|
|
|
I agree i'd like to think he's VVD replacement and share minutes next season, with leoni too we'll be rather good on the age front and future-proofing.
Konate going before VVD makes no sense, plus they're both french could make a great partnership & help settle him in.
Rather he has a season with us whilst VVD is still here, with konate too and Leoni... so he can learn off VVD & rotate/share minutes with him and then season after take his place, so he has time to settle in form a partnership etc.. it's always risky having a young CB come in and be a starter all the time
Might be a huge prospect but he's only played in the french league ( I think?) and not much experience-- it's not easy just to walk into a top club and be a starter CB... I hope that's the plan that i've said above anyway.
Last edited by Kev0909; 1st February 2026 at 11:29 PM.
My first thought at "think twice" is Brooke Benton, think it was a mid-50s release.
Leoni (19)
Jacquet (20)
Konaté (26)
Hopefully we sort Konaté's contract out and Leoni can avoid being one of those lads whose initial knee injury means recurring issues.
Imagine two years from now the lads were 21, 22 and 28 respectively with someone else in there in the 23-26 age bracket. It'd be a really excellent cluster of centre-backs in terms of age profile and seems entirely plausible.
Imperative we finish in the Champion's League places and continue to build.
So we wouldn’t pay £20m - £30m for a proven English premier league player but we would agree a £60m deal for a unproven 20 year old playing in the farmers league.
One is 20 - the other is 25… One will take a lower wage and be seen as having far more resale potential.
Age and salary the driving factors here. It’s the model. Very few managers can do more than fight for top 4 under those restrictions