Quote Originally Posted by IBK View Post
Hmmm. Much too early to write off Lokonga, for me. At times he has looked like a really exciting prospect. A couple of disappointing performances in disjointed team set-ups not a fair representation of his ability. A player who is very young for one of the most important positions on the picth - for me not surprising that Xhaka and Elneny used in the latter stages. Tavares more questionable, but he was in fact one of our better players in our last 2 games. He is unquestionably raw and has made high profile mistakes but I feel it would be harsh to write him off totally rather than giving him a chance in the early Europa stages next season. For me a failed punt would be Lucas Perez or even Dani Ceballos - who was signed on loan essesntially as a first team player, unlike Tavares.

More generally our business last Summer was good. It spoke to trying to sign the best new young talent with room for improvement, and that is precisely what it achieved. We can be revisionist by lamenting the drop in form at the end of the season, but our best back 5 - with 3 of them being new signings - was excellent in the 10 or so games when it was available.
Lokonga obviously has a lot of potential and is still young so I am sitting on the fence with him....however he didn't really add anything to the team this season. The issue with Tavares is due to Tierney being quite injury prone Tavares got a lot of minutes. That isn't a bad thing per say, but his performances on the whole were not up to scratch, he's not good enough for a team with ambition for a top 3/4 finish. He is not only raw, but lacks the basics of what is required. Don't forget Saka broke through as a full back and his performance level was high from start to finish, that's the standard of a top club.

Tavares may well improve, but I wouldn't feel comfortable having him in the team for important games next season.