Tajon Buchanan

[InglewoodJack]

18 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

winning a world cup AND a devastating injury to KDB.

However, I disagree about the 16 year old brazilian. The youngsters on the squad are from the academy. Yan couto is the best example of what youre talking about and hes 21 and on loan. Theres no other example of pep signing a young defender. I dont think theres a single example of pep signing a youngster and then loaning out a player. He tends to sell a player and then replace them. Mahrez goes, doku comes in. Jesus goes, and alvarez comes in. torres goes and grealish comes in.  

Joao cancelo is the only senior player out on loan and thats because city couldnt sell him and pep refused to have him near the squad. 

Ake is another great example. They bring in akanji and gvardiol. Logically ake is on his way out when you sign the world best young lcb. But pep rotates enough and trusts his players that he doesnt need to loan out ake. 

IF, buchanan went to city, he would be a backup and need time to acclimatize. If he acclimitizes (which is a massive IF - see sergio gomez), he wouldnt be dismissed that quickly IMO. 

Agreed that City doesn’t rely on young players as much as other clubs- just meant that if they want a backup to the back up, there’s always some kid in Brazil who is supposed to be the next big thing that every big club is going to trip over each other to go sign. Maybe it’s the next great player out of the Croatian league or whatever young player is burning up the Bundesliga. Point being that to have any sort of staying power on that team with that coach, you have to be absolutely world class. 
 

Re: Gomez, he’s only played 2 league games and 3 champions league games this year- the latter including one single minute against Young Boys. I would hope TB goes somewhere where he can start every game because at his age, if it takes a few years to establish himself, that’s seriously biting into his prime.

Anyways, this is all moot because he’s definitely not going there, but I guess it is cool that our players are being linked to top teams via these frivolous rumours- I always think that no one other than Canadians actually cares about our players outside of Davies, so at least someone out there is trying to link our guys to big clubs lol.

[Bigandy]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:26 AM, InglewoodJack said:

Agreed that City doesn’t rely on young players as much as other clubs- just meant that if they want a backup to the back up, there’s always some kid in Brazil who is supposed to be the next big thing that every big club is going to trip over each other to go sign. Maybe it’s the next great player out of the Croatian league or whatever young player is burning up the Bundesliga. Point being that to have any sort of staying power on that team with that coach, you have to be absolutely world class. 
 

Re: Gomez, he’s only played 2 league games and 3 champions league games this year- the latter including one single minute against Young Boys. I would hope TB goes somewhere where he can start every game because at his age, if it takes a few years to establish himself, that’s seriously biting into his prime.

Anyways, this is all moot because he’s definitely not going there, but I guess it is cool that our players are being linked to top teams via these frivolous rumours- I always think that no one other than Canadians actually cares about our players outside of Davies, so at least someone out there is trying to link our guys to big clubs lol.

Just to further your point about city.... pretty outrageous line up today in a crucial match. 2 strikers, 2 wingers, 2 fullbacks, 4 centerbacks. Kovacic and phillips are on the bench and fresh but pep has no trust in them that he forces a weird lineup. My guess is we dont want buchanan at city as he'll be the new gomez. 

[InglewoodJack]

28 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Just to further your point about city.... pretty outrageous line up today in a crucial match. 2 strikers, 2 wingers, 2 fullbacks, 4 centerbacks. Kovacic and phillips are on the bench and fresh but pep has no trust in them that he forces a weird lineup. My guess is we dont want buchanan at city as he'll be the new gomez. 

… and yet still lost to Villa, putting them 6 points back of first, the same day Pep came out and confidently said they’re going to 4 peat easily this year. 
 

Who were their fullbacks today? I count 5 CBs, or a back 3 with two CBs as DMs, and I think they deploy Rico Lewis as a DM too. In any case, weird lineup. With whatever they’re cooking, hell, they might try and turn Tajon into a DM or maybe as their third striker or any number of insane tactics. I kid, but yeah, don’t think he’s his is the place for him. I do have a soft spot for City though.

[masster]

Contract talks stalling between Inter and Dumfries. If this continues, it increases the likelihood of a sale this summer and then they would look at Buchanan as a replacement.

https://football-italia.net/inter-contracts-ready-but-not-for-dumfries/

[Bigandy]

16 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

… and yet still lost to Villa, putting them 6 points back of first, the same day Pep came out and confidently said they’re going to 4 peat easily this year. 
 

Who were their fullbacks today? I count 5 CBs, or a back 3 with two CBs as DMs, and I think they deploy Rico Lewis as a DM too. In any case, weird lineup. With whatever they’re cooking, hell, they might try and turn Tajon into a DM or maybe as their third striker or any number of insane tactics. I kid, but yeah, don’t think he’s his is the place for him. I do have a soft spot for City though.

akanji, stones, dias, gvadiol - CB
lewis, walker - FB 
foden, silva - wing
alvarez, haaland - st

obviously the didnt play a  6-0-4 and most of those guys are extremely versatile, but its just interesting that pep is using so many guys who are not traditional midfielders in cm when he has phillips, kovacic, and nunes on the bench. You have to prove yourself to pep or youre not getting on.... 

Tajon loses the ball too much to be a pep player atm. He also doesnt operate in tight spaces/ have fluidity in his positioning in relation to his teammates. A bunch of this can be taught but he'd have to operate on an extremely high level in all other departments for pep to take on a project. 

[SthMelbRed]

1 hour ago, Bigandy said:

Just to further your point about city.... pretty outrageous line up today in a crucial match. 2 strikers, 2 wingers, 2 fullbacks, 4 centerbacks. Kovacic and phillips are on the bench and fresh but pep has no trust in them that he forces a weird lineup. My guess is we dont want buchanan at city as he'll be the new gomez. 

Pep Guardiola, despite being a clear football genius, is a massively weird dude. He reacted to some mild questioning with an emphatic declaration that they're going to win the title for the fourth consecutive time, then unnecessarily went after 3-4 of the highest-profile football pundits in England. Then he immediately goes and puts out what can only be charitably described as unorthodox team, as if to show everyone that he's smarter than them. 

Emery isn't necessarily a football genius in the same vein as Guardiola, but he's been around, and he's no idiot. He sorted out City, dropping them to fourth. I expect Pep to keep rolling out weird line-ups in the next few weeks, just to show everybody up. Whether it works, or not, remains to be seen. I can see City winning the league by 10 points in May. But, I can also see them barely hanging on to the top four, as the season spirals away from him.

Edited December 6, 2023 by SthMelbRed

[Shway]

2 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

Pep Guardiola, despite being a clear football genius, is a massively weird dude. He reacted to some mild questioning with an emphatic declaration that they're going to win the title for the fourth consecutive time, then unnecessarily went after 3-4 of the highest-profile football pundits in England. Then he immediately goes and puts out what can only be charitably described as unorthodox team, as if to show everyone that he's smarter than them. 

Emery isn't necessarily a football genius in the same vein as Guardiola, but he's been around, and he's no idiot. He sorted out City, dropping them to fourth. I expect Pep to keep rolling out weird line-ups in the next few weeks, just to show everybody up. Whether it works, or not, remains to be seen. I can see City winning the league by 10 points in May. But, I can also see them barely hanging on to the top four, as the season spirals away from him.

Crazy take, especially when you say all of that and then say you can see City winning the league by 10 but you could also seem them out of the top 4.

I think his lineup today wasn't a classic move of Pep trying to overthink it, it was more so about who was available and trying to make it work, while respecting the opponent. Doku, Rodri, and Grealish were all out, so he was working with what he had. 

Nunes, Kovacic are still learning the role and have been somewhat liabilities. Anyone mentioning Philips as an option hasn't paid attention to City at all. 
Lewis can play all down the flank, and is a very versatile player.

As an Arsenal fan, I loved the result today...but I know Tajons game would have to change drastically if he ended up at City, and I think it wouldn't benefit him (other than financially) at all. 

If were talking Premier League teams I would love him at Arsenal for coverage for Saka or at Newcastle.

[Bigandy]

12 hours ago, Shway said:

Crazy take, especially when you say all of that and then say you can see City winning the league by 10 but you could also seem them out of the top 4.

I think his lineup today wasn't a classic move of Pep trying to overthink it, it was more so about who was available and trying to make it work, while respecting the opponent. Doku, Rodri, and Grealish were all out, so he was working with what he had. 

Nunes, Kovacic are still learning the role and have been somewhat liabilities. Anyone mentioning Philips as an option hasn't paid attention to City at all. 
Lewis can play all down the flank, and is a very versatile player.

As an Arsenal fan, I loved the result today...but I know Tajons game would have to change drastically if he ended up at City, and I think it wouldn't benefit him (other than financially) at all. 

If were talking Premier League teams I would love him at Arsenal for coverage for Saka or at Newcastle.

To further your point, peps been incredibly high on akanji at CDM.  If rodri plays for akanji, then the lineup is actually pretty standard. A back 4 with with stones playing a hybrid role, alvarez playing the KDB role. 2 wingers in foden and silva as there were no other options. That leaves 1 cm between the bench guys and lewis.   assuming one winger was fit, silva would have shifted into the middle.  

It looks strange and I cant believe Im saying this, but you can see how the team picked itself in guardiolas head. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Bigandy

[InglewoodJack]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:00 AM, Obinna said:

Agreed.

 Let's remember that Manchester City had Zach Steffan on their books at one point.

Speaking of which:

https://x.com/tombogert/status/1732872948527022157?s=46&t=spIaqlQfufAO3HreB1455Q

Damn.

[narduch]

The Man City rumors are picking up

[Approve My Account Pls]

 

[SthMelbRed]

50 million pounds!!!!! Fuck me!

There's no way that Brugge is going to get that kind of money for him. They should be happy with half that.

[Obinna]

I love Buchanan but he is nowhere near a 50M player. I think 20M is the upper limit under normal circumstances (i.e. not the final year of his contract).

[Shway]

42 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

50 million pounds!!!!! Fuck me!

There's no way that Brugge is going to get that kind of money for him. They should be happy with half that.

That's bullshit. Ain't no way he's worth 50m to Brugge or anyone. Remember Doku and Nunes went for a little over 50M. This is horrible posturing to try and get the most money. 

City is more likely to spend that money in their attack, as they haven't reinforced/reinvested in their squad since losing Mahrez, Sterling, Palmer, Gundogan and are paying for it for their thin squad in offence. 

[dyslexic nam]

I know it is most likely just fluff, but City is in 4th place and has 4 points to make up on first place.  It is really competitive at the top this season and they will be searching for whatever advantage they can buy.  It isn't entirely ludicrous to think that they might try to throw some money at a couple of wild card players in January in an effort to try and tip the balance in their favour.  They want to be the champions once again and have shown great willingness to splash the cash in order to make it happen.  It isn't impossible that Tajon could be the beneficiary of their particular circumstances right now and get a big payday out of it.  Whether or not he would ultimately get a lot of time, or whether it would have the desired effect, is another matter entirely.  But if one of the richest clubs in the world comes to lift him out of Europe's second tier, I doubt he ignores the call. 

[InglewoodJack]

I don’t even think that rumour is a strategic leak from TB’s team because that price tag makes no sense and there’s no reason for any club to think his value is remotely near €50M. I think what happened is that rumour that Inter wants TB + Thuram was mixed with a rumour that city likes both players, and a little lost in translation sprinkled in as I believe the rumour was from the Italian press, a quick typo, and you get what was originally a €50M price tag for both players, now being a €50M price tag for just TB. 

 

If the rumours are true, which they’re not, but if they are, I’m fine with him going for it, since my guess is if it doesn’t immediately click with City, they could probably move him to a better fitting team in the summer. But if they want to grab a wild card like Tajon, might as well just get him on loan with an option to buy. 

[Bigandy]

42 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I don’t even think that rumour is a strategic leak from TB’s team because that price tag makes no sense and there’s no reason for any club to think his value is remotely near €50M. I think what happened is that rumour that Inter wants TB + Thuram was mixed with a rumour that city likes both players, and a little lost in translation sprinkled in as I believe the rumour was from the Italian press, a quick typo, and you get what was originally a €50M price tag for both players, now being a €50M price tag for just TB. 

 

If the rumours are true, which they’re not, but if they are, I’m fine with him going for it, since my guess is if it doesn’t immediately click with City, they could probably move him to a better fitting team in the summer. But if they want to grab a wild card like Tajon, might as well just get him on loan with an option to buy. 

The big question is, would the CMNT benefit from buchanan if he goes to city and rides the bench. You have to think that if we had phillips he would dominate our midfield regardless of his lack of games. 

[InglewoodJack]

39 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

The big question is, would the CMNT benefit from buchanan if he goes to city and rides the bench. You have to think that if we had phillips he would dominate our midfield regardless of his lack of games. 

We likely wouldn’t, but I’m of the opinion that our players need to get tested at the highest level, and if they can’t crack it, it is what it is- no way we’ll know how it goes until it happens.

I think the other rumours- Inter, Atletico, are “better” for Canada, but I also want to see just how high players like TB can reach. I don’t think 6-12 months in a poor club situation with low minutes at City would ruin his career. Maybe he goes to City and has a bit of a Larinesque surprise for everyone and just immediately sticks. Super unlikely, but if our players are getting massive opportunities, I think they should take them, if not only for us to better understand just how good this team could theoretically be. 

[masster]

What an absolute idiotic piece of 'news'.

The record transfer out of the Belgian top flight was Buchanan's former teammate, Charles De Ketelaere for 36.5 million Euros. To suggest that Tajon would be in the region of 50 million pounds is just fake news.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/jupiler-pro-league/transferrekorde/wettbewerb/BE1/saison_id/alle/land_id//ausrichtung//spielerposition_id//altersklasse//leihe//w_s//zuab/0/plus/1

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Bigandy said:

The big question is, would the CMNT benefit from buchanan if he goes to city and rides the bench.

Yes.  Here's why:

Even playing with his current club side and his play with our NT over 2023, I still see him as an "athlete first, footballer second."  There are subtleties in his game with decision making and positioning that, if he was schooled in a higher level of tactical understanding under Guardiola's tutelage.  I think he would really benefit from it, among other reasons (ultra competition for a place on the bench let alone a starting place, the pressure of each fixture:  the same boiling water that softens a carrot also hardens an egg).

If it happens, I'm all in and will be rooting for him though I am far from a City fan.

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by BearcatSA

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Yes.  Here's why:

Even playing with his current club side and his play with our NT over 2023, I still see him as an "athlete first, footballer second."  There are subtleties in his game with decision making and positioning that, if he was schooled in a higher level of tactical understanding under Guardiola's tutelage.  I think he would really benefit from it, among other reasons (ultra competition for a place on the bench let alone a starting place, the pressure of each fixture:  the same boiling water that softens a carrot also hardens an egg).

If it happens, I'm all in and will be rooting for him though I am far from a City fan.

 

I totally agree. My bigger concern is he would turn into a footballer but he becomes more walker and less doku. CMNT desperately needs him at winger and not fullback. Maybe that still would translate into him becoming a better winger for CMNT but I feel like he'll lose some of his 1v1 attacking instincts and focus more on ball retention. 

[dyslexic nam]

4 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I totally agree. My bigger concern is he would turn into a footballer but he becomes more walker and less doku. CMNT desperately needs him at winger and not fullback. Maybe that still would translate into him becoming a better winger for CMNT but I feel like he'll lose some of his 1v1 attacking instincts and focus more on ball retention. 

I do wonder if we sometimes overstate the impact it would have to play Davies and Buchanan in their outside back roles where they have landed with their clubs.  They are modern backs who sprint into the attack, overlap with wingers, and contribute offensively. 

I am not convinced we are overall a weaker team with Davies at LB and a guy like Millar on the wing versus playing Davies on the wing and Adekugbe at LB.  And on the right, is it a substantial advantage to have Tajon in the more advanced role if he and Richie are both on the right side overlapping anyway?   I am just not sure.  If they play as wingbacks who are expected to regularly jump into the attack, they hit defenders at speed, give the wingers strong overlapping options, and generally contribute at both ends of the pitch.   

The flip side of all this is that we upgrade both positions (with due respect to Alistair, I don't think he has been killing it lately) if they play at the back.  And we have lost a couple of games not because of what we did on the attacking end of the field (we scored 2 at home to Jamaica) but what we have done on the defensive side of things (conceding 3).  Japan also banged in 4 against us.  And if we manage to get to the Copa, you can be damn sure that we will be pressured like hell on the defensive end of things.

I am certainly not pinning our losses on our choice of backs.  I have no idea what would have happened with different personnel.  But I still see a constant tendency to prioritize our attack.  Davies?  Plays LB for a monster club but gets pushed to LW for us.  Tajon?  More modest club but still moved up in a more advanced role than his club position.  Staq?  The current view seems to be that he is too talented for CDM so getting lobbied to play a more advanced attacking role.  Bombito?  Seems to have been deemed too skilled for CB so getting groomed for mid.  etc. 

[Bigandy]

1 minute ago, dyslexic nam said:

I do wonder if we sometimes overstate the impact it would have to play Davies and Buchanan in their outside back roles where they have landed with their clubs.  They are modern backs who sprint into the attack, overlap with wingers, and contribute offensively. 

I am not convinced we are overall a weaker team with Davies at LB and a guy like Millar on the wing versus playing Davies on the wing and Adekugbe at LB.  And on the right, is it a substantial advantage to have Tajon in the more advanced role if he and Richie are both on the right side overlapping anyway?   I am just not sure.  If they play as wingbacks who are expected to regularly jump into the attack, they hit defenders at speed, give the wingers strong overlapping options, and generally contribute at both ends of the pitch.   

The flip side of all this is that we upgrade both positions (with due respect to Alistair, I don't think he has been killing it lately) if they play at the back.  And we have lost a couple of games not because of what we did on the attacking end of the field (we scored 2 at home to Jamaica) but what we have done on the defensive side of things (conceding 3).  Japan also banged in 4 against us.  And if we manage to get to the Copa, you can be damn sure that we will be pressured like hell on the defensive end of things.

I am certainly not pinning our losses on our choice of backs.  I have no idea what would have happened with different personnel.  But I still see a constant tendency to prioritize our attack.  Davies?  Plays LB for a monster club but gets pushed to LW for us.  Tajon?  More modest club but still moved up in a more advanced role than his club position.  Staq?  The current view seems to be that he is too talented for CDM so getting lobbied to play a more advanced attacking role.  Bombito?  Seems to have been deemed too skilled for CB so getting groomed for mid.  etc. 

I think youve made some great points. The problem is that we have 1 pretty good winger in millar and thats about it (assuming tajon is a WB/FB). We also have 3 of our best of our best 8 players at rightback. Its such an unbalanced depth chart that we have to sort of jam guys into positions. Sure, davies and millar might be better than davies and sam, but johnston and buchanan sure feels better than buchanan and corbeanu/shaf/nelson. 

With davies and tajon at FB, we desperately need a stay home CDM who can break up counters and cover for our FB.... Bombito is the only profile who can do this even if hes not up to the level we need. This points to a back 3, to free up davies and tajon. 

However, with our depth and prospects, a 3-5-2  seems the best option.
Cornelius JKL LDF (does bombito get a look?) 
davies ali/choiniere staq kone buchanan
David Larin

We lose out on wingers such as nelson and corbeanu but millar can play up top as a sub, maybe even corbeanu can. Theres also a case to be made that having jebbo, millar ugbo and brym on the bench is more valuable than  millar and corbeanu starting with shaf and nelson on the bench. Then sam/ali/choiniere can cover LWB and johnston/laryea can provide RWB cover. 
 

[SpursFlu]

Remember when George Costanza carried around a hot picture of a supposed ex girlfriend so if women saw it they would instantly find him more attractive?

[Unnamed Trialist]

17 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

50 million pounds!!!!! Fuck me!

There's no way that Brugge is going to get that kind of money for him. They should be happy with half that.

Big clubs have to pay more, simple as that. Sometimes to a ridiculous point.

You can't get away with paying close to market fees if you have money to spend, as the market, funnily, won't allow it.