Sancho-less Window - Realistic Linked Targets

Classical Mechanic

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If we walked away from Dortmund's demands I'd guess we could sign the following three players with the kind of structured deals that Dortmund won't entertain.

Grealish
Torres
Brooks

How would we feel about a window like that, or is it Sancho or bust?

I think it would be acceptable.
 
Brooks? That is a Stewart Downing esque signing like the scousers did back in 2011. Surely we should be more ambitious than this...
 
I'm not convinced by Grealish and know feck all about the other two. So it would be a bit underwhelming for me personally. But I guess we'd have more options in the squad at least. Unless they turn out to be no better than the current squad players.
 
I strongly doubt we will sign both brooks and Grealish to be honest as they seem similar players. My instinct is that we are still currently going all in for Sancho and Brooks is being seen as a cheaper alternative to Grealish to provide some quality cover and options.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I strongly doubt we will sign both brooks and Grealish to be honest as they seem similar players. My instinct is that we are still currently going all in for Sancho and Brooks is being seen as a cheaper alternative to Grealish to provide some quality cover and options.
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They're similar but different players really. Grealish is a 8,10 & 11 while Brooks is a 7 & 10 both would balance the gaps in squad depth on both sides.
 
Grealish and Brooks play on opposite sides, Grealish on the left and Brooks on the right and can both play attacking midfield too. Would definitely be a huge help in terms of squad depth, but we'd still be missing that top class RW we desperately need.
 
We need first 11 improvement, so not sure how this will help. But we will have good squad (not sure about Torres though).
 
Ndidi would improve us no-end and would walk straight into our first XI
Digne would be another one. Still cant wrap my end around why we didnt go for him
Upamenco would be a good player to bring in and develop
 
I would be happy with Brooks as a Sancho alternative on the basis that it means Greenwood would continue being our first choice RW which, again, I'd be happy with. Ideally we'll get Sancho of course but Brooks in a vacuum would be a great depth signing IMO and better than the likes of DJ, Pereira and Lingard in those understudy attacking berths. Likewise I'd love Grealish but think Villa will price him out a la Zaha/Palace.

As for defence, I think we need to be signing first-team players if we do, rather than squad players. I've not seen Pau Torres or Gabriel to comment but unsure if they'd really oust Lindelof in the XI (despite the Caf's view on him).
 
We need to sign players who will improve our first XI and not bolster the squad. When that happens the players that are currently in the first XI will make up the numbers for the squad places. At a minimum we need a RW and CB. In an ideal world if there were no financial concerns I would also throw in LB and CDM also. However, I think it will be quite a conservative summer from a spending point of view.

Throw ontop of that the players we need to move out > Jones, Rojo, Smalling, Mata, Lingard and Perriera, I cant see us ousting those.
 
What I've heard about Torres is interesting. He pacey and a very good passer, a very good long passer especially. This will help to solve the AWB issue if he has a CB that can bypass the press with long passes.
 
Acceptable if the goal is to scrape top four again, perhaps.
 
We ideally need to sign three players, possibly four this window and whether Sancho is included or not shouldnt deter that logic.

We cant just sign Sancho.

We need:
RW
Creative Midfielder
CB
Defensive Midfielder - The most unlikely of our business in truth.

So as usual we are linked with a heap of players but we can do the business needed. Sancho is the best signing we could make. He's already an elite level performer and will only get better. What a statement that would be.

But we need to consider the possibility that Woodword might not get it done.

For RW we can also consider as cheaper options:
Moussa Diaby
Buendia (cheap safe option with a view to Sancho in a years time)
Malen (Can cover the front line positions)

Adama Traore is the best RW in the prem - but that could be a pricey deal.

There arent many out and out RW options that offer the quality Sancho does. Chiesa maybe. Torres would have been ideal but he's gone to City.

I think out pursuit of a creative midfielder and CB go on regardless of the sancho deal as they will be funded by sales anyway

If we didnt sign Sancho - i'd be expecting us to sign 4 players rather than 3 though
 
Classical Mechanic said:
If we walked away from Dortmund's demands I'd guess we could sign the following three players with the kind of structured deals that Dortmund won't entertain.

Grealish
Torres
Brooks

How would we feel about a window like that, or is it Sancho or bust?

I think it would be acceptable.
Click to expand...
I think it would be just that. Covers areas we need to improve, so our squad will be better, just not the first team.
 
red4ever 79 said:
Ndidi would improve us no-end and would walk straight into our first XI
Digne would be another one. Still cant wrap my end around why we didnt go for him
Upamenco would be a good player to bring in and develop
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Ndidi is shit, he can barely pass five yards.
 
This would be a really disappointing window. Grealish made sense is villa went down and there was a deal to be had, for depth behind rashford and bruno... but Sancho was the only game changer I see us signing, and we need to keep signing game changers.
 
Grealish should be priority number 1 and prehaps another midfielder and maybe a no name defender who will certainly be better than Lindelof. Nothing against Sancho but his position isn't our primary issue with the way our front 3 have been playing. Offcourse getting some squad options while getting rid of the deadwood is also welcomed.
 
Grealish - £60m tops think would do it
Torres - don't know much about him but if it sounds like he's affordable given the reports
Sarr (£40m) or loan in Dembele/Costa I guess for a right wing stop gap.
Cavani - free. If he's linked with Benfica I'd imagine he's not demanding stupid wages. On a free transfer he'd be a brilliant dimension to our attack that we lack.
 
VP89 said:
Grealish - £60m tops think would do it
Torres - don't know much about him but if it sounds like he's affordable given the reports
Sarr (£40m) or loan in Dembele/Costa I guess for a right wing stop gap.
Cavani - free. If he's linked with Benfica I'd imagine he's not demanding stupid wages. On a free transfer he'd be a brilliant dimension to our attack that we lack.
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I like that.

How much time before guys come back for pre-season?
 
If we didn't get Sancho, I'd expect us to buy at least four players. The three you mention would be a good start, and the fourth one should be a defensive midfielder or an attacking full-back (either side really). I'd be happy with that window.
 
Brooks and at least 20 million full backs and Im happy. We need full backs!!
 
I'm in direct disagreement with most posts here. Most seem to think we need more CBs and CMs or AMs.

For example this...
Classical Mechanic said:
If we walked away from Dortmund's demands I'd guess we could sign the following three players with the kind of structured deals that Dortmund won't entertain.

Grealish
Torres
Brooks

How would we feel about a window like that, or is it Sancho or bust?

I think it would be acceptable.
Click to expand...
... would be a complete failure of a window in my book.

Firstly we need more quality options in attack. We only have Ighalo till January and arguably Ighalo's not trusted by Ole considering how reluctant he is to bring him on even when Rashford is having a shocker. Grealish is not an attacker, he's a playmaking type of an AM too similar to Bruno and Pogba. When Ighalo goes, we have no #9 sub for Martial. We have to shift Rashford up top and play Dan James left. The latter is the only player to replace Rashford or Greenwood as a forward threat. That's beyond abysmal. We have neither enough bodies nor quality once Ighalo goes and we shouldn't wait for him to go before solving that problem.

Secondly we need a left footed LB to compete with Shaw and provide cover when the latter is inevitably injured again. Playing with a right footed LB in Williams really narrows our play and significanlty reduces our penetration down the left. We also need competition for AWB at right back because quite frankly his attacking play and defensive positioning leave a lot to be desired. If we're not signing a RB this year (most likely), Williams should be competing with AWB while the new LB competes with Shaw.

If Mata, Lingard and Pereira are to be moved on we could certainly get another AM like Grealish to cover for Bruno. But it's only 3rd in the list of priorities because we could keep one of those for another year or we could play Pogba at #10 and McT at CM, when Bruno is out. So while it's "nice-to-have" it's certainly not as important as the above two.

DM for me is not a concern. We have Fred and Matic and as last resort McT again. That's plenty of cover and plenty of quality. CB is almost the same. Behind Maguire and Lindelof we have Bailly and Tuanzebe, with Mengi starting to break through as well as Smalling perhaps if he's not sold. And that's assuming Rojo and Jones are finally shown the door. We could spend huge amounts on a new CB and not see a material improvement on our current players.

So for me FW and left-footed LB are the priorities with an AM coming in 3rd. If we buy CB, CM and AM it will be pretty disappointing.
 
I'm not expecting any sort of challenge next season regardless of who we sign so I'd prefer if we got players who will be here long term and help with the rebuild. I really don't want us getting Cavani or Bale on loan or whatever on megabucks as it solves nothing. Sancho is obviously the main one but I'd be happy with the likes of Graelish and Brooks. We really need a better squad than we currently have.
 
We really need some proper quality. The alternatives mentioned are not that. Especially for the RW.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
If we walked away from Dortmund's demands I'd guess we could sign the following three players with the kind of structured deals that Dortmund won't entertain.

Grealish
Torres
Brooks

How would we feel about a window like that, or is it Sancho or bust?

I think it would be acceptable.
Click to expand...

Saul
Badiashile
Chiesa
I would take these 3 If there is no chance with Sancho..
 
Sancho is the only possible transfer which would really take us up a level in my opinion.
 
For RW, I would say Berardi. 14 goals and 10 assists this league playing purely from the right side. Progressively he's been improving every season.

But the gulf of quality between Sancho and alternatives is quite significant. I don't see anyone having the quality to move Greenwood out of the RW aside from Sancho.
 
GledTheRed said:
Ndidi is shit, he can barely pass five yards.
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Not sure where you got that from. He finished last season with a 85% pass success rate. However, its his interceptions and tackling is what he would bring to the team with a healthy 4 and 2.5 respectively average per game
 
I'm hoping Laird is given ample opportunity to push Wan-Bissaka next year. Shaw being back means a left-back isn't a necessity for me, though it would be great to have someone who is more effective going forward (Shaw is good on the ball and causes problems when combining with Rashford, he has an alarmingly low number of assists though). Essential is a longterm right-wing and added depth in attacking areas. After that, address the issues at DM and CB. The areas that need addressing are far more manageable than times yonder, when we had multiple fires that needed putting out immediately all at once.
 
red4ever 79 said:
Not sure where you got that from. He finished last season with a 85% pass success rate. However, its his interceptions and tackling is what he would bring to the team with a healthy 4 and 2.5 respectively average per game
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He's bang average, too limited for a top side.
 
Harry Harries said:
I'm hoping Laird is given ample opportunity to push Wan-Bissaka next year. Shaw being back means a left-back isn't a necessity for me, though it would be great to have someone who is more effective going forward (Shaw is good on the ball and causes problems when combining with Rashford, he has an alarmingly low number of assists though). Essential is a longterm right-wing and added depth in attacking areas. After that, address the issues at DM and CB. The areas that need addressing are far more manageable than times yonder, when we had multiple fires that needed putting out immediately all at once.
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Shaw won't be back for long, you know he won't. He will be out when it comes to the crunch games.
 
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