What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

[daba]

This is definitely not going to happen, but I'd love to see a “drain the swamp” overhaul (with an emphasis on the acquisition of top young talents).

Departures (£230 million). Includes good and productive players who are erratic, not of the right age profile, insubstantial or not the best under pressure (on top of those who are not fit for purpose and those who need to move on for the betterment of their own careers, of course).

• Bruno Fernandes: £50 million
• Jadon Sancho: £30 million
• Anthony Martial: £20 million
• Harry Maguire: £25 million
• Donny van de Beek: £5 million
• Mason Greenwood: £10 million
• Scott McTominay: £20 million
• Fred: £5 million
• Alex Telles: Released
• Eric Bailly: Released
• Christian Eriksen: £10 million
• Anthony Elanga: £8 million
• Facundo Pellistri: £7 million
• Zidane Iqbal: Released
• Diogo Dalot: £10 million
• Aaron Wan Bissaka: £15 million
• David de Gea: not renewed
• Phil Jones: not renewed
• Tyrell Malacia: £10 million

Arrivals (£365 million). Most of these are comfortable in possession due to a strong technical foundation, and can confidently shrug off the opposition press/counter-press. Developing a top team will take several windows and seasons, but this collective would provide a reasonably good platform, in my opinion (note: I'm very frequently off the mark!)

• Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen): £90 million. As always! He's going to one of the best playmakers of the next generation (fitness permitting).
• Estevão Willian (Palmeiras): £10 million; loaned back. Bit of a gamble, but he could become a special right forward.
• Arda Güler (Fenerbahçe): £10 million, Ødegaard-esque skill set. Would offer flexibility, and something different.
• Alex Scott (Bristol City): £15 million. Also versatile. Hopefully he can be developed into a Frenkie-esque ball-progressing central midfielder.
• Santiago Giménez (Feyenoord): £20 million. Decently talented and should not be too expensive.
• Vanderson (Monaco): £30 million. Frimping offers better end product, but I would be wary of building a defense that is slight in stature.
• Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur): £90 million. Wouldn't mind a younger player either, for what it's worth (especially if they can press and harry with greater intensity than Kane); provided they are accomplished on the ball and can act as the pivot for the other forwards (particularly Rashford, who is not a pre-eminent creator on his own).
• Alejandro Grimaldo (Benfica): Bosman
• Mateo Kovacić (Chelsea): £30 million
• Bart Verbruggen (Anderlecht): £10 million. Wonderful and complete skill set, just needs experience at the top level.
• Manuel Ugarte (Sporting CP): £40 million. A younger version of Casemiro, for all intents and purposes.
• Joël Veltman (Brighton): Bosman, former ten Hag player and used to his system.
• Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain): Bosman

• For the homegrown quota business, we could include the likes of Shoretire in the 25 man squad.

Priorities for next summer...

• Acquisition of the long-term right center half to partner Lisandro. Someone who is imposing, can cover lots of ground, good as a marker, comfortable in half-spaces and efficient on the ball.
• See if there's resolution at the right back position?
• Reinforcement in midfield, depending on the progress of the youngsters? Could stand to sign top midfielders (depending on availability) or double down on youth with someone like Sotelo?
• See if there's resolution at the right forward position (Estevão Willian will be one year removed from turning 18, and Shea Lacey could also be in contention)?

Corrrr a few bargains in there for other clubs to take advantage of us if you got your way.

Bruno £50m, Sancho £30m, Malacia £10m….

 

[FerociousCorgis]

No strikers in the squad means very few goals, which means dropped points, which means no trophies, which would suck.

can say the same thing about midfield. No midfield means no control which means dropped points means no trophies etc. My point was in a starting lineup for next year if you gave me the choice of starting rashford at CF and having an actual midfield or having the exact same midfield options as this year with a new CF id go with rash up top. But it should be a moot point we need to get both a CF and a couple deep CM options.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

I 100% ageee with this. We should stop acting like we are at the level of Real, City or Bayern and stop competing with them on some of the largest. We are at a level behind the best clubs and should therefore work on building a team around young highly potential players and once we are closer where we with one single big transfer can complete the team then we should discuss the likes of players that are currently priced +£100m

Absolutely, the expensive or the 30 year old players.
Casemiro still a good signing for my money but shouldn't form the core strategy until we are close

 

[lex talionis]

can say the same thing about midfield. No midfield means no control which means dropped points means no trophies etc. My point was in a starting lineup for next year if you gave me the choice of starting rashford at CF and having an actual midfield or having the exact same midfield options as this year with a new CF id go with rash up top. But it should be a moot point we need to get both a CF and a couple deep CM options.

But you really can't argue, or least imply, that Bruno and Casemiro are simply not good enough as actual midfielders. I agree we need to add strength in midfield, but you can't compare complete absence of strikers in the squad to our midfield.

What I mean by "absence" starts with Anthony Martial, about whom much has been written here already so I won't go over the case for the prosecution against him other than to say that even he is fit, he is shambolic. Once you look past Martial, we literally have no one else in the squad that fits the mold of any kind of striker. It would be madness to shoehorn in Rashford as our our 9 other than on a spot basis.

In contrast, Bruno and Casemiro are exceptional, indisputable world class midfielders. To carry the contrast between the quality Martial gives us and the quality Bruno and Casemiro give us, it's not hard at all to imagine Bruno and Casemiro walking into XI on the planet except for City, Real and perhaps Barcelona. Martial -- the Martial that we've seen this season and last that is, would struggle to make the starting XI of a single Championship or MLS side. The Anthony Martial who dismembered Liverpool all those years ago is long gone. We literally have no striker of any quality. We literally have midfielders of substantial quality, and although I agree with your (I think you're arguing this point) that we need to upgrade on Eriksen (but still relying heavily on Eriksen as a squad man) and provide cover for Casemiro, there is simply no question that the vast, gaping chasm in the squad is that we literally -- and I literally mean literally -- would struggle to make the starting XI for a single EPL side. We never filled the hole left by Ronaldo and Cavani, and as much as we all like Weghorst personally Wout is just not up to United standards, nor is Martial. Bruno and Casemiro, on the other hand, set the standard for the rest of the squad. Rashford is best deployed as a left forward, not a striker, and what he and the squad needs more than a backup to Casemiro or an upgrade on Eriksen is a striker of the level at or at least near Kane or Osimhen.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

But you really can't argue, or least imply, that Bruno and Casemiro are simply not good enough as actual midfielders. I agree we need to add strength in midfield, but you can't compare complete absence of strikers in the squad to our midfield.

What I mean by "absence" starts with Anthony Martial, about whom much has been written here already so I won't go over the case for the prosecution against him other than to say that even he is fit, he is shambolic. Once you look past Martial, we literally have no one else in the squad that fits the mold of any kind of striker. It would be madness to shoehorn in Rashford as our our 9 other than on a spot basis.

In contrast, Bruno and Casemiro are exceptional, indisputable world class midfielders. To carry the contrast between the quality Martial gives us and the quality Bruno and Casemiro give us, it's not hard at all to imagine Bruno and Casemiro walking into XI on the planet except for City, Real and perhaps Barcelona. Martial -- the Martial that we've seen this season and last that is, would struggle to make the starting XI of a single Championship or MLS side. The Anthony Martial who dismembered Liverpool all those years ago is long gone. We literally have no striker of any quality. We literally have midfielders of substantial quality, and although I agree with your (I think you're arguing this point) that we need to upgrade on Eriksen (but still relying heavily on Eriksen as a squad man) and provide cover for Casemiro, there is simply no question that the vast, gaping chasm in the squad is that we literally -- and I literally mean literally -- would struggle to make the starting XI for a single EPL side. We never filled the hole left by Ronaldo and Cavani, and as much as we all like Weghorst personally Wout is just not up to United standards, nor is Martial. Bruno and Casemiro, on the other hand, set the standard for the rest of the squad. Rashford is best deployed as a left forward, not a striker, and what he and the squad needs more than a backup to Casemiro or an upgrade on Eriksen is a striker of the level at or at least near Kane or Osimhen.

Bruno is a 10, not a CM. And to say rashford is somehow incapable of being considered a CF is crazy to me. At LW he can be a defensive liability on that side, and his effort can be very noticeable as less than antony on the right in helping back. Whether by his design or by his choice idk. Think we will just have to disagree as i see rashford as someone who could easily be a CF. But as i have said, if we dont address BOTH central midfield and cf this next season will be a disaster. No reason we cant afford to attack both areas of need.

 

[lex talionis]

Bruno is a 10, not a CM. And to say rashford is somehow incapable of being considered a CF is crazy to me. At LW he can be a defensive liability on that side, and his effort can be very noticeable as less than antony on the right in helping back. Whether by his design or by his choice idk. Think we will just have to disagree as i see rashford as someone who could easily be a CF. But as i have said, if we dont address BOTH central midfield and cf this next season will be a disaster. No reason we cant afford to attack both areas of need.

Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes is in fact a midfielder. Attacking midfielder, but a midfielder nevertheless no less so than a defensive midfielder is a midfielder. And in fact on the few occasions when he's been deployed in a deeper positions in midfield he's been brilliant.

Sorry to splash cold water, but Rashford is not the long-term answer at striker. When the word "striker" is mentioned names such as Haaland, Lewandowski, Benzema and Kane come to mind. The name Rashford would never, ever come to mind. Marcus can fill in at striker if we're under duress due to an injury or suspension crisis, but he's vastly more effective playing at the RW position than the CF position.

There is no universe in which a conversation is being had right now where the argument is that United are already set at striker.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes is in fact a midfielder. Attacking midfielder, but a midfielder nevertheless no less so than a defensive midfielder is a midfielder. And in fact on the few occasions when he's been deployed in a deeper positions in midfield he's been brilliant.

Sorry to splash cold water, but Rashford is not the long-term answer at striker. When the word "striker" is mentioned names such as Haaland, Lewandowski, Benzema and Kane come to mind. The name Rashford would never, ever come to mind. Marcus can fill in at striker if we're under duress due to an injury or suspension crisis, but he's vastly more effective playing at the RW position than the CF position.

There is no universe in which a conversation is being had right now where the argument is that United are already set at striker.

dude you need to work on your reading ability ha. When have i said we are set at striker? I am literally saying repeatedly we need to sign BOTH a CF and a CM.
And to claim all midfielders are the same is just dumb and not remotely the point of my posts. My point is in a hypothetical world in which case we would be stuck (stuck because would be dumb to not fix both) of the following as our long term base
----------Rash-----
Garn/sanch----bruno----Antony
----Case---top Deep lying playmaker

or

------Top CF---
Rash-bruno--antony
--case--eriksen

That an argument could be made that the top would be better than the bottom for a long term stretch. That is all i was saying dayum man ha. And to say rashford is "Vastly more effective at rw than CF" is something i will vehemently disagre with.

But for the 80th time, as i said we need to attack both areas of need. attacking one will not do with addressing our holes for next year.

 

[skc_18]

Why do people think we need AMs and Wingers. That is one area we are stocked well.

Considering we dont have much money to spend, I would buy freebies in Thuram (CF), Rabiot (CM). And use the money available to buy another quality striker (also selling Martial) and a GK. RB if we have money left.

 

[lex talionis]

dude you need to work on your reading ability ha. When have i said we are set at striker? I am literally saying repeatedly we need to sign BOTH a CF and a CM.
And to claim all midfielders are the same is just dumb and not remotely the point of my posts. My point is in a hypothetical world in which case we would be stuck (stuck because would be dumb to not fix both) of the following as our long term base
----------Rash-----
Garn/sanch----bruno----Antony
----Case---top Deep lying playmaker

or

------Top CF---
Rash-bruno--antony
--case--eriksen

That an argument could be made that the top would be better than the bottom for a long term stretch. That is all i was saying dayum man ha. And to say rashford is "Vastly more effective at rw than CF" is something i will vehemently disagre with.

But for the 80th time, as i said we need to attack both areas of need. attacking one will not do with addressing our holes for next year.

We were discussing which is the higher priority, dude.

I can see 7 positions which an upgrade would be in order: GK, RB, fourth choice CB, backup 6, upgrade on 8, RW and 9. But we're not going to upgrade all of these positions. Realistically, with or without Qatari money, at most 4 and probably only 3. Previously in this discussion we both agreed we could use an upgrade on a midfielder but your point has been that we need a midfielder more than a striker and my point is that while I would like to do both (and I think we can do both), it's as obvious as obvious can be that our deficiency at striker is vastly greater than our deficiency in midfield.

To repeat, we have zero strikers in the squad. Rashford is not a striker. Martial used to be a striker but he's collapsed as a footballer, let alone as striker. The less said about Weghorst the better. After Cavani and Ronaldo left all we have to fill their shoes is to bring in Weghorst and although I don't want to be too hard on him it must be said he is not the answer for us at striker. Nor is Martial. Nor is Rashford.

If what you're really suggesting is that we can get by with Rashford my reply to that is that we'll get by, but we can kiss goodbye any hope of lifting a PL or CL trophy if we go into the next season with Rashford and Martial as our two "strikers". We'll get by, maybe even scraping fourth place again -- we're scraping fourth place right now -- but it would be a waste of epic proportions to have brought in Varane and Casemiro and settle for Rashford as our "striker", a position he's clearly less comfortable and less effective at than at LW. This isn't even remotely debatable.

No one ever said "all midfielder are the same". It would be daft to argue, for example, that Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were "the same" midfielders, yet it would be daft to deny that they were both midfielders. There are different kinds of midfielders, the explanation for which should not be necessary here.

If we are "stuck" with having to bring in only one new player, it needs to be a striker full stop and end of. Bruno and Casemiro and world class and Eriksen is actually a very good midfielder, but his fitness level is what limits his effectiveness. The dropoff after that is steep and I'm with you that need to strengthen what is already a solid midfield, but no argument can be made whatsoever that we're set at striker.

I forgot about Elanga...he's not the answer either.
'

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

You see so many people criticising the Glazers, Woodward and Murtough but then talking about signing Kovacevic, Kane and Rabiot or worse still signing Sabitzer because he's a bargain. Our succession planning has been appalling because of decisions like this and fans when given the choice would choose the exact same strategies as those guys which are proven to have been disastrous. The tweet below about City tells a lot about the different philosophies of the two clubs and why we're just not progressing. It's not even like its just a City thing either. Smart clubs like Brighton are playing chess while we're playing wack-a-mole.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[FerociousCorgis]

We were discussing which is the higher priority, dude.

I can see 7 positions which an upgrade would be in order: GK, RB, fourth choice CB, backup 6, upgrade on 8, RW and 9. But we're not going to upgrade all of these positions. Realistically, with or without Qatari money, at most 4 and probably only 3. Previously in this discussion we both agreed we could use an upgrade on a midfielder but your point has been that we need a midfielder more than a striker and my point is that while I would like to do both (and I think we can do both), it's as obvious as obvious can be that our deficiency at striker is vastly greater than our deficiency in midfield.

To repeat, we have zero strikers in the squad. Rashford is not a striker. Martial used to be a striker but he's collapsed as a footballer, let alone as striker. The less said about Weghorst the better. After Cavani and Ronaldo left all we have to fill their shoes is to bring in Weghorst and although I don't want to be too hard on him it must be said he is not the answer for us at striker. Nor is Martial. Nor is Rashford.

If what you're really suggesting is that we can get by with Rashford my reply to that is that we'll get by, but we can kiss goodbye any hope of lifting a PL or CL trophy if we go into the next season with Rashford and Martial as our two "strikers". We'll get by, maybe even scraping fourth place again -- we're scraping fourth place right now -- but it would be a waste of epic proportions to have brought in Varane and Casemiro and settle for Rashford as our "striker", a position he's clearly less comfortable and less effective at than at LW. This isn't even remotely debatable.

No one ever said "all midfielder are the same". It would be daft to argue, for example, that Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were "the same" midfielders, yet it would be daft to deny that they were both midfielders. There are different kinds of midfielders, the explanation for which should not be necessary here.

If we are "stuck" with having to bring in only one new player, it needs to be a striker full stop and end of. Bruno and Casemiro and world class and Eriksen is actually a very good midfielder, but his fitness level is what limits his effectiveness. The dropoff after that is steep and I'm with you that need to strengthen what is already a solid midfield, but no argument can be made whatsoever that we're set at striker.

I forgot about Elanga...he's not the answer either.
'

once again just will disagree since we apparently keep going in circles. And just an fyi case has looked like shit more than he has looked world class this season, or at the very least been a 50-50 split.

 

[jesperjaap]

Would love if we could just buy the 5 or 6 players needed to complete the squad this summer and be done with it. What would you be talking, 300m all in?
If 10 or so could be sold as well it would recoup a good bit.
Maybe not realistic but possible.

The thing is for me, it is realistic. The problem is shifting players on big wages and doign so many deals in one window.....But Chelsea did it when Mourinho took over and so did City with Pep a nd both sides obviously did very well. It doesnt always end up like CHelsea this season.

I have championed this approach for several seasons and think its one of our big failures. We get 3/4 in and move similar out when it should be nearer double that. A season later 1/2 of the ins are ageing or havnet worked out, we still have some deadwood and we also have several in the squad not good enough taking up places that should have been mvoed on and some of them have been here years.....so by the next summer, we are in the same position.

And unlike last summer with so many contracts ending (half of which should have been sold a couple of years earlier), I feel this summer represents a huge opportunity to move on players. I am not saying we sell all of these, but there are reasons for each of them or one or the other in some cases:

Henderson
Williams
Telles
Bailly
Maguire
Lindelof
Dalot
Bissaka
Fred
VDB
McTominay
Sancho
Elanga
Martial Greenwood

Money saved from ending all loan deals and wages from a som eof the contracts ending all adds up.

And some of the fees I see mentioned for some of these players, I know several have been poor here, but they are nearly all international players, dont want to talk figures and we dont recoup what we paid, but just look at what we paid for some of these players and half it, then add on small fees for the homegrown players, thats a lot of potential money.

I think it genuinely is possible this summer to move on 10+ playersand buy in 6/7 without a huge net spend, they cant all be huge signings....but at the same time they dont have to be free signings, people seem obsessed with players that are free in this thread and others, vast majority of the names....no thanks

 

[Isotope]

You see so many people criticising the Glazers, Woodward and Murtough but then talking about signing Kovacevic, Kane and Rabiot or worse still signing Sabitzer because he's a bargain. Our succession planning has been appalling because of decisions like this and fans when given the choice would choose the exact same strategies as those guys which are proven to have been disastrous. The tweet below about City tells a lot about the different philosophies of the two clubs and why we're just not progressing. It's not even like its just a City thing either. Smart clubs like Brighton are playing chess while we're playing wack-a-mole.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That is a shocking stats. That's an excellent planning by City.

 

[AneRu]

But you really can't argue, or least imply, that Bruno and Casemiro are simply not good enough as actual midfielders. I agree we need to add strength in midfield, but you can't compare complete absence of strikers in the squad to our midfield.

What I mean by "absence" starts with Anthony Martial, about whom much has been written here already so I won't go over the case for the prosecution against him other than to say that even he is fit, he is shambolic. Once you look past Martial, we literally have no one else in the squad that fits the mold of any kind of striker. It would be madness to shoehorn in Rashford as our our 9 other than on a spot basis.

In contrast, Bruno and Casemiro are exceptional, indisputable world class midfielders. To carry the contrast between the quality Martial gives us and the quality Bruno and Casemiro give us, it's not hard at all to imagine Bruno and Casemiro walking into XI on the planet except for City, Real and perhaps Barcelona. Martial -- the Martial that we've seen this season and last that is, would struggle to make the starting XI of a single Championship or MLS side. The Anthony Martial who dismembered Liverpool all those years ago is long gone. We literally have no striker of any quality. We literally have midfielders of substantial quality, and although I agree with your (I think you're arguing this point) that we need to upgrade on Eriksen (but still relying heavily on Eriksen as a squad man) and provide cover for Casemiro, there is simply no question that the vast, gaping chasm in the squad is that we literally -- and I literally mean literally -- would struggle to make the starting XI for a single EPL side. We never filled the hole left by Ronaldo and Cavani, and as much as we all like Weghorst personally Wout is just not up to United standards, nor is Martial. Bruno and Casemiro, on the other hand, set the standard for the rest of the squad. Rashford is best deployed as a left forward, not a striker, and what he and the squad needs more than a backup to Casemiro or an upgrade on Eriksen is a striker of the level at or at least near Kane or Osimhen.

I think you are right, if funds are an issue then we go for an elite striker and take our chances with just rotating the current midfield options and promoting more youth. I'd rather have Hannibal or Kobbie rotating in at CM than endure another season of hoping that Martial will come good. Kobbie can play no. 8 in midfield with a fit and fresh Casemiro and Bruno can put one or two chances on the plate for a Kane or Osimhen.

We however need a bigger window than that if we plan on competing with the top three and remember there is Liverpool and Chelsea who can get their act together at any time. I'm hoping that the imminent changes in the board/ownership will lead to more funds being availed and we should have enough smart people around to navigate FFP.

Firstly we need to gut the underperformers, I don't care how it's done but we need to get rid of:
Martial
Sancho
Maguire
Fred/McTominay
Elanga
DVB
Bailley
Henderson
Telles
and these sales should bring in at least 100m. Assuming that the likes of Kane and Osimhen are difficult or impossible to do a deal for I wouldn't mind hedging our bets on a couple of strikers, say Tony and Hoiglund or Muani and Thuram. In midfield we need two, starting central midfield playmaker and a back up DM, we then need a 2nd choice CB but enough quality to back and challenge Varane. A goalkeeper is a must and a RB would be welcome too.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

I think you are right, if funds are an issue then we go for an elite striker and take our chances with just rotating the current midfield options and promoting more youth. I'd rather have Hannibal or Kobbie rotating in at CM than endure another season of hoping that Martial will come good. Kobbie can play no. 8 in midfield with a fit and fresh Casemiro and Bruno can put one or two chances on the plate for a Kane or Osimhen.

We however need a bigger window than that if we plan on competing with the top three and remember there is Liverpool and Chelsea who can get their act together at any time. I'm hoping that the imminent changes in the board/ownership will lead to more funds being availed and we should have enough smart people around to navigate FFP.

Firstly we need to gut the underperformers, I don't care how it's done but we need to get rid of:
Martial
Sancho
Maguire
Fred/McTominay
Elanga
DVB
Bailley
Henderson
Telles
and these sales should bring in at least 100m. Assuming that the likes of Kane and Osimhen are difficult or impossible to do a deal for I wouldn't mind hedging our bets on a couple of strikers, say Tony and Hoiglund or Muani and Thuram. In midfield we need two, starting central midfield playmaker and a back up DM, we then need a 2nd choice CB but enough quality to back and challenge Varane. A goalkeeper is a must and a RB would be welcome too.

pretty much how i feel with what we need to bring in. Only player id be tempted to keep would be sancho there. Unfortunately he would be the one with a higher resale value than most the rest. This club needs to stay away from the one massive player idea. We need quality all over. Be smart negotiating, move on to other targets if prices get too high. There isnt a world class no brainer option like haaland out there for us that can solve all our issues. Everyone has question marks. Scout properly and use our resources.

 

[lex talionis]

I think you are right, if funds are an issue then we go for an elite striker and take our chances with just rotating the current midfield options and promoting more youth. I'd rather have Hannibal or Kobbie rotating in at CM than endure another season of hoping that Martial will come good. Kobbie can play no. 8 in midfield with a fit and fresh Casemiro and Bruno can put one or two chances on the plate for a Kane or Osimhen.

We however need a bigger window than that if we plan on competing with the top three and remember there is Liverpool and Chelsea who can get their act together at any time. I'm hoping that the imminent changes in the board/ownership will lead to more funds being availed and we should have enough smart people around to navigate FFP.

Firstly we need to gut the underperformers, I don't care how it's done but we need to get rid of:
Martial
Sancho
Maguire
Fred/McTominay
Elanga
DVB
Bailley
Henderson
Telles
and these sales should bring in at least 100m. Assuming that the likes of Kane and Osimhen are difficult or impossible to do a deal for I wouldn't mind hedging our bets on a couple of strikers, say Tony and Hoiglund or Muani and Thuram. In midfield we need two, starting central midfield playmaker and a back up DM, we then need a 2nd choice CB but enough quality to back and challenge Varane. A goalkeeper is a must and a RB would be welcome too.

I didn't want to go into who from our youth setup could possibly step up into midfield roles but I do like the look of Hannibal and Mainoo to address the midfield problem the other poster here who has feuded with me (all good!) deems a higher priority than bringing in a striker. We have several excellent servants in midfield, but we have no one up front to serve the ball to. To paraphrase Dr. Leonard McCoy, Rashford is a forward, not a striker. We need not only one striker, we actually need two strikers. Maybe we can flog off Martial back to France, where he can enjoy the finer things in life as he winds down his underachieving, utterly forgettable career apart from that goal against Liverpool almost a decade ago.

I like your "get rid of" names, although I'm not quite ready to give up yet on Sancho and I see some value in Fred to round out the squad. Martial and Bailly belong in the same sentence, but Fred has contributed far more than those two jokers. Henderson could be a decent backup for De Gea, or De Gea could be a decent back up for Henderson, but there seems to be consensus here that Dean has burned the bridge behind him. So, off to Burnley or some other midtable club for him.

 

[UpWithRivers]

You see so many people criticising the Glazers, Woodward and Murtough but then talking about signing Kovacevic, Kane and Rabiot or worse still signing Sabitzer because he's a bargain. Our succession planning has been appalling because of decisions like this and fans when given the choice would choose the exact same strategies as those guys which are proven to have been disastrous. The tweet below about City tells a lot about the different philosophies of the two clubs and why we're just not progressing. It's not even like its just a City thing either. Smart clubs like Brighton are playing chess while we're playing wack-a-mole.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Who did we sign over the age of 27? Only Casemiro. Unless you count Eriksen who was free and Wout/Sabitzer on loan.

 

[The Irish Connection]

The thing is for me, it is realistic. The problem is shifting players on big wages and doign so many deals in one window.....But Chelsea did it when Mourinho took over and so did City with Pep a nd both sides obviously did very well. It doesnt always end up like CHelsea this season.

I have championed this approach for several seasons and think its one of our big failures. We get 3/4 in and move similar out when it should be nearer double that. A season later 1/2 of the ins are ageing or havnet worked out, we still have some deadwood and we also have several in the squad not good enough taking up places that should have been mvoed on and some of them have been here years.....so by the next summer, we are in the same position.

And unlike last summer with so many contracts ending (half of which should have been sold a couple of years earlier), I feel this summer represents a huge opportunity to move on players. I am not saying we sell all of these, but there are reasons for each of them or one or the other in some cases:

Henderson
Williams
Telles
Bailly
Maguire
Lindelof
Dalot
Bissaka
Fred
VDB
McTominay
Sancho
Elanga
Martial Greenwood

Money saved from ending all loan deals and wages from a som eof the contracts ending all adds up.

And some of the fees I see mentioned for some of these players, I know several have been poor here, but they are nearly all international players, dont want to talk figures and we dont recoup what we paid, but just look at what we paid for some of these players and half it, then add on small fees for the homegrown players, thats a lot of potential money.

I think it genuinely is possible this summer to move on 10+ playersand buy in 6/7 without a huge net spend, they cant all be huge signings....but at the same time they dont have to be free signings, people seem obsessed with players that are free in this thread and others, vast majority of the names....no thanks

I agree with you but we’re so used to things being done by half measures, and the glazers are still here.
Hopefully the new owners make the necessary changes to our recruitment, but we have ffp and unhealthy finances to deal with due to the previous incompetence.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Who did we sign over the age of 27? Only Casemiro. Unless you count Eriksen who was free and Wout/Sabitzer on loan.

It's not even necessarily about the payments (although you should be factoring salaries into the financial equation if you want to go down that route - Eriksen who's already in visible decline will be paid £7.5m p.a for the next two years), it's about building a team sustainably. We've added Casemiro, Eriksen, Weghorst, Sabitzer to a spine of De Gea, Maguire/Lindelof, Fred and Ronaldo. That's just negligent squad building. When you take these gambles, you need to win now and that was never going to be the case. One season into the project, we already need to replace/upgrade all of those players bar Casemiro (and that day may not be too far away either) judging by his form since suspension.

 

[Woziak]

This is definitely not going to happen, but I'd love to see a “drain the swamp” overhaul (with an emphasis on the acquisition of top young talents).

Departures (£230 million). Includes good and productive players who are erratic, not of the right age profile, insubstantial or not the best under pressure (on top of those who are not fit for purpose and those who need to move on for the betterment of their own careers, of course).

• Bruno Fernandes: £50 million
• Jadon Sancho: £30 million
• Anthony Martial: £20 million
• Harry Maguire: £25 million
• Donny van de Beek: £5 million
• Mason Greenwood: £10 million
• Scott McTominay: £20 million
• Fred: £5 million
• Alex Telles: Released
• Eric Bailly: Released
• Christian Eriksen: £10 million
• Anthony Elanga: £8 million
• Facundo Pellistri: £7 million
• Zidane Iqbal: Released
• Diogo Dalot: £10 million
• Aaron Wan Bissaka: £15 million
• David de Gea: not renewed
• Phil Jones: not renewed
• Tyrell Malacia: £10 million

Arrivals (£365 million). Most of these are comfortable in possession due to a strong technical foundation, and can confidently shrug off the opposition press/counter-press. Developing a top team will take several windows and seasons, but this collective would provide a reasonably good platform, in my opinion (note: I'm very frequently off the mark!)

• Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen): £90 million. As always! He's going to one of the best playmakers of the next generation (fitness permitting).
• Estevão Willian (Palmeiras): £10 million; loaned back. Bit of a gamble, but he could become a special right forward.
• Arda Güler (Fenerbahçe): £10 million, Ødegaard-esque skill set. Would offer flexibility, and something different.
• Alex Scott (Bristol City): £15 million. Also versatile. Hopefully he can be developed into a Frenkie-esque ball-progressing central midfielder.
• Santiago Giménez (Feyenoord): £20 million. Decently talented and should not be too expensive.
• Vanderson (Monaco): £30 million. Frimping offers better end product, but I would be wary of building a defense that is slight in stature.
• Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur): £90 million. Wouldn't mind a younger player either, for what it's worth (especially if they can press and harry with greater intensity than Kane); provided they are accomplished on the ball and can act as the pivot for the other forwards (particularly Rashford, who is not a pre-eminent creator on his own).
• Alejandro Grimaldo (Benfica): Bosman
• Mateo Kovacić (Chelsea): £30 million
• Bart Verbruggen (Anderlecht): £10 million. Wonderful and complete skill set, just needs experience at the top level.
• Manuel Ugarte (Sporting CP): £40 million. A younger version of Casemiro, for all intents and purposes.
• Joël Veltman (Brighton): Bosman, former ten Hag player and used to his system.
• Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain): Bosman

• For the homegrown quota business, we could include the likes of Shoretire in the 25 man squad.

Priorities for next summer...

• Acquisition of the long-term right center half to partner Lisandro. Someone who is imposing, can cover lots of ground, good as a marker, comfortable in half-spaces and efficient on the ball.
• See if there's resolution at the right back position?
• Reinforcement in midfield, depending on the progress of the youngsters? Could stand to sign top midfielders (depending on availability) or double down on youth with someone like Sotelo?
• See if there's resolution at the right forward position (Estevão Willian will be one year removed from turning 18, and Shea Lacey could also be in contention)?

Wow Sporting Director would take 4 years to get rid of that lot plus 5 years to sign them all !

 

[croadyman]

ETH proved up until February that his team coaching ideas and his first 11-13 players potentially could mount a title challenge, however their are huge issues in the squad which have revealed themselves in the last 3 months.

The obvious changes are we need an elite Centre forward, a high energy high quality Defensive Midfield/ Centre Midfielder and a new Goal keeper that’s good with his feet. These three areas are what we need to improve just to compete for top 4 next year, to mount a serious title challenge we would need to add a quality Right CB that can be first choice or compete with an injury plagued Varane and we need an attacking right back, Back up striker and finally we need another goal threat, either an attacking 10/Right winger but a goal scorer Someone with a touch of magic.

The reality is we might have £100m to spend plus hopefully another £100m after we’ve sold players, some of these players will be 100% profitable as we did not buy them, assume the club manages to sell ; D Henderson, A Telles, B Williams, E Bailey, DVB, Fred, A Elanga, H Maguire, A Martial and let’s A Tuanzebe and P Jones go. Suggestion which could improve us are ;

Goalkeeper - David Raya PL proven, not top 10 in the world but good enough we can get a deal for £30m

RCB - Kim Min Jae , fast strong physical and a buy out clause let’s say we get that done early £50m easily the Best Buy of business we can do this summer

Right Back - J Frimpong or DumFries both will cost £30-35m both are huge upgrades

DM/CM - Adrian Rabiot, I’d love Rice or Caciedo, we simply won’t have the money to do either because a least one CFW is a priority and maybe two - Free Transfer/wages £10m per year this is a no brainer for the club or we spend £30m on A Onana

Centre Forward - R Hojlund, available not the finished article could play right wing, fast tall strong a decade in front of him but will not be good all the time and will cost £50-60m if not then go buy Goncalo Ramos, again young career in front of him £70-80m but both are available and both suit ETH style. Kane on Osimhen are simply not realistic, price, protracted transfer dealings with their clubs.

Number10/Right Winger - Paulo Dyballa he has a clause in his contract for £17m we missed out in the summer and he’s been Romas best player, he has Garnaucho who he can be role model for and L Martinez who they won world cup together.

He offers more magic either from the start or the bench, he can play with bruno who can drop in the 8 in certain games or others he can play the right wing play maker with a new overlapping right back.

Back up Striker - M Thurham, he’s 6’4 quick strong and at 26 could be devastating at united, he’s also a free transfer, he will think he has a chance to be our starting 9 as he’s competing against a raw 20 year old, finally a goal threat from the start and the bench.

The total cost of all of these is £190-200m and gives us a squad next year that looks like this ;
GK(3)- D Raya, D De Gea, T Heaton (HG)
Defenders(9) - J Frimpong(HG), AWB(HG), R Varane, KMJ, L Martinez, V Lindelof, L Shaw( HG), D Dalot, T Malacia
Midfielder(7) - Casemeiro, C Eriksen, S Mctominay (HG), A Rabiot, Bruno, Fred or Sabitzer, K Mainoo(HG)
Attackers(8) - Rashford(HG), J Sancho(HG), P Dyballa, A Garnaucho (HG), M Thurham, R Hojlund, Antony, A Diallo

A squad of 26/27 with 9 homegrown players, it’s why we will keep Scott Mctominay plus he’s more than good enough as a squad player probably would sell Fred and buy Sabitzer. This team won’t win the Title but it should be top 3 comfortably.

Ideally if money and FFP were not an issue we would all probably want ; V Osimhen, KMJ, M Caciedo, M Maignan, R Laeo and FDJ but all these transfers bar 1 or 2 are unrealistic.

Completely agree we should be all over signing Rabiot & Thuram as free agents. What about Maddison in that attacking number 10 role,obviously he would cost more than Dybala is the only issue.

 

[croadyman]

Would love if we could just buy the 5 or 6 players needed to complete the squad this summer and be done with it. What would you be talking, 300m all in?
If 10 or so could be sold as well it would recoup a good bit.
Maybe not realistic but possible.

Would say we need 7/8 to complete the squad but need to bring absolute minimum of GK,CB,CM & ST. However also need cover for Casa as well.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Completely agree we should be all over signing Rabiot & Thuram as free agents. What about Maddison in that attacking number 10 role,obviously he would cost more than Dybala is the only issue.

I think people are not being ambitious enough. Rabiot is likely playing at the highest level he's capable of playing and he wouldn't lay a glove on any of the City midfielders so how can he bring us closer to them. We've already got a really malfunctioning midfield and I don't see what problem Rabiot solves. He doesn't bring our average level up so what's the point. We need to find a guy like André Trindade at Fluminense who has the potential to develop into a Bruno Guimaraes level player, would be on modest wages and that we can sell on if it doesn't work for about as much as it costs to buy him or more. Rabiot will be free but will be on higher wages than any other team is likely to have an appetite to pay for a misfiring player if it doesn't work out with us and then he's just more deadwood riding out a Manchester United mega salary until he's 33.

Thuram was a fine option in January when we were desperate but is also purported to be looking for high wages and I just don't think he's good enough to warrant wages that will once again ensure he is hard to shift if he doesn't work out.

See Newcastle getting linked to Arda Guler and it pains me to see them getting linked to the next generation of superstars while we're getting linked to guys who are huge risks given the financial outlays (not necessarily talking about Rabiot and Thuram).

 

[golden_blunder]

I think you are right, if funds are an issue then we go for an elite striker and take our chances with just rotating the current midfield options and promoting more youth. I'd rather have Hannibal or Kobbie rotating in at CM than endure another season of hoping that Martial will come good. Kobbie can play no. 8 in midfield with a fit and fresh Casemiro and Bruno can put one or two chances on the plate for a Kane or Osimhen.

We however need a bigger window than that if we plan on competing with the top three and remember there is Liverpool and Chelsea who can get their act together at any time. I'm hoping that the imminent changes in the board/ownership will lead to more funds being availed and we should have enough smart people around to navigate FFP.

Firstly we need to gut the underperformers, I don't care how it's done but we need to get rid of:
Martial
Sancho
Maguire
Fred/McTominay
Elanga
DVB
Bailley
Henderson
Telles
and these sales should bring in at least 100m. Assuming that the likes of Kane and Osimhen are difficult or impossible to do a deal for I wouldn't mind hedging our bets on a couple of strikers, say Tony and Hoiglund or Muani and Thuram. In midfield we need two, starting central midfield playmaker and a back up DM, we then need a 2nd choice CB but enough quality to back and challenge Varane. A goalkeeper is a must and a RB would be welcome too.

I agree that CF is priority number 1, but That’s too much hope on the shoulders of a 17 year old midfielder

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

The more I think about it, I think we should be focussing more on bringing young players not the ageing ones. The only ageing players I would take is may be if it’s free agent with winning mentality. The four players in our starting XI DDG, Casemiro, Varane, and Eriksen are on their 30ish. Bruno is 28 while Shaw is turning into 28 this year. Add another or two more 30 years old players wouldn’t be good idea.

 

[Woziak]

Completely agree we should be all over signing Rabiot & Thuram as free agents. What about Maddison in that attacking number 10 role,obviously he would cost more than Dybala is the only issue.

I would actually prefer Maddison but it’s all down to cost, I’m just not sure we’ll have the money necessary for such major surgery, which is why we’ve got to be super smart this summer. He’ll cost £55m and £200k per week so on a 5 year contract he’s going to be £22.5m where’s as Dyballa will be same £200k but £15-17m so basically £13m on our books amortised

 

[Roboc7]

I think people are not being ambitious enough. Rabiot is likely playing at the highest level he's capable of playing and he wouldn't lay a glove on any of the City midfielders so how can he bring us closer to them. We've already got a really malfunctioning midfield and I don't see what problem Rabiot solves. He doesn't bring our average level up so what's the point. We need to find a guy like André Trindade at Fluminense who has the potential to develop into a Bruno Guimaraes level player, would be on modest wages and that we can sell on if it doesn't work for about as much as it costs to buy him or more. Rabiot will be free but will be on higher wages than any other team is likely to have an appetite to pay for a misfiring player if it doesn't work out with us and then he's just more deadwood riding out a Manchester United mega salary until he's 33.

Thuram was a fine option in January when we were desperate but is also purported to be looking for high wages and I just don't think he's good enough to warrant wages that will once again ensure he is hard to shift if he doesn't work out.

See Newcastle getting linked to Arda Guler and it pains me to see them getting linked to the next generation of superstars while we're getting linked to guys who are huge risks given the financial outlays (not necessarily talking about Rabiot and Thuram).

Until we get new owners and a complete clear out of the Executives we won’t see much of a change. Newcastle have been able to start making good moved in the market instantly after some new appointments, yet people keep deluding themselves everyone at Utd needs years to be judged or to change anything.

I just hope takeover starts progressing quickly as I’d imagine transfer activity will grind to a halt in latter stages and we have a lot to do.

 

[The Irish Connection]

I think people are not being ambitious enough. Rabiot is likely playing at the highest level he's capable of playing and he wouldn't lay a glove on any of the City midfielders so how can he bring us closer to them. We've already got a really malfunctioning midfield and I don't see what problem Rabiot solves. He doesn't bring our average level up so what's the point. We need to find a guy like André Trindade at Fluminense who has the potential to develop into a Bruno Guimaraes level player, would be on modest wages and that we can sell on if it doesn't work for about as much as it costs to buy him or more. Rabiot will be free but will be on higher wages than any other team is likely to have an appetite to pay for a misfiring player if it doesn't work out with us and then he's just more deadwood riding out a Manchester United mega salary until he's 33.

Thuram was a fine option in January when we were desperate but is also purported to be looking for high wages and I just don't think he's good enough to warrant wages that will once again ensure he is hard to shift if he doesn't work out.

See Newcastle getting linked to Arda Guler and it pains me to see them getting linked to the next generation of superstars while we're getting linked to guys who are huge risks given the financial outlays (not necessarily talking about Rabiot and Thuram).

Yes, I agree.
If we are being truly ambitious this is what I’d go for:

GK: Maignan
RB: Frimpong
CB: Kim Min Jae
CM: Caicedo
CM: De Jong/Alex Scott
RW: Coman
CF: Osimhen/Kane

10-12 sold

Fingers crossed the new owners have the ambition and it gets resolved soon so we can get cracking.

 

[Adnan]

Newcastle's recruitment structure hasn't changed at the top of the pyramid hence Steve Nickson who has been at the club for over 5 years is still the head of recruitment at their club. The difference is that their ownership has changed and the like of Nickson has have been able to cast the net wider.

At Ajax the head of recruitment is Henk Veldmate and it wasn't Overmars.

At Liverpool it's Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows who were in charge of identifying transfer targets and not Edwards in a Sporting director capacity.

At City it's Gary Worthington who is in charge of identifying transfer targets in a head of recruitment capacity and not Txiki.

And once the Glazers are gone, I think you'll see United being much more efficient in the transfer market.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Newcastle's recruitment structure hasn't changed at the top of the pyramid hence Steve Nickson who has been at the club for over 5 years is still the head of recruitment at their club. The difference is that their ownership has changed and the like of Nickson has have been able to cast the net wider.

At Ajax the head of recruitment is Henk Veldmate and it wasn't Overmars.

At Liverpool it's Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows who were in charge of identifying transfer targets and not Edwards in a Sporting director capacity.

At City it's Gary Worthington who is in charge of identifying transfer targets in a head of recruitment capacity and not Txiki.

And once the Glazers are gone, I think you'll see United being much more efficient in the transfer market.

I'm not even sure our scouting is as appalling as everyone makes out. We've had strong links to all the right players but we just never pull the trigger for the non-obvious players.

Ryan O'Hanlon wrote a very good piece for ESPN on how to build a champions league finalist based on the last ten finals which I think just highlights that bar exceptions like Neymar and Mbappe, very few of these teams are getting to the finals with the blockbuster >€100m signings.

https://www.espn.com/sports/insider...-league-lessons-winning-teams-roster-building

 

[Adnan]

I'm not even sure our scouting is as appalling as everyone makes out. We've had strong links to all the right players but we just never pull the trigger for the non-obvious players.

Ryan O'Hanlon wrote a very good piece for ESPN on how to build a champions league finalist based on the last ten finals which I think just highlights that bar exceptions like Neymar and Mbappe, very few of these teams are getting to the finals with the blockbuster >€100m signings.

https://www.espn.com/sports/insider...-league-lessons-winning-teams-roster-building

Thanks for sharing the article mate.

And what that article basically tells me is that we need a good mix of players. And we can't operate like Brighton or the RedBull teams due to the expectations at the club. It's fine at Brighton to probably finish in the top 10 and hence bring in younger players and have the patience to see them develop over several years, whilst finishing in the top half of the table. But we can't do that and hence it's important to mix things up and bring through the talented youth players, along with buying the ready made players and signing up players like Lavia and Caicedo etc, before they end up at clubs who will ask for big money. And there's a abundance of talent like that, which the article states, and I'm in complete agreement.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't sign the marquee players if the dots connect. We should look to sign those players aswell because unlike the RedBull clubs and Brighton, we also have ambitions to win the league and champions league. So a variety of players is definitely the way forward. And Garnacho is a classic example of bringing through the youth and we could potentially have a few more youngsters joining him in the first team next season.

I'm a big believer in hoovering up young talent and then supplementing that with established names.

 

[BorisManUtd]

IN: goalkeeper, central midfielder, top striker, another defensive midfielder (Lavia for example). Plus maybe another CB* (if it's Kim Min-jae) and backup ST.

Out: Henderson, Williams, Maguire, Lindelof*, Jones, Bailly, Telles, McTominay, van de Beek, Elanga, Sancho, Martial.

Seems like De Gea will be staying so I'm okay with it as long as he doesn't stay our 1st option and is on reduced wages (reduced in half).

We can get decent money for Henderson, Maguire, Lindelof, McTominay and Sancho. Not sure about others though.

 

[aeh1991]

We should take a serious look at Wahi from Montpellier. Feels like a player whose value will explode once he joins a bigger team. Could be a good Martial replacement if we sign someone like Hojlund or Kane as first striker.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Kane - 80m
Thuram - 40m
Kim - 43m
Raya - 30m

Kane
Rashford Bruno Antony
Thuram Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Kim Awb
Raya​

 

[daba]

With the increasing likelihood of De Gea staying this is what I’d like to see:

GK - Verbruggen (or someone of a similar profile) £15m
CB - Kim Min Jae £42m
CM - Rabiot £0m + £8m signing fee
DM - Caicedo - £90m
CM - Alex Scott - £25m (loan back for 1 season)
ST - Kane - £90m

Total Spend = £270m

Out: Henderson, Maguire, Fred, Donny (loan), Elanga, Laird, Williams, Telles, Bailly, Jone

Total Sales = £100m


If that’s too much or we have cheaper summer then perhaps going for Ugarte over Caicedo and we don’t move for Alex Scott (although I think he’d be a really good Eriksen replacement in the squad in a couple years), that would save us a good £60-65m, and leave a net spend of just over £100m, which is realistic whatever the takeover outcome.

 

[King Kendrick]

In order of importance:
Mamardashvili/Costa- £40/60m
Ramos -£100m & Marcus Thuram - Free
Sam Ricci/Max Lopez -£25m & Ceballos-Free
Lavia/Ugarte- £40m
KMJ £45

AWB sale - KWP/Frimpong-£30m
Maguire sale - Ignacio - £45m

 

[croadyman]

With the increasing likelihood of De Gea staying this is what I’d like to see:

GK - Verbruggen (or someone of a similar profile) £15m
CB - Kim Min Jae £42m
CM - Rabiot £0m + £8m signing fee
DM - Caicedo - £90m
CM - Alex Scott - £25m (loan back for 1 season)
ST - Kane - £90m

Total Spend = £270m

Out: Henderson, Maguire, Fred, Donny (loan), Elanga, Laird, Williams, Telles, Bailly, Jone

Total Sales = £100m


If that’s too much or we have cheaper summer then perhaps going for Ugarte over Caicedo and we don’t move for Alex Scott (although I think he’d be a really good Eriksen replacement in the squad in a couple years), that would save us a good £60-65m, and leave a net spend of just over £100m, which is realistic whatever the takeover outcome.

Much as I would love it just can't see us paying £90m each for Caicedo & Kane

 

[golden_blunder]

It’s amazing how many will still sell AWB. What else does he need to do to convince?

 

[glasgow 21]

Bento /

Kim / Šutalo/Disasi


Gravenberch / Khéphren Thuram

Xavi Simons

Sesko / Marcos Leonardo/ Marcus Thuram

One for the future
Luka Vušković
Desire Doué

 

[Woziak]

Looking at the Smug Avram yesterday at Wembley, it’s looks increasingly likely that they will drag this out and be fully involved in transfers this summer. Just here me out, I know it sound crazy but it was reported earlier in the year after our annual accounts when the club posted losses of £115m that they had also depleted their credit line facility for transfers which had a revolving £300m credit line, this had been explained for huge outlay in the summer against a huge loss of £115m but this years accounts should be much better and the credit line was due to be paid at the end of June 2023 when the PL money is paid to teams. The wages would have reduced dramatically due to Europa League football clauses.

The sheer boldness of the players linked at the moment is crazy for a team not spending, The Glazers have some link with both parties regarding targets and will be using the credit facility to agree to purchase players, most of these transfer are normally amortised so on completion of a £80m player signed on a 5 year contract at £10m wages per year, the club will only have to pay £16m plus agents fees which could be between £5 and £8m, of course the club must make previous amortised payments for players like Casemeiro,Martinez and Antony, Sancho unless they paid for any of these up front, you can probably allocate at least of £100m of that £300m for fees owed for players bought in last 3/4 years.

The other area which is important is wages forecast into this years budget, the club may only spend 90% of Turnover on financials, wages, agent fees etc for season 23/24. Hopefully we qualify for CL and turnover should be £625m for this season, the year after this will grow to approximately £650m due to CL changes however the FSP rule changes to 80%.

My theory is the takeover will be delayed to late 23 a long time after Transfer window has closed, however Avram will tell everyone he’s been working with potential new owners and he has their blessing to pursue the clubs transfer targets, he’ll spend big because it’s not really his money and he knows who ever comes in then has to pay off the club and transfer debt.

So I think we will spend £200-220m after player sales which are more important this year due to FSP.

Players Definitely Sold and Released - E Bailey(5), B Williams(7), A Telles(8), H Maguire (30), D Henderson (25), A Elanga (15), A Tuanzebe (R), P Jones (R), Sabitzer(R), Weghorst(R)

Players who could be Sold or loaned -
S Mctominay (35), J Sancho (55) or loan,
A Martial (20), M Greenwood (25) or loan

I think we will sell one of the above list and loan one probably keeping Sancho and Martial.

Players we will probably buy -
GK - D Raya (30m)
CB - KMJ (50m)
BTB/CM - A Rabiot (Free)
DM/CM - Caciedo or D Rice (80m)
CF/ST - G Ramos/R Hojlund (70m)
CF/ST - M Thurham - Free

We won’t get V Osimhen or H Kane and will look to do two strikers to mitigate the risk plus we need two strikers anyway, more so if Martial goes as well as Greenwood.
This is about a £100-120m net spend with the caveat that ETH probably wants one signing, another attacking number 10, a player like P Dyballa, M Kudas, J Maddison or M Mount which is another £20-45m investment.