It kinda reads like that to me because you mentioned because he was battling relgation in one season and finihsing midtable in the other means what, that his performances were not elite?
He isnāt an elite player, thatās our argument. Unless you lower the bar so low that he would qualify.
Yes I know and I disagree clearly.
The bar isnāt low, performing as he has done week in week out in the PL is no low bar.
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The standard of the PL is probably higher than international competition these days. I consider Le Tissier to be elite, Iām pretty sure Xavi considered him elite too, he only ever played at Southampton.
I guess it depends on your definition of elite too. He might not be in a world XI but he probably walks into any side in world football.
With some players like strikers and defenders, playing at a lower club you donāt have to perform at a higher level. But a CAM/Winger who carries that team is elite
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Thatās the crux of it.
Football was an entirely different sport in the 90s to what it is now though. You were much more likely to have a Sampdoria or a Red Star make a European final and you could easily point to 6-7 teams being title contenders in some European leagues each season.
And even then, as great as Le Tissier looked youād have been interested to see what he could have done at a United in the 90s.
Yea it was more of a level playing field. Le Tissier didnāt do any pressing or defending so itās whether a top side would accept that or not. At that time I think some top attacking players didnāt press so much though
I always wondered, with frustatrion why Roberto Baggio got benched at Milan and shifted out to lower level Italian clubs where he would then excel. Even Juve shipped him out to make space for Del Piero too. So maybe he was a luxury player but when Milan started him, they shifted him out on the wing at times, so that doesnāt entirely make sense. Itās not like he didnāt succeed at Juve/Milan initially also.
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I donāt know if any of you guys remember Recoba, guy was immensely talented but was one of the laziest mother fuckers Iāve ever seen, even by 90s standards when attackers didnāt press so much this guy was lazy. Would casually just miss training and you would also see him strolling around the pitch, then out of nowhere he would score a long range worldly or a free kick.
Remember he got loaned out to some lower league Serie A team and it was like a switch flicked and he started putting out some elite numbers.
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I can sort of see both sides of the arguments on this one tbh.
On the eye test for me in the past 18 month Grealish looks absolutely elite.
@SRCJJ has a point though, expectation levels are always so high at a top club and that can be a struggle for some players mentally. I do think Grealish will prove himself anywhere though.
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Itās a bit of a weird one. Not many players going for such fees have worked out.
The pressure is insane. Weirdly though, I feel going to City might relieve some of that.
I think he would have been under way more pressure if he went to Man Utd or Arsenal.
For example, I think Sancho will have an uphill battle going forward.
Who will City sign?
- Grealish
- Kane
- Grealish & Kane
0 voters
We can sign a Grealishā¦ Austriaās #10, Grillitsch.
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No if City do end up signing him, this is them being astute apparently.
Great scouting by them. Canāt believe no one else spotted Grealish and offered to spend Ā£100m on him.
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If it took 200m to get Neymar, 150m to get Coutinho, 100m for Grealish makes sense for me
Salah and Mane were super discount, not totally reflect market value
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You see I donāt think that this is true. When they signed Mane, he was the most expensive African player of all time and when they signed Salah they spent ā¬40m on a player who Roma signed for about ā¬13m the season before and never looked like the type of player whoād produce that first season he did at Liverpool.
I know that people like to promote the idea that Liverpool did really well spending small sums but outside of Robertson and a few others - they spent sizeable sums (at the time) on a lot of their bigger talents.
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I totally agree with this. There always comes up the comparison between Klopp being genius in spending while Pep spends astronomical figures. The reality is that both have spent a lotā¦ Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho didnāt sign for peanuts.
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Still banging on about that huh?
Itās about identifying a need and addressing it, I didnāt say they were unearthing an unknown gem.
Guess what? If City sign Haaland itāll be an astute signing too.
Comparatively this was the summer where Lukaku went for Ā£75m, Morata went for Ā£60m, Lacazette Ā£50m. So they definitely got much better value for money than any of those 3.
So they spent less on better players that were unknown quantities at better clubs in the PL. People were speculating Mane would be another Lallana
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No doubt they got much better value but thatās with the benefit of hindsight. Mane considered a good but unspectacular player who they signed from Southampton whereas Morata arrived with a big reputation from Madrid, Lukaku was considered a big talent in the PL with a prolific goalscoring record and I didnāt like the Lacazette transfer at the time and was evidence of Wengerās desperation.
Itās also worth noting the Mane move was the year before this too
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Yes