This would be an ideal summer for me, personally.. is it entirely do'able this summer? Money wise I think so when factoring in sales. But it will likely not happen, this could be a multiple summer thing even though I think the majority of these players would have moved on by next summer to over clubs. If all the stars aligned and we were ruthless as we should be, and really spent our money wisely I think this would be good.
ST - Goncalo Ramos - Rumoured around 80-100mill Euros (Cheaper Alts; Rasmus Hojlund or Evan Ferguson)
GK - Diogo Costa - Rumoured around 60mill Pounds (Cheaper Alts; Bart Verbruggen or David Raya)
CM1 - Enzo Le Fee - Rumoured around 25mill Euros (Alt; Alex Scott or Daichi Kamada who is free)
CM2 - Khephren Thuram - Rumoured around 40mill Euros (Alts; Kenneth Taylor or Nicolo Rovella)
CB - Evan Ndicka - This guy is leaving on a free after turning down all contract offers, his reports are all similar to Varane's, except this guy has only missed 8 games through injury since 18/19 (There is no alt, because he is perfect)
Bonus - RB/CB - Jurrien Timber - Don't think he will be cheap but I think Timber could solve a multi possition problem with his signing, rather than signing individual RB and CB, in that he is probably a starter RB for us but could either also start and/or deputize in CB quite comfortably, and with ETH liking his's fullbacks to step forward I think his unique skillset really lends itself to stepping up into CM when our formation calls for us during transition.
Bring back/Loan -
Amad Diallo - Bring back
Hannibal Mejbri - Bring back
Ethan Laird - Loan
Shola Shoretire - Loan
Alvaro Fernandez - This is a tough one because I think he's quality but he has 2 LB's infront of him here, another loan I think would be better first, or at least if we do sell we should sell with a buyback clause.
Zidane Iqbal - Loan
Teden Mengi - Loan
Kobbie Mainoo - Loan
Sell/Release
Phil Jones - Gone
Victor Lindelof - I'd keep him as backup but he's already hinted he would want to leave if not first choice
Harry Maguire - No words needed, he will also want to be first choice anyway
Anthony Martial - Hard to shift I feel because of wages, but clearly is not reliable enough to be our main striker, proved this over multiple years now, get rid already
Marcel Sabitzer - I'm not against signing him for cheap, but In researching I feel there are better alternatives for free/similar price now
Fred - I like the guy and every now and again he's good, but not always and not good enough, signings would be better
Scott McTominay - If Newcastle still want to buy him after the previous match then please get rid, worrying that ETH wants to seem to keep him, never ever good enough for this club, academy player or not.
Anthony Elanga - Just don't see it with him, much prefer Pellistri and Amad is a much more talented player than him too. Sell.
Wout Weghorst - Don't resign him
Brandon Williams - Easy sell
Dean Henderson - Easy sell
DVB - Easy sell
Eric Bailly - Easy sell
Axel Tuanzebe - Easy sell
Alex Telles - Easy sell
23/24 Squad
GK
Diogo Costa
David De Gea
Third GK
DF
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
Raphael Varane
Lisandro Martinez
Evan Ndicka
Diogo Dalot
Aaron Wan Bissaka
CM
Casemiro
Cristian Eriksen
Enzo Le Fee
Khephrem Thuram
Bruno Fernandes
Hannibal Mejbri
AT
Goncalo Ramos
Marcus Rashford
Jadon Sancho
Alejandro Garnacho
Amad Diallo
Antony
Facundo Pellistri
This could be a squad that works but might take some time to gel in as there are a few young players - but given a season or two I think it will look phenomenal personally..
insightful post however I think it’s fair to look at things slightly different if we are to be serious contenders for PL and CL again. The last 2 seasons games changed, the big teams need huge squads of 27/28 now. Why ? Because more games are played at greater intensities, VAR, more international football and soon a club World Cup, more money more games But more importantly more injuries and more players retrospectively banned for 3 or 4 games through VAR.
I think our Manager ETH was on to this quicker than nearly anyone, look at Liverpool last year, involved in a quadruple chase, they recruited ok in attacking positions but neglected Midfield and Defence and this season they may not qualify for even Europa League. In His first interview ETH said I need 2 international players for ever position. The game now allows 9 named subs and a minimum of 5 to be used in game, sometimes more if concussion. The most likely players to get booked or banned are defenders and defensive midfielders, the most likely to get impact and running injuries, strikers, wing backs and full backs. The other main issue is home grown where we must have 8 homegrown in a squad of 25 so for a squad of 27 we would need 10 HG players here’s my squad quote similar to yours tbf;
23/24 Squad
GK (3)
D Costa* (55m)
D D Gea
T Heaton
(HG)
Defenders (9)
AWB
(HG)
Frimpong
(HG) (25M)
D Dalot
R Varane
L Martinez
E Ndicka* (Free)
K Min Jae*(40M)
L Shaw
(HG)
T Mallacia
Midfielders (7)
Casemeiro
A Rabiot* (Free)
Ericssen
Sabitzer * (20M)
Bruno
S Mctominay
(HG)
E Le Fay A Macalister or J Maddison* (25/60/50M)
Attackers (7)
H Kane
(HG) (80M)
M Rashford
(HG)
J Sancho
(HG)
A Garnaucho
(HG)
Antony
Amad Diallo
(HG)
A Martial
Your squad is at least 1 maybe 2 homegrown players short F Pellistri is not HG so needs a loan , Hanibal is not good enough, I’m not 100% sure Amad would count as HG and Hanibal is not an upgrade on Mctominay who could develop into a very good number 8 BTB midfielder under ETH, he’s capable of 10 goals per season. We lack goals in midfield currently.
We Could offset new player purchases of potentially £270m with the following being sold ;
D Henderson(25m), V Lindelof (25m), H Maguire(30m), E Bailey(10m), Telles (10m), B Williams(5M), Fred (15M), Ellanga (15M), knowing how bad we are at selling players, knock 20% of those figures so we probably only get £110M, the net spend of £150-160m would be the most significant overhaul in years.
Like I said your completely on the right track with a young dynamic overhaul but ETH will have other ideas and those ideas are a constant changing scenario, if Martial performs and stays fit, does he take a chance, if Mctominay starts dominating as an 8 why would you sell, why sell AWB when he’s started to learn how to play his way and he’s clearly right now, the better right back than Diego Dalot but asking Dalot to sign a new contract is a smart move too as he can play equally well on the left side, giving the squad further options with Luke shaw also able to play LCB in an emergency. There is no way you could compete 50/60 games per season with 7 frontline defenders.
How does he work round the HG rule, what if the club tell him they are keeping Mason Greenwood and he has to integrate him back into the squad slowly after a series of Tv interviews solely because of his homegrown status, yes this would upset 80% of the fan base, me included but what if bringing him back is not ETH decision but the clubs, then what, he might have been thinking, I’ll loan him out to TurkisH club let him play well for 6 months then maybe sell for £50-60m to a German or Italian team in the winter to raise cash but what if he’s not allowed to do just that?