What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

[DickDastardly]

Bit more crystalized now.
I'll just get the ones we need, the ones that need to leave are for a different topic.

GK - Martinez
CB - Kim
MF - De Jong
CF - Kane/Osimeh/Vlahović

Booster GK, hungry cocky motherfecker.
CB - seems calm and easy to adjust, also a winners mentality.
MF - Erik wants him, he'd bring tempo and control to games, something we badly need.
CF - get the one that's the easiest to get.
We'd do without the sagas and shit, take it or leave it for all three.

Tottenham have fallen badly, maybe Harry has had enough.
Napoli will probably sack their coach, maybe players will want to leave.
Juventus, if they get deducted again, that's no CL or any european football for them, again, maybe they'd sell.

 

[bosnian_red]

Given I don't think a title challenge is realistic next season - Kane for a huge price at his age when he is a free next summer is very questionable. We are more than Kane away from winning it. Our budget is up in the air, our ownership situation is inevitably about to feck our transfer window, so we need to be smart with our business.

Leaning Rasmus Hojlund to be the guy. Get Kane on a free next year if needed. Target next season should be cementing top 4, good showing in CL, continue building as a team towards a title challenge in 24/25. Hojlund is young, but good enough to start for us and improve us enough for us to kick on, and physical enough to transition to the league.

Add a goalkeeper, Rabiot and Lavia to Hojlund and it's a great window.

• Rabiot - free
• Hojlund - £50m
• Lavia - £40m
• Goalkeeper - ??? Someone to start
• Younger Center back to replace Maguire

Outgoings:

• The long list of rejects we can't sell but always loan
• Maguire
• Henderson
• Elanga

Should be fine with 100m net spend.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Ideal one (+ subs)

In : 340M - Costa (50M), Timber (40M), Kim (50M), Ndidi (20M), Rabiot (free), Maddison (30M), Osihmen (150M)
Out : 140M - Henderson (20M), Bailly (10M), Maguire (20M), Telles (10M), Wan Bissaka (30M), Williams (5M), Fred (15M), Mc Tominay (20M), Van de Beek (10M),
Net spent : 200M

-----------------------------------------------Costa(De Gea)------------------------------------

Timber(Dalot)------Kim(Lindelof)--------Martinez(Varane)----Shaw(Malacia)

-------------------------Casemiro(Ndidi)-----------------Rabiot(Eriksen)--------------------

Antony(Sancho)----------------Bruno(Maddison)----------Rashford(Garnacho)

---------------------------------------------Osihmen(Martial)----------------------------------

 

[Hughes35]

I've said it before in other threads but I really want something like the below and feel like it's very doable

OUT

Maguire - 25Mill
Fred or Mctom - 20Mill
Brandon Williams - 5Mill
Telles - 5Mill
DVB - 20Mill
Jones / Axel / Weghorst / Sabitzer - Free

Approx 75Million


IN

GK - Several options for around 50Mill
Kim - 40Mill
Kane - 80Mill
Rabiot - Free
Other CM (Lavia or another) - 50Mill

Gives a net spend of approx 145Million

I see absolutely no reason why this isn't realistic.

It would be a brilliant summer.

 

[Borussia Teeth]

I've said it before in other threads but I really want something like the below and feel like it's very doable

OUT

Maguire - 25Mill
Fred or Mctom - 20Mill
Brandon Williams - 5Mill
Telles - 5Mill
DVB - 20Mill
Jones / Axel / Weghorst / Sabitzer - Free

Approx 75Million


IN

GK - Several options for around 50Mill
Kim - 40Mill
Kane - 80Mill
Rabiot - Free
Other CM (Lavia or another) - 50Mill

Gives a net spend of approx 145Million

I see absolutely no reason why this isn't realistic.

It would be a brilliant summer.

I don't think it's 'realistic' to expect £20m for a 30 year old Fred in the last year of his contract. Nor is it 'realistic' to expect £20m for vdB who has hardly played for 3 years. Everything else seems reasonable.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Kane/Ramos/Muani - 80m
Rabiot - free
Kim - 43m
Timber - 40m
Raya - 30m

Kane
Rashford Bruno Antony
Rabiot Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Kim Timber
Raya
​

I'd think there's at least a suprise title challenge with this team

 

[jesperjaap]

Util we know about the ownership and budget, dificult to say who we should be targeting, also a lot of player ssituations are still ot clear.

DeGea looks like staying, do we sell Bissaka or DAlot or neither/both, does lindelof want to go as he thiks he should start more games (he shouldn) which adds to a clear out already of centre backs, who says out of McFred/VDB and can we sell them anyway? What are the plas for Mainoo, Hannibal, Pellestri, Amad?

I think the priority is a striker, then a number 8

Behind that I think a first choice attacking right back.

With Degea looking like staying, the GK short term anyway is more a squad signing so dont see us making big waves for someone like Costa.

2nd choice GK, reserve CB, second striker are also imperative....still think we need more, but 3 first elvean players and 3squad players to compete for the first time are imperative as the minimum this summer as things stand and look, that is a minimum of six signings.

I still think seven are needed (2nd midfielder), but my gut feeling is we sign 5, one of them is big and oe of them is free or peanuts.

Persoally dont think we should be spending over £50m on any signig as in terms of age or ability, I dot thik any of the big names mentioned give us value over mid or log term....the only ones do arent coming quite simply.

Vicario, Diouff, Vanderson, Frimpong, Jai, Bella Kotchap, Caqueret, Le Fee, Andre, Varela, Maddison, Lavia, Tyler Adams, Oban, Hoijlad, Roque......so many names out there that I doubt cost £50m, a lot of them way way under and think all of them improve the squad and a lot of them are more than capable of getting into our current first eleven, quite a few walk into it in m yopinion if we take the blinkers off.

We can get six signings+ if we sell well and buy well regardless of the budget, we failed to do it last year i my opinion even though it was a decent window, currently it was way way too much money in terms of a long term plan what we bought.

Its press talk of course buildig already but I wouldnt be at all surprised if we did something like Kane, Thuram, Rabiot, Jai..and a left field signing for around £20m. I terms of progress does aybody other than Kane seriously progress the first eleven OR improve the side in 3years time for example, really hope we dont go down that kind of route personally

 

[Woziak]

Kane/Ramos/Muani - 80m
Rabiot - free
Kim - 43m
Timber - 40m
Raya - 30m

Kane
Rashford Bruno Antony
Rabiot Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Kim Timber
Raya
​

I'd think there's at least a suprise title challenge with this team

Squad still not deep enough to challenge, we’ve got over 80 points once in 10 years and over 70pl goals once in 10 years, let’s stop dreaming. Only 6/7 top signings make us a tithe challenge team and then another 2/3 top players in January Winter.

We need huge investment to challenge;
GK - M Maignan
CB - KMJ
RB - Hakimi or DumFries
DM/CM - M Caciedo, Kimmich,
A Rabiot or D Rice
AM/8 - N Barella or M Veratti
CF - V Oshimen or H Kane
Back up Striker - M Thurham

Winter Window
RWS - O Dembele or L Sane
LB - A Davies

That lot will cost a fortune, so highly unlikely but that squad would challenge.

 

[croadyman]

I've said it before in other threads but I really want something like the below and feel like it's very doable

OUT

Maguire - 25Mill
Fred or Mctom - 20Mill
Brandon Williams - 5Mill
Telles - 5Mill
DVB - 20Mill
Jones / Axel / Weghorst / Sabitzer - Free

Approx 75Million


IN

GK - Several options for around 50Mill
Kim - 40Mill
Kane - 80Mill
Rabiot - Free
Other CM (Lavia or another) - 50Mill

Gives a net spend of approx 145Million

I see absolutely no reason why this isn't realistic.

It would be a brilliant summer.

Yeah that would be a brilliant window

No solid concrete links to a GK/other CM yet

 

[croadyman]

Kane/Ramos/Muani - 80m
Rabiot - free
Kim - 43m
Timber - 40m
Raya - 30m

Kane
Rashford Bruno Antony
Rabiot Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Kim Timber
Raya
​

I'd think there's at least a suprise title challenge with this team

Still feel we need another midfielder who is more of a playmaker class on the ball,probably more than an attacking RB. Obviously in an ideal world we are able to get both but looks a big ask.

 

[Hughes35]

I don't think it's 'realistic' to expect £20m for a 30 year old Fred in the last year of his contract. Nor is it 'realistic' to expect £20m for vdB who has hardly played for 3 years. Everything else seems reasonable.

Didn't realise Fred was last year. Maybe 10 million for him, and 15million for DVB.

Either way, gives a net spend of around 150-170Million. For a club our size that has just qualified for the CL again, new(ish) manager still building his squad and hopefully new owners, it really shouldn't be too far fetched.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

This summer I think we're going to need to prioritise and also look at getting some bargains.

I've been thinking about our situation, the fact that we need a few players in and don't have a lot of money to splash out. Here's what I'd go for:

ST: Kolo Muani (£60-70m hopefully) shouldn't be as expensive as someone like Osimhen who I'd prefer, or Kane who are both at clubs where you're likely to get rinsed, but he's excellent and would be a great signing.

ST backup: We can't really splash out here, but if we activated the release fee for Kang In-Lee (£17m I think) then Rashford could move to ST backup position when the former inevitably pushes him out of the starting lineup.

MF: Rabiot (£0) free transfer no-brainer unless his mum gets too greedy.

CB: Kim Min-Jae (£45m) hopefully the fee is offset somewhat by selling on Maguire so he shouldn't cost too much once this is factored in.

GK: Sadly I think this is a stretch too far. Unless we can move on a few other players but then we would have to replace them in the squad. A GK at the level we require would cost a lot and we already have DDG who we are clearly keen to keep on.

 

[tidraKS]

IN:

1. Harry Kane
2. David Raya
3. Kim Min-Jae
4. Youri Tielemans (still think he's great and would flourish in a great team)
5. Mason Mount
6. Greenwood back

OUT:

1. Anthony Martial
2. Harry Maguire
3. Fred
4. Alex Telles
5. Donny Van de Beek
and other releases or small fee transfers

 

[mufc_sd]

IN:

GK - Bart Verbruggen (£5m): A cheap, young, modern goalkeeper who can challenge De Gea.

CB - Kim Min-jae (£45m): An excellent replacement for Maguire, with good aerial presence. He can also challenge Varane.

CM - Adrien Rabiot (free): Getting him on a free is a no-brainer. I would take him over Sabitzer.

CM - Enzo Le Fée (£25m): An exciting young prospect. Being following him for a while, very underrated! Getting him for less than £30m is an absolute bargain.

ST - Marcus Thuram (free): On a free, he is an excellent backup and can play in multiple positions.

ST - Harry Kane (£80m): Premier League proven and can guarantee 25 goals per season. It's a no-brainer.

Total spending = £155m

With outgoings, this will decrease significantly and potentially free up funds for a right-back.

 

[daba]

I've said it before in other threads but I really want something like the below and feel like it's very doable

OUT

Maguire - 25Mill
Fred or Mctom - 20Mill
Brandon Williams - 5Mill
Telles - 5Mill
DVB - 20Mill
Jones / Axel / Weghorst / Sabitzer - Free

Approx 75Million


IN

GK - Several options for around 50Mill
Kim - 40Mill
Kane - 80Mill
Rabiot - Free
Other CM (Lavia or another) - 50Mill

Gives a net spend of approx 145Million

I see absolutely no reason why this isn't realistic.

It would be a brilliant summer.

I don't think it's 'realistic' to expect £20m for a 30 year old Fred in the last year of his contract. Nor is it 'realistic' to expect £20m for vdB who has hardly played for 3 years. Everything else seems reasonable.

I agree, I think 30m in total for both Fred and Donny seems more like it. But you could more than make up that 10m deficit by selling Elanga for 20m, which I think is realistic given how much Dan James went for.

 

[daba]

Kane/Ramos/Muani - 80m
Rabiot - free
Kim - 43m
Timber - 40m
Raya - 30m

Kane
Rashford Bruno Antony
Rabiot Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Kim Timber
Raya
​

I'd think there's at least a suprise title challenge with this team

Nice. And if De Gea ended up staying you could add in Lavia with the 30m saved on Raya.

 

[croadyman]

IN:

GK - Bart Verbruggen (£5m): A cheap, young, modern goalkeeper who can challenge De Gea.

CB - Kim Min-jae (£45m): An excellent replacement for Maguire, with good aerial presence. He can also challenge Varane.

CM - Adrien Rabiot (free): Getting him on a free is a no-brainer. I would take him over Sabitzer.

CM - Enzo Le Fée (£25m): An exciting young prospect. Being following him for a while, very underrated! Getting him for less than £30m is an absolute bargain.

ST - Marcus Thuram (free): On a free, he is an excellent backup and can play in multiple positions.

ST - Harry Kane (£80m): Premier League proven and can guarantee 25 goals per season. It's a no-brainer.

Total spending = £155m

With outgoings, this will decrease significantly and potentially free up funds for a right-back.

What's Verbruggen like with his feet in terms of distribution and command of area. Also how good is this Le Fee on the ball and what's his passing quality

 

[mufc_sd]

What's Verbruggen like with his feet in terms of distribution and command of area.

For an 18-year-old, he's very good on the ball, adept at claiming crosses, ranking in the 92nd and 95th percentile, respectively.

how good is this Le Fee on the ball and what's his passing quality

Le Fee is unreal; he possesses exceptional technical skills. You will see him making lots of through balls, key and smart passes, and completing deep passes on par with elite-level creators. He is also willing to engage in duels and tackles. Stats wise, Le Fee ranks in the top 2.5% of Ligue 1 with 1.83 possession-adjusted sliding tackles, 23.51 duels per 90 minutes, and 8.74 defensive duels per 90 minutes...

 

[croadyman]

For an 18-year-old, he's very good on the ball, adept at claiming crosses, ranking in the 92nd and 95th percentile, respectively.



Le Fee is unreal; he possesses exceptional technical skills. You will see him making lots of through balls, key and smart passes, and completing deep passes on par with elite-level creators. He is also willing to engage in duels and tackles. Stats wise, Le Fee ranks in the top 2.5% of Ligue 1 with 1.83 possession-adjusted sliding tackles, 23.51 duels per 90 minutes, and 8.74 defensive duels per 90 minutes...

So why aren't we all over him then

 

[mufc_sd]

So why aren't we all over him then

Good question, we are monitoring both apparently.

 

[Erik the Red]

At Citeh, in Peps 2nd season they shipped out around 16 players and had 8 new arrivals including the likes of Ederson, Walker, Laporte and B. Silva

Now ETH has had a whole season to look at the squad, he will know which players he wants to keep and who is surplus to requirements. The squad is too big, and I fully expect ETH to tell players that realistically they are not going to play for the club again, and if they want to play professional football, they should look for a new club, otherwise they will rot in the reserves.

Getting in a core of the best English players (rumours about Kane, Rice and Mount) to slot in alongside Shaw, Rashford, unnamed?, etc., gives a strong English contingent. This is important as English players typically stay for the longer term, as they are unlikely to move to a rival, and they don't all dream of Madrid and Barca.

I can foresee a situation where ETH clears the decks and moves on most / all the deadwood, and he will know which positions need filling in the first team and the squad. The strongest rumours over the past couple of days are:

Min-Jae
Frimpong
Rabiot
Rice
Mount
Kane
Neymar (loan).

To replace the likes of Henderson, Jones, Maguire, Bailly, Tuanzebe, Williams, Telles, Fred, McTominay, van der Beek, Elanga, Martial, Sabitzer and Weghorst.

That is 7 in 14 out, but massively improves both our first team and our wider squad. Although I will get accused of playing Football Manager, which of those 14 players are likely to play if we kept them next season?

 

[The-Mezzala]

IN:

GK - Bart Verbruggen (£5m): A cheap, young, modern goalkeeper who can challenge De Gea.

CB - Kim Min-jae (£45m): An excellent replacement for Maguire, with good aerial presence. He can also challenge Varane.

CM - Adrien Rabiot (free): Getting him on a free is a no-brainer. I would take him over Sabitzer.

CM - Enzo Le Fée (£25m): An exciting young prospect. Being following him for a while, very underrated! Getting him for less than £30m is an absolute bargain.

ST - Marcus Thuram (free): On a free, he is an excellent backup and can play in multiple positions.

ST - Harry Kane (£80m): Premier League proven and can guarantee 25 goals per season. It's a no-brainer.

Total spending = £155m

With outgoings, this will decrease significantly and potentially free up funds for a right-back.

Some very good choices.Leandro Paredes is another cheap option in midfield if Rabiot stays with Juventus. Le Fee looks a great young talent. Not seen much of the Belgium Keeper

 

[jesperjaap]

I think the more I waatch us, beyond a striker, a quality number 8 is the biggest priority. All our options for different reasons as a number 8 are crap...including Eriksen, defensively lacking and legs are gone as much as Matic.

So, I know a good player, but Rabiot and some of these other free signings in other areas...dont care if they are cheap, they dont solve the problem. Weve missed out on a few good midfielders Caicedo and ENzo obviously spring to mind....but there are a whole host of real quality young midfielders around at the moments Rice, Bellingham, Lavia, Caqueret, Le Fee, etc etc etc, several South AMericans look quality....we are talking price ranges from £10/20m up to nearer £100m....are they as experienced, of course not, but our side has experience, but the abilities and versatility of some of these players with very differing skill sets adds so much more to our side.

I really like Jae, he looks quality...but why is everyone so happy to sped over £40m on what could or could not be a back up centre back....yet are looking for free or cheap options in central midfield when beyond some promising youngsters we are stacked with at best medicority?

 

[daba]

I think the more I waatch us, beyond a striker, a quality number 8 is the biggest priority. All our options for different reasons as a number 8 are crap...including Eriksen, defensively lacking and legs are gone as much as Matic.

So, I know a good player, but Rabiot and some of these other free signings in other areas...dont care if they are cheap, they dont solve the problem. Weve missed out on a few good midfielders Caicedo and ENzo obviously spring to mind....but there are a whole host of real quality young midfielders around at the moments Rice, Bellingham, Lavia, Caqueret, Le Fee, etc etc etc, several South AMericans look quality....we are talking price ranges from £10/20m up to nearer £100m....are they as experienced, of course not, but our side has experience, but the abilities and versatility of some of these players with very differing skill sets adds so much more to our side.

I really like Jae, he looks quality...but why is everyone so happy to sped over £40m on what could or could not be a back up centre back....yet are looking for free or cheap options in central midfield when beyond some promising youngsters we are stacked with at best medicority?

Everyone is happy to spend £40m on Jae because…

Varane can’t play every week and misses a good 1/3 of games every season. So we need a top tier CB to cover those games as well as any Martinez misses. Lindelof is good and has performed well since we lost both Varane and Martinez, but as we’ve seen in the past he isn’t top tier. If we want to get to City’s level we need to build a squad with comparable depth, otherwise going for titles and trebles will never be possible, as a weak depth will cost us points and cup ties.

Kim is right footed but has played mainly at LCB for Napoli this season, so is clearly competent at playing on either side which is what we also need. Sure Shaw can fill in but then we‘re taking possibly the best LB in the league out of position.

He’s perfectly suited to the Prem. He’s quick, aggressive and tall (if that’s still an argument) so we can play a high line with him. He’s good on the ball, not Martinez level, but certainly better than Varane (and Varane’s alright). He’s great at making runs, like Maguire used to do at Leicester, but he’s much quicker and more aggressive.

He’s also been one of the best CBs in the world this year and just hitting his peak years. Without his release clause he’s easily worth £80m (given he’s at Napoli, maybe even more). So £43m is simply incredible value in this crazy market of inflated fees.

To answer you question as to why people are happy to cheap out in CM, I guess that’s just because this summer there are some pretty interesting options due to contract situations. And other options like Fe Jong and Bellingham aren’t happening.

Rabiot is a good level or two above McTominay so for free it just makes sense to get him and move on Scott for 20-30m. As for going for someone like Le Fee for 20m, we still have Eriksen who is quality in 80% games but in the 20% against the top 6 and harder CL games he tends to struggle due to the intensity. Someone like Le Fee may be less technical today than Eriksen, but could offer more in those tough games (as would Rabiot), and would long term replace Eriksen naturally in the squad over the next year or two as his technical level improves.

Long answer but that’s my perspective. That being said I want us to get Caicedo in over Le Fee as I just think he’s too good to miss out on to a domestic rival.

 

[Woziak]

Some very good choices.Leandro Paredes is another cheap option in midfield if Rabiot stays with Juventus. Le Fee looks a great young talent. Not seen much of the Belgium Keeper

I would go exactly the same as your picks player for player apart from GK but we won’t get Kane, Levy is not worth the phone call, we also will have a homegrown problem which is why we are looking at Maddison or Mount to give Bruno competition as ETH thinks he can play as the 8 next to Casemeiro. Personally I like to add Moses Caciedo for A Rabiot if we but R Hojlund for £45m so I’m spending £250m which is what’s needed.
23/24 United Squad
GK - D Raya (30m), D De Gea, T Heaton(HG)
Defenders - AWB, D Dalot, KMJ(43m), R Varane, V Lindelof, L Martinez, L Shaw, T Mallacia - (2 HG)
Midfielder- Casemeiro, Caciedo(85m), Eriksen, Bruno, E Le Fey (25m), M Mount (45m), S Mctominay (2 HG)
Attackers - R Hojlund(45m), M Thirham(Free), M Rashford, J Sancho, A Garnaucho, Antony, Amad (3 HG)

We need 8 from 25 as HG players this is why ‘he who will not be named’ might be kept or loaned out for 6 months.
This is a spend of £270m and we’ll sell about £70-80m worth of players. We can then ask Kane to do deal in January at £40-45m

 

[jesperjaap]

Everyone is happy to spend £40m on Jae because…

Varane can’t play every week and misses a good 1/3 of games every season. So we need a top tier CB to cover those games as well as any Martinez misses. Lindelof is good and has performed well since we lost both Varane and Martinez, but as we’ve seen in the past he isn’t top tier. If we want to get to City’s level we need to build a squad with comparable depth, otherwise going for titles and trebles will never be possible, as a weak depth will cost us points and cup ties.

Kim is right footed but has played mainly at LCB for Napoli this season, so is clearly competent at playing on either side which is what we also need. Sure Shaw can fill in but then we‘re taking possibly the best LB in the league out of position.

He’s perfectly suited to the Prem. He’s quick, aggressive and tall (if that’s still an argument) so we can play a high line with him. He’s good on the ball, not Martinez level, but certainly better than Varane (and Varane’s alright). He’s great at making runs, like Maguire used to do at Leicester, but he’s much quicker and more aggressive.

He’s also been one of the best CBs in the world this year and just hitting his peak years. Without his release clause he’s easily worth £80m (given he’s at Napoli, maybe even more). So £43m is simply incredible value in this crazy market of inflated fees.

To answer you question as to why people are happy to cheap out in CM, I guess that’s just because this summer there are some pretty interesting options due to contract situations. And other options like Fe Jong and Bellingham aren’t happening.

Rabiot is a good level or two above McTominay so for free it just makes sense to get him and move on Scott for 20-30m. As for going for someone like Le Fee for 20m, we still have Eriksen who is quality in 80% games but in the 20% against the top 6 and harder CL games he tends to struggle due to the intensity. Someone like Le Fee may be less technical today than Eriksen, but could offer more in those tough games (as would Rabiot), and would long term replace Eriksen naturally in the squad over the next year or two as his technical level improves.

Long answer but that’s my perspective. That being said I want us to get Caicedo in over Le Fee as I just think he’s too good to miss out on to a domestic rival.

That wasnt my point, I thik Jae is a really good signig, I am all for signing him, absolutely. The point was more we have an excellent centre back already, even if he may miss a lot of games, so Jae is initially a squad signing...a very good one.

Was more a poit we DONT have a single good number 8, McFred have been dreadful for years, yet people still backing Fred recently, Eriksen is gettting old and his impact on the season has been massively over valued, he has been a 6 out of 10 and is fading. VDB was always a poor siging for me.

None fo them are starters for me in fact pretty mch all of them coul dbe showed the door. So there is a real lack of starting quality there. So the point was more why £40m on a centre back, but...ad you have just done it again...the "Rabiot is an upgrade"....yes, nearly anyname mentioned is a upgrade on what wecurrently have. We have some good youngsters to come through there...but we dont need an upgrade at umber 8, we eed a serious injection of quality as its a huge weakness in this side currently, especially defensively. A real qualtiy player there improves ushugely I feel as a side. It doest have to be £100m on some of the big names, but is has to be someone with more than Rabiot

 

[The Boy]

Depending on the ownership I could see you buying 5 players realistically this summer.

You're linked with Kane, Rice, Frimpong and Mount, that would revolutionise how you play

Kane/Martial/Rashford

Rashford/Sancho/Garnacho Bruno/Mount/Eriksen Antony/Sancho/Amad/Pellistri

Casemiro/Rice/Fred Rice/Eriksen/Mount/Fred

Shaw/Malacia/Dalot Martinez/Maguire Varane/Lindelof Frimpong/AWB/Dalot

DDG


​

Out: Mct, DvB, Henderson, Bailly, Williams, Jones, Sabitzer, Weghorst, Elanga, Greenwood.

Sign a good GK and that's a squad I could imagine challenging on all fronts

 

[mufc_sd]

Leandro Paredes

Paredes is a good shout, but he will probably end up at Atlético Madrid.

Not seen much of the Belgium Keeper

I watched him twice this season after we were linked with him, both in the Conference League against AZ and Villarreal. I thought he was very decent, especially in that Villarreal game where he was MOTM. For the reported £5m, you can't go wrong. An alternative option would be our academy player Matěj Kovář, who is having a sensational season with Sparta Prague. They just won the league for the first time in 10 years.

 

[daba]

That wasnt my point, I thik Jae is a really good signig, I am all for signing him, absolutely. The point was more we have an excellent centre back already, even if he may miss a lot of games, so Jae is initially a squad signing...a very good one.

Was more a poit we DONT have a single good number 8, McFred have been dreadful for years, yet people still backing Fred recently, Eriksen is gettting old and his impact on the season has been massively over valued, he has been a 6 out of 10 and is fading. VDB was always a poor siging for me.

None fo them are starters for me in fact pretty mch all of them coul dbe showed the door. So there is a real lack of starting quality there. So the point was more why £40m on a centre back, but...ad you have just done it again...the "Rabiot is an upgrade"....yes, nearly anyname mentioned is a upgrade on what wecurrently have. We have some good youngsters to come through there...but we dont need an upgrade at umber 8, we eed a serious injection of quality as its a huge weakness in this side currently, especially defensively. A real qualtiy player there improves ushugely I feel as a side. It doest have to be £100m on some of the big names, but is has to be someone with more than Rabiot

You asked the question “why is everyone happy spending 40m on Jae” and I gave you your answer (well my answer, but these are all points shared by majority of people following his potential signing).

To answer your point about an 8, it’s not like we only have a 40m budget and we’re spunking it all on Jae and getting Rabiot on a free to solve the 8 issue on his own.

Id like to see us sign Rabiot and someone like Caicedo who both offer different solution in that number 8 role and would give us genuine world class midfield options for the next few years. Rabiot is class, I think you’re under appreciating how good he is. He is far far better than McTominay technically, which is the main reason he isn’t Man Utd / ETH side quality, and better in pretty much every other element. Caicedo is awesome and would basically become a younger, already better, calmer, smarter, more technically gifted version of Fred with huge potential.

Frenkie or Bellingham would have been great but neither are happening. There isn’t a clear and obvious plan B to Frenkie as he’s a unique talent and there aren’t any players that offers his suite of qualities in a single player, which begs the question.

Who is your realistic suggestion for the 8 position who will give us this serious injection of quality?

 

[jesperjaap]

You asked the question “why is everyone happy spending 40m on Jae” and I gave you your answer (well my answer, but these are all points shared by majority of people following his potential signing).

To answer your point about an 8, it’s not like we only have a 40m budget and we’re spunking it all on Jae and getting Rabiot on a free to solve the 8 issue on his own.

Id like to see us sign Rabiot and someone like Caicedo who both offer different solution in that number 8 role and would give us genuine world class midfield options for the next few years. Rabiot is class, I think you’re under appreciating how good he is. He is far far better than McTominay technically, which is the main reason he isn’t Man Utd / ETH side quality, and better in pretty much every other element. Caicedo is awesome and would basically become a younger, already better, calmer, smarter, more technically gifted version of Fred with huge potential.

Frenkie or Bellingham would have been great but neither are happening. There isn’t a clear and obvious plan B to Frenkie as he’s a unique talent and there aren’t any players that offers his suite of qualities in a single player, which begs the question.

Who is your realistic suggestion for the 8 position who will give us this serious injection of quality?

Well you are mentioning two midfielders, was making the point about people signing one and it being Rabiot. Have mentioned midfielders plenty of times in thsi thread, dont feel the need to for some kind of argument.

But come on, why do people throw these kind of comments out “offer us genuine world class midfielder options”, I like Caicedo and know Rabiot is a good player regardless of liking him or not, but you cant throw out the term world class on either of them currently.

Really don’t get what you are arguing about here anyway, made simple point of number 8 being a priority along with a striker and people being obsessed with filling these positions with free signings that don’t for me significantly improve the first eleven or squad long term option wise which is strange to me when it’s the two areas we are weakest in, yet happy to spend a lot of money on a centre back when we have more options there, so what is the actual point you are making here in response as I don’t see one?

 

[daba]

Well you are mentioning two midfielders, was making the point about people signing one and it being Rabiot. Have mentioned midfielders plenty of times in thsi thread, dont feel the need to for some kind of argument.

But come on, why do people throw these kind of comments out “offer us genuine world class midfielder options”, I like Caicedo and know Rabiot is a good player regardless of liking him or not, but you cant throw out the term world class on either of them currently.

Really don’t get what you are arguing about here anyway, made simple point of number 8 being a priority along with a striker and people being obsessed with filling these positions with free signings that don’t for me significantly improve the first eleven or squad long term option wise which is strange to me when it’s the two areas we are weakest in, yet happy to spend a lot of money on a centre back when we have more options there, so what is the actual point you are making here in response as I don’t see one?

Not trying to have an argument or anything mate, just sharing my view after you asked a question in a forum.

My point was that I think Rabiot would be a good signing and an opportunity to add known quality to our midfield for minimal cost and replacing/improving on players you’ve stated as being crap. My point was also under the assumption he wouldn’t be the sole midfield signing and would come in alongside another midfield signing like Caicedo/Lavia/Ugarte/Thuram.

Casemiro, Bruno, Eriksen, Rabiot, Caicedo is a world class midfield group IMO and probably only really behind Real and Man City, but arguably on a par or better than Bayern, PSG, Liverpool etc.

I checked back to your original post to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind, but you missed the detail in your point about someone like Rabiot being our ONLY midfield signing in your post/response. If Rabiot was our only number 8 signing due to limited funds and we spent £40m on Kim then I can see your point. But you’re also talking about signing significant upgrades on what we have, which I don’t think is possible with that £40m, so we need to be smart, balance signing the right player and overspending on a single player, and take the occasional calculated risk.

If we are that short on budget, do I think we could keep with Lindelof for another season and better use that £40m on someone like Lavia or towards Caicedo instead of signing Kim, future-proofing our midfield with a top young player? Yeah, I’d be open to that.

But if I’m being optimistic and we’re able to actually shift some of our squad with value and our deadwood allowing us to have a Gross spend of £200-250m again this summer. Given Kim’s release clause is likely half his market value, why not have a look at improving on Lindelof with Kim for probably a net spend of £10-15m?

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

If we sell Maguire and one of our right back, I think we should sign Timber as right back but also as a player that can cover CB. I think Timber fits ETH's profile to play that inverted right back. Good in progressing the ball, good in progressive passes, and can retain possession against high press.

 

[Orange Tree]

Rabiot, free and very good

Yann Sommer, if De Gea extends, otherwise splurge on Diogo Costa

Lee Kang In, technically amazing and can play across the midfield

Rasmus Hojlund or Jonathan David. Both if Martial leaves

Kim Min Jae, if Maguire leaves and I hope he does

Frimpong, if AWB leaves

 

[daba]

The perfect summer doesn’t exist….

In (300m)
Diogo Costa 55m
Timber 45m
Kim 45m
Rabiot 0m
Caicedo 80m
Alex Scott 25m
Hojland 50m

Out (115m)
De Gea free
Henderson 25m
Maguire 20m
Bailly 5m
McTominay 30m
Donny 15m
Elanga 20m

Net fee = 185m

 

[eire-red]

We only need 2 or 3 top tier players. Kane is now at the same age as Casemiro was when we brought him in. Does anyone think we made a mistake signing Casemiro?

If we don't sign a top striker, then it doesn't matter who we bring in in other positions is my view.

Go big on Kane, Rabiot on a free and Min-jae from Napoli would be a great window. Replacing De Gea depends on who we are targeting.

Those 3 signings strengthen our first 11 and bench options, and allow us to offload some deadwood like Elagna, Maguire, DvB, Fred/ McTominay and Martial also.

 

[croadyman]

We only need 2 or 3 top tier players. Kane is now at the same age as Casemiro was when we brought him in. Does anyone think we made a mistake signing Casemiro?

If we don't sign a top striker, then it doesn't matter who we bring in in other positions is my view.

Go big on Kane, Rabiot on a free and Min-jae from Napoli would be a great window. Replacing De Gea depends on who we are targeting.

Those 3 signings strengthen our first 11 and bench options, and allow us to offload some deadwood like Elagna, Maguire, DvB, Fred/ McTominay and Martial also.

How big would you go on Kane?

 

[Catalandevil]

Our summer may be very different if we change owners. However, assuming we continue our trend, I see us signing 3 or 4 players. By order or priority, a striker, a midfield, a center back and a goalkeeper. Lindelöf strong performances in recent weeks may make a goalkeeper more of a priority, but time will tell.

I don’t think the club can spend 100m in Kane unless the payment terms are very favorable, which I don’t see happening. I think a Ramos, David or Vlahović kind of player is more likely. I like Rashford up top, so I would not be surprised if we go for a young back-up striker that can be developed.

Someone to partner Casemiro is also a must. We need to upgrade on Eriksen. FDJ would be perfect, but he is not going to come. I am curious to see which kind of profile ETH prefers. Players such as Caicedo or Rice would make us very hard to beat, but we would not be able to dominate teams as I think ETH wants us to do.

I think we want to sign Kim as our 3rd CB. It seems nailed on and for the price, very hard to pass on. If funds are available, we may decide to sign a goalkeeper, but who is going to come here to compete with De Gea? I guess we will sign a backup goalkeeper and recruit a top one next summer. However, I find it a bit wired that De Gea didn’t sign yet. Not sure if it’s his decision.

Maguire, Fred, McTominay, Elanga, Martial and Hendo, among the usual suspects, will be moved on this year. Not all sadly, but I think Maguire, Hendo and one of the McFred combo will be sold, which should give us enough funds to cover at least one of our top signings. Martial could be moved on, but no club will match his current salary and he is too injury-prone to command a high fee.

A summer with Ramos, Caicedo and Kim may make us very competitive, especially in the Champions League, since it will make us very hard to beat. Maybe we will not be able to compete with City yet in the league, but the gap will be definitively smaller.

 

[eire-red]

How big would you go on Kane?

Anywhere from £80-100m, wouldn't go beyond that cause we likely need another player or two. We've spent bucket loads more than that on squad players that have just stank the place out.

£100m for guaranteed top class in the most important position on the pitch is worth it.

What do you think?

 

[kirk buttercup]

In
Kane
Timber
Frenkie
Min Jae
Rabiot

Out
McT
Maguire
Donny
Elanga



I would be happy with that ,not that it's going to happen but I can dream

 

[Erik the Red]

I can foresee a situation where ETH clears the decks and moves on most / all the deadwood, and he will know which positions need filling in the first team and the squad. The strongest rumours over the past couple of days are:

Min-Jae
Frimpong
Rabiot
Rice
Mount
Kane
Neymar (loan).

To replace the likes of Henderson, Jones, Maguire, Bailly, Tuanzebe, Williams, Telles, Fred, McTominay, van der Beek, Elanga, Martial, Sabitzer and Weghorst.

That is 7 in 14 out, but massively improves both our first team and our wider squad. Although I will get accused of playing Football Manager, which of those 14 players are likely to play if we kept them next season?

Of the players I suggested leaving, six didn't play a single minute in the Premier League this season. Fred played the most at 1165 minutes, followed by Mctominay (1126) and Martial (956). In total, these 14 players plated 5908 minutes, the equivalent of 66 games. Better players would come in and play far more than 10-12 games each per season, thus strengthening the first team, and the squad would have more strength but less depth:

De Gea (Heaton)
Frimpong (AWB, Dalot)
Shaw (Malacia)
Min-jae (Varane)
Martinez (Lindelof)
Casemiro (Rabiot)
Rice (Eriksen)
Bruno (Mount)
Neymar (Antony, Pellistri, Amad)
Rashford (Garnacho, Sancho)
Kane (unnamed)

I would fully expect around seven new players such as those above to cost c. £300m, but we could recoup over £100m from sales and getting wages off the books. As a previous poster mentioned, Pep did this at City, and we need to do this to really challenge for the title.