I think he was a panic buy in the sense that we got desperate and ended up paying an inflated fee for a player who isn't very good. And now we're looking to replace him.
After sleeping on it, I've decided I don't trust us to spend the Rudoni money wisely and not just make 4 Kitching-esque panic buys. So it's a no from me.
We’d all love to keep him but you can’t turn down circa £20m for a player you spent £4m on a year ago.
It would hurt though. Especially late in the window.
Sakamoto gets injured and we’re starting Raphael or KKH at RW.
EMC gets injured and we’re playing Brau or BTA on the left.
Both are quite grim prospects.
It’s ironically the perfect system for a partnership like Thomas and Kitching. Just letting them head it and kick it would play to both their strengths much more than our high line.
He played the #8 for a few minutes here and there in preseason and looked great. Shame we don’t have anyone else who can play at the base of midfield to try that out some more.