Jason Denayer

This.

 

I would rather see Lustig go in at centre half alongside Van Dijk for the qualifiers. If Van Dijk is still here that is. If we did end up with your last partnership mentioned, there is massive cause for concern in my opinion, but I really don't see us losing both Denayer & Van Dijk, and not trying to replace them.

 

Id go as far as to say we will 100% qualify for the group stages if we keep both of them, if we lose one or both then I wouldn't be quite as confident.

 

He would start for quite a lot of teams in the EPL imo, really can't see them sending him to the Championship.

 

Meh. I'm not concerned. Ambrose and Mulgrew have both proven they can do a competent job there in Europe. We're spoilt with our CB partnership at the moment. The chances of us replacing Virgil and Denayer with similar quality are virtually zero on our budget. I doubt we'll find anyone better than Ambrose or Mulgrew for less than £4 million and I'll be amazed if Lawwell spends that much, plus I'd rather we spent our money on a quality striker TBH.

 

We had Van Dijk for our last season in the Champions League group stages and we shipped fourteen goals in six games, so I'm not too sure that we could really do any worse without him or Denayer.

 

We reached the last 16 with both in the team (albeit with Mulgrew in midfield). They're not as good as our current CB partnership; but that isn't the same as not being good enough.

 

And even despite that he played well in every game he appeared in. Half of those came in one game vs an on-form Barca, with us under-performing as a team that night.

He's much better than any other option we have going into Europe.

 

He is better than what we have, but losing him won't make or break our Champions League accomplishments I don't think.

 

We should be looking to bring in two players who are at the same level as Van Dijk & Denayer were when they first arrived though. I'm amazed at anyone who wouldn't be concerned if we go from Van Dijk & Denayer, to Mulgrew & Ambrose.

 

I think once the final ball is kicked he will be off back to man city for a wee chat about where he is going next year.
I would think they already have his next club in mind.

 

He was brilliant against ajax at home and played well in most games stopped the nou camp game being double figures.

Still get flashbacks of that volley he hit straight at abbiati though

 

OK, bad choice of words when I said I wasn't concerned. I'm Less concerned than I am about other positions in our team.

Of course Ambrose and Mulgrew would be a step down from Virgil and Denayer; but they have both proved they can do a job in Europe. This is more than can be said for any of the strikers on our books, with the possible exception of John "hopefully Feyenord have a place for me next season" Guidetti.

Add to that the fact that one of our key players (Commons) is getting on a bit and the fact that Deila apparently doesn't "do" surprising teams and instead wants Barça, Real, Bayern, etc to fear us "because they know what's coming" and you'll see that I'm going into next year's European campaign with bigger worries than Efe and Chico.

The Deila project is a long-term thing. People expecting another last 16 (like the one both Efe and Mulgrew played key roles in) are more optimistic than I am TBH.

 

Ambrose looked good for us in Europe, as did Kelvin Wilson. What you aren't saying, is that we had Wanyama, Brown & Ledley also in the side offering great protection. That was the main reason for us looking good defensively in my opinion. In the current system, I think Ambrose & Mulgrew would get horribly exposed if they were playing together in the centre of our defence.

I know you have said about needing a striker, and I agree with you, but should Denayer & Van Dijk leave, there will definitely need to be players brought in to try and fill the void. I also would want to see us build from back to front, not vice versa. I remember Tony Mowbray trying to build from front to back, and we all seen how that went.

 

This . Neither of them are going to be here , why do folk keep trying to talk themselves into the idea that either of them are going to be playing here next season ?

Van Dijk will be sold , which is completely in line with the business model of the club . Would practically be against protocol to let him run down his contract .

Denayer is going to go on loan to the Championship and i completely understand City's thinking . Celtic dominate 90% of games and are rarely under pressure domestically so a centre back will be better tested in the Championship , which is a very competitive league with teams of similiar standards.

 

They could loan him out to a perm club and stipulate in his contract that he can't play against them. He's good enough.

 

Half of the CB's in the BPL are *. He would be a definite starter for teams like West Ham and Stoke

 

Reid and Denayer would be a superb CB partnership, still surprised West Ham managed to get him on a new contract.

 

Won the YPOTY!

 

Kenny Miller presented him with the award.

Deserved winner, clear winner if you consider who the other nominees were.