We've been linked with Luiz for a while, and the British press reported our first bid as being either £21.5m or £25m. Either way, this is a significant improvement on that and apparently Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira is tempted by the money on offer. The fact that the A Bola headline says that it is an 'act of (financial) madness' shows how big our offer looks in Lisbon.
Luiz is certainly very highly thought of. I caught a few Benfica games on television last year and he impressed. He might look like Carles Puyol but with the ball at his feet he's much more of a Gerard Piqué. To quote Tor-Kristian Karlsen (acclaimed former scout and technical director), 'he's so good with the ball he makes Rio Ferdinand look like Robocop', and, moreover, he would be the perfect complement for Jérôme Boateng. He had previously said of Luiz:
amazing coup by man city if they land david luiz. wonderful def; elegant, xlnt on the ball, pacey, versatile, commanding. he's got it all
>High praise. While there are transfers I'm less enthusiastic about - James Milner, mainly - this is not one of them. I'm not a fan of Joleon Lescott or Kolo Touré and I'm not particularly attached to either of them too. If we were to bring Luiz in ahead of them I would be delighted.
(Hat tips, Ben Lyttleton, Simon Curtis)
5 comments:
I like Lescott, think he'll be a good player for us this year, damn, even stick him at left back for me, far better than Bridge. Kolo though can do one for me...
I agree with Heavyriffs that Lescott is a quality player. He didn't have great first season with the first half spent settling into a side that went forward in gung-ho manner leaving the defence too often exposed. But apres-Mancini he started to look much better and a Lescott-Kompany pairing looking our best choice. Just a pity that he then picked up a couple injuries to disrupt the rest of his season.
Not sure exactly where we are heading with our defensive signings. Boateng is a CB who can play RB. Luiz is a CB who can play LB. But isn't what we really need a couple of top draw fullbacks?
Does Mancini intend to primarily play Boateng at RB then with Luiz and Lescott/Kompany/Toure at CB and another signing (Kolarov?) at LB. I can't quite see exactly where these signings are going. There are so many permutations here. I would have made new fullbacks my first purchases as these are our weakest links.
Whatever happens it looks like it is curtains for Big Ned now and probably Micah as well given that Zaba is more versatile.
Yeah, Lescott's alright. But Luiz and Boateng are better. Luiz has the potential to be a defender of the highest order; can't really say the same about Lescott.
why do i get the feeling mancini is going to play 2 centre backs at fullback and ask them to fulfill a much more conservative role. That would allow the wingers a lot more freedom to express themselves, might as well. At the end of the day, how many goals were set up by city fullbacks last year? But how many goals conceded on account of them venturing forward again fruitlessly or just being totally and tragically inept in the art of defending? Hmmm, think mancini has it spot on.
Shame about Ned. Real shame. I see us buying one more centre half (Luiz) and a left back.
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