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Ben Davies

Lilbaz said:
We'll be having 2 games a week for most of the season. Our back 4 will need to be rotated, they can't play every game. Any injuries we'll struggle to do that without davies. Especially if bissouma is out for a while.

Edit - also spence is not in the europa squad.
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Yet if offered 5m for him, you'd probably take it, knowing we could line up another player for Jan 1st.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Yet if offered 5m for him, you'd probably take it, knowing we could line up another player for Jan 1st.
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But could we? £5M for an experienced player guaranteed to fit into our squad, who knows how to handle the Prem and has an excellent attitude. And counts as partially homegrown. Doesn't sound so easy now. Sure, you can find a foreign player for that, or a youngster, or someone from the lower divisions. But all those come with a lot of risk.

The value of players like Ben Davies is that they're relatively cheap backup options and probably great for developing the youngsters. For £5M, I'd rather keep him on our bench.

I'm more than happy to get rid of other benchwarmers for £5M -- the ones who don't quite fit, or put in as many shockers as they do decent performances. And I realise that shifting a few £5M players adds up to a decent fee. But I think Davies is worth more than his market value to us. £10M and I'd bite yer arm off though ;-)
 
I've not seen this good centre half that people talk about. I've seen fans narrating him as a good defender because he makes great blocks. I also see a lot of the "not bad for a makeshift centre half" line which I hate after him playing there for at least 3 seasons. I don't actually see a good centre half at all, especially a centre half in a back four. Even when he was in Conte's back 3, the opposition would want him to get the ball from Dier as they were most likely to get it back easier. They would often then rush him.

When I've watched him closely, I see different things. I see a player who is pretty weak aerially. He knows how to jump with his man and put them off getting clean headers. That's what full backs do. In fact, I saw a manager who wouldn't even use him in a centre half position to defend a corner or set piece and guys like Richarlison was baling the team out. I also see a guy who is very susceptible in any foot race because of his pedestrian pace. If he doesn't read the situation he is dead in the water. This one is also a problem at LB. Finally, I don't see players around Davies playing well. If he supposed to be the old pro, I would expect a calming influence in the way that someone like Vertonghen was for Davies and Sanchez. I think his positional sense has improved in the middle though. It had to, as it was a weakness when he was a full back. He often to wide or too narrow. He's also no baller, but we knew that anyway.

I get why Ben is still at the club. It's partially budget, it's partially not being able to get versatile guys like Lloyd Kelly in the summer and I hope it's mostly keeping space for our next gen. He's a great guy, good around the place and operating as a stop gap. I don't want him substituting for VDV though. That will just disrupt us tactically in so many ways.

It was a tough call for the club, leaving ourselves with the 3 senior centre halves, Davies and Dorrtington. I just hope we steer clear of the injuries that will mean Ben is on the pitch too much. At centre half, I would still prefer Dorrington over Davies.
 
FatBloke said:
But could we? £5M for an experienced player guaranteed to fit into our squad, who knows how to handle the Prem and has an excellent attitude. And counts as partially homegrown. Doesn't sound so easy now. Sure, you can find a foreign player for that, or a youngster, or someone from the lower divisions. But all those come with a lot of risk.

The value of players like Ben Davies is that they're relatively cheap backup options and probably great for developing the youngsters. For £5M, I'd rather keep him on our bench.

I'm more than happy to get rid of other benchwarmers for £5M -- the ones who don't quite fit, or put in as many shockers as they do decent performances. And I realise that shifting a few £5M players adds up to a decent fee. But I think Davies is worth more than his market value to us. £10M and I'd bite yer arm off though ;-)
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If it was £5m off the next VDV in Jan you might think differently. Especially if Davies doesn't play, and Dragusin, Spence and Gray seem like spare players who are all ahead of him in the pecking order.
 
SpurMeUp said:
If it was £5m off the next VDV in Jan you might think differently. Especially if Davies doesn't play, and Dragusin, Spence and Gray seem like spare players who are all ahead of him in the pecking order.
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£5m off the next VDV? That's pretty much the point I was making. For every VDV, who comes in and looks like a world-beater immediately, you've got bunch of young foreign defenders who really don't. Davies is a known quantity -- for that sort of money, I'd rather keep him.

Besides which, VDV cost something like £40m. Realistically, if the club identifies that level of talent, it looks like we now just go out and get it. We're financially solvent enough that £5m isn't going to get in the way of it. IMHO £5m for Davies would be more likely to free up a space for a youngster in the £10-15m bracket, who'd be more risky.
 
FatBloke said:
£5m off the next VDV? That's pretty much the point I was making. For every VDV, who comes in and looks like a world-beater immediately, you've got bunch of young foreign defenders who really don't. Davies is a known quantity -- for that sort of money, I'd rather keep him.

Besides which, VDV cost something like £40m. Realistically, if the club identifies that level of talent, it looks like we now just go out and get it. We're financially solvent enough that £5m isn't going to get in the way of it. IMHO £5m for Davies would be more likely to free up a space for a youngster in the £10-15m bracket, who'd be more risky.
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We wouldnt use the £5m on a CB anyway. Davies is just holding the fort for a few months till Vuskovic arrives. Ange has already said that.

If we got £5m now, we'd probably just use it in January to buy a 5th GK
 
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