Seems like a stop-gap while we search for a proper team imo...because that entire analytics area has been dismantled

powergrab when edwards left

Power grab is a bit strong but I think the coaching staff started getting very confident in their ability to improve these players that they just believe they rather go after who they prefer anyway

Where does Keita rank in our worst ever signings? I’d put him right up there…

Balotelli, Benteke and Keita.

comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 4 minutes ago
Where does Keita rank in our worst ever signings? I’d put him right up there…

Balotelli, Benteke and Keita.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bloody Arthur. Only a loan but good grief, surely the worst of the lot?

comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 6 minutes ago
Where does Keita rank in our worst ever signings? I’d put him right up there…

Balotelli, Benteke and Keita.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Absolute nowhere near ffs

He won everything and made 129 appearances.

Markovic, Carroll, Aqua....

There are loads before Naby

Ooooh Markovic was terrible. None of them cost north of £50m though…

comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 1 minute ago
Ooooh Markovic was terrible. None of them cost north of £50m though…
----------------------------------------------------------------------

None of them won everything and made 129 appearances either.

comment by Robbing Hoody - At the end of a storm (U6374)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 1 minute ago
Ooooh Markovic was terrible. None of them cost north of £50m though…
----------------------------------------------------------------------

None of them won everything and made 129 appearances either.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And he wouldn’t even be talked about as a particularly bad signing if he was at City.

Melo
Sahin
Simao
Poulsen
Konchesky
Caulker

We’ve had a waste of squad places for years

comment by Harambe (U22339)
posted 2 minutes ago
Melo
Sahin
Simao
Poulsen
Konchesky
Caulker

We’ve had a waste of squad places for years

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Don't forget Turan. Didn't even turn up

Nowhere near the worst, but Keita has certainly one of our most disappointing signings. It's rare we spend that much on a player so for him to have such a stop/start career is a big shame. Alisson and Van Dijk by comparison, absolutely transformative signings for a similar price

comment by Robbing Hoody - At the end of a storm (U6374)
posted 18 minutes ago
comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 1 minute ago
Ooooh Markovic was terrible. None of them cost north of £50m though…
----------------------------------------------------------------------

None of them won everything and made 129 appearances either.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agree he's not in the list for the worst signing, but I think 129 apps actually goes against you when you've been here for 5 years.

We've probably played 250-300 games in his time here.

Carroll
Benteke
Aquilani
Keane
Karius (just for that CL final)

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Robbing Hoody - At the end of a storm (U6374)
posted 18 minutes ago
comment by Boy F7-0m The South (U3979)
posted 1 minute ago
Ooooh Markovic was terrible. None of them cost north of £50m though…
----------------------------------------------------------------------

None of them won everything and made 129 appearances either.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agree he's not in the list for the worst signing, but I think 129 apps actually goes against you when you've been here for 5 years.

We've probably played 250-300 games in his time here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Markovic was with us five years snd played 19 games or something.

Keita is nowhere near, it's a silly suggestion imo.

Keita in midfield almost got us a quad

Markovic for me. £25m for a Sunday league player so weak physically a fart could blow him over.

Joe Cole was pretty awful, saved from lists like this by being a Bosman.

Balotelli was just appalling. The likes of Benteke, Carroll, Downing - at least they tried, they just weren’t good enough or it didn’t work out. Balotelli was couldn’t be arrsed.

There’s some who were just never good enough in the first place. Konchesky being front and centre.

Then there’s the ones that disappointed. Keita definitely on that list for me because the talent is there. He’s alongside people like Kewell, Collymore, Morientes - players that should have been big successes but for various reasons, just didn’t work out.

comment by The Duality of Van (Dijk) (U21747)
posted 20 minutes ago
Nowhere near the worst, but Keita has certainly one of our most disappointing signings. It's rare we spend that much on a player so for him to have such a stop/start career is a big shame. Alisson and Van Dijk by comparison, absolutely transformative signings for a similar price
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Keita suffered from the hype job. He was supposed to be the missing piece in the jigsaw and took the legends shirt number but we never saw the consistency

comment by Naby8 (U6997)
posted 2 minutes ago
Joe Cole was pretty awful, saved from lists like this by being a Bosman.

Balotelli was just appalling. The likes of Benteke, Carroll, Downing - at least they tried, they just weren’t good enough or it didn’t work out. Balotelli was couldn’t be arrsed.

There’s some who were just never good enough in the first place. Konchesky being front and centre.

Then there’s the ones that disappointed. Keita definitely on that list for me because the talent is there. He’s alongside people like Kewell, Collymore, Morientes - players that should have been big successes but for various reasons, just didn’t work out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kewell scored 13 goals before Christmas

Ended up getting septic arthritis of the groin amazingly. Terrible story really.

I'm not really into slating players due to injury. It's an awful position to be in for a pro athlete (or anyone who loves sport really).

Worse I've had is ankle ligaments go (doing a Marseille turn very badly) and the meniscus in my knee (at Wembley though). Both gutting even at my level so fvck knows how they feel. Most end up depressed and stuff.

comment by Robbing Hoody - At the end of a storm (U6374)
posted 56 minutes ago
comment by Naby8 (U6997)
posted 2 minutes ago
Joe Cole was pretty awful, saved from lists like this by being a Bosman.

Balotelli was just appalling. The likes of Benteke, Carroll, Downing - at least they tried, they just weren’t good enough or it didn’t work out. Balotelli was couldn’t be arrsed.

There’s some who were just never good enough in the first place. Konchesky being front and centre.

Then there’s the ones that disappointed. Keita definitely on that list for me because the talent is there. He’s alongside people like Kewell, Collymore, Morientes - players that should have been big successes but for various reasons, just didn’t work out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kewell scored 13 goals before Christmas

Ended up getting septic arthritis of the groin amazingly. Terrible story really.

I'm not really into slating players due to injury. It's an awful position to be in for a pro athlete (or anyone who loves sport really).

Worse I've had is ankle ligaments go (doing a Marseille turn very badly) and the meniscus in my knee (at Wembley though). Both gutting even at my level so fvck knows how they feel. Most end up depressed and stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Really? I know wiki isn’t the most reliable but they say he scored 16 in 5 years! 13 by Xmas can’t be right.

Aside from stats, I think you can be disappointed with a signing without slating them. Keita and Kewell are similar for me. Both great players in their position (Kewell probably outstanding actually), both players we needed at the time. Neither had the career we as fans wanted through injury.

Disappointing, yes. Unlucky, certainly. But nowhere near our worst ever signing.

Yer you're right on the 13, I'm talking nonsense. Says he hit 11 that season, but he definitely started well, hard to find the exact stats as notch internet back then.

Kewell did start well but then the injuries came. Also in that era the G/A for a wide man was not as important as today. He was more of a beat your man and put the ball in the box. Poor man's John Barnes.

L’Équipe's chief journalist is saying we've opened negotiations over Khéphren Thuram from Nice.