Revista de la Liga - Edmilson in January/Benitez Rumour

[tmonkey]

Your argument holds some weight if we're skint or need to save transfer funds for other positions, but if money is there we should be looking at a longer term signing for a position already manned by a 31-year old. Once we hand him a sign-on fee and hefty wages (I suspect he'll want a 2 or 3 year contract as well) the position is filled and we won't be seeing another DM for quite some time, so it's about the opportunity cost as well.

 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on whether the gamble is worth taking. There are just too many question marks over him for me. His injury record has been consistently poor for way too long, it seems a bit naive to expect him to suddenly play more than 25 games a season for us when he's seldom managed it in the past. On the back of such a serious injury as well, there are major question marks over what sort of player we'll be getting. Some might argue a bit-part role would be fine but I'd say players coming in and out of the side in key positions has been one of our major problems in recent seasons. The last time we had a settled team we were competing among the top 4, albeit with arguably better players/manager. You can almost put your money on him missing one in two games here given his track record and I'm sick of us bankrolling those types of players.

 

Ideally, we'd be splashing out biggish money on a Mascherano equivalent, so im certainly with you on that.

 

However, considering this is the January window we're referring to, a time when clubs are unlikely to sell their better players and even more unlikely to sell their better defensive players (good centrebacks, keepers, anchor midfielders always harder to sign), and combine this with the likelihood that Big Sam wont have the funding for several big money signings as opposed to one or two, then factor in the arguement that we already have one or two players for that same position, and then on top of all this you have the probability that we arent doing well enough to actually attract someone better, younger, and far less injury prone, then signing a proven international calibre converted defensive midfielder on the cheap makes sense.

 

As for his injury problems and how he'll return from them, I honestly see him as the type of player who is naturally athletic enough to not be hindered by them greatly. IIRC he returned from his previous knee injury and looked exactly the same player, and thats much to do with his physique for me - as mentioned, a tall, lanky player who's game isnt reliant on pace or acceleration like it is for a forward. The same applies to Woodgate, who despite constantly being a crock and even being out for over a year and a half at one point, always returns still looking a top class defender and mobile/athletic enough to do the job hes required to do.

 

I wouldnt put my house on Edmilson being a success for us, but I have to say, im a bit suprised at just how poorly hes rated by many on here. Everytime ive seen him for Barca and Brazil, hes looked a good defensive player, and although not the best passer in the world, is comfortable enough on the ball to be a good addition for us. He doesnt look out of place for Barcelona when he has played for them recently, covers alot of ground defensively and has often made crucial interceptions for them when its mattered. I cant for the life of me see how he can be labelled as a poor or average player, unless the reference is to the expectation of him being good in an attacking sense, which of course isnt part of his game.

 

I agree with you that its a bit naive to hope he'll get past his injury problems, but then we're talking about a low fee here, and im working on the assumption that the contract will be a short one (1.5 years?) with the option to extend. Im not denying its a gamble, a pretty significant one, but then thats why hes being linked to us and not a CL competitor of Barca, and as mentioned, since we already have at least one player who can play in the same position, and we need to spend big recruiting players for other positions, then this is a welcome gamble for me. With all due respect to Butt who has done well for us, if we are to switch to a 4-3-3 system, Edmilson is easily a better player for the anchor role considering hes as good, if not better, defensively, yet far more comfortable on the ball, which is pretty important in that system.

 

Unless he gets injured, I would go so far as to say he'll be a better version of Campo at Bolton for us.

[Guest]

Loan with an option to buy would be nice, particular with the African Nations Cup in January.

[Parky]

I'm on the record against Edmilky.