Loads of people said the same about Fellaini absolutely loads of them. It was only because the whole Moyes poaching him and Baines saga left a bad taste in the mouth that towards the end some people were glad to see him go. Wind the clock back a few months before that though and the general view on the fan base was that he was indispensable.
I’m not arguing to replace him like for like. I agree that would be difficult. But our midfield set up isn’t great anyway because it’s based around two players who can only do one thing. Gueye has to play in a certain position to do what he’s good at and due to his limitations on the ball he has to be partnered in the deep midfielder role. Siggurdson has to play at number 10. That means we can only ever really play the 4231 formation. Take either out and we look rubbish. That doesn’t mean that these two are world beaters, it means it’s a poor system. Liverpool or City can play nearly any midfield combination in different formations and still perform well.
Sell Gueye (id sell Siggurdson as well but beggars can’t be choosers) and bring in a player that could allow us to play in a different way. Maybe we wouldn’t get run through as much if we dominated possession better. Perhaps we wouldn’t have such an onus on Richarlison and Siggurdson to score if we had a more creative midfield overall, one that could score goals also, perhaps be effective on set pieces too.
We should see this as an opportunity and I bet Brands has been after having 6 months to prepare for it I suspect.
Our top players will always leave, whether it’s to a mega club in their prime, or to Sheffield United for retirement. It’s only a matter of when. As a fan base we have an irrational fear of effective player trading. We’re still going on about the Rooney and Arteta sales despite them being yonks ago. That lot across the park have sold far more than we have recently yet it’s not done them any harm at all. Chelsea have just sold their best player, United may well do this window, Arsenal do it all the time.
If we had a trophy winning world 11 I’d say fair enough, we might want to hang onto them until the magic goes and it needs a refresh. But this squad needs major major surgery and effective player trading is going to be a huge part of that. Right when we need to be getting on board with Brand’s impressive revamp (which it has been so far), we have a fan base complaining about selling any players (‘it’s just sell to buy’) and especially averse to selling any players that might have value.
This is basically it. There seems to be a view propagated that it's either;
1) Gana is an excellent player or
2) We should sell Gana if the right offer comes in.
To me both can be true at the same time. In truth I am not sure we have the luxury of always hanging onto our players, irrespective of price if we want to be successful. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but if you can let people go at the right time then you can buy better players.
Our position is very similar to sides in the Bundesliga, Spain or even France who have to overcome teams above them who can greatly outspend them. In all cases they do not mirror what the sides above them do as they'd be doomed to failure. Sides like Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Dortmund, Schalke, Monaco etc have all had enormous success on the back of this approach. They have a functional and cold view of a player and when a price point is met they go.
So you have to look at the player in question and ask does it make sense for them to leave now? In Gana's case, probably. He is 29 and still has a lot to offer but is not getting any younger and coming off the back of an excellent end to the season. Someone will pay good money. Fast forward 12 months and we don't know where we will be with him.
I'd also suggest a gentlemans agreement came that he could go, and you generally kill moral of a team going back on those. He was excellent last season but pretty poor the season before as well.
My view is, if Gana goes, we could have Delph at a similar age and wages come in for next to nothing. The 30+ million profit on the deal could then pay for Malcolm, or Kean or Leao or an other. To me thats smart business.
If a good offer doesn't come in, I'll be happy to keep him too, but I don't think we can be turning down £30 + million for 29 year old midfielders.
