Yuri Zhirkov

[sammy]

I think he's good. Since Silvinho is leaving, so he and Lahm would be great additions But I think they both are very attacking for full back. Cause we already have Alves who attacks from the side back, I think we should try to get a more defensive mind, Chiellini would be good, though i think is gonna be hard to get him.

 

[DivineVisitor]

i kind of think since dani alves coming up so much it might be better to have a left back that stays put more... like abidal.. i do not think we should stress to much over the left back spot.. abidal is capable

And if for one reason or another Alves or Abidal can't play?

We would lose our attacking flair from the full back position in Dani's case or a left back as Abidal is our only player in this position.
As a few have noted before, if we get an attacking left back like Zhirkov that means we can either use:
Alves & Abidal (attacking right, defenside left)
Puyol & Abidal (defensive right, defensive left)
Puyol & New Left Back (defensive right, attacking left)
Alves & New Left Back (attacking right, attacking left)

It provides us alot more cover and hands us more options to play with if/when we need to adapt.

Il be honest i've not seen much of him other than his performances in Euro 2008 but he impressed there and everything else i've heard from the other users has been positive. I'd love to see him join the squad and he'd likey get plenty of playing time.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

And if for one reason or another Alves or Abidal can't play?

We would lose our attacking flair from the full back position in Dani's case or a left back as Abidal is our only player in this position.
As a few have noted before, if we get an attacking left back like Zhirkov that means we can either use:
Alves & Abidal (attacking right, defenside left)
Puyol & Abidal (defensive right, defensive left)
Puyol & New Left Back (defensive right, attacking left)
Alves & New Left Back (attacking right, attacking left)

It provides us alot more cover and hands us more options to play with if/when we need to adapt.

Il be honest i've not seen much of him other than his performances in Euro 2008 but he impressed there and everything else i've heard from the other users has been positive. I'd love to see him join the squad and he'd likey get plenty of playing time.

Very well said!

 

[John Antonio Bilboa]

If zhirkov were to arrive abidal would be his cover not the other way around

 

[antonnn]

According to The Times, Chelsea are going to try complete the signing of Zhirkov for 18m. I hope so, he'll be awesome on our left wing, as well as beinga good backup for LB, but hopefully he can score more goals than he currently has in his career.

 

[Snyde]

Please we need someone like Zhirkov who can cover everywhere on the left! Stop looking at Ashley Young FFS!

 

[antonnn]

Well it seems you have until next Monday to put in a bid for Zhirkov, cause apparently we've agreed a fee with CSKA and on Monday our representatives will be going to Russia to have him sign the contract.

 

[gazza]

Yeah definetely looks to be Chelsea bound.

 

[beef-supreme]

Please we need someone like Zhirkov who can cover everywhere on the left! Stop looking at Ashley Young FFS!

Yes that's the key imo, that he would be able to cover everywhere on the left. Unfortunately it seems that we won't be getting him because we seem too focused on Filipe Luis, but we'll see. Well at least Filipe is younger than Zhirkov...

 

[sammy]

I just remember, does he also a non EU player? our slot for non EU player is out, right?

 

[Valon]

Not sure I think Russians don't count as non-EU but I'm basing it that on FM2009 ( Since Zhirkov is not a non-EU for me in Barca )

 

[sammy]

I'm sure that russian is a non EU country, cause it said so. Maybe that's why txiki and laporta is still waiting to make a move.

 

[Valon]

Yeah Russia is not in EU but there might be a rule in UEFA for not counting them as non-EU or something. Then again there might not be and they count as non-EU I dunno, maybe someone else knows about this.

 

[Plip]

I think that Russians might actually fall into the EU category player-wise, because e.g. several football federations including Russian are under UEFA despite of their locations.

 

[Beast]

He is an excellent left footed attacking full back.. i would love to see him in the liga.. shame he is going to Chelsea