Sabre wrote:s@int wrote:I think you have to be very sure before you sell a player of Xabi's class that you arn't going to regret it further down the line.
I have always thought that we needed to sell one of our midfielders, and Xabi was the obvious choice for me, but now we have sold Sissoko it becomes a more difficult decision. If it meant we could improve in another area where we are not as strong I would say it would probably be a good idea, if it meant that the balance sheet looks a little better for H&G I would say no chance.
Rafa is only saying what a lot of us have been saying for a while.
I agree... I have said it's an option to consider under the CIRCUNSTAMCES (no financial backing apparently), but still isn't my first choice the selling of a quality player.
Basically the questions to answer are "What if Mascherano is injured?" and "Can play Mascherano all the cup, CL and the league games?"
Quite simply you can't think of Lucas for the same role, and while Steve can do it, it's not his favourite nor his best role, he's more a centre-mid. If you give him most of the defensive midfield task, then you don't use him at 100% as could be seen in the english squad in the summer.
We DO need a quality squad. In my ideal situation Alonso should stay, and we should buy the quality we lack with departure's like the one of Sissoko.
Exactly I made a point in another thread that when Alonso arrived, many were pointing Didi to the exit door.
As it turned out with injuries/suspensions not to mention a certain night in Istandbul how lucky we were he stayed.
Its never easy to keeping so much class happy even with numbers of games that team now plays. Didi exit which I still would have preferred not to have happened and now selling of Sissoko proves this.
Its still my opinion though its worth the effort in the long run
