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No suprise we picked up form when he came back into the team, I'd love for him to carry on week in week out next season but I think we need to consider his replacement for the team. Joey would of been the perfect one we all know that but unfortunately it won't happen.
Someone better than Tom Carroll is needed to replace Leon, how you came up with Cesc Fabregas only you know, I'm guessing you meant Fabregas anyway as I've never heard of Fabrigass
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 20:59 - May 16 with 1757 views
I think Ki and Carroll are completely different players to Leon.
Leon breaks up opposition play, steals the ball off the feet of opposition players where he has no right to, wins tackles against more stronger physical players, is a natural link between defence and mid, always wants the ball, reads the game like he has written it beforehand and the players are all actors in his play.
Irreplaceable. When he retires I will be gutted. There will be a massive hole in squad that I pray gets filled adequately. Lots of admiration for this bloke. On and off the pitch. Hear so many great stories of how well he treats the fans.
I don't see that VK is a replacement for Leon. Admittedly he's very handy and would be a great addition, but I don't see him sitting in front of the back four and doing what Leon does. I thought at one point that Joe Allen was an ideal replacement for Leon but even he's been playing further forward for Stoke, so now I'm not so sure. I reckon Claude could still do the business - maybe he could job share with Leon.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 23:46 - May 16 with 1665 views
Will Hughes isn't a bad shout, he's not playing at Derby so much but Clement will know him. he's always been on the radar of premier league clubs, guessing he's not reached the potential but perhaps just needs to be playing in a better team
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 23:55 - May 16 with 1647 views
VK would be a great signing but why on earth would he leave the No. 3 team in his home country for a team that has just scraped out another year in the prem?
Makes plenty of sense from our perspective but none from his.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 00:18 - May 17 with 1629 views
I know nothing of the guy, but in that video alone he looks like he has a low centre of gravity and some wonderful balance which is one of the reasons Leon is so good at what he does. His turning circle is half that of other players.
That guy looks like he has a bit of pace and decent ball control too. Would like to see more!
"Michu, Britton and Williams could have won 3-0 on their own. They wouldn't have required a keeper."
Yeah, I agree with you on several points raised here, Bythol, but Williams isn't in Koziello's league. I think you had Jenkins when you said "cheaper" though.
I like Jonny as a player, he fits our ideal style of play and we have been linked to him for years. But too often he has been injured (not necessarily his fault, but still), marked out of games, or inconsistent with form. I don't see him ever being a reliable defensive midfielder either and it would take a lot of work and time in order for him to get there. And to be honest, I feel he's more a Championship-level player.
I think we need to look for more of the finished product, and that would be Koziello. He can provide the flash for the highlights but he also quietly controls and disrupts the flow of the game like Leon, and that is exactly what we need.
I'd be 'vacationing' in Nice right about now if I was Jenkins, and I wouldn't return until I had a definite answer from the kid. It's also ffukkingg fantastic this time of year, so maybe he'll decide to stay there and we can make some quality moves this summer. One can dream.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 02:29 - May 17 with 1575 views
But I will say that Koziello has been playing that role with Nice and has looked superb, they're third in the French league, and he's only 21. He would be first-choice instantly if he came to us this summer, and he's got the potential to be a legitimately world-class midfielder.
He is the perfect signing for us, and I'll keep saying it until he signs with Southampton or Sevilla or whoever for £10-12m.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 02:33 - May 17 with 1569 views
Other than that, he has stalled on signing a new contract and I think the big clubs are more enamored with flashier talents at the moment. We proved after January that we are a midtable PL team and that is the ideal place for Koziello to be at this stage in his career.
I think he knows that and is ready for a new challenge, and we have to provide the funds and the schmoozing to secure the deal. People can say he's above our station but Southampton, Sevilla, Villarreal, etc. don't view players that way and neither should we. They do the scouting, they pay the fees and wages, and they get their targets. We can do that too.
Do I think Jenkins will actually do that? No. But is he an attainable target for a club such as ours? Absolutely.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 02:55 - May 17 with 1561 views
If you want more check the video of the game against PSG I posted on the first page, and I'll post another one below.
Played calm and controlled against PSG but dominated Bordeaux's midfield in the video below. Absolute diamond of a player and can seamlessly play alongside Leon or in his role. Having him, Leon, and Carroll would ensure we'd always play good football, no matter who's on the pitch.
Will be worth every penny to whoevery ends up signing him, and he will make them far more when he's sold on after a few years. We should be making every effort for that to be us.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 03:07 - May 17 with 1557 views
Koziello has far more steel than JDG, Kirky, and can play all over midfield, but I feel he will be a better DM long-term.
Plus he's already playing that position now. Just watch a few minutes of one of the matches I posted and you'll see him shielding the backline, as Seri plays a more advanced role. He's very adept there, and looks and thinks so similar to Leon it's quite spooky.
Both have been compared to Xavi, and it's apparent after a few minutes to see why. They read the game differently and quicker than everyone else, and players like that don't come around often. We need to at least try and get this guy. Anything less is idiocy.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 04:06 - May 17 with 1534 views
Agreed, however the Leon up until Martinez slotted him in there (I think as cover for Bodde?) was a completely different player to Leon. Far more different than Tom Carroll is. He reinvented his game completely.
We are going to have to replace him at some point and sadly it's not too far away. Whoever comes in is going to have to adapt/improve their game or we will have to play in a different way. He is not irreplaceable though, no player is.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 06:18 - May 17 with 1494 views
It'll be someone like Danny Williams of Reading - especially if they don't come up - stalling on a new contract and we've been linked previously, Jenkins is pretty predictable really
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 07:56 - May 17 with 1444 views
I know the selling of Williams and Ayew left us with big holes to filler last summer, and Borja was a poor signing (as things stand), but we did sign Llorente and Mawson in fairness. Our biggest failure last summer wasn't selling Ayew and Williams, but failing to give Clement the job as soon as the season 2015 / 16 ended
"Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination" - Mark Twain
I still cannot understand how we have not been developing someone in our acadamy to play that role as Leon does.
Roberto put Leon in that role originally to take the ball from the cental defenders rather than them always hoofing up field as he wanted to play a passing game.
Leon's role was also to be a nuiscence in front of the back four .... Surely over the past 3 years we could have used Leon to help develop a youngster to perform that role.. Our recruitment strategy to replace Leon has been to buy a defensive midfielder a la Jack Cork....but Leon was never really used as a DM Roberto wanted to use his attack and passing skils first the defensive bit was secondary.
Easier said than done though, Leon is a once in a generation type signing. Arguably the best player to wear the shirt, I am guessing 1% of players coming through Premier League academies actually end up making the grade of being an actual Premier League player, never mind a player as important to our style of play as Leon is.
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Who to replace Britton next season? on 12:50 - May 17 with 1337 views
Why do British players in acadamies not make it? its because the PL demands instant success and so clubs are buying established froeign imports.
Whilst Leon may be "special" as he was the most expensive teenage transfer he had not played in the PL until we got there. He did have a spell elsewhere remember Sheffield United where he was no great success following his issues with Sousa whihc I think was due to Sousa being defensie minded and did not see Britton in that mould. The point being we were succesful due to a style of play with "ordinary" players knowing their roles and what to do...we could have attempted to develop one of youngsters using Leon as a guide....I ll get slaughtered here ...even someone like Jazz Richards perhaps into playing the role Leon was put into by Roberto rather than shoehorn an established traditional DM like Jack Cork into the role. Remember Sousa brought Jordi Lopez here a supposed player with pedigree and failed
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