Edu's Release Clause Targets: January 2022

[field442]

Woah, hold those horses.

I don't think Martinelli will ever move to CF tbh, I think every time he's had a good game for us it's been from the left-wing. And no I am not saying we shouldn't pass up on a player who's an improvement, it's more a priority thing.

Martinelli should hopefully see the season out at LW and depending on how he does is when we should look to either improve or let him keep the spot, if anything we need a replacement for Pepe on the RW because he's not being used at all.

I get what you're saying but let's get the CM and ST roles filled before we try and replace wingers who in my opinion have been doing really well for us.

Yeah I’d be inclined to keep Martinelli at LW. I was very big on him moving to CF when he first arrived because his movement is very good and he looked a natural finisher but his game has developed quite a bit. He’s a lot better on the ball now than when he first arrived and looks very dangerous on the wing.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Woah, hold those horses.

I don't think Martinelli will ever move to CF tbh, I think every time he's had a good game for us it's been from the left-wing. And no I am not saying we shouldn't pass up on a player who's an improvement, it's more a priority thing.

Martinelli should hopefully see the season out at LW and depending on how he does is when we should look to either improve or let him keep the spot, if anything we need a replacement for Pepe on the RW because he's not being used at all.

I get what you're saying but let's get the CM and ST roles filled before we try and replace wingers who in my opinion have been doing really well for us.

Martinelli was pretty decent under Emery at CF when he started out, IIRC he scored a few in the cup games during his first season, since then I’m not even sure what happened to him. The issue I have here is we’re too reliant on Martinelli/ESR and over the course of a season, they’ll have ups and downs which is normal for young players. It’ll be the same for Diaz too but at least we’ll have another option to compete with both of them and it seems as if he’s a gunman when you assess the stats.

When you look around Europe, there aren’t really any CF options as the club have seriously messed up here. They went all in on Vlahovic and he wasn’t keen on moving to us. Just my gut feeling but I think there will be a lot better DCL, Isak and all these other players we’ve been linked with in this window. Vlahovic came from nowhere 6-12 months ago and I feel something similar will happen come the end of the season which is why I’m not keen on us splashing out on the above.

CM would be my main priority in this window but if we can get a gunman like Diaz then you take the chance.

 

[Dutch D]

@Dutch D who dis?

Talented PSV winger. I like him, to be honest. He has an insane shot on him, was PSV's best player in their European qualifier games earlier this season. Haven't seen much of PSV since, but he's been putting up good numbers. Goalscoring winger type. Good mentality, ocassionally captains PSV. Think he has outgrown the Eredivisie, but isn't quite ready to start for a CL club. Could be a shrewd signing for a CL-aspiring team (which I guess we have been the last few years) as I do think he has room to grow. Risky though.

However, and perhaps these are my rose-tinted Ajax glasses, I would much rather spend the extra money necessary for Anthony. He definitely won't move in January, though.

Edit: I see people mentioning Douglas Luiz, I've mentioned him before in the wishlist for the number 6. Any real link to him? Otherwise let's go for Caqueret with 18 months on his contract.

 

[A_G]

Not sure why we'd wait for Auba to leave to sign the player, links rubbish anyway so thanks @American_Gooner.

Here's another link just for you:

 

[sergio_giorgini]

Hope there’s something in those Douglas Luiz links. A 6 that knows what he’s doing would make such a difference to this team.

Luiz is the right age, level of experience, PL ready with room to grow.

18 months left on his contract, 20m should do it. It’s a good deal take it!!!!

 

[Sebastes]

This is such a good post, I think everyone should read this twice.

I was a big advocate for us signing a wide player last summer, I wanted ASM but people like @HairSprayGooners and others were telling me that it wasn’t necessary. If you look at the strikers available around Europe there isn’t really any top quality on the market, therefore it’s best to go for a position whereby we can seriously upgrade in.

Someone like Diaz would be my ideal signing as those are fantastic numbers for a wide player, if we can get that and a CM then we’d start shaping the squad really nicely when a striker becomes available in the summer or towards the end of the year. At the moment all the CF options we’ve been linked with are very risky for the fees being thrown around, I’d like to see how they do over a bigger sample size. My gut feeling is they’ll be better options available in 6 months or so.

Issue for me with Diaz is that he's only ever posted numbers like this one season and he's 25. I'll say he really looks quality, but it's still a warning flag for me. Pépé for example had a much better season (though pk goals were inflated by pk's) in a better league and I'd argue a better "bad" season before that than Diaz' "bad" seasons in a lesser league.

I fully agree on the sentiment of needing alternatives. I'd argue we should look to upgrade on ESR/Martinelli. No room for sentimentality and if they're really the real deal they will still develop from that and come through eventually.

 

[sergio_giorgini]

Here's another link just for you:

Would rather bring his old man out of retirement.

 

[Sebastes]

Give Martinelli a chance up front imo, that’s where he’ll eventually want to play plus there will be less pressure if we’ll be getting goals/assist from Diaz.

Anyways, would you pass up on a player that has been getting 14 goals in 18 appearances for players who haven’t been getting anywhere near those numbers? Before you say it’s the Portuguese league etc Bruno Fernandes has shown that it’s possible to replicate similar numbers in the PL, even Ruben Neves who you’ve been twerking for hasn’t really taken that much time to adapt to English football.

If a player with fantastic numbers becomes available then you sign them. That’s where as a club we’ve been behind other clubs around Europe, Pepe is the main one that springs to mind as he had very good numbers at Lille but I still think he’s a good goalscorer that hasn’t managed to fit our system.

Diaz + a CM would be a solid window imo then we can reassess the striker options in the summer when Lacazette departs. The worst thing for us right now would be to spend huge on some like DCL who doesn’t represent value imo.

I agree. He's somewhat similar to an early Jota and I think/hope he could have a similar development as CF.

 

[sergio_giorgini]

Issue for me with Diaz is that he's only ever posted numbers like this one season and he's 25. I'll say he really looks quality, but it's still a warning flag for me. Pépé for example had a much better season (though pk goals were inflated by pk's) in a better league and I'd argue a better "bad" season before that than Diaz' "bad" seasons in a lesser league.

I fully agree on the sentiment of needing alternatives. I'd argue we should look to upgrade on ESR/Martinelli. No room for sentimentality and if they're really the real deal they will still develop from that and come through eventually.

Diaz hasn’t had a bad season in Portugal yet. Hit 14 & 11 in all competitions in the previous two.

 

[Sebastes]

I'm with @Troopz. If we can't get a top target CF then we should go for a quality player that can play LW or left inside forward and put Martinelli up top. Then look for a long term CF in the summer.

 

[HomeSteak]

Marcus Thuram lol. In a league where everyone scores for fun the guy got 10 goals once lol. Put Martinelli up top, ESR on the left and it is what it is.

 

[Barry]

Its a no from me guys. He is a good talent but already 23 in may and only just started to play well last season and this season.

We’ve been here before. He is a winger not a striker, we have Saka and Martinelli. Not the guy for us. I havent read the posts above, thats how little I care, but if there are guys talking about cf build and shooting technique of a striker they are talking out of their ass. Not a striker.

Yeah I tend to agree. Not that we don't need to do these sort of under the radar deals, but we did plenty of that last summer. Pretty much everyone agreed that the glaring gaps in our squad were top level midfielders and strikers. That's only become more acute over the last 6 months. He looks fine as a player (maybe being scouted as a Pepe replacement?) but surely that's not our priority right now?

 

[Sebastes]

Diaz hasn’t had a bad season in Portugal yet. Hit 14 & 11 in all competitions in the previous two.

Yeah in 47 and 50 games respectively. Perspective needed I only really look at the league. Could include European competition as well, but domestic cups should never be counted imo. People are saying Isak only has 4 goals, but then in reality he has 8.

 

[Barry]

We only have Saka and Martinelli. We actually need a winger. When did 22 become old?

We've got ESR and Pepe on the wings as well

 

[Sebastes]

We've got ESR and Pepe on the wings as well

Hot take but ESR & Martinelli not good enough for consistently finishing top 4 (on current ability). Pepe is but not if he doesn't play.

 

[dashsnow17]

I agree. He's somewhat similar to an early Jota and I think/hope he could have a similar development as CF.

It still blows my mind that Liverpool managed to buy Salah and Mane at the perfect age for a perfect price, won a bunch of stuff, then did the exact same thing with Jota.

We haven’t even made one deal like that, they made three.

 

[Barry]

Hot take but ESR & Martinelli not good enough for consistently finishing top 4 (on current ability). Pepe is but not if he doesn't play.

Not sure if I agree with that to be honest. ESR this season is doing far better with goals / minute than Gakpo for example, at a younger age and in a harder league.

Martinelli looks like he's about to explode as well. I'd argue that we've actually got four very good wing options at the moment. If we had the upgrades at CF and midfield that we need then they are going to look even better still.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't buy a winger if a surefire upgrade is out there, but I just can't see this as the priority.

 

[Sebastes]

Not sure if I agree with that to be honest. ESR this season is doing far better with goals / minute than Gakpo for example, at a younger age and in a harder league.

Martinelli looks like he's about to explode as well. I'd argue that we've actually got four very good wing options at the moment. If we had the upgrades at CF and midfield that we need then they are going to look even better still.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't buy a winger if a surefire upgrade is out there, but I just can't see this as the priority.

Yeah I'm not saying Gakpo is the answer, mind. Not by a long shot. ESR is vastly outperforming underlying stats. He'll score 3-4 more maximum in the league and then he'll still have outperformed his stats greatly for the full season

 

[2Smokeyy]

Issue for me with Diaz is that he's only ever posted numbers like this one season and he's 25. I'll say he really looks quality, but it's still a warning flag for me. Pépé for example had a much better season (though pk goals were inflated by pk's) in a better league and I'd argue a better "bad" season before that than Diaz' "bad" seasons in a lesser league.

I fully agree on the sentiment of needing alternatives. I'd argue we should look to upgrade on ESR/Martinelli. No room for sentimentality and if they're really the real deal they will still develop from that and come through eventually.

I was itching to say this but I didn’t want to come off as if I’m being negative or have some agenda towards our young players coming through. Ideally, I would love to see how Martinelli would do through the middle as he has all the qualities to succeed there.

He’ll surprise a lot if we give him an extended run at CF imo with the right players around him.

 

[Sebastes]

I was itching to say this but I didn’t want to come off as if I’m being negative or have some agenda towards our young players coming through. Ideally, I would love to see how Martinelli would do through the middle as he has all the qualities to succeed there.

He’ll surprise a lot if we give him an extended run at CF imo with the right players around him.

I don't even see how it's really controversial They're young and very talented guys that of course should be given minutes to develop, but they shouldn't have to carry the pressure of being the main men. With Saka it's a bit different because he's just that good. Still needs to have someone that can challenge him and be used for resting him. Someone that the manager trusts.