If Stoke go down I suggest we pull out all the stops to sign him.

He would be an excellent replacement for MacArthur, who's 29/30 now? Has a great work rate and is pretty good on the ball, would slot in to the starting 11 seamlessly. Can then let Macca go to Rangers, but I'd prefer he stay - I actually think he'd work pretty well in midfield with Macca too depending on our formation, tactics etc.

Edited by FairweatherEagle (22 Apr 2018 5.34pm)

Maybe, but he sems a little past it now. His feet are getting slower by the day. I remember he used to be really quick at around 24-26, but now at 30 has trouble keeping up and opponents easily go past him. Being diminutive also has something to do with it, it's harder as he gets older.

My bad. Point is, I've seen some of his matches this year and he looked at least 30. Not a good thing

You're moving the discussion into very diferent examples and it has nothing to do with what I said.

Joe Allen is diminutive, that's the truth (not that hard a word, so I can't see why you're insulting my vocabulary knowledge for using it). There are plenty of diminutive players whom I appreciate. Most of my favourite players are diminutive. As they're young they can take many little steps very quickly and outpace taller players who have less mobility. But, as years go by and speed runs out, it's harder to keep up. It's easier for Yaya Toure. he has almost no speed left, but just by taking one giant step he can be close to the ball.

It depends on the position too. My feeling is that Joe Allen's best position was behind the striker. He could run, press, recover balls, harrass the defenders. Others saw him as a central midfielder, but I liked him most behind the center forward cause he had incredible pace. Question is: can Joe Allen still do what he did?? I'd say not. But that doesn't mean I think he's a bad player. I think he could still play as a playmaker, something like Cabaye plays, as long as he has like 2 fast players besides him (a defensive midfielder) and a box-to-box one or second striker who helps the midfield. Kind of like Pirlo used to play in him last years at Juventus, with Pogba and Vidal being there too.

You'll see that I have nothing against Joe Allen, I actually have him on my "Best players from teams facing releagation" list. Just that there are some things that need to be considered, like what position could he play in and for how long he can keep playing at a high level.

Well then , I guess Joe Allen plays in exactly the same positions Cabaye used to play in when at Newcastle: central midfielder or no.10 behind the center forward.

Maybe this similarity shows that Joe Allen can do from 28 to 32 what Cabaye has done.

Pretty high cost

[Link]

Cheaper (and safer) to just give Cabaye a new contract