23-01-2021, 15:06
(This post was last modified: 23-01-2021, 15:12 by Slick_Footwork.)
I've made my feelings known about Krovinovic since the summer really...
I simply never understood the relentless pursuit of a player who who was, in my opinion, a reasonably decent Championship player at best.
In fact, it's one of the reasons why I lost faith in Bilic early. It seemed to me that he was clearly being pursued because he was "liked" rather than talented. And while I understand that it's important to have a good mood in the camp, you don't prioritise personality over talent when the purse strings are tight. That loan could've been used to cover right back or defensive midfield, 2 positions we're desperately short in.
For me, we saw last season that he was another "luxury" player (i.e. doesn't tackle or defend). As far as luxury players go, I like to see them with more ability and creation. The guy takes too many touches and doesn't move the ball fast enough. Slows down every attack. I never saw anything last year to suggest he could make the step up and Bilic's insistence that he was number 1 target made me think he was clueless.
As for terminating the loan, I understand it because there is no long term deal going to be struck either way. If we go down, we can't afford him. If we stay up, we wouldn't want to spend £5m+ on him. Every week he stays is simply eating money before an inevitable return to Benfica. If it gives Allardyce a little more wriggle room to acquire an extra player on loan or pay a bit more salary for a loanee that can impact upon the first team, it makes sense. Even under Bilic he was rarely picked, despite Bilic's incessant badgering of the club publicly to sign him.
Don't get me wrong though, I wish him well. Comes across as a good guy, and I don't necessarily think he's any worse than some of our other players. I just don't think he's any better and that's what we should've been focused on in the summer. Plus I'm just sick of us having an entire midfield that can't tackle. No fault of his own, but Krovi is one of them. It all comes down to us signing too many of the same type.
I simply never understood the relentless pursuit of a player who who was, in my opinion, a reasonably decent Championship player at best.
In fact, it's one of the reasons why I lost faith in Bilic early. It seemed to me that he was clearly being pursued because he was "liked" rather than talented. And while I understand that it's important to have a good mood in the camp, you don't prioritise personality over talent when the purse strings are tight. That loan could've been used to cover right back or defensive midfield, 2 positions we're desperately short in.
For me, we saw last season that he was another "luxury" player (i.e. doesn't tackle or defend). As far as luxury players go, I like to see them with more ability and creation. The guy takes too many touches and doesn't move the ball fast enough. Slows down every attack. I never saw anything last year to suggest he could make the step up and Bilic's insistence that he was number 1 target made me think he was clueless.
As for terminating the loan, I understand it because there is no long term deal going to be struck either way. If we go down, we can't afford him. If we stay up, we wouldn't want to spend £5m+ on him. Every week he stays is simply eating money before an inevitable return to Benfica. If it gives Allardyce a little more wriggle room to acquire an extra player on loan or pay a bit more salary for a loanee that can impact upon the first team, it makes sense. Even under Bilic he was rarely picked, despite Bilic's incessant badgering of the club publicly to sign him.
Don't get me wrong though, I wish him well. Comes across as a good guy, and I don't necessarily think he's any worse than some of our other players. I just don't think he's any better and that's what we should've been focused on in the summer. Plus I'm just sick of us having an entire midfield that can't tackle. No fault of his own, but Krovi is one of them. It all comes down to us signing too many of the same type.