I must be in the minority then that felt Cole wasn't that good going forward. Cole biggest strength was his defensive capabilities especially one vs one. Belletti was one of the best attacking fullbacks we had but he was just a bit old and shocking defensively when we had him.
"Beyond cash"
Of course they are because Alex Sandro is a top class wing back.
Every position is important, £55mil is cheap for an established worldclass player in todays market with 5+ years left at the top. His wages would be around 100k each week, if the rumours are true about us doubling his Juventus wages. Thats almost half of what Sterling earns each week,he went for about the same price, but he is far from worldclass.
Yes, the prices are crazy, but even in the current market 55 million is NOT cheap. That would mean clubs regularly paid 60-100 million for players. That just doesn't happen outside of China.
When has he had the chance? Played on his wrong foot where he can't cross and where haz picks it up deep and he has to cover the gap he leaves or at RCB, if he is given a run on the right he isn't nearly as bad as people make out, even on his wrong foot he has average league assists for a fullback but I agree he is more defensively sound, but that's the reason I can see is going in hard for a LB over a RB while I believe alonso much better than Moses, I'm actually a fan of alonso I wouldn't mind him starting next season, I think conte wants a CB though and do Dave needs to go somewhere, could also be the case we don't use wing backs next season depending on who we get the idea of a 4-2-4 has been thrown around
I think we are all in for a suprise this summer when it comes to transfer fees. Alot of clubs seems willing to spend big and the selling clubs don't really want to let their players go cheap.
Even if he couldn't cross at LB, playing out of position shouldn't stop certain natural attacking runs you make as a full back and certain passes. Truth is, he's just not cut out for it offensively. You can't rely on him in that department. Years ago I said he should be given time to add that to his game. He's 27 now so that's never going to happen. He is who he is and if he gets even better as a player, it will likely be defensively. Of course I'm happy to be proven wrong about all of this but I just don't fancy him there at all.
£55m in today's market is pretty much £30m in 2014. It's a bargain for a player of his quality, to be quite honest. It's amazing that we're even able to get him. For his age and quality, there should be no reason for Juve to sell. But I think it's easier for them to do so because they can take that money and throw it right at Monaco for Mendy. We all have to accept that the market has changed. Look at the prices that were being quoted for Van Dijk ffs. Look at the prices being quoted for Mbappe and Belotti after ONE season of breaking through. Insane. But it's today's market.
If we'll see a significant number of 60+ million transfers this summer, then I'm willing to hold up my hand and admit that I'm wrong, but as it stands I don't think it will be the case. Clubs and agents have always slapped over the top price tags on players, so this is nothing new. There will be exceptions of course, but I reckon majority of the transfer fees of major signings to and from big European clubs will be between 30-60 million.
