Buying midfielders

[Rosco]

Grujic - 5m
Gini - 25m
Oxlade-Chamberlain - 35m
Keita - 52m
Fabinho - 43m
Thiago - 28m

There's two signings there that have been unquestionable successes - Gini and Fabinho.

Grujic is what he is, a prospect who hasn't priced good enough for a first team run. I've no issue with signings like this.

Thiago looks like he has all the ability in the world but he hasn't been available enough, it's too soon to judge how good a signing it was.

But Keita and Ox have been spectacular wastes of money. Neither have been available enough, and apart from a short spell from Ox neither have looked good enough for a top team.

 

[Squiggles]

I think Keita would have justified the money had he been able to stay fit. He's amongst the best in the world at winning the ball high up the pitch, which is where our team really comes alive and has a fantastic skill set beyond that, but there's no hiding the fact Keita and Ox have been failed and expensive transfers, which comes under greater scrutiny when we're out of form. The ox transfer was frustrating, because he arrived with an appalling injury record at a time we knew Keitas body was not coping with the league. Resilience has to become a top priority in our recruitment. I don't know how that can identified or assessed, but it's something we need to figure out fast.

Thiago will comfortably justify the £25m outlay over the contract. If he can guide us to a title in the second half of the season then it's already repaid in my book
.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Keita has proven to be a criminal crock of shit.

Thiago is outrageous. I love him already.
His stats today were sensational.

 

[MomoWASright]

Keita is Klopp’s Aquilani. We’ll try and move him on and end up getting bummed on loan deals till he finally gets released.

 

[Bradley]

With Ox we knew what we were getting and the risks involved. He always had issues around injuries.

Navy however, I thought his record was grand before he got here and suddenly turned into Danny Agger.

 

[Markeh]

I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when signing Ox was discussed. Surely someone mentioned injuries, did we think we are able to do something Arsenal couldn’t medically?

 

[tomasjj]

I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when signing Ox was discussed. Surely someone mentioned injuries, did we think we are able to do something Arsenal couldn’t medically?

When fit, he can offer some of what we are missing now against teams who sit back, shots from distance, driving runs from midfield.
But I don't really rate him anyway.

 

[RedStar]

With Keita you can see what the plan was and unfortunately it didnt work out as hes just picked up injury after injury. With Ox on the other hand I just dont see how he was ever a £35m player. Hes never beem fit consistently and even when fit he doesnt seem to have a defined role.

 

[beejay]

I thought from the title that this was a thread about replacing Gini.

On the subject of buying players, more recently we have been spectacularly successful so why just limit this to midfielders? And Shaqiri is arguably a midfielder, that's where he played yesterday, so should be included.

I think with all of them it's only when they have gone that we can genuinely make a judgement on their value to the club and I have not given up on any of Ox, Keita or Shaq. All of them when fit have looked the part in a red jersey and there's still time for them to come good.

 

[MaBigTip]

With Keita you can see what the plan was and unfortunately it didnt work out as hes just picked up injury after injury. With Ox on the other hand I just dont see how he was ever a £35m player. Hes never beem fit consistently and even when fit he doesnt seem to have a defined role.

Yeah, that is where I am. Keita has shown himself to be an asset when fit. Its been rare, but he has a position and fits in with our style down to the ground. Even if he doesn't make it.

Chamberlain on the other hand? There isn't a position on the pitch he seems truly suited too. His touch and vision is not good enough for his preferred position. I`ve never understood that purchase and we've been miserly recently to exacerbate how bad it was to waste £35m on him.

 

[tomasjj]

Yeah, that is where I am. Keita has shown himself to be an asset when fit. Its been rare, but he has a position and fits in with our style down to the ground. Even if he doesn't make it.

Chamberlain on the other hand? There isn't a position on the pitch he seems truly suited too. His touch and vision is not good enough for his preferred position. I`ve never understood that purchase and we've been miserly recently to exacerbate how bad it was to waste £35m on him.

Agreed on both counts, although I get a sense that Ox was supposed to offer some driving runs from midfield and shots from distance, which the other mids cannot.

 

[refugee]

Ox did look impressive for a period (as mentioned), and I imagine we valued him higher as it adds to our 'homegrown' players' for the Champions League. But the injuries were always an enormous risk.

Keita has been a waste of time so far.

 

[Best Believe It]

Ox's hot streak, if it lasted long enough to refer to it as that, coincided with us playing at breakneck speed, more chaotic and full tilt. He got more space and was able to run more within the midfield. I think it was the next season that Klopp and Pep decided the midfield needed to be more controlling and discplined, giving the full backs and forwards more licence, and that doesn't necessarily suit Ox in the same way. So he's not just trying to regain rhythm etc, he's trying to learn a new (for him) system that doesn't necessarily suit the way he played before. Whether he can or not, I don't know.

Keita's just a complete waste. I'm sick of the inevitability of injury that comes with him and Matip in particular.

 

[gkmacca]

So he's not just trying to regain rhythm etc, he's trying to learn a new (for him) system that doesn't necessarily suit the way he played before.

But he's previously played for Arsenal and England in systems that weren't full tilt and chaotic. It's hard to really assess just what his use value now is until he actually gets a run of games. And unless he comes into the team and just clicks, I'm not sure how he'll get a run of games. But that's what he needs.