24 - Thomas Vermaelen

[Bertus]

Lovren is 10 times better

No. I watched him during his time in Lyon.
This guy is average, you have no reason to over-rate him.

What Anti is saying. Lovren is below average. Got to see him playing a lot when he was in France, and if you think he's better, then 90% of french defenders are better than Lovren.

All he did while he was here was commiting fouls, penalties, and recieving plenty of yellow and red cards.

Rarely saw Lyon fans hating so much a player.

 

[Alarcón]

What Anti is saying. Lovren is below average. Got to see him playing a lot when he was in France, and if you think he's better, then 90% of french defenders are better than Lovren.

All he did while he was here was commiting fouls, penalties, and recieving plenty of yellow and red cards.

I didn't see him at Lyon really, but I saw him at Southampton, and I saw Vermaelen when he was a starter, and even then I thought he wasn't great. Now he can't get ahead of an average defender like Mertesacker although he's the captain.. Not sure how he would be worth 20 million

 

[Bertus]

I didn't see him at Lyon really, but I saw him at Southampton, and I saw Vermaelen when he was a starter, and even then I thought he wasn't great. Now he can't get ahead of an average defender like Mertesacker although he's the captain.. Not sure how he would be worth 20 million

Oh but we're in agreement on that, Vermaelen - in his current form - is not worth 19M

I was just saying that Lovren is a bad defender, and if he really did good at Southampton then i would start to consider thinking that defenses in england could be very average, because as i said, many defenders here are way better than Lovren.

 

[ebc_99]

Uhm, what?

This summer it was a sellers market as we were so desperate and everyone knew it.

Next summer it will be more of a buyers market as we will no longer be as desperate and clubs like Dortmund and Roma will have to be successful this year or else Benetia and Hummels will not want to stay.

 

[Irish_Cules]

I didn't see him at Lyon really, but I saw him at Southampton, and I saw Vermaelen when he was a starter, and even then I thought he wasn't great. Now he can't get ahead of an average defender like Mertesacker although he's the captain.. Not sure how he would be worth 20 million

The reason he lost his place is because he was injured and during that time Mertesacker-Koscielny formed a formidable partnership. Arsenal were actually looking solid defensively so by the time he was fit again Wenger obviously didn't want to change his defensive structure. Vermaelan is a bit of an underwhelming signing but at the end of the day he's a decent centre back who'll provide us cover. Mathieu will do great IMO and can form a formidable partnership with Pique, if the latter can sort himself out. Bartra looks set to continue to improve also. Our centre backs mightn't be filled with world class talent but world class centre backs are extremely rare these days. Even the best have serious flaws. Between Pique, Mathieu, Bartra and Vermaelan we should have one or two very solid partnerships hopefully.


The most important thing to remember about this though...........NO MORE MASCHERANO AT CENTRE BACK!

 

[Bertus]

This summer it was a sellers market as we were so desperate and everyone knew it.

Next summer it will be more of a buyers market as we will no longer be as desperate and clubs like Dortmund and Roma will have to be successful this year or else Benetia and Hummels will not want to stay.

I don't see the logic here. Dortmund won nothing last season beside the supercup (which i count as part of the previous season), which means it was an awful year to them, yet they don't sell their stars, and there was no uproar about it from Reus and Hummels as far as i know.

 

[Hamzah]

Another year of no success and well see what happens...

 

[Antimadridista1]

Thanks for recognizing that Lovren is average Bertus .
Some people here don't watch Valencia, say that Mathieu is shit but watch Southampton games and sustain that Lovren is better than Vermaelen and Barca material

 

[KingMessi]

Lovren is the Croatian David Luiz and his attitude is shit.

 

[Tomchin]

Next summer it will be more of a buyers market as we will no longer be as desperate and clubs like Dortmund and Roma will have to be successful this year or else Benetia and Hummels will not want to stay.

We just spent 40M on 2 CBs this summer, hardly doubt that we'll be looking for a CB again next season. Besides, don't forget that, very likely, we'll face a transfer-ban then.

 

[Tomchin]

People hear keep on saying that "the verminator" didn't get any game-time at Arsenal due to their formidable CB-duo Koscielny-Mertesacker. But if he's that good, then how do you explain that in the Belgian NT he's benched by 36y-old Van Buyten?

 

[KingMessi]

IMO, the club is showing faith in Bartra and our other young centerbacks with this move. Also transfer ban isn't a guarantee.

 

[KingMessi]

People hear keep on saying that "the verminator" didn't get any game-time at Arsenal due to their formidable CB-duo Koscielny-Mertesacker. But if he's that good, then how do you explain that in the Belgian NT he's benched by 36y-old Van Buyten?

Because he doesn't play at the club level?

 

[GoobiePls]

Because he doesn't play at the club level?

Van Buyten does?

 

[Irish_Cules]

I don't see the logic here. Dortmund won nothing last season beside the supercup (which i count as part of the previous season), which means it was an awful year to them, yet they don't sell their stars, and there was no uproar about it from Reus and Hummels as far as i know.

Ye but with each passing year they become more and more tempted to leave. I love Dortmund as a club but with modern football the way it is there's only so long they can hold onto players that are considered as some of the best in the world. At least one of Reus, Hummels or Gundogan will be sold next summer, perhaps more.
I wouldn't get my hopes up about Barca going for Hummels though. We signed two centre backs this summer so we probably wont even consider buying one for another 5 years.