Jannik Vestergaard - Official: Signs for Leicester

[Daft Kerplunk]

Salisu is the ready-made replacement for Vestergaard (not in style but position) and I have my doubts we’d be looking for another centre back when we’ve also signed a young lad. We might get a few more in on loans or free transfers though.  
 

A mix of Ings and Vestergaard’s transfers will go towards balancing the books. 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Maya's Dad said:

i think whoever we replace him with will need to have a decent pass on him. not saying he needs to have a diagonal like vest but it should not be underestimated how much we relied on vest's passing in our build up last season. people will only rmb the long ball to kwp but it was more than that - he was incredibly good at finding the feet of our forward players with one bullet pass and bypassing our midfield. without this i fear for our overall build up game. our midfield cant be relied on for this, bednarek's passing is as good as mine, stephens shouldnt be starting, basically if we cant get a numbers up situation down either flank and progress the ball up that way we often resort to going back to mcarthy who will send it long (and often into touch lol)

Losing his ability with the ball should not be underestimated, but if we cant rely on JWP and Romeu to pick the ball up from CBs and get us moving then what can we rely on them to do?

[Maya's Dad]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

Losing his ability with the ball should not be underestimated, but if we cant rely on JWP and Romeu to pick the ball up from CBs and get us moving then what can we rely on them to do?

as a pair their best attributes are winning the ball back. on the ball i dont particularly rate either. both sideways and safe kind of players, very good at doing the little triangles with the CBs which are clearly worked on at every training session. jwp clearly thew better of the 2 but still too slow, receives the ball too often facing his own goal and his awareness isn't what it needs to be to be a jorginho type

[Saint Pete]

51 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Salisu is the ready-made replacement for Vestergaard (not in style but position) and I have my doubts we’d be looking for another centre back when we’ve also signed a young lad. 

I hope you are wrong about that. As it stands, Stephens is 3rd choice CB and will be straight in the side if Salisu or Bednarek pick up an injury or are out of form. That's not a situation anyone should be satisfied with! Simeu I think should be thought of primarily as a B team player for this season as has very little experience. 

So we certainly need a replacement for Vest and it ought to be a player who can contend straight away for a starting place. Personally I wouldn't be against signing an older defender with some experience (Cahill mould) as our team is crying out for more experience and know how especially after losing Bertrand, Ings, Vest.

[SuperSAINT]

 

[skintsaint]

This window getting better and better.

[Badger]

Just now, skintsaint said:

This window getting better and better.

Depends who we bring in to replace him.

[Pilchards]

4 minutes ago, Badger said:

Depends who we bring in to replace him.

Exactly this.

Getting another Salisu type is a massive no no as we need someone to hit the ground running.

[Charlie Wayman]

Bearing in mind that Saints were mostly crap last season and Ings, Bertrand & Vestergaard were part of us being mostly crap, getting rid of them all and starting again with young legs and young minds might not be quite the disaster that the headlines suggest it could be

This guy was far too mistake prone for my liking so will not be missed from my point of view.

The continued absence of Ward Prowse looks more and more ominous.........

Edited 12 August, 2021 by Charlie Wayman

[Matthew Le God]

8 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Getting another Salisu type is a massive no no as we need someone to hit the ground running.

Salisu would be replacing Vestergaard in the starting XI, so any additional centre won't be playing straight away. I think you are also overlooking why Salisu didn't feature early on last season. It wasn't for lack of experience (he had just had a season as first choice in La Liga). 

[Wade Garrett]

Keep banging the drum, but Tomkins at Palace only has a year left on his contract.

I think we will sign Phillips though.  At least he’s good in the air.

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The continued absence of Ward Prowse looks more and more ominous.........

No it doesn’t. He was back in full training on Tuesday getting ready for the Everton game with a strapped up knee due to his injury. 

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, Wade Garrett said:

Keep banging the drum, but Tomkins at Palace only has a year left on his contract.

I struggle to see how that would help us.

[TWar]

5 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Bearing in mind that Saints were mostly crap last season and Ings, Bertrand & Vestergaard were part of us being mostly crap, getting rid of them all and starting again with young legs and young minds might not be quite the disaster that the headlines suggest it could be

This guy was far too mistake prone for my liking so will not be missed from my point of view.

The continued absence of Ward Prowse looks more and more ominous.........

He's not absent, he was in the last training session with his knee taped up.

[HarvSFC]

As I said a couple of weeks back, he’s had three good months here in three years. This time last year he was behind Stephens in the pecking order, up until we lost 5-2 against Tottenham. 
 

I don’t think he’s particularly good in the air, given his height and I think he should be more of a threat in that sense when attacking, especially when JWP aimed for him most times. He’s slow and an accident waiting to happen, and as already mentioned, the goals conceded tally doesn’t lie, he’s been a consistent part of a weak defence. His one attribute that we will miss is the diagonal balls to the full-backs, especially now that we seemingly have two options, instead of always trying to play through to KWP.

He might now look better in a more positive and better team in Leicester, but in our team he just isn’t all that. I’ve found neutrals seem to be treating this like another Van Dijk departure.

[SaintLondon]

Unless I’m going mad, Semmens & co said that were JV to leave then we would replace him. Sure, it’s not going to be a Varane / Dias type signing but surely it’s not going to be another Simeu. It’ll be a first team ready player with a (hopefully) big future as opposed to someone who is more of a gamble and needs time with the B team. Right? 

[dello]

I’d like us to put in a 20M bid for Tarkowski…

In last year of his contract- surely Burnley would take that?!..

 

[Bob76]

Think we need to give the current partnership time, also need to replace Vesty, but center halves work in pairs and sometimes two average players gel and form a great partnership. I think Stephens and Yoshi were good together whereas neither were brilliant.

[Weston Saint]

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

[Give it to Ron]

Just now, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

We conceded 68 goals last year that old head wasn’t much use last year was he?

At the start of last season would you have sold him?

Gone to Leicester to sit in a back 3 where his lack of pace won’t be as exposed as here.

[Sheaf Saint]

4 minutes ago, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

The difference is they are only signing him as a backup. As soon as Fofana is fit again he will drop to the bench and stay there. They aren't signing him to improve their starting 11.

[Give it to Ron]

2 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

We conceded 68 goals last year that old head wasn’t much use last year was he?

At the start of last season would you have sold him?

Gone to Leicester to sit in a back 3 where his lack of pace won’t be as exposed as here.

Leicester also have the Danish keeper and our ex full back promoting him - he will do ok there is he what we need with one year left?

[HarvSFC]

6 minutes ago, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

Leicester are going into the season with Amartey at centre-back. Once Evans and Fofana come back, he'll be fourth choice there, behind Soyuncu too. He's just a depth option for them.

[Turkish]

Just now, HarvSFC said:

Leicester are going into the season with Amartey at centre-back. Once Evans and Fofana come back, he'll be fourth choice there, behind Soyuncu too. He's just a depth option for them.

They spend £15m on a squad player who is first choice at another premier league club. We spend £15m and we think it's a big money deal that we have to get right to improve our team. 

[Toussaint]

5 minutes ago, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

You and I both, a few years ago we would melt down if anyone left, now the "coping strategy" is to redefine them as crap players we would not miss, when in reality we are losing our best players. Conversely players who have done very little , such as Diallo and Salisu are reinvented as superstars. I'm convinced it's a self defence mechanism. 

[John B]

1 minute ago, Toussaint said:

You and I both, a few years ago we would melt down if anyone left, now the "coping strategy" is to redefine them as crap players we would not miss, when in reality we are losing our best players. Conversely players who have done very little , such as Diallo and Salisu are reinvented as superstars. I'm convinced it's a self defence mechanism. 

It is not a defence mechanism it is the strategy of the club which most support

It may not be the right one to you but it has proved to be successful compared to many previous PL sides which have been relegated in recent years

[beatlesaint]

12 minutes ago, Weston Saint said:

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

Yeah, while this approach to bringing in hungry young players is not only admirable but in truth the best we can do, it doesnt hurt to have a few exoerienced older heads about and defensively we have lost two now (regardless of how they performed). 

We didnt have an issue bringing 32 year old Theo Walcott back to the club so an experienced central defender who has just seen 30 would be a sensible and hopefully stabsalising option.

[Marsdinho]

I'd be tempted to go back to Chelsea for Malang Sarr as JV replacement. 

[Dman]

30 minutes ago, dello said:

I’d like us to put in a 20M bid for Tarkowski…

In last year of his contract- surely Burnley would take that?!..

 

Good defender and would add some much needed leadership at the back. Certainly an upgrade on Bednarek. 
 

However, no way Burnley would sell him to a relegation rival. If they did sell, it’d take more than 20m (didn’t they want over 40 just last summer?). Would he even want to come here? Are we much of a step up for him? 

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

You and I both, a few years ago we would melt down if anyone left, now the "coping strategy" is to redefine them as crap players we would not miss, when in reality we are losing our best players. Conversely players who have done very little , such as Diallo and Salisu are reinvented as superstars. I'm convinced it's a self defence mechanism. 

Worries me that the focus is on these two who may or may not be up to it.

Diallo was considered Kante reborn after a few cameo appearances as sub, yet considered woefully out of his depth when starting. This has been forgotten amidst an improvement in pre-season friendlies. Salisu ... looks "a beast" according to some after a couple of friendlies but we've no idea how he'll react in the glare of the EPL for real.

For every sublime crossfield diagonal  ball from Vestergaard (and I think we only discovered those during his purple patch last season) there was a memorable on field fuck up, but we're conveniently overlooking the fact he was an experienced and more than competent member of a good Denmark team keeping the talked about Andersen on the bench.

Diallo and Salisu may come good but they need some experience around them to help them develop as with Lawrie's day of mixing old heads and younger legs.

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, Marsdinho said:

I'd be tempted to go back to Chelsea for Malang Sarr as JV replacement. 

Left footed. We need a right sided CB to replace Bednerak imo. 

[Baird of the land]

21 minutes ago, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

I don't really see this desperate need for an old head/veteran. Having some experience sure, but with a 25 & a 27 year old alongside a 22 yr old i'd consider that experienced enough.

I'm disappointed Vestergaard is leaving as i liked him, but for whatever reason he wouldn't sign an extension so we had to sell whilst he had some value.

 

[Turkish]

Just now, Badger said:

Worries me that the focus is on these two who may or may not be up to it.

Diallo was considered Kante reborn after a few cameo appearances as sub, yet considered woefully out of his depth when starting. This has been forgotten amidst an improvement in pre-season friendlies. Salisu ... looks "a beast" according to some after a couple of friendlies but we've no idea how he'll react in the glare of the EPL for real.

For every sublime crossfield diagonal  ball from Vestergaard (and I think we only discovered those during his purple patch last season) there was a memorable on field fuck up, but we're conveniently overlooking the fact he was an experienced and more than competent member of a good Denmark team keeping the talked about Andersen on the bench.

Diallo and Salisu may come good but they need some experience around them to help them develop as with Lawrie's day of mixing old heads and younger legs.

Im not sure i'd describe Salisu as a beast. He's quick and looks strong but he got absolutely bullied by Calvert-Lewin last season so a physical striker could cause him problems. I think Daillo will become a good player for us. The problem i see though is that he's better alongside Romeu rather than instead of, and we all know Ward-Prowse is the golden boy. Not sure about experience in midfield Romeu is 29, has been here 6 years and made nearly 300 apperances, JWP is also close to 300 career appearances. It's at the back we need experience. 

[Dman]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Im not sure i'd describe Salisu as a beast. He's quick and looks strong but he got absolutely bullied by Calvert-Lewin last season so a physical striker could cause him problems. I think Daillo will become a good player for us. The problem i see though is that he's better alongside Romeu rather than instead of, and we all know Ward-Prowse is the golden boy. Not sure about experience in midfield Romeu is 29, has been here 6 years and made nearly 300 apperances, JWP is also close to 300 career appearances. It's at the back we need experience. 

I think Diallo will replace JWP when he moves on next summer. Agree that he’ll become a good player for us, a little lightweight, but next to a Romeu type (personally another on I think we could do with upgrading but unlikely to given limited resources), he’ll be fine. 

[Greenridge]

I see Scott Dann has left Palace with his contract expiring despite CP wanting him re-sign. Not suggesting we want him, but it's another 'similar' club looking for a CB. 

In reply to @Saint Charminster as I have no more posts left. From SkySports:

Quote

Palace are now looking to sign another defender in this window.

 

Edited 12 August, 2021 by Greenridge
additional

[skintsaint]

25 minutes ago, Dman said:

Left footed. We need a right sided CB to replace Bednerak imo. 

Why do people get so hung up on the footedness of centrebacks, im sure tons of great partnerships at the back have been both right or left footed 😅

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

I struggle to see how that would help us.

He is a lot better than Bednarek in my opinion.

[Saint Charminster]

4 minutes ago, Greenridge said:

I see Scott Dann has left Palace with his contract expiring despite CP wanting him re-sign. Not suggesting we want him, but it's another 'similar' club looking for a CB. 

Palace have already signed 2 new centre half’s this transfer window.

[ant]

I get the logic of moving him on - especially given 12 months left on the contract.

But to those saying "he was part of one of the worst defences in the league", well... that defence is even weaker now.

Yes, we will likely replace him, alleviating that. However it puts an awful lot of pressure on Salisu stepping up as a definite starter, or on us spending the money very wisely.

Not an awful lot of success/failure wiggle room at that budget.

Let's just hope the recruitment team are on the ball and already have targets in mind. Let's not go back to frittering money away on panic buys.

[itchen]

I'm not joining the bandwagon of "he was crap we're better off without him". I'd rather he stayed but, if he chose not to sign a new contract, the club has done well to get a good price for him (as with Ings).  He had some good moments last season, particularly with his passing, but he was still liable to be caught out of position and too slow to recover.  I hope we can sign a suitable, experienced replacement but I wouldn't despair if we relied on Stephens - he gets a lot of unfair stick on here but is probably as good as (and certainly more vocal than) Vestergard.

[lambtiss]

He didn't want to be here ... move on

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I don't see a problem with Vestergaard leaving to be honest. Never was a huge fan of him, as others have pointed out he is much better suited to a back three as he proved in the Euro's. He just strikes me as too passive to be a centre half, despite his size he was beaten in the air far too often. Sometimes I wish we would get over this notion that centre backs should be ball playing defenders. Fact is they should be able to defend first and foremost, in whacking it into row z is the best option it needs to be taken. Would rather we sign no frills defenders like we have had in the past, players that would put there head's in where it hurt. 

[LordHester]

2 hours ago, Weston Saint said:

Am I missing something? Most of you seem to be happy to see Vestergaard go because of his lack of ability yet Leicester, who have more money and a more settled position in the Premier, see him as an ideal centre back for £15m. If we think we can get better why did Leicester not go for that option!

We need someone with experience who will not only slot into the position but help bring on the younger and inexperienced defenders.

I think the only reason the club is willing to let him go is that he has value now but can walk away in a year, not because he is not up to it.

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

Why would Vestergaard be a good bet for Leicester? Perhaps because his lack of pace is exposed less in a back three than it is in Saints’ back four?

[Piran]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Im not sure i'd describe Salisu as a beast. He's quick and looks strong but he got absolutely bullied by Calvert-Lewin last season so a physical striker could cause him problems. I think Daillo will become a good player for us. The problem i see though is that he's better alongside Romeu rather than instead of, and we all know Ward-Prowse is the golden boy. Not sure about experience in midfield Romeu is 29, has been here 6 years and made nearly 300 apperances, JWP is also close to 300 career appearances. It's at the back we need experience. 

I agree with your comments about experience, at the back and in midfield. I will be interested to see what happens with Salisu. He did get properly bullied by Calvert-Lewin last season. Like a rabbit in the headlights, and he looked quite shocked, so to me it will be interesting to see how he reacts in future to a big strong opponent. Maybe he will, with the help of the coaches, have gained the experience that you mention in JWP and Romeu, and improve as we would wish him to. If he doesn't, then I fear for him, because Saintsweb critics won't be the only ones who have noticed last years' performance!

[IFHP]

3 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

I struggle to see how that would help us.

Perhaps the poster believes that he would improve the 1st 11 if he signed?

Why do you think we have to sign a 3rd or 4th choice CB as a replacement for Vestergaard?

Edited 12 August, 2021 by IFHP

[DuncanRG]

5 hours ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Salisu is the ready-made replacement for Vestergaard (not in style but position) and I have my doubts we’d be looking for another centre back when we’ve also signed a young lad. We might get a few more in on loans or free transfers though.  
 

A mix of Ings and Vestergaard’s transfers will go towards balancing the books. 

Semmens said at the fan forum that we'd recruit if Vestergaard left. The question is whether we go for a starter or a kid - and whether we succeed, of course.

[tajjuk]

3 hours ago, Weston Saint said:

We will struggle without an old head in the centre of our defence.

He's hardly Chiellini, also iirc Vestergaard was a centre-mid for the early part of his career and I think he only switched to playing centre-back at like 22-23, so it's not like he has years and years of experience as a reliable defender. 

I also don't get this general obsession with age, ability is what counts and just because a player is 30 or 32 doesn't suddenly mean he is any wiser or more knowledgeable all of a sudden, I mean someone like Balotelli got worse with experience and became even more unpredictable.  Ward-Prowse has been a professional and hard working example to others for years now and he's only 26. 

[nta786]

19 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

He's hardly Chiellini, also iirc Vestergaard was a centre-mid for the early part of his career and I think he only switched to playing centre-back at like 22-23, so it's not like he has years and years of experience as a reliable defender. 

I also don't get this general obsession with age, ability is what counts and just because a player is 30 or 32 doesn't suddenly mean he is any wiser or more knowledgeable all of a sudden

Ability is important of course, but I think particularly with the centre-back position, someone in the mould of Chiellini/Evans/Dawson/Fonte/Thiago Silva/Ramos/Pepe/Kjaer etc etc or an old head can bring more than their ability, in the form of a winning mentality or supervising younger players

There are non-tangible benefits that stats can't quantify such as the leadership they'd bring, the ability to reorganise the defence based on their experiences, increased positional sense, composure ,and to make defenders around them look better players.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes bringing in an old centreback can be past it and just reaffirms that they are no longer a PL player, but I think it could bring the best out of someone like Salisu if we get the transfer right

To me, Bednarek won't get that and both will make mistakes throughout the season.

Anyways, we shall see who we do bring in

Edited 12 August, 2021 by nta786

[Saint Pete]

2 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

He's hardly Chiellini, also iirc Vestergaard was a centre-mid for the early part of his career and I think he only switched to playing centre-back at like 22-23, so it's not like he has years and years of experience as a reliable defender. 

I also don't get this general obsession with age, ability is what counts and just because a player is 30 or 32 doesn't suddenly mean he is any wiser or more knowledgeable all of a sudden, I mean someone like Balotelli got worse with experience and became even more unpredictable.  Ward-Prowse has been a professional and hard working example to others for years now and he's only 26. 

I think you miss the point a bit with your opening comment. I don't think many saw Vestergaard as perfect by any means. For several seasons, we have lacked an experienced organiser at centre back and we have seen the results of that in the performances defensively.

Replacing Vestergaard in the squad with a more inexperienced player is hardly likely to help with that issue, so we need to make sure whoever we sign can compete for a starting place straight away and preferably has the character and experience to help out some of the younger players we already have.

Take your point they don't have to be over 30, but defensive players do tend to improve in the qualities we ideally need as they gain more experience. Just think sometimes the club are so focused on our model of signing players who are the "right age", they forget to think enough about what the team needs right now in order to improve.

[Charlie Wayman]

4 hours ago, Toussaint said:

You and I both, a few years ago we would melt down if anyone left, now the "coping strategy" is to redefine them as crap players we would not miss, when in reality we are losing our best players. Conversely players who have done very little , such as Diallo and Salisu are reinvented as superstars. I'm convinced it's a self defence mechanism. 

Therein lies the problem. They may have ben our best players but they didn't help us rise above being mostly crap. If they were our "best", then only "best" by a gnat's whisker.  None of the leavers were better than mediocre. The training ground will be a much better place having rid ourselves of their self-centred surliness.

Edited 12 August, 2021 by Charlie Wayman