[Albion] Igor Julio - SINGS for 4 years!

[Cowfold Seagull]

If his sale funds a big push for Colwill in June to ease Chelsea’s FFP woes, I’m all for it!

As much as l'd like to think otherwise, l think we have said goodbye to Colwill now, he won't be back. He is part of Chelsea's long term future, but even if he isn't, he is good enough to have other suitors, much higher up the food chain than us.

 

[Fiskmås]

I don't think it is close to being 'a tough one'.

Igor cost us a fair bit of money, and its fair to assume he's on a good wage. 'First XI costs', rather than 'back up option costs'.

For those costs we definitely can - and should try to - do better.

I get what you're saying, but I believe it comes down to if you think we've seen the best of him yet.

Not unusual to have a tricky first season when coming from Serie A to the PL, especially with limited playing time and hardly ever two games in a row in the same position, and I'm leaning towards a second season with him being less of a gamble than a fresh face in the same price bracket.

If he hasn't nailed down a starting spot this time next year, then I'll be the first to offer taxi services (as if he'd fit in my car).

 

[Hugo Rune]

As much as l'd like to think otherwise, l think we have said goodbye to Colwill now, he won't be back. He is part of Chelsea's long term future, but even if he isn't, he is good enough to have other suitors, much higher up the food chain than us.

You are right but I can still dream!

 

[chickens]

I actually think he does a pretty good job for us at LCB, I’m less convinced at LB.

For RDZ, our centre-backs were the distributors of the ball, speed wasn’t necessary, but passing ability was. I feel Igor can do that.

For me, the question mark is over who our new coach is, and their preferred style of play. We only need faster CBs if they’re going somewhere.

The closest we have to a speedy CB at the moment is probably Webster, and once every three matches he inexplicably places a straightforward pass directly to an opposition player, marring otherwise fine performances.

Coupled with the fact that Dunk is another season older, and can’t be far from starting to need his game time managed, I honestly don’t know how we line up defensively for next season. I like to think Dunk will stay solid for this season and next, but at some point in the next two years, JPvH is going to start to look more important than Dunk on our team sheet.

Igor is a good option for receiving the ball and distributing it. Whether he stays or not is (to me) down to whether that is how our new head coach wants his CBs to play.

 

[JBizzle]

I don't think it is close to being 'a tough one'.

Igor cost us a fair bit of money, and its fair to assume he's on a good wage. 'First XI costs', rather than 'back up option costs'.

For those costs we definitely can - and should try to - do better.

I think I agree. If we get more than our money back, then great. He's a decent defender and a pretty good ball carrier. I actually thought he had some excellent games alongside Dunk and was an able replacement for an injury-impacted and very out-of-sorts Estupinan. Worth £17m though? Probably not.

Pretty damning that, of the 3 allegedly De Zerbi-led signings, Dahoud was binned after 5 months, Igor potentially after a year and Fati was (let's be kind) underwhelming... No wonder Bloom and De Zerbi's transfer strategy didn't line up.

 

[Han Solo]

I feel if Igor had been an everpresent he would have been in conversation for player of the year, i could see a real fan favorite in there. But as a back up in and out of the side its hard to get a rhythm going, Webster struggled same way.

If feel if Igor wins the player of the year award in a PL club, the PL club in question probably didn't have a very good season.

 

[Nicks]

I like Igor .
It was a bit of a baptism of fire in his first season with us .
Proper old fashioned Centre Half but playing as LB did him no favours at all.
A good ball carrier and not afraid to go forward with it when the opportunity arises.
I would keep him.

 

[jcdenton08]

Think he’s done okay, some good moments. Would be a great move for him. Edit: just seen £17m as a mooted fee. Sounds good to me.

 

[Balders]

So if we get shot for £17m, who would you look at replacing him and at what budget?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I like Igor .
It was a bit of a baptism of fire in his first season with us .
Proper old fashioned Centre Half but playing as LB did him no favours at all.
A good ball carrier and not afraid to go forward with it when the opportunity arises.
I would keep him.

His inability to ever win ANY headers, means that he could not possibly be classed (IMO) as a 'proper old fashioned centre half'.

He isn't bad with the ball at his feet, and he can pass it quite well. Those are his plus points, but they do not come close to making up for his weaknesses (lack of pace, lack of height, tendency to jump into poor challenges, turning circle of a cruise liner).

Playing Igor (like Shane Duffy back in the day) effectively forces you to set up your defence in a particular way. You simply can not play a high defensive line, with a defender as slow, and slow to turn as that. If you are happy to line your defenders up on the 18 yard line, like Chris Hughton or Neil Warnock, then a defender in that mould is an option (though in truth either of those mangers would reject him due to his weakness in the air).

 

[um bongo molongo]

Not terrible, but pretty limited, and definitely not a LB. Along with Dahoud and Fati part of the very underwhelming summer transfer window last year (RDZ influenced?)

 

[Insel affe]

I like Igor .
It was a bit of a baptism of fire in his first season with us .
Proper old fashioned Centre Half but playing as LB did him no favours at all.
A good ball carrier and not afraid to go forward with it when the opportunity arises.
I would keep him.

This, I would also like to add I have never seen such chunky legs, a beast of a man.

 

[Justice]

If his sale funds a big push for Colwill in June to ease Chelsea’s FFP woes, I’m all for it!

Colwill loved RDZ he’s no longer here. I’m guessing it would be near impossible to get him to sign now.

 

[Hiheidi]

Colwill loved RDZ he’s no longer here. I’m guessing it would be near impossible to get him to sign now.

Liverpool want him. If he's allowed to leave Chelsea, that's where he'll be going.

 

[Dave the OAP]

So if we get shot for £17m, who would you look at replacing him and at what budget?

But that is the problem. No one here knows what the budget, even if there is one, will be next year for new players. It certainly wasn’t enough to keep RDZ so at least we know that.

correct me if I am wrong but Pedro / Igor probably took up Mac’s fee and a bit more, but the £115+ mill for Cac must have sat in a pot somewhere. I assume we are not funding our day to day activities by transfer receipts. Who knows, perhaps we are.

there seems to be a lot of “ we need to ship him out as he is expensive“ or “ we can’t afford him as he will be expensive”. When in affect no one on here knows anything apart from the dullard about our finances.

if we bring back sarm, sima, the laddie at Northampton, the African chappie banging the goals, have march and Mitoma fit, hinch back….. basically we don’t need to bring anyone in at all.

ship out Steele as we now have Rushie back.

see. We can all speculate

 

[MJsGhost]

I like Igor .
It was a bit of a baptism of fire in his first season with us .
Proper old fashioned Centre Half but playing as LB did him no favours at all.
A good ball carrier and not afraid to go forward with it when the opportunity arises.
I would keep him.

This is pretty much where I am.

The only question mark is the apparent lack of nippiness. I say nippiness for a reason as when he gets up a full head of steam, I'd say he's relatively rapid. He just looks slow as it takes a while to get going.

This could be for several reasons (or some combined):

1. His build - getting over the inertia with that bulk isn't easy, even though it's muscle.
2. Reading of the game. A player reacting to what he sees can appear slow, whereas one who anticipates seems fast as they have a head start.
3. Slow reaction times. Maybe he's just not that sharp when responding to the cues when they come.

1 isn't likely to change and nor is 3 (if that's a thing for him anyway).

2 could just be that he hasn't quite adapted to the PL yet, so another season would be different. Or maybe he's not a great reader of the game and won't improve?

Being "good enough for AC Milan" doesn't necessarily make him right for us IMO - games are a slower tempo over there, so the lack of nippiness is less of a drawback.

He's a decent back-up at CB so I'd be minded to keep him, but it's not my money. If his wages are blocking the recruitment of someone better who might compete more for a spot in the 1st XI, then I'd sell if we can get a reasonable fee.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I lost any remaining confidence I had in Igor after his appalling display away to Bournemouth. When the ball is played to him he looks about as confident as I do in my attempts at ballfoot (@Jack Straw and @WATFORD zero can confirm) and that's not great for a team playing a possession game. I know that RDZ wanted a left-footed CB but Webster's recent perfomances and JPVH's emergence suggest to me that we're better off with Dunk there. And Barco's showings tell me that LB isn't as much of a problem area as it used to be.

 

[Han Solo]

I actually think he does a pretty good job for us at LCB, I’m less convinced at LB.

For RDZ, our centre-backs were the distributors of the ball, speed wasn’t necessary, but passing ability was. I feel Igor can do that.

For me, the question mark is over who our new coach is, and their preferred style of play. We only need faster CBs if they’re going somewhere.

The closest we have to a speedy CB at the moment is probably Webster, and once every three matches he inexplicably places a straightforward pass directly to an opposition player, marring otherwise fine performances.

Coupled with the fact that Dunk is another season older, and can’t be far from starting to need his game time managed, I honestly don’t know how we line up defensively for next season. I like to think Dunk will stay solid for this season and next, but at some point in the next two years, JPvH is going to start to look more important than Dunk on our team sheet.

Igor is a good option for receiving the ball and distributing it. Whether he stays or not is (to me) down to whether that is how our new head coach wants his CBs to play.

Don't think the "oops, Lewis Dunk turned old and shite. Well, we've got Igor!" scenario is something to embrace.

So if we get shot for £17m, who would you look at replacing him and at what budget?

I have a list of ca 100 names that I will revise a bit with data based on whoever we appoint, which I'll publish once our new manager is around. Think we will be linked to some of them... I've kind of made a model based on what seems like parts of our model, with different critera for every role. Example: I'd never consider a central defender with less than 85% pass success rate or a wing back with less than 70% and rarely with less than 90/75 unless a lot of other shit adds up.

Going to post it once our new manager is in place, plenty of youtubing for those who like to dream

Overall I think our main target will be Levi Colwill and that we're willing to pay handsomely to get him in.

Otherwise I could just see us getting another youngster as the Igor replacement. The number one replacement on my probably-not-amazing-data-model is some 20-year-old Argentinian named Mariano Troilo, currently playing for Belgrano. GET HIM IN.

 

[Weststander]

Quite. I think it's worth considering that players have different strengths and weaknesses under different managers. BDB under Potter was a revelation, for example.

IMO Igor is already good enough for our realistic ambitions of a PL finish next season (10-15th). If he leaves I'm not sure we'd get much better at that level. Depends on the £ I suppose.

15th! You’re optimistic.

#NoAmbitionBoard

 

[Balders]

But that is the problem. No one here knows what the budget, even if there is one, will be next year for new players. It certainly wasn’t enough to keep RDZ so at least we know that.

correct me if I am wrong but Pedro / Igor probably took up Mac’s fee and a bit more, but the £115+ mill for Cac must have sat in a pot somewhere. I assume we are not funding our day to day activities by transfer receipts. Who knows, perhaps we are.

there seems to be a lot of “ we need to ship him out as he is expensive“ or “ we can’t afford him as he will be expensive”. When in affect no one on here knows anything apart from the dullard about our finances.

if we bring back sarm, sima, the laddie at Northampton, the African chappie banging the goals, have march and Mitoma fit, hinch back….. basically we don’t need to bring anyone in at all.

ship out Steele as we now have Rushie back.

see. We can all speculate

Exactly - like I've said before, plenty on here think buying a player is as simple as going into a shop and saying "I want that one". There may be a pot of money for specific players from the sale proceeds, but again it's not as simple as we've received "x" so we can spend "x" on John Doe. The better the player, the higher the wages - I suspect Mac and Cac weren't the biggest earners at the club and that they were on relatively affordable wages. Go out and spaff £100m on an established Premier League player and that's your wage structure knackered. That's just one of many things and these things aren't as easy as people think.....