Friday Hoddle of Coffee: Soccer News and Notes, June 9, 2017

Silly season is here y’all:

This totally means we’re getting Sidibe to replace Walker and are adding Lemar, right? Right? That’s how this works, isn’t it?

More seriously, I’ve actually been encouraged by the past week’s rumors. Heading into the summer the three big names we were linked with were Wilfried Zaha, Ross Barkley, and Riyad Mahrez. Now we’re being linked with Lemar, Serge Aurier, and Matthias Ginter. Obviously Aurier has some major character concerns and Ginter has a lot of Sissoko potential, so I’m not saying I’m necessarily thrilled with the current batch of rumors either. But what these rumors suggest is that we’re branching out beyond a scouting strategy of “hey who was that rando from a midtable side who gave us trouble once last season? Let’s sign him.”

The other thing it suggests is that the team is targeting the right kind of players. Lemar can play multiple roles and is comfortable in a high-pressing system. Aurier is a capable right back who could slot into the starting role seamlessly. Ginter is a utility defender who could basically back up Eric Dier in every role we ask Dier to fill. The individual players may not be the ones we’d like to sign, but they are the right kind of player. And after the first batch of rumors from this summer, that’s an encouraging sign.