[Albion] Marc Cucurella *Signed For Chelsea 05/08/2022*

[Hotchilidog]

You are asking a lot for the recruitment team to source a player of similar quality to Cucu, for similar money, get the deal done, get him here and fit and ready to play in a couple of weeks. I have no doubt the recruitment team can do it. But do it in a fortnight? I would be mighty surprised.

They will be working on this on an ongoing basis, it's a pro-active not re-active set up. They never stop looking

 

[chaileyjem]

You are asking a lot for the recruitment team to source a player of similar quality to Cucu, for similar money, get the deal done, get him here and fit and ready to play in a couple of weeks. I have no doubt the recruitment team can do it. But do it in a fortnight? I would be mighty surprised.

Looks like Chelsea have bought Cucurella in the space of 24 hours.
The window closes one month from today.

 

[Lever]

Oh absolutely. Tea leaves, black magic, voodoo - I am a man of many powers.

That's good then..... and are you a 'man of the power of' logical and experiential deduction or is it just blind faith that you espouse?

 

[Napper]

At least if we do struggle then we can all agree its because we sold our best 2 players

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

You are asking a lot for the recruitment team to source a player of similar quality to Cucu, for similar money, get the deal done, get him here and fit and ready to play in a couple of weeks. I have no doubt the recruitment team can do it. But do it in a fortnight? I would be mighty surprised.

They won’t be doing all of that in a fortnight, they’ll have already identified a number of potential replacements. We never have just one target for a position so there will be a number of players we are still tracking that would have been on the list when we signed Cucurella. Most players will be match fit too as they’ll have been going through pre-season with their current clubs so that won’t be an issue either. If they are anywhere near Cucu’s standard they’ll be able to slot straight into the first team like he did when he arrived.

It would be pretty silly to only start thinking about identifying potential replacements once we know a player is off.

Sure it might be a hard job to get it over the line by the start of the season, but we’ve still got 4 weeks of the transfer window remaining.

 

[schmunk]

Yes. On the other hand, the one win without him was a game against a lost and confused Brentford who at that point was in a freefall.

And then there's obviously other stats... pretty much all of them pointing towards Bissouma being one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. Some peoples false, bullshit narratives that he was "sulking", "downing his tools" or "we're better without him" had no basis in reality. The win against West Ham, in which he played half of the game, doesn't change the fact that Brighton struggled very a lot to win without him.

Looking at his actual minutes played in the 2021/22 PL season:

With Bissouma

* 2,116 minutes
* 27 goals scored (78m/goal)
* 28 goals conceded (76m/goal)
* 34 "points won" (1.45 points/90)

Without Bissouma

* 1,304 minutes
* 15 goals scored (87m/goal)
* 16 goals conceded(82m/goal)
* 17 "points won" (1.17 points/90)

Obviously this doesn't take into account the relative quality of the opposition faced/missed, but his impact on goals scored and conceded was not nearly as dramatic as the match outcomes would suggest.

 

[Lever]

They won’t be doing all of that in a fortnight, they’ll have already identified a number of potential replacements. We never have just one target for a position so there will be a number of players we are still tracking that would have been on the list when we signed Cucurella. It would be pretty silly to only start thinking about identifying potential replacements once we know a player is off.

Sure it might be a hard job to get it over the line by the start of the season, but we’ve still got 4 weeks of the transfer window remaining.

That's a bit reassuring and I agree our recruitment team are likely to be ever alert to talent who might replace first team players we have at present....

 

[SeagullinExile]

Didn't we beat West Ham (2nd half) without Bissouma? The midfield looked electric without him.

Biss wasn’t at his best in that game, that’s for sure.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Looking at his actual minutes played in the 2021/22 PL season:

With Bissouma

* 2,116 minutes
* 27 goals scored (78m/goal)
* 28 goals conceded (76m/goal)
* 34 "points won" (1.45 points/90)

Without Bissouma

* 1,304 minutes
* 15 goals scored (87n/goal)
* 16 goals conceded(82m/goal)
* 17 "points won" (1.17 points/90)

Obviously this doesn't take into account the relative quality of the opposition faced/missed, but his impact on goals scored and conceded was not nearly as dramatic as the match outcomes would suggest.

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of the games Bissouma missed we didn’t have Moisés Caicedo in the team. He brings a totally different dynamic to our midfield. So worrying about how we did without Bissouma last season is pointless as other factors in midfield have changed for the better since then too.

 

[Bold Seagull]

They will be working on this on an ongoing basis, it's a pro-active not re-active set up. They never stop looking

It is a multi-layered process I'd imagine with players being watched sometimes for years, as well as targets coming onto the radar suddenly along with cross over between development and the academy. After the Cucu's first month I doubt there was anyone in the club who didn't think we'd need a back up plan for 22/23.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Looking at his actual minutes played in the 2021/22 PL season:

With Bissouma

* 2,116 minutes
* 27 goals scored (78m/goal)
* 28 goals conceded (76m/goal)
* 34 "points won" (1.45 points/90)

Without Bissouma

* 1,304 minutes
* 15 goals scored (87n/goal)
* 16 goals conceded(82m/goal)
* 17 "points won" (1.17 points/90)

Obviously this doesn't take into account the relative quality of the opposition faced/missed, but his impact on goals scored and conceded was not nearly as dramatic as the match outcomes would suggest.

I don't understand what point you're making with those stats? Are you saying that the match outcome is not that important? Bissouma is a huge, huge loss as an individual player, IMO he's our greatest ever and he's always been under rated by some Brighton fans including some on here. The fact that he wasn't everyone's player of the season in 2020/2021 was mad.

That doesn't mean to say we can't improve without him now though as Caicedo has the potential to be even better and I love the midfield three of him with Mac Allister and Mwepu.

Plus, all the time we've got Potter in charge, we will always be better than the sum of our parts. I'm not especially worried about losing any individual player including Cucurella. Losing Potter on the other hand would be a disaster.

 

[SeagullinExile]

Someone better get the Pampers out!

 

[warmleyseagull]

Looking at his actual minutes played in the 2021/22 PL season:

With Bissouma

* 2,116 minutes
* 27 goals scored (78m/goal)
* 28 goals conceded (76m/goal)
* 34 "points won" (1.45 points/90)

Without Bissouma

* 1,304 minutes
* 15 goals scored (87m/goal)
* 16 goals conceded(82m/goal)
* 17 "points won" (1.17 points/90)

Obviously this doesn't take into account the relative quality of the opposition faced/missed, but his impact on goals scored and conceded was not nearly as dramatic as the match outcomes would suggest.

Was that last night's homework?

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Pretty sure it isn't "virtually done".

If there is a bid from Chelsea, Tony is going to want to see how Manchester City reacts before accepting it, I think.

Why? If the bid meets the club's evaluation, I'm not sure he'd give a stuff about what City think. Especially after they dicked around with derisory offers from the beginning. Unless, of course, Cucu has a preference – then I can see TB/whoever, going back to City and laying it on the line. Either way, the club benefits financially and, despite what some people seem to think, won't suffer too much on the pitch.

 

[Silverhatch]

When Biss turns out to be absolutely World Class at Spurs, Brighton will be airbrushed out of his timeline. The same goes for Cucurella wherever he turns up. It is (virtually) impossible for a #teamlikebrighton to move the needle away from anything other than walk-to-wall coverage of the ESL/Toxic 6. This is just a reality. However, OUR current reality (without state funding) is that we are a PL side just over a decade after playing at Brighton’s School Sportsday home in league 1. Our biggest challenge will come when Potter moves on.

 

[nwgull]

Looking at his actual minutes played in the 2021/22 PL season:

With Bissouma

* 2,116 minutes
* 27 goals scored (78m/goal)
* 28 goals conceded (76m/goal)
* 34 "points won" (1.45 points/90)

Without Bissouma

* 1,304 minutes
* 15 goals scored (87m/goal)
* 16 goals conceded(82m/goal)
* 17 "points won" (1.17 points/90)

Obviously this doesn't take into account the relative quality of the opposition faced/missed, but his impact on goals scored and conceded was not nearly as dramatic as the match outcomes would suggest.

Now do the with/without Caicedo stats to calm everyone down even more.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Someone better get the Pampers out!

It isnae exactly progress fella!

 

[Swansman]

Why? If the bid meets the club's evaluation, I'm not sure he'd give a stuff about what City think. Especially after they dicked around with derisory offers from the beginning. Unless, of course, Cucu has a preference – then I can see TB/whoever, going back to City and laying it on the line. Either way, the club benefits financially and, despite what some people seem to think, won't suffer too much on the pitch.

I could be wrong but think it appears to be sensible to just let the possible Chelsea bid lay around for a few days to see if some kind of desperation happens at City when they realise they won't get him for peanuts in the end and when they realise that the option of signing him next year would be pretty much gone if he moves to Chelsea. If they're not confident in the options, they just might say "**** it" and return with a proper bid, maybe outbidding Chelsea. Not sure if this is what will happen but makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

If we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the club don't NEED to sell Cucurella. However, in seemingly agreeing a deal, they obviously think that a) it's the best thing for the club and the player and b) that the first team will be ok without him. Tony is a fan – just like all of us on here – so there is no way he would jeopardise the quality of the squad (or, more importantly, his potential income) by holding a fire sale with our players.

I don't get the doom and gloom from some people. Players come and go, regardless of how good they are. And they are replaced – often with players that are of an even better quality.

I say trust the club to do the 'right' thing.

 

[SeagullinExile]

It isnae exactly progress fella!

Maybe not to you. Whining about it achieves nothing.

I have complete faith in the club.