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Alfie Mawson

Jordinho

Ron Henry
Staff member
Having missed out on Michael Keane, who joined Everton, Tottenham have seen one bid turned down for Swansea City’s Alfie Mawson and are now considering another offer.

Swansea want £30m for England Under-21 international Mawson, but Spurs could try to offer Josh Onomah on loan to the Welsh club as part of a lower bid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/07/manchester-united-still-pursuing-eric-dier-spurs/

Swansea City insist they have not received any offers for Alfie Mawson as they plan for the new season with the England Under-21 international firmly part of Paul Clement's plans.

Mawson, 23, enjoyed a fine debut season at Premier League level, forming an ever-improving defensive partnership with Federico Fernandez under the guidance of head coach Clement.

He joined from Barnsley in a £5million deal last summer and was given the challenging task of filling the number six shirt vacated by Ashley Williams when the captain moved to Everton.

The new man ended up making 27 Premier League appearances in total, and his performances saw him earn his first Under-21 caps under Aidy Boothroyd.

By the time this summer's finals came round, Mawson had cemented his place in the back four of the Young Lions, and impressed many with his maturity in a side that reached the semi-finals before bowing out in the all-too-familiar manner of a penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of Germany.

Performing in the shop window of tournament football - allied to the impression he made in the top-flight - has led to more focus on Mawson's abilities, with some pundits describing him as a potential future England captain.

Tottenham have been linked with a big-money move for a player who just three years ago was plying his trade in the non-league game.

Reports claim Swansea have already rejected an offer, with Spurs set to return with an improved bid including Josh Onomah as a makeweight.

But sources at Swansea insist they have not received any bids nor serious interest in Mawson.

Given Mawson is still developing as a player, Swansea could be forgiven for believing the defender's value will only increase over time and will not see the immediate need to cash in when he could be a few years away from hitting his peak.

Barnsley would be due a small percentage of any deal, having negotiated a sell-on fee when the defender left Oakwell.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/swansea-city-insist-theyve-no-13299353
 
He looked a real liability in the U21s tournament. English CBs are at an all time low at the moment

I'm much happier with Wimmer and 2CV

Agree

It would be even more bizarre than the signing of Sissoko to go and buy Mawson. 30 mill?:confused:
 
He looked a real liability in the U21s tournament. English CBs are at an all time low at the moment

I'm much happier with Wimmer and 2CV

We need another CB in addition to those two. Dier isn't a CB and given we play 3 at the back as our default formation now, we need four senior CBs so TA, JV, Wimmer and AN Other. Dier and CCV are then effectively 5th choice
 
We need another CB in addition to those two. Dier isn't a CB and given we play 3 at the back as our default formation now, we need four senior CBs so TA, JV, Wimmer and AN Other. Dier and CCV are then effectively 5th choice

Davies
 
We need another CB in addition to those two. Dier isn't a CB and given we play 3 at the back as our default formation now, we need four senior CBs so TA, JV, Wimmer and AN Other. Dier and CCV are then effectively 5th choice

Funny. I could've sworn that he played most of last season as a CB in the best defence in the league.
 
Funny. I could've sworn that he played most of last season as a CB in the best defence in the league.

Yep, but he doesn't look his best there. Plus, what happens if/when Wanyama gets injured or a suspension? Dier needs to move into his best position. We need more depth at CB
 
Yep, Davies along with Dier and CCV are all back-ups. However I'd want 4 proper CBs for the 3 positions

Dier is a CB, we bought him as one, played him as one for a season before shifting him to CM for a season and then last season he once again played CB. I'm not sure where you're coming from here
 
Yep, but he doesn't look his best there. Plus, what happens if/when Wanyama gets injured or a suspension? Dier needs to move into his best position. We need more depth at CB

He looked very good there last season. The way we play a back three, Dier and Verts push into midfield when we are attacking anyway.

If Wanyama gets injured we switch to a back four and DIer moves to midfield. Poch likes flexibility in his players and seems less bothered about formations than most fans.
 
We need another CB in addition to those two. Dier isn't a CB and given we play 3 at the back as our default formation now, we need four senior CBs so TA, JV, Wimmer and AN Other. Dier and CCV are then effectively 5th choice
Sorry, are you proposing we replace Dier with Mawson in our back 3? As in Mawson would be better than Dier in our back 3?
 
There's a good profile of him on the Guardian -

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/12/alfie-mawson-england-under-21s-euros-swansea

...which paints a good picture of his personality - down-to-earth, hardworking, ready to take responsibility. And the chief attribute Swansea fans highlight about him is how good he is on the ball for a centre-back (source - brief keyword search for 'Mawson' on r/swanseacity). Which fits with what we presumably need in any prospective defensive targets.

However, as many other posters have already pointed out, getting him in only makes sense if we are a) permanently switching to 3 at the back as a viable strategy (in which case CCV - Mawson - Wimmer becomes the backup setup for Dier - Toby - Verts), b) permanently placing both Dier and Davies in arguably their primary roles as a DM and an LB respectively, which means that we only have four dedicated CBs in Toby, Verts, Wimmer and CCV -thus needing one more to switch to 3 at the back when necessary, or c) we're getting rid of Wimmer - Mawson is left-footed, like Wimmer, and left-footed centre-backs are a rare breed. Prem-proven left-footed CBs even more so - the only two I can think of that would be suitable targets for us (to a degree) are Mawson and Ben Gibson from Boro.

However, a) would mean that we would have to commit to being inflexibly standardized on one system, which may not suit Poch's tactical plans, b) would mean that Dier would get *less* game time (since he'd become a pure backup/rotation option for Wanyama) and c) would make Son really, *really* sad. :(
 
Sorry, are you proposing we replace Dier with Mawson in our back 3? As in Mawson would be better than Dier in our back 3?

I think Dier is better than Wanyama as a DM so that's where I would play him and whilst I think Dier in a decent international level CM, I think he perhaps a mid-table PL or slightly above CB. He's certainly a better DM than CB.

So if you want two players per position he's a DM along with Wanyama. Those are our two for that position. We need more CBs to give us enough depth there. If you start counting Dier as both a DM and CB, and Davies as a LB and a CB etc then you can start to convince yourself that you only need perhaps 18 players, which is garbage. We really lacked depth in the season just finished; if we get a serious long term injury to TA or JV we're screwed
 
I think Dier is better than Wanyama as a DM so that's where I would play him and whilst I think Dier in a decent international level CM, I think he perhaps a mid-table PL or slightly above CB. He's certainly a better DM than CB.

So if you want two players per position he's a DM along with Wanyama. Those are our two for that position. We need more CBs to give us enough depth there. If you start counting Dier as both a DM and CB, and Davies as a LB and a CB etc then you can start to convince yourself that you only need perhaps 18 players, which is garbage. We really lacked depth in the season just finished; if we get a serious long term injury to TA or JV we're screwed

No way Dier is better than Wanyama as a defensive midfielder. Wanyama had Kante (player of the year) in his back pocket everytime we played them last season.
 
To emphasise my point on the need for another CB, assume we play 60 games in all comps. Then that's 180 starting CB positions (excluding the 60 bench roles) so I'd split them as:

- TA starts 45 by the time he misses the odd game (and you need to remember that he'll have a few internationals as well)
- JV starts 45
- Wimmer say 30
- New CB 30
- Dier 20-25 in addition so say 20-30 as a DM
- CCV 5-10

This is what convinces me that we're 1 short at CB
 
No way Dier is better than Wanyama as a defensive midfielder. Wanyama had Kante (player of the year) in his back pocket everytime we played them last season.

I think he is. Dier brings more ability on then all; Wanyama useshis physique better. Both are quality but I prefer Dier
 
I think he is. Dier brings more ability on then all; Wanyama useshis physique better. Both are quality but I prefer Dier

The good news is that Poch has found a way of using them both, that allows Dier to push forward and utilises his ability of the ball. Best of all, it gave us the tightest defence in the league.
 
To emphasise my point on the need for another CB, assume we play 60 games in all comps. Then that's 180 starting CB positions (excluding the 60 bench roles) so I'd split them as:

- TA starts 45 by the time he misses the odd game (and you need to remember that he'll have a few internationals as well)
- JV starts 45
- Wimmer say 30
- New CB 30
- Dier 20-25 in addition so say 20-30 as a DM
- CCV 5-10

This is what convinces me that we're 1 short at CB

Wimmer and 2CV barely played half a dozen games between them (2CVs only one was against Gillingham IIRC) last season, despite injuries to Alder and Verts

Unlike other positions, CBs don't need to be rotated
 
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