In this series, we will analyse teams, identify problem areas,
and suggest solutions in the form of incoming players. We won’t follow gossip, rumours or
conjecture. We’re concerned only with a player’s on-field performance and their suitability
for the role in question. Today’s team is… nobody.
Welcome to a very different sort of Sensible Transfers.
Now, everyone knows that Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba are out of contract this summer,
but who else is available? Well, we’ve picked a Tifo XI of free-transfers
and assembled them into a team that could hopefully play together.
Some players are proven, others are not; we’ve tried to find a balance.
In goal, Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris.
Lloris has certain rediscovered his form over the past few years and while perhaps
not quite the shot-stopper he once was – his post-shot xG – Goals Allowed rating is,
at +0.06, only good enough for the 76th percentile
– he counter-balances that with a quiet captaincy style that will bind our team together. It’s not
often that you get to sign a World Cup-winning goalkeeper and we’re taking that chance.
In front of him, we’re playing a 3-4-3, and at centre-half we’ll pick Marc Oliver Kempf,
Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, and Borussia Monchengladbach's Matthias Ginter.
Despite Stuttgart struggling this season,
Kempf has been an expressive presence at the back. He’s excellent in the air,
a menace at attacking set-pieces, and also one of the best progressive passing centre-backs in
the Bundesliga. He’s also left-footed, which will give our backline an even greater range of exits.
Gladbach’s Ginter is in much the same mould. His
progressive passing and carrying statistics are similar to Kempf’s
and his right foot would make him a nice option on the outside of our back-three.
Between the two, Rudiger anchors our backline. His abilities are well-established. A modern,
complete centre-half who adds value in every phase and is a dressing-room leader,
all sorts of clubs are understandably squabbling over his signature.
Now, we need wing-backs: Ajax’s Noussair Mazrouai is perfect on the right side.
His ability to play and receive progressive passes makes him an ideal attacking weapon,
but he’s also a balanced player and a good defender. His tackling ability will
be useful outside Ginter, whose defending is probably the weakest part of his game.
On the left, we want a more conservative option. Lille’s Reinildo is a 27 year-old Mozambique
international and he’s a good enough passer and skilful enough to fit in with our group
of aesthetes, but we’re picking him for his defensive abilities. He would lock down that
channel outside Kampf and that’s very important given the wandering nature of our centre-halves.
Our midfield: Franck Kessie is out of contract at AC Milan and Corentin
Tolisso – who has had a miserable time at Bayern Munich - is also available on a free.
Kessie would be our deeper option. It might be a touch awkward for him,
because his creative and technical attributes are more pronounced than his defensive ones, but
he´s an excellent receiver and distributor who we could use as a deep-lying playmaker. He is also an
outstanding one-on-one tackler, so we wouldn´t be compromising too much in the way of his security.
Because of his virtual hiatus at Bayern, the world seems to have forgotten just how
good Corentin Tolisso can be. He’s the kind of precision, progressive passer who can reliably
equip attacking players with possession and that makes him an excellent partner for Kessie.
Ahead of them, we’ve banned ourselves from picking Mbappe and while Juventus’ Paolo Dybala
and Ousmane Dembele are nearing the end of their contracts, too, they’re also a bit too obvious.
Everybody knows exactly how good those players are and – most likely – where they’re going.
Instead, we’ve chosen an unorthodox fluid front-three,
with lots of positional interchange rather than any set roles.
We’re snapping up Randal Kolo Muani straight away.
The 23 year-old Nantes forward is a teasing dribbler who seems comfortable receiving
the ball on the front-foot or the counter, and who has the skill and speed to go past people.
He’s electric. He’s a good finisher, too, and in the right side, under the right style,
and surrounded by a better calibre of teammate, he could well become a star of the game.
Sardar Azmoun probably isn’t going to be an outright star, but the Iranian is now 27, entering
his prime and has put together a succession of prolific seasons for Zenit St Petersburg.
56 league goals in two-and-a-half years attests to the quality of his penalty box movement and
finishing, and even if his relative lack of assists characterises him as less than a
complete forward, his one, or two-touch play around the box is still of a good standard.
He’ll score goals and this team can depend upon him while Randal Kolo Muani grows into his talent.
With our last pick, we need a little more guile; we need someone who can play a variety
of forward roles, possibly supporting striker included, and so we’re offering Isco the chance
to resurrect his career. He’s 29 now and a succession of head-coaches at the Bernabeu
have only been willing to give him a peripheral role for the last few years.
More fool them: Isco remains a very gifted carrier who is also very good at identifying
space in the final third and receiving passes into it. Add that to his capacity to create
shooting opportunities for his teammates, and we might have the perfect foil for Kolo Muani
and Azmoun.
Other selected free agents in the summer