At that time, we had one of, if not the best squad on the planet.
If you adjust this 1st xi:
-------C.Ronaldo-------------Tevez------------Rooney
---------(23)------------------(24)---------------(22)
-------------------------------------------Hargreaves
-----------------------------------------------(27)
-----------------------Scholes---Carrick
-------------------------(33)------(26)
Evra-------------------------------------------------Brown
-(27)-------------------------------------------------(28)
----------------------Vidic------Ferdinand
----------------------(26)--------(29)
-------------------------Van Der Sar
-----------------------------(37)
Kuszczak - 26
O'Shea - 27
Silvestre - 30
Anderson - 20
Fletcher - 24
Nani - 20
Giggs - 34
First thing to note is that it's such a balanced squad in terms of age (one wonders what the majority could have gone on to do if they had all stayed on ) Second thing is that the star attack is just so young. Surely, you're looking at £200m for each of them in this day and age (let's assume Tevez is our player and not a loan because you'd never get anyone like him bouncing around clubs in such a manner again)? How much do you price two of the best defenders in the world at? What would a 26-year-old Carrick cost in today's market? And so on and so forth.
The reason for this thread is the thought of the overhaul needed for us to be a true, world class team again and how much that would cost in equivalence to what the squad of the last era where we were the real deal would in modern terms.
Is it fair to say this squad above is over £1b? Or does the caveat of how those players came to be (Vidic, Evra, VDS and Tevez on the cheap ; Brown, Scholes, O'Shea, Fletcher and Giggs being homegrown) factor into how you would price them up? Are we looking at an outlay of over £1b (over a few windows) to get to a level of squad as seen above?
If you adjust this 1st xi:
-------C.Ronaldo-------------Tevez------------Rooney
---------(23)------------------(24)---------------(22)
-------------------------------------------Hargreaves
-----------------------------------------------(27)
-----------------------Scholes---Carrick
-------------------------(33)------(26)
Evra-------------------------------------------------Brown
-(27)-------------------------------------------------(28)
----------------------Vidic------Ferdinand
----------------------(26)--------(29)
-------------------------Van Der Sar
-----------------------------(37)
Kuszczak - 26
O'Shea - 27
Silvestre - 30
Anderson - 20
Fletcher - 24
Nani - 20
Giggs - 34
First thing to note is that it's such a balanced squad in terms of age (one wonders what the majority could have gone on to do if they had all stayed on ) Second thing is that the star attack is just so young. Surely, you're looking at £200m for each of them in this day and age (let's assume Tevez is our player and not a loan because you'd never get anyone like him bouncing around clubs in such a manner again)? How much do you price two of the best defenders in the world at? What would a 26-year-old Carrick cost in today's market? And so on and so forth.
The reason for this thread is the thought of the overhaul needed for us to be a true, world class team again and how much that would cost in equivalence to what the squad of the last era where we were the real deal would in modern terms.
Is it fair to say this squad above is over £1b? Or does the caveat of how those players came to be (Vidic, Evra, VDS and Tevez on the cheap ; Brown, Scholes, O'Shea, Fletcher and Giggs being homegrown) factor into how you would price them up? Are we looking at an outlay of over £1b (over a few windows) to get to a level of squad as seen above?