Jorge Cuenca to join Marco Silva at Benfica

[Bal_13]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure but I'd much rather sell Bassey and keep Cuenca.

We'd get a much higher fee on Bassey I suspect and Cuenca has shown he's more than capable as a starter for us.

Annoying that Marco has not only given us the run around with his new contract but is now looking to poach our players (I also read a rumour he wants Kevin)

[demeant0r]

CanadiaDe Fougerolles
Number
13
13, Cornelius, Defender


As said before at 5ft11ins he's too small for thar role given Arsenal's tactics at set pieces






Canadian boy Luc may get his chance now

He's mostly an RCB given he's naturally right footed so less likely to be utilised as the Bassey backup you'd think.

It's more Sam Amissahs side than it is Luc's but his contract is up and being touted by Arsenal

Amissah another one who won't learn from former teammates that the grass is not always greener on the other side? The only youth players that seemed to do better after leaving us are Djed Spence and Dan Burn

[demeant0r]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure but I'd much rather sell Bassey and keep Cuenca.

We'd get a much higher fee on Bassey I suspect and Cuenca has shown he's more than capable as a starter for us.

Annoying that Marco has not only given us the run around with his new contract but is now looking to poach our players (I also read a rumour he wants Kevin)

If he wants Kevin then we're going to have to charge at least double what we paid

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure but I'd much rather sell Bassey and keep Cuenca.

We'd get a much higher fee on Bassey I suspect and Cuenca has shown he's more than capable as a starter for us.

Annoying that Marco has not only given us the run around with his new contract but is now looking to poach our players (I also read a rumour he wants Kevin)

Not unpopular at all, that's what I'd do.

[Somerset Fulham]

I can't imagine that Benfica could afford Kev, or any other first team players.

Getting Marco to take a paycut was something of a coup, but they seem to average about $40k a week, with obviously more for the better players, they can't afford most of what we have.

[Chi_FFC]

Why isn't this in the transfer rumour thread? That's all it is right now, a rumour. And my understanding is that the sources cited aren't necessarily the most reliable.

[Whitestone]

If this is true I can't see any positives. All it will do is weaken the squad.

[sunburywhite]

I rember two games where Cuenca had to foul a player as he got skinned and I think one of them cost us a goal

We will preumably have Fig Rollsd back next season who can provide cover

[ffc73]

Is Silva going to take Iwobi as well so we can use the funds to buy a proper CM & play a winger on the wing?

Yes, I know Iwobi has done ok & is hugely useful as a utility player but he did have to be at AFCON for Marco not to play him.

[ArcticOctopus]

Is Silva going to take Iwobi as well so we can use the funds to buy a proper CM & play a winger on the wing?

Yes, I know Iwobi has done ok & is hugely useful as a utility player but he did have to be at AFCON for Marco not to play him.

And I know there were a number reasons for it but we actually got a run of results when Marco was forced to change his system.

[JimmyConway]

Unless Bassey is injured Cuenca will always have limited first team appearances. Tidy player can do a job. The worry would be who is in charge of his replacement and how much over the odds they will likely pay?

[demeant0r]

Is Silva going to take Iwobi as well so we can use the funds to buy a proper CM & play a winger on the wing?

Yes, I know Iwobi has done ok & is hugely useful as a utility player but he did have to be at AFCON for Marco not to play him.

This is probably the transfer I'd be excited about. Iwobi is not fast or tricky enough to be a winger and when he plays in CM he's just not very effective most of the time. Please, Marco, make a £50m bid for him.

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

We can't afford to sell anyone without replacing them, and even then we need to add to certain positions.

I can only think this rumour is wrong because it makes absolutely no sense.

[demeant0r]

We can't afford to sell anyone without replacing them, and even then we need to add to certain positions.

I can only think this rumour is wrong because it makes absolutely no sense.

To be honest, with PSR we can't afford to buy many players without making at least one medium-sized sale every season. If I'm the new manager/Khan I'd try and sell the players with the highest wages for some profit and replace them with, hopefully, someone of similar quality for less wages.

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

We can't afford to sell anyone without replacing them, and even then we need to add to certain positions.

I can only think this rumour is wrong because it makes absolutely no sense.

To be honest, with PSR we can't afford to buy many players without making at least one medium-sized sale every season. If I'm the new manager/Khan I'd try and sell the players with the highest wages for some profit and replace them with, hopefully, someone of similar quality for less wages.

Cuenca doesn't really fit the high wage profile, and we'd need to replace him if we sold him. It'd be a strange way to kick off the summer. Much better to sell Bassey for big bucks and challenge Cuenca to step up.

[demeant0r]

We can't afford to sell anyone without replacing them, and even then we need to add to certain positions.

I can only think this rumour is wrong because it makes absolutely no sense.

To be honest, with PSR we can't afford to buy many players without making at least one medium-sized sale every season. If I'm the new manager/Khan I'd try and sell the players with the highest wages for some profit and replace them with, hopefully, someone of similar quality for less wages.

Cuenca doesn't really fit the high wage profile, and we'd need to replace him if we sold him. It'd be a strange way to kick off the summer. Much better to sell Bassey for big bucks and challenge Cuenca to step up.

I don't think Bassey is on very much. I think our top earners were Leno, Raul, Chuk, Andersen and Iwobi. According to https://www.spotrac.com/epl/fulham-fc/payroll Bassey is on £45k/week. Raul is leaving, we're no longer buying Chuk and Leno is on £130k/week. If we sell Leno and replace with someone on £50k or something we'd have much more room in PSR. I don't think we need to be selling any defenders, but if there was one to sell it would be Andersen who's on £90k/week.

[AJW48361]

Wish him all the best if he does depart deserves more opportunities then his been given.

[MickyAdamsFamily]

Moises Bombito hobbled off injured in Canada's previous pre-WC warmup vs Uzbekistan, and Luc de Fougerolles came on at 30 min. to replace him. Slotted right in next to Cornelius and looked very comfortable with and without the ball. Then, in their final warmup game vs Ireland, LdF played the full 90, and hardly set a foot wrong. His positioning and reading of the game is really good, and although he's not the largest defender, he's athletic and seems quite strong. It seems that his year on loan has improved his play and he's matured physically, too. He's now likely to be one of the starting Center Backs for Canada's WC opener.
I believe he's still just 20 years old...

[perry geyton]

If Marco rates him so highly then how comes he rarely used him ? You'd think he'd be trying to take Bassey too

I guess we are spoilt for good center backs although Anderson is coming of age, send him to Portugal instead

Me personally I'm gutted to see Cuenca go

[Surlyc]

We don't have a lot of sellable assets, so I did expect Cuenca to leave. I thought about £12m, so this all feels about right.

This really is a huge window for us. Unless we can get some decent money for Iwobi or Andersen, I'm not sure we'll have the funds we need for the c7 players we are going to need to reset.