Quote Originally Posted by SWv2 View Post
I am not sure why you wish to dumb down your understanding of the game to playground terminology such as “holding”.

One thing MP is not is a player whose focus is on defensive duties within a team structure, yet having played in Italy he is not adverse to the defensive side of the game. Is he a play maker, certainly he can be, is he restricted in his positioning and movement as to be “deep lying”, he is not.

I would say he could fulfil any positon in a midfield in a similar way to Cazorla could, yet you would not dream of labelling SC as a holding player or such like.

He is a very intelligent player on the ball, bought by Juventus to replace Pogba but to see one as a clone of the other would be incorrect and would simply further embarrass you down the pub when you offered the duo as a conversation piece.


What is going on here anyway, is he now being linked with a move from Juventus to Arsenal after but one season?
He's certainly developed well in recent years. In his early days at Lyon he sometimes looked like a bit of a flaky number ten. A bit of Italian coaching has done wonders for him though. Last season Allegri used him in CM against Barcelona and he ran the show. Sounds like the end for poor old Santi though?