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Armel Bella-Kotchap

Ldnsaint

By Ldnsaint,
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egg

egg

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Posted

Well that came out of nowhere. The lad looks very promising. We'll doubtless be moving one or two lads on...my guess is we'll take a few quid for Bednarek and go into the season with the two youngsters at CB, with Lyanco and Stephens as back up.

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Saint Garrett

Saint Garrett

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1 minute ago, JRM said:

I've never heard of him before, is this a signing we expect to come straight in or spend some time with the u23s first? 

Fully expecting him to be starting with us, possibly not at the very start of the season, but can imagine the plan is first choice alongside Salisu. 

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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10 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Fully expecting him to be starting with us, possibly not at the very start of the season, but can imagine the plan is first choice alongside Salisu. 

A new contract for Salisu and we'd have these two as a partnership for a few years unless bigger clubs come calling. (Which would mean they've been a success).

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Mr X

Mr X

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37 minutes ago, egg said:

Well that came out of nowhere. The lad looks very promising. We'll doubtless be moving one or two lads on...my guess is we'll take a few quid for Bednarek and go into the season with the two youngsters at CB, with Lyanco and Stephens as back up.

Not sold on lyanco seems a complete liability

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Matthew Le God

Matthew Le God

Posted
Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, JRM said:

I've never heard of him before, is this a signing we expect to come straight in or spend some time with the u23s first? 

He was playing pretty regularly in the Bundesliga last season, I doubt we've signed him to play for the u21s. He'd likely be pretty surprised at that!  I think he'll quickly become the 1st choice pairing with Salisu, possibly even as early as the first league game.

Edited by Matthew Le God
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egg

egg

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8 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Not sold on lyanco seems a complete liability

Nor am I, but I can't see anyone buying him, and I doubt Stephens will be sold as he's just signed a new deal. There's no room for all the CB's. 

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egg

egg

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4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He was playing pretty regularly in the Bundesliga last season, I doubt we've signed him to play for the u21s. He'd likely be pretty surprised at that!  I think he'll quickly become the 1st choice pairing with Salisu, possibly even as early as the first league game.

We agree! I think he's here to play from the start. 

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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

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1 minute ago, egg said:

We agree! I think he's here to play from the start. 

He doesn't even need to be that good, just slightly better than Bednarek. If we've just spent that much money on someone NOT slightly better than Bednarek, I'm off to watch women's lawn bowls. 

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saint1977

saint1977

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51 minutes ago, egg said:

Well that came out of nowhere. The lad looks very promising. We'll doubtless be moving one or two lads on...my guess is we'll take a few quid for Bednarek and go into the season with the two youngsters at CB, with Lyanco and Stephens as back up.

It’ll be Jan going, has been linked with Roma and Napoli for good money and has seemingly wanted a change for a while. 

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Matthew Le God

Matthew Le God

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Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, egg said:

Nor am I, but I can't see anyone buying him, and I doubt Stephens will be sold as he's just signed a new deal. There's no room for all the CB's. 

It was reported by the Athletic as signed in September 2020, so not particularly recently. Not recent enough for it to be too soon to sell him. Although I think Bednarek may be the one who goes, as we'd get a bigger fee and he'd more likely be unhappy not starting.

Edited by Matthew Le God
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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

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Just now, Matthew Le God said:

It was reported by the Athletic as signed in September 2020, so not particularly recently. Not recent enough for it to be too soon to sell him. Although I think Bednarek may be the one who goes, as we'd get a bugger fee and he'd more likely be unhappy not starting.

I will hear many things against Jan Bednarek but I doubt he has ever charged money for that.

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

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8 minutes ago, egg said:

Nor am I, but I can't see anyone buying him, and I doubt Stephens will be sold as he's just signed a new deal. There's no room for all the CB's. 

Possible move to 3 at the back I reckon. Salisu left and Katchop right with Bednarek in the centre (although I'd prefer to see Salisu central and Bednarek left, where he plays for Poland and looks much better).

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egg

egg

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Posted
6 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

It’ll be Jan going, has been linked with Roma and Napoli for good money and has seemingly wanted a change for a while. 

Seems likely, he's got some value so probably time to cash in.

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egg

egg

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4 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Possible move to 3 at the back I reckon. Salisu left and Katchop right with Bednarek in the centre (although I'd prefer to see Salisu central and Bednarek left, where he plays for Poland and looks much better).

A back 3 with some experience alongside the young guns (preferably the centre man) would be a decent shout, but I just can't see Ralph giving up on a back 4 as his preference. 

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

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Posted
Just now, egg said:

A back 3 with some experience alongside the young guns (preferably the centre man) would be a decent shout, but I just can't see Ralph giving up on a back 4 as his preference. 

I've long thought 3 at the back and 3 up top would benefit his system and our squad the most. Our only threat from width is our fullbacks anyway so give them more license to get forward and add an extra player up front for blitzing the opposition defense. 

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igsey

igsey

Posted
Posted

4 year deal is interesting if it has the rumoured 1-year extension - that's the way Man United sign all their contracts, it makes a lot of sense though I'm surprised we've got the clout to go for that.

Also seen rumours of a release clause, if true I hope that will be at VvD-type levels.

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Nolan

Nolan

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Intriguingly the deal looks to have been brokered by Sam McQueen's former agents,  New Vision.

Transfermarkt has New Vision as having a couple of players with joint Cameroon nationality so I presume the initial contact link is there.

 

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Saint86

Saint86

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9 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Got a swiss mate who is a bochum fan and he said "he is quality, agressive, goodish with the ball at his feet and has pace, played a lot this year.

Expect him to make mistakes as he is young but expect him to be very good over the long run".

Here is a scout report i just found as well - seems exactly what I was saying needs to happen - defenders can push up and condense the play to win the ball back easier.

"Bochum, under head coach Thomas Reis, always try to squeeze the game. They push up the pitch and pressure the ball to win it back as quickly as possible, before transitioning into fast and direct attacks. That proactive approach suits Bella-Kotchap as the excellent front-foot defender that he is".

His first instinct is to press up onto and engage the immediate threat, and he reads and reacts to developing situations quickly. Bella-Kotchap is very good at stepping up to intercept passes, pressure the receiver’s touch, or disrupt their next action. He overwhelms attackers in physical duels, cutting in ahead of them to intercept a pass, wrapping one of his long legs around them to disrupt their touch, and hulking over them to power into headers."

https://www.scoutedftbl.com/best-young-football-players/armel-bella-kotchap/

A note of caution in that report... 

The weaknesses of Bella-Kotchap’s skillset become apparent when he needs to defend on the back foot. When pushed back, his positioning can be disjointed and he often fails to cover angles and runners. His situational awareness becomes erratic too – his proactivity leads to him stepping up at bad moments, trapping him in dead space that neither impacts the ball nor covers the threat behind him.

Teams can play around his aggressive style with relative ease as he disconnects from the defensive line. He is too focused on the play ahead of him to be aware of the threats behind him – no surprise given he rarely scans to check who and what is around him.

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woodsaint1

woodsaint1

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Posted

The links with Chris Richards seemed very strong, some indicating it was nearly a done deal and then this signing comes out of nowhere. 

Did we consider both and choose ABK, or do we still remain interested in Richards? Would be very strange to sign another young CB. What must Simeu be thinking - clearly sold on a pathway to the first team and now we've just went and signed another CB who is the same age as him but will be ahead of him in the pecking order (both have Cameroon links).

Certainly spells the end of Bednareks time here, maybe even Stephens as well. Although I would not be entirely shocked to see Salisu leave given his contract situation and current value - ABK could be the like for like replacement in terms of playing style (although different footed)

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HarvSFC

HarvSFC

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Didn't realise that - wow. You do know mlg will be salivating as he fact checks this statement don't you?

Yep, first transfers of the last nine years:

Theo Walcott - (July 1st 2021)

Kyle Walker-Peters - (August 11th 2020)

Che Adams, Moussa Djenepo, Danny Ings - (July 1st 2019)

Stuart Armstrong, Mohamed Elyounoussi - (July 1st 2018)

Jan Bednarek - (July 1st 2017)

Nathan Redmond - (July 1st 2016)

Juanmi, Cedric, Maarten Stekelenburg - (July 1st 2015)

Dusan Tadic - (July 8th 2014)

Dejan Lovren - (June 14th 2013)

So, there were many July 1sts in there, but of course they were just the first transfers. For example, Livramento, Armstrong, Lyanco and Broja all came in August last summer. Livramento played 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly before the season, Armstrong and Broja joined four days before the season's start and Lyanco joined two matches into the season. So, essentially, only Perraud and Walcott got a pre-season of our new signings last year. It's a difficult task asking players to adapt to the Premier League in normal circumstances, but we've been putting them right in at the deep end and looking for them to sink or swim. Livramento and Broja swam, while Armstrong sunk.

This summer, it looks as though we're acting like a football club again. We've got football people at the top now, which again is against the norm, as usually football owners are disengaged businessmen these days, so we've gone from one extreme in Gao to the other and I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. New coaching team, a new head of recruitment and from the outside looking in it very much looks like we've got a list of targets this summer and we're going out and getting them in, early, which is the polar opposite of what we've been seeing as fans for the last how many years. Get the young players in, give them a full pre-season to learn their teammates and what systems we want to play and allow them to thrive. This is the start of a new era and hopefully it's a successful one, even though it never is simple when Southampton's involved.

Edited by HarvSFC
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Dusic

Dusic

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Posted (edited)

Seemingly a good signing and also the end of the days where for some reason we had to officially sell a player before buying one in the same position. Good to see.

I hope as rumoured the club have an option for a 5th year.

Good that he speaks good English.

 

Edited by Dusic
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Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

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Posted
1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Seemingly a good signing and also the end of the days where for some reason we had to officially sell a player before buying one in the same position. Good to see.

I hope as rumoured the club have an option for a 5th year.

Good that he speaks good English.

 

 The Bochum fans really like him and wish him well. I hope he has a great career here. 

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Ted Bates Statue

Ted Bates Statue

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Posted

Seems like a universally well-received signing. Let's see how much goodwill is left when both he and Salisu have an afternoon of panic and we ship five or more... I'll give it until the end of September :)

 

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Oh the ironing.

I was particularly grateful for the lack of accompanying gif on this occasion.

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qwertyell

qwertyell

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Seems like a universally well-received signing. Let's see how much goodwill is left when both he and Salisu have an afternoon of panic and we ship five or more... I'll give it until the end of September 

Let me get in early doors and declare him the new Titus Bramble.

Prove me wrong, condiment boy.

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Badger

Badger

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Posted
46 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Seems like a universally well-received signing. Let's see how much goodwill is left when both he and Salisu have an afternoon of panic and we ship five or more... I'll give it until the end of September :)

 

That might be optimistic. Suggest 30 first half minutes at Tottenham if Kane, and Son are firing on al cylinders.

Equally good opportunity for ABK to cement himself in SFC folklore by crushing Son (preferably without looking to match or better Jankewizc's 90 second assault at OT).

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Badger

Badger

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Posted
2 hours ago, Pilchards said:

I’ve written him off already, 4 keepy uppies?

Seriously we need ballers!

Not impressed with that. 

John McGrath could manage at least half a dozen, possibly using his head along the way also. Mind you that wasn't with the ball it was using the opposition centre-forward. That's the sort of CB we need. 

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Turkish

Turkish

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Badger said:

Not impressed with that. 

John McGrath could manage at least half a dozen, possibly using his head along the way also. Mind you that wasn't with the ball it was using the opposition centre-forward. That's the sort of CB we need. 

I remember being very impressed by seeing photos little remember signing Milos Drizic doing keep ups on the pitch. He was a giant of a Yogoslavian centre back signed for the princely sum of £200k back in the late 80s when Chris Nicholl was here. Depsite annoucing his signing he was never given a work permit so never played a match for us.

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

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Posted
14 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

 

There's an equally good write up in the Athletic by our new reporter. 

I think this is Jacob's first article, but already he looks to be on a different level than Dan ever was, who just found lots of words to describe what we already knew.

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  • Lighthouse changed the title to Armel Bella-Kotchap

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