11 Jun 2026 11:00:45
Seeing links to Bastoni again floating around as a Konate replacement.
Anyone have any info on truth in this? Or just same old lazy journalism.
Cheers.
11 Jun 2026 11:26:28
One of Jacquet or Leion is Konate's replacement, I reckon, and we bought about 3 defenders that are going to be fast tracked.
11 Jun 2026 11:32:02
Would love this. Very solid Centre Back and at an age where he would be with us for a few years. Definite upgrade on Konate, and would give the younger lads some time to mature / remove the pressure on the manager to throw them straight into the starting 11. Don't see why his current club would want to sell him though.
11 Jun 2026 12:18:36
I can only see this happening if Van Dijk is leaving. I wish we can get someone who can play both as center back and left back. I don't want us to be Arsenal with 4 center backs in the starting 11, but we could use players like Inacio, Hincapie, Van de Ven.
11 Jun 2026 12:19:56
One of the greatest around, although the young Croatian at Spurs would be my top pick since it seems Bastoni loves being in Italy.
11 Jun 2026 12:33:17
Can I ask a really silly question on this, why do we keep getting linked with left sided CBs as replacements for Konate? Who was a right sided CB and we have VVD, I have only ever seen VVD play on the left side so just asking him to move over isn't going to work is it? Links to Bastoni, Schlotterbeck, Murillo seem a little mad to me. ? If it was the case for someone like Lukeba, left footed to spend the year under VVD as an initial replacement or someone similar, just can't see first teamers coming in moving VVD over and everything being fine.
Might just be me, I'm a broken record, go and get Zabarnyi from PSG on the right, see how JJ and GI do this year to see if they can take over from VVD the following year or look for a young left footer. My two pence, there no one asked for. Sorry.
11 Jun 2026 12:53:57
I don't know about Bastoni, I think he'd struggle in the Premier League.
11 Jun 2026 13:01:27
@Sofa_Fan, we already have Jacquet and Leoni on the right side. We can't expect VVD to play 50+ games in a season at 35.
11 Jun 2026 13:07:38
I hope so, we brought in CBs, but they're all extremely young. A proper senior CB with adequate experience would be highly preferable. Bastoni would be ideal; we need somebody who can step in, uphold the standard and seamlessly take the reins from Virgil at the end of the season.
11 Jun 2026 13:15:35
Sofa, probably because a top defender should be able to play on either side and we need a replacement for VVD for the following year.
It would be ideal if an experienced LCB defender comes in, plays next to VVD at RCB, but also rotates with him (VVD shouldn't play every game), so that Jacquet and Leoni get minutes.
Then takes over from VVD at LCB when he leaves on a free end of next season.
11 Jun 2026 13:49:16
I think the intention is to bring back Quansah at the end of the season when Van Dijk's contract expires.
11 Jun 2026 13:52:28
If Van Dijk stays injury free he'll play 50 odd games this season. And, with the right players around him, he could go on for a couple more years after this imo.
11 Jun 2026 13:52:31
Ron, I'm with you on this, I'm always dubious about Italian defenders in the PL. I know Leoni is Italian, but he's 20(?) so isn't set in his ways. Bastoni would be very expensive and I don't think he'd do that well.
11 Jun 2026 13:57:29
The only way our young CBs can get experience is if they play. They'd hardly learn anything if they're just sitting on the bench. We bought Jacquet and Leoni for a combined fee of about £90m. I can see Jacquet starting next to Vvd while Leoni recovers.
A CB isn't a priority for me. We have tonnes of cover here with very highly rated youths. We should be looking at getting in an RW and an RB before we even start to think about other positions in our squad.
11 Jun 2026 14:00:18
If Real are willing to deal, Dean Huijsen for Alexis MacAllister would be the deal I would do. Knows Iraola too.
11 Jun 2026 14:01:10
Having spent the best part of £90m on young centre backs, the last thing we should be doing is blocking their path. When you have an established pairing, it's not a position that benefits from chopping and changing week after week.
11 Jun 2026 14:01:59
All this talk about defenders being too young, yet we were all on board going for Huijsen before he went to Real Madrid, so I think we should have faith in the youth. Good enough = old enough.
11 Jun 2026 14:23:57
Phil Thompson broke into the team at 20. And Alan Hansen at 22. Both ended up captaining the side.
11 Jun 2026 15:01:51
Yeah, I don't think cb is considered unless Joe leaves.
11 Jun 2026 16:40:26
@Micklivdc, I think we should steer well clear of Van Den Ven. He is hopeless and clueless.
11 Jun 2026 18:55:42
You'll win nothing with a load of youngsters!!
Now, who said that and when?
11 Jun 2026 19:13:36
Quansah for VVD would be so underwhelming. Like trading in a Rolls Royce for a Fiat 500.
11 Jun 2026 19:20:31
I read on BBC today that Virgil topped the most played list with 64 games last season for club and country. He's been doing that for season after season, but at 35, surely he could be rested from time to time to allow Leoni and Jacquet to form a partnership.
12 Jun 2026 04:18:45
Bastoni won't be leaving Italy.
I know people have their doubts when I post about italian football or footballers but I get a few things right there. I posted a year ago that chiesa was homesick and wanted to go back, nobody believed me (which is fine) but low and behold recently he's talked about how he's been homesick and wants to go back.
If you go back far enough you'll also find I was the only person who said coutinho would sign (even the eds said it wouldn't happen) and then he signed.
Npbody can get everything right so sometimes I'll be wrong but on Italy and Italian footballers I'm more right than wrong. Bastoni has zero interest in leaving Italy. It's a very common opinion (still) among Italian footballers that leaving serie A means accepting you won't get picked for Italy.
12 Jun 2026 06:16:31
I also agree with @Ron. Bastoni is overrated in my opinion. Not worth the gamble imo.
If I was to be cruel, I'd say that if the 64 games he played in, around 50-60% were poor, jogging around, waving his arms about.