What I really don’t understand about this guy is he’s clearly there if we want him. If that’s the case, then why is it taking so long for us to make a move.
Unless we’re thinking we’ve got adequate cover in that position now with Xhaka, Elbeny and ?Zinchenko?
My hunch is Arteta is happy with his XI. If he likes Xhaka then this is a depth signing and maybe not a necessity. It’d be disappointing but wouldn’t surprise me. Replacing Xhaka in the XI would be bold but I just don’t see it from this club.
The only business I can foresee is maybe a Pepe replacement if we can find a new home for Pepe, but I’m not sure we’ll even do that.
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Cant see this happening. We have Xhaka, Sambi and Zinchenko for this spot. You can maybe count in Fabio.
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It could be just like our approach to our striker issue back in Jan. We could have gone on to purchase Isak but we either wanted to go for Vlahovic or keep our powder dry for a better striker in summer i.e. Jesus.
As good as Tielemans is, perhaps we want someone better and are keeping our powder dry.
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If Tierney gets crocked, that’s one less in midfield.
Bellingham 2023…
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Perhaps our strategy is if no other clubs bid and we go to them on deadline day to offer a choice between 20/25m and nothing the following year, they might take it.
They’ll know we’re not desparate either way so strong bargaining position
I think if we wanted him we’d have done it already. My prediction is that he goes to United once they give up on FDJ.
To me, he just doesn’t make sense given everything that has happened this summer with our incomings and with Partey. We have a lot of other options for the left 8 position and we also are dealing with a situation where we could lose our starting 6 at any moment (next hearing isn’t until October, but you can’t rule out some new accuser or something else becoming public that forces the club to suspend him earlier). To me it makes sense to go after a winger now and keep our powder dry in terms of midfield because we might need to buy a CM who can actually play the 6 at a high level either later this month or in January. Tielemans isn’t that guy.
Tielemans is an instant upgrade on Xhaka and Elneny, mind you.
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Our squad is/was too bloated. I can still see us going for him after we clear out the last pieces of turd.
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There is no in-between for me. CM & a winger are both critical for us to have the perfect setup for success.
The current squad, while great, will just push us for a regular top 4 finish. We are so close to forming a great squad, so why not get it done?
Unless the requisite talent is not available, I would consider it a big missed opportunity.
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Homage to Arsene?
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Only if other big clubs are not on him, and he is like Jesus just wanted to move to Arsenal.
If he was an upgrade on Elneny at the 6 that would be great but can he play that position? He might be OK when we have the ball but does he have the physicality and tackling ability to shield the defense and snuff out transitions in the middle of the pitch? Leicester has always played him next to a guy like Ndidi who does that job.
I don’t even know if he is a huge upgrade on our options at the left 8. Overall he is probably better than anybody else we have. But in certain matches we might want a very creative player and Vieira might be a better choice than him. In other matches we might want a more physical player and Xhaka or even Lokonga might be just as good or better. And he would be coming in cold to learn the system whereas somebody like Xhaka knows it like the back of his hand so I don’t know how instant the upgrade would be. Unless he can back up Partey he just seems like a marginal improvement.
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This is true
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In fairness to Tielemans, he has quite a high number of interceptions - one of the highest in the league I think. Unless I misread it.
Nah I’m wrong, but his tackles and interception numbers aren’t terrible. Couldn’t possibly be worse than Elneny and Sambi.
Edit: He has the 8th most tackles.
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Elneny sucks so being better than him shouldn’t be difficult.
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He started out as a 6 for Anderlecht if I am not mistaken and then moved up to an 8, where he started scoring goals, by which he was known as a goal scoring midfielder and assumed that was his best position.
I think ultimately, he is an intelligent midfielder that can play anywhere across that spectrum. As good as Partey in that specific role? No. Better than Elneny there? Yes, purely because he likes to progress the ball instantly and still has enough to contribute defensively.
I honestly think this is a smart transfer and I jest about the SMS links, which is dream territory.
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Reminds me of a certain Belgian in the team.
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