaving so, who do we lined up? Nacho isn't the answer. Militao can't even get a game in under Crossdane unless injuries.

Alaba? Good defender but definitely not Varane level. Sorry.
De ligt? Haven't heard much on him since he moved to Juve,.but he would be expensive and we all know Perez isn't splashing 80 million plus on a defender?

Then there's youngsters like Upamecano and Kounde who are still green. They have potential but it isn't a direct replacement.

As you can see there is less than a handful of options.

Upamecano should stay another season at RB Leipzig, ideally. He'll probably get snapped up in the summer, but despite his physical talents and improvement over the last year, he's quite rough around the edges. Sometimes, I can't tell if he's intelligently reading the game and acting on his predictions, or if he's just putting his athleticism on display and coincidentally having everything go his way in situations where he would otherwise look like a headless chicken.

He's such a fun player to watch when things do go his way, but he reminds me a bit of Nicolas Pepe in his unpolished, high-risk, high-reward approach to dueling other players. He's no Ramos. That Gung-ho style of football may get him into some trouble if he's playing for a more high-profile club.

Am I the only one that dislike short defenders? It takes a lot for them to succeed and to become elite. Kounde is like 5’8 lol, no thanks

As long as they stay in La Liga that's not a problem tbf

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Madrid finally realized which i told you all in like 2013.

Lads a fraud, better late than never.

Ramos was playing for two all these years and today it's as obvious as ever before tbh

I say you have to look at club economics before any trade speculation. Sure there are lots of rumours about Perez playing hardball with most veterans. But on the other side, you see the absolute dependency of them by Zidane. Perez has a long standing policy re veterans, he wants one year contracts and salary roughly the same.

But there is a priority need for a proven scorer and fulfilling that need will likely use up whatever transfer budget will be available. And no guarantee , covid restrictions will be fully eliminated for next season and thus possible more restrictive budgets.

Bottom line, they can’t afford to let all the vets talked about leave and thus Perez is going to have to compromise as well will some of the players.

Hapless_Hans wrote:As long as they stay in La Liga that's not a problem tbf

yeah dawg, imma take a hard pass. The last short CB I thought had potential was Otamendi and he flipped hardcore. Can’t remember a below 6’0 ft guy that was elite in my lifetime except for Cannavaro, and even he needed a favorable context.

Thankfully Sevilla wants a lot of money, it’s gonna be someone else mistake. For the same price by the way De Ligt is a much better prospect

Mr Nick09 wrote:Am I the only one that dislike short defenders? It takes a lot for them to succeed and to become elite. Kounde is like 5’8 lol, no thanks

i dont like short center backs either. short fullbacks cool, but short defenders and goal keepers are a no for me

Someone tried telling me the other day that Kounde was 6ft. There's no way he's taller than 5'10. Despite him being short for a CB his leap is awesome. He's very good at defending in his box and I haven't got the impression he's a rash CB. His defending is pretty conservative based on what I've seen. Diego Carlos does more of the stopping and Kounde does more of the covering.

His passing is good, he can carry the ball forward, and he isn't weak and slow like say someone like Eric Garcia who is also short himself. If Kounde was taller he'd have everything you want in a CB.. He was City's second choice last summer behind Koulibaly but Sevilla were asking for +70M.

Jay has seen him week in and week out over the past two years, so I'm sure he can give a proper analysis on him.

Mr Nick09 wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:As long as they stay in La Liga that's not a problem tbf

yeah dawg, imma take a hard pass. The last short CB I thought had potential was Otamendi and he flipped hardcore. Can’t remember a below 6’0 ft guy that was elite in my lifetime except for Cannavaro, and even he needed a favorable context.

Thankfully Sevilla wants a lot of money, it’s gonna be someone else mistake. For the same price by the way De Ligt is a much better prospect

Carles Puyol, off the top of my head. I'm sure I've seen others too, but I'm too tired to think right now.

I'm not even a little bit familiar with Kounde. What has he accomplished, other than scoring a goal against Barca recently?

Generally speaking, I don't mind having a relatively short CB on the team, as long as he's got other qualities that compensate for the lack of height, and can utilize his shorter point of gravity to his advantage. That reminds me.. wasn't Bobby Moore on the shorter side? Not that I ever watched him play.

He was a key figure in Sevilla's EL win last year. There was hype about him over the summer. I don't think his name is being brought simply because of his goal against Barca. He's genuinely good imo.

Casciavit wrote:He was a key figure in Sevilla's EL win last year. There was hype about him over the summer. I don't think his name is being brought simply because of his goal against Barca. He's genuinely good imo.

Ah, thanks for filling me in. I knew I'd heard his name somewhere, but I watched relatively little La Liga football last year. Feels like this guy went from zero to hero overnight.

Thanks for bringing up Puyol, you are right and he is the same size as Kounde according to the measurements I see online.

Walter Samuel seemed shorter for a top CB as well

will be a rude awakening when Nick realizes Alaba is also just 1,80

Another reason I don’t want him, but I’m not in charge of signings. Wish Marina offers him a ton of cash

Maybe it's good that you're not in charge of signings seeing that based on this criterium you'd have taken a 'hard pass' on Baresi and Beckenbauer, too

If they were 5’8 and had only been good for 2 years without référence game in CL, yeah I wouldn’t put 80 millions on them. Hard pass

Since we are so desperate for a CB, I am thinking why not Varane in the next season if available!

There are major doubts about "500k defender from championship and another defender from almost relegated BL club with a single win in the whole season" - both of them making it in the starting XI under Klopp. We should take him with open arms if available for the right price.

One thing I love about Madrid is that their players are always highly sought after. It seems to me that clubs haven't realized yet that most of our current crop of players are just either past it or overhyped to the moon.

Can't wait to see someone drop €70m on Varane and later realize that the guy without Ramos is basically a traffic cone.

70 mill on varane is not a soft deal. hell, he should even be worth more. he's 27, a world cup champion, euro finalist, ucl and liga winner. if the shoe was on the other foot, and madrid wanted that type of player the other club will ask for like 120 million euros.

i can't believe u think someone dropping less than 70 mill for varane is a fair deal.

titosantill wrote:70 mill on varane is not a soft deal. hell, he should even be worth more. he's 27, a world cup champion, euro finalist, ucl and liga winner. if the shoe was on the other foot, and madrid wanted that type of player the other club will ask for like 120 million euros.

i can't believe u think someone dropping less than 70 mill for varane is a fair deal.

He has only one year left on his contract. 70m € is too much, and you won't get it, least of all in Covid times, except maybe from Chelsea or PSG

El chiringuito say Ramos is 100% leaving in the summer. So both him and Varane leaving in one window? impossibru

I don't really have a problem with Varane leaving, but yes Ramos is irreplaceable.

No worries though, Florentino knows what he's doing and I trust his judgement.

Spoiler:

Myesyats wrote:El chiringuito say Ramos is 100% leaving in the summer. So both him and Varane leaving in one window? impossibru

chiringuito are hardly reliable. Truth is, not a single journalist can tell you with confidence that Ramos is not staying because they don’t know.