If you think so, then they might not be faster..I also don't think Mascherano and Ramos are faster.
The club hasn't been exactly forceful or prioritizing in their transfers but they'd have to be insanely stupid not to buy a CB.
The club hasn't been exactly forceful or prioritizing in their transfers but they'd have to be insanely stupid not to buy a CB.
There aren't exactly many proper CBs out there so I can understand Tito if he doesn't buy anyone. Absolute minimum required abilities:
+ speed
+ ballplaying skills
+ complementing Pique (which Hummels doesn't)
+ should be an improvement over Mascherano
+ should be actually getable (Ramos isn't getable, T. Silva is almost impossible, Mourinho will probably sell us Luiz for the same price he sold us Ibrahimovic, like Iniesta + € 30 million or something)
Who fits those bills? Pretty much no one. We can either buy cheap-ish names like Rami or gamble and splash € 30+ million on 18 year old talents like Marquinhos.
There aren't exactly many proper CBs out there so I can understand Tito if he doesn't buy anyone. Absolute minimum required abilities:
+ speed
+ ballplaying skills
+ complementing Pique (which Hummels doesn't)
+ should be an improvement over Mascherano
+ should be actually getable (Ramos isn't getable, T. Silva is almost impossible, Mourinho will probably sell us Luiz for the same price he sold us Ibrahimovic, like Iniesta + € 30 million or something)
Who fits those bills? Pretty much no one. We can either buy cheap-ish names like Rami or gamble and splash € 30+ million on 18 year old talents like Marquinhos.
I'd say go for Marquinhos and/or Luiz.
I think Luiz is more attainable than people think. Mou doesn't like offensive-minded defenders. He forced both Lucio at Inter and Ramos at Real to curb their attacking tendencies and he won't be able to get Luiz to play like that. I foresee Mou preferring Cahill, Ivanovic and even Terry over Luiz bc of how they play.
Wouldn't take more than a 35 mil move to make it happen too. If we are going to have to pay Roma 30 for Marquinhos, why not spend a little extra for Luiz?
Promising players are OK for the long run, but with our situation, we need someone who'll be a huge improvement to our defense starting with day #1.
That's the thing. The only real key aspect that Silva brings over Marquinhos that would actually make an impact is leadership, but for how long? He's not exactly a young player and that one leadership aspect isn't enough to warrant more than 45m for a short term transfer. Marquinhos offers all the impact Silva does except the leadership feature which will come in years time as he gains experience at the club. He'll probably be among the best in the world for around 10-12 years.