Ismael Kenneth Kone

[InglewoodJack]

Pogba will have been out of the game for 18 months by the time he plays, and has played 12 total games since 2022, only one of which he started IIRC. Not saying he doesn’t have anything to give, but Rabiot, also of Juve, who is younger and much more in form is still being eased into the lineup. You have to figure we’re looking at April at the earliest for Pogba to start eating up real minutes, and that’s if and only if he comes back looking awesome and also if Kone isn’t able to establish himself as a locked in starter by then.

Pogba is looking for a team so he can stay in form for the 2026 World Cup. I don’t think he’s going to be a threat to Kone at least this season. You do have to hope though by year 2, that the 23 year old Kone can beat out the 33 year old Pogba on skill and merit, which is the type of player we all expect him to be anyways.  

[Obinna]

19 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Pogba will have been out of the game for 18 months by the time he plays, and has played 12 total games since 2022, only one of which he started IIRC. Not saying he doesn’t have anything to give, but Rabiot, also of Juve, who is younger and much more in form is still being eased into the lineup. You have to figure we’re looking at April at the earliest for Pogba to start eating up real minutes, and that’s if and only if he comes back looking awesome and also if Kone isn’t able to establish himself as a locked in starter by then.

Pogba is looking for a team so he can stay in form for the 2026 World Cup. I don’t think he’s going to be a threat to Kone at least this season. You do have to hope though by year 2, that the 23 year old Kone can beat out the 33 year old Pogba on skill and merit, which is the type of player we all expect him to be anyways.  

Damn Pogba will be 33 next season? I was thinking he would be maybe 31 but shows how time flies and things move on when you've been out of the game for a year and a half. 

I agree with you. Kone with a season under his belt in Ligue 1 may be able to eat the minutes of a 33 year old Pogba. However, it's also Pogba and Marseille would be betting on him to rediscover at least some of the form that made him World Class. 

What I am saying is that....in a year from now.....if Pogba is rediscovering himself....and Kone is reaching his potential....and both are neck-and-neck fighting for minutes.....it could actually be Kone that Marseille sells.....just because he is younger and could fetch them a lot of money.

I know Marseille is not really a selling club like Lille....especially not currently.....but even the buying clubs end up selling players. I love the idea of Kone in France with this budding Marseille side....don't get me wrong....but if Kone starts reaching his potential in a year....or two years.....he is probably a 30-40M rated player.....and Marseille may need to eventually balance the books with all these superstars joining the club.....who knows?

Edited October 9 by Obinna

[Corazon]

30 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Pogba will have been out of the game for 18 months by the time he plays, and has played 12 total games since 2022, only one of which he started IIRC. Not saying he doesn’t have anything to give, but Rabiot, also of Juve, who is younger and much more in form is still being eased into the lineup. You have to figure we’re looking at April at the earliest for Pogba to start eating up real minutes, and that’s if and only if he comes back looking awesome and also if Kone isn’t able to establish himself as a locked in starter by then.

Pogba is looking for a team so he can stay in form for the 2026 World Cup. I don’t think he’s going to be a threat to Kone at least this season. You do have to hope though by year 2, that the 23 year old Kone can beat out the 33 year old Pogba on skill and merit, which is the type of player we all expect him to be anyways.  

I can’t confirm for certainty but I believe the rumours were he would sign in January but I believe his ban which was reduced, technically doesn’t end until March, so he would likely be training for a couple months anyways before he can play.  Again, I’m not certain of this.

[InglewoodJack]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

Damn Pogba will be 33 next season? I was thinking he was maybe 31 but shows how time flies and things move on when you've been out of the game for a year and a half. 

I agree with you. Kone with a season under his belt in Ligue 1 may be able to eat the minutes of a 33 year old Pogba. However, it's also Pogba and Marseille would be better on him to rediscover at least some of the form that made him World Class. 

What I am saying is that....in a year from now.....if Pogba is rediscovering himself....and Kone is reaching his potential....and both players are neck-and-neck.....it could actually be Kone that Marseille sells.....just because he is younger and could fetch them a lot of money.

I know Marseille is not really a selling club like Lille....especially not currently.....but even the biggest clubs end up selling players. I love the idea of Kone in France with this budding Marseille side....don't get me wrong....but if Kone starts reaching his potential in a year....or two years.....he is probably a 30-40M rated player.....and Marseille may need to eventually balance the books with all these superstars joining the club.....who knows?

Just checked and he will turn 32 in the 2025/26 season which would be Kone’s second.

I think the plan is to eventually sell Kone, much like they did his former teammate Sarr, who went to Palace for somewhere over $20M. Guendouzi went to Lazio for a similar amount as well. I think if things go to plan, he’ll be at Marseille next year, and then off to a bigger club. I would think also that in a year from now, crazy to say, but Kone will be entering his prime, and if he is who we think he can be, a top CM in Europe at his best, then Pogba can do whatever he wants, it won’t be better than what Kone will have to offer. 

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Corazon said:

I can’t confirm for certainty but I believe the rumours were he would sign in January but I believe his ban which was reduced, technically doesn’t end until March, so he would likely be training for a couple months anyways before he can play.  Again, I’m not certain of this.

That’s what I heard too. I would have to think he’ll be playing very limited minutes for at least the first month back though, so we’re probably looking at April 2025 as the earliest time he might start games for Marseille, and by that point, you have to hope the 30 or so games Kone will have played with OM by then will be enough to force RDZ to keep rolling with him as the starter. 

[Obinna]

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

[Kadenge]

46 minutes ago, Obinna said:

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

If healthy and match fit, we absolutely need Kone. Missed his pace in midfield, ability to cut trough defenders and progress the ball. Don't know who drops out but we don't have another mid that can replicate what Kone does ( when he is on his game)

[Borjans Sweatpants]

12 minutes ago, Obinna said:

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

Would be another changing of the guard for me. Seems like the question is more Saliba vs Osorio, and I think keeping Saliba as part of the team would be my preferred option as we prepare to move forward. Sigur provides some positional versatility as well which I value.

[toontownman]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

Quite rightly you leave out Choiniere. He has done really well and should be part of the core. 

Saliba looks the real deal imo but experience will likely trump youth and the big deal around Sigur likely means he is safe. I hope there is way for keep Saliba there though. I think we have the experience with Eustaquio and Kone while young can take up that responsibility more.

[Obinna]

34 minutes ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Would be another changing of the guard for me. Seems like the question is more Saliba vs Osorio

This was my starting point and the ending point was to bring it up in the Kone thread. 

Not to look past Suriname, but I think it's a good chance to rotate Osorio out given the opponent. Big picture you want both Saliba and Sigur to be involved.

4 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Quite rightly you leave out Choiniere. He has done really well and should be part of the core. 

Exactly. For me he is solidly 3 in the midfield depth chart, only after Eustaquio and Kone, both of which are vital. 

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

Either bring another guy or drop like JKL or Poku?

[Obinna]

Just now, InglewoodJack said:

Either bring another guy or drop like JKL or Poku?

Agreed. I would drop Poku before JKL now that we've capped Poku. I would also like to bring Lopez back. 

Again, I don't want to disrespect Suriname here, but if there was a QF opponent we may be comfortable against, it would be them. Could be a prime opportunity to cap-tie Lopez and JKL. 

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Agreed. I would drop Poku before JKL now that we've capped Poku. I would also like to bring Lopez back. 

Again, I don't want to disrespect Suriname here, but if there was a QF opponent we may be comfortable against, it would be them. Could be a prime opportunity to cap-tie Lopez and JKL. 

Fair, though thinking about it more, I think Lopez is probably the guy to drop, and maybe JKL gets swapped out for LDF? Much likelier to play. JKL may still play for whoever, but I think he’s made it very clear that he wants to play for us, so I’m not worried about passing on him a few times before he’s ready to play.

That said, do we have the roster size to call him (and I assume Tajon) into camp while keeping the exact same squad we just called? May as well just do that.

 

What a time- I remember looking for the absolute sketchiest stream of all time to watch the original Suriname Game, and here we are 3 years later wondering which of our players who would’ve easily made that roster should get dropped so we can bring in a couple guys playing in top 5 leagues that we didn’t even really need against some pretty good opponents this year. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:48 PM by InglewoodJack

[costarg]

8 hours ago, Obinna said:

We know he should be available next month against Suriname. We know he's at minimum our 2nd best CM. We know if healthy, he is going to be selected. The question is.....who drops out?

• Sigur - high ceiling player in a good club environment, but didn't feature last night.
• Saliba - high ceiling player who played ahead of Sigur, but may be inactive come November.
• Osorio - will be inactive come November, but is a core veteran of the group. Didn't hurt or help his cause last night.
• Nobody - marsch will just bring one extra midfielder.

What do you guys think is most likely? What would you guys like to see? 

 

I don't know who exactly gets dropped from the selection, but I have a suspicion Osorio won't see much of the field anymore.  That Panama goal was his to stop in the midfield.  The trend continues:

Osorio: 24min 11 touches

Millar: 24min 19 touches  

Saliba: 11min 12 touches

Bair: 11 min 7 touches as striker

Just isn't getting involved enough in the game and continues to be a defensive liability in a 2-man midfield.  Osorio either needs to play further up or gets delegated to the bench in a mentor/experience role.  Marsch will adjust.