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Jan is out 10 weeks. And that sucks. In the short term, we should be OK, however. Ben Davies and Kevin Wimmer are capable deputies and given the relatively soft schedule I expect us to be OK.
That said, Jan is 30. This is the second year in a row he’s had a significant injury. While central defenders do age better than strikers or midfielders, it’s still probably getting to be time to think about spending some money on a center back who can not just be a squad player, like Wimmer, but who will be a plausible long-term option for us at center half.
We’ll talk more about this in the future, but for now I’m curious to hear from the hoddle: Have any younger center backs caught your eye recently? Keep in mind what Poche values in center backs—reasonably fast, able to get forward, comfortable on the ball. He’s not quite as extreme as Guardiola with his center backs, but let’s just say he isn’t looking for Michael Dawson. So, who comes to mind?