Tyrone Mings

Much better than Dunk, and he got a cap, so is only fair I suppose. Not sure his form ever deserved a call up in the first place though. Very strange.
 
The Sunday Times certainly took England's defence and Rice to task yesterday. So if you are England's manger and you look at Steve Cook, what do you see comparatively?
 
People don't watch though, so they see Cook and Ake as a budget Terry and Rio. Having Ake's "elegance" next to him makes him look more like the clogger that strangers are expecting to see, than the defender he is. Basically poor assumptions by folk and confirmation bias
 
Johnny Evans says “You can see comparisons in their games (Maguire and Van Dijk), both are great on the ball, and Harry has got explosive pace people don’t see. He is powerful, good in the air."

Explosive pace while he's won the plaudits of other players for 2018 nearly all mention everything a defender should have and only criticism I saw from them was his lack of mobility & pace. So clearly this explosive pace has been well hidden from everyone except Johnny Evans.

The only comparison I can see with Van Dijk is his recent mistake defending for Holland against Belarus.

I really don't know what the answer is to the England defence, but I don't think I've ever in my lifetime looked at an England defence with such trepidation for the future. That solid defensive partnership seems a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.

Should we give Cook a run out definitely, How we could do with an Ake.
 
According to Sky, Mings is lining up as the RCB. If true it will be interesting to see how he gets on since competing with Aké for the LCB spot is one of the reasons given for him not breaking through here.
 
Unlike some AFCB fans, I hope he has a great game. The way he left was a bit strange but he seems a decent sort overall. Not sure he is England level but then, some of the others who have already played are no better than him I guess!
I'm more stressed that Rashford is starting to be honest, not sure how he deserves that.
 
Let's be honest, in a deal with an guaranteed £20 million rising to £27 million or so, I can't see international recognition being worth anything less than a cool million to us.

It's a handy bonus on top of what was already an excellent fee for a player some were saying we should offload for around £4 million in January.
 
From what I read the guaranteed fee was £20 million, plus Villa paid Ipswich the £1.5 million they were entitled to as a sell on fee. Plus a potential £5 million due to us in add-ons.

Presumably they included: Premier League Appearances (eg after 25, 50, 75 etc); Villa retaining their PL status for 1, 2, 3 years; Villa finishing in the top ten/qualifying for Europe provided TM played x number of PL games; England caps.

In that list the most important seem to be a) how often he plays and b) how well Villa do, because that is the best measure of his worth to Villa. So, thinking about it logically, I think the add on for an England cap is likely to be icing on the cake. In other words nearer £100 k than £1 million. Still welcome of course.

And it will be the first time that I can say an England player once petted my dog. Which must be worth something.
 
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