If You Could Upgrade Just 3 Positions This Summer....

[loz]

As I'm limited to three I would say it's a centre forward, a winger and a central midfielder.  Replacing Likaku, Pulisic and Jorginho. 

However if we have any ambition to challenge for the league next season (which I don't expect us to) we need more of an overhaul than that.

 

[chiefBlueCFC]

Since we are losing Christensen, I'd replace him with Colwill. We need another central midfielder, I'll use Gallagher, replacing Jorginho. I also think we need to bring in a LWB/LB option and I would probably look at someone externally replacing Alonso. But, I also wouldn't mind upgrading striker position but that's more allowing Lukaku to leave and bringing in Broja to back up Havertz.

So I guess in terms of bringing in someone from outside of the loan army/academy, I would say LWB and RWB for depth purposes and also look at another attacking option to replace Werner or Pulisic if either/both leave

 

[Argo]

As I'm limited to three I would say it's a centre forward, a winger and a central midfielder.  Replacing Likaku, Pulisic and Jorginho. 

However if we have any ambition to challenge for the league next season (which I don't expect us to) we need more of an overhaul than that.

I disagree I don't think we're that far off atall. Our squad as it is combined with Tuchel's coaching is good enough to challenge in my opinion.

Beat Arsenal at home and we're 'only' 9 points off now despite the insane injury issues and Lukaku drama.

 

[axman2526]

I disagree I don't think we're that far off atall. Our squad as it is combined with Tuchel's coaching is good enough to challenge in my opinion.

Beat Arsenal at home and we're 'only' 9 points off now despite the insane injury issues and Lukaku drama.

In order to challange City and Pool for a whole season we do need to upgrade our back up players in a few positions.

We already have a top manager to face them and in some cases good quality back ups, as Kepa is for Mendy. A squad to challange for the title and cups imo would be something like:

Mendy/Kepa

Kounde/Dave

Silva/Chalobah

Rudiger/Pau Torres/Colwill

Tchouameni/Bissouma

James/Livramento

Kante/Gallagher

Kovacic/Tiedlemans

Chilwell/ Hernandez

Wirtz/Olmos/Malinovskyi

Mount/Raphina/Diaby

Havertz/Broja

Werner/Chiesa

You would need to wittle it down from there as it is too many but along those lines. 

Unless they are hit by loosing all their Centerbacks Pool and City cope with injuries and loss of form because they have quality to bring in and do the job. We need that depth for TT to have.

 

[loz]

I disagree I don't think we're that far off atall. Our squad as it is combined with Tuchel's coaching is good enough to challenge in my opinion.

Beat Arsenal at home and we're 'only' 9 points off now despite the insane injury issues and Lukaku drama.

Our first team, on form, is good enough. Our squad isn't and our first team isn't consistent enough. Ignore points. Look at the way the teams play and consistently get points. City and Liverpool are way ahead of everyone else in the league just now.

I think when we target new signings we need to focus more on their mentality. There are too many players in our squad who you'd question putting into battle for you especially when the chips are down.

 

[The Don Antonio]

We need more than 3 but I guess the most important 3 are centre back ,defensive midfield and a pure winger incase we want to play a back 4

 

[KingOfMilwaukee]

I should point out that if we sell Lukaku for £45M, that means we book a £52M loss on the books, as we bought him for £97.5M. Meaning we have £52.5M less to spend on incoming transfers, as the transfer out counts as a loss, for FFP purposes. It is not like selling him for 45M gives us that much money to spend. It's actually the opposite.

 

[Deino]

I should point out that if we sell Lukaku for £45M, that means we book a £52M loss on the books, as we bought him for £97.5M. Meaning we have £52.5M less to spend on incoming transfers, as the transfer out counts as a loss, for FFP purposes. It is not like selling him for 45M gives us that much money to spend. It's actually the opposite.

Unless we sell him back to Inter and they agree to void the rest of the payment

 

[Deino]

CB because Silva is getting old

Midfield because Kante can't sustain his energy levels anymore

A proper Benzema-like striker or backup striker if we want to go the Havertz 9 route

 

[evissy]

We need a new CB as Chris and Rudi are probably going. Colwill and someone substantial.

Sell one of our midfielders or attackers. Who is is the most profitable: Werner, Pulisic, Ruben, CHO or maybe Ziyech. 

Bring back Gallagher.

Loan out Lukaku, bring in Broja to compete with Kai. A bit risky I admit. At this moment I feel there is no way back for Rom. He made a massive mistake of talking when he should have been quiet and it seems he is not a very strong person as I have always felt about him. 

If we have the money go big for Declan Rice. Accommodate space with the sale of 1 player who carry some value. Ruben, CHO maybe. 

A super risky and tough I'll admit. Would we be closer to Liverpool and City I don't think so. Maybe we need to take a risk with our young prospects....

 

[abramovich]

Out of contract this summer: Christensen, Rudiger, Saul Niguez (loan), Drinkwater

Out of contract in 2023: Kante, Jorginho, Silva, Alonso, Azpi, Gilmour, Barkley

Good to keep this in mind this summer. There is a lot of major decisions to be taken and most of all we simply need to do some forward planning here. Christensen and probably Rudiger obviously needs to be replaced but you'd also want to bring in an understudy or even replacements for Silva who's likely only got a year left himself. Then we have major midfield decisions to be made with Jorginho, Kante and Gilmour all running out of contract.

Rudiger, I hope will be secured once we secure our new owner. I'm sure he loves the club and if he's satisfied with terms he's likely to stay. Tuchel has really unleashed his inner monster, we need those type of players, attitude, leadership etc. Very important to keep him.

Christensen is as good as gone. Personally, I think we can do better. Mentally and physically soft, gets manhandled by bigger stronger attackers, is made of glass and I'm not surprised he wants to go to a less physical league. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, we need battlers on this team, more Rudigers, less Christensens.

Saul and Drinkwater, goodbye. Jorginho needs to be sold, with gratitude for all the good things he's done for the team, but I feel he's outlived his usefulness here. I'd be tempted to move Kante because he's not the player he used to be, but on occasion he's still capable of a top class performance, so maybe it makes sense to keep him for another season and let Gallagher rotate with him and learn from the best. Plus, you need experience amd depth for a long campaign so no need to make too many changes at once. We can keep Azpi for another season and buy back Livramento in 2023 when the buyback clause kicks in. Or we can sell Azpi now and buy somebody good to compete with Reece for the spot. 

 

[Adamrb]

3 upgrades?

New Central midfielder - Gallagher

New Center forward/wide forward option - Broja

New center back who can play in 2 or 3 or at Left back - Colwill

Those are the most important 3 to me.

This but definitely another wing back to compete too. And Rice is Jorginho goes maybe

 

[ducavis]

I disagree I don't think we're that far off atall. Our squad as it is combined with Tuchel's coaching is good enough to challenge in my opinion.

Beat Arsenal at home and we're 'only' 9 points off now despite the insane injury issues and Lukaku drama.

Not a chance. You can’t play the league like a cup format which is what he does. As good as Liverpool have been this season, City can rack up 12 straight wins when they get in the grove.

Personally wouldn’t be aiming for the league title next season, I would hope the idea is just to get a lil bit closer. Tuchel trying to win the league instantly meant he sanctioned the £92m signing of Lukaku. That is on him not the board. Just keep building gradually, Liverpool & City have peaked and are both due a rebuild in the next couple of seasons.

 

[Blue_Boy]

I would look to sell lukaku, pulisic and all the deadwood in MID (Barkley, drinkwather, baka) and hope to retain rudiger. Colwill can replace Andreas. Than we need cover for Ben (Emerson) and James (New signing)

DM i don't think rice is the answer, maybe ruben neves from wolves and jorgi for rotation. So we could play 5 or 4 at the back.

kova, connor, kante and rlc to take other positions in mid.

bring back broja, keep kai as focal point of attack and bring in someone simmilar to kai (nunez from benfica or chiesa) that can play lw, cf or more suporting striker) to interchange with kai. mount to roam from rw to lw. broja backup for kai and werner for new signing.

 

[KingOfMilwaukee]

Unless we sell him back to Inter and they agree to void the rest of the payment

Why would they do that? No reason to give back £52M. It's not their fault we made a bad transfer. Besides, if they give the money back then THEY don't have the profit to spend on transfers.

 

[Sconnie Blue]

**Tchouaméni > Jorginho

**Kounde > Christensen

**Gnabry > Werner

  Gallagher > RLC

  Broja > Lukaku

  Maatsen > Alonso

  Colwill > Sarr

Mendy/Kepa​

Kounde/Dave     Silva/Chalobah     Rudiger/Colwill​

James/Kounde/Dave      Tchouaméni/Kante       Kovacic/Gallagher      Chilwell/Maatsen​

Mount/Ziyech       Gnabry/Pulisic​

Havertz/Broja​

 

[Deino]

Why would they do that? No reason to give back £52M. It's not their fault we made a bad transfer. Besides, if they give the money back then THEY don't have the profit to spend on transfers.

They get a proven 90m striker who loves them for cheap. Just because they don't profit doesn't mean they don't have money to spend on transfers. 

Their current striker lineup are three 34 year olds, one 36 year old and one support striker at 25 years old that's proven to work well with Lukaku. 

Any other striker in world football that can win them the scudetto is 60M at minimum and not all of them are as acclimated to the Inter team as Lukaku. 

 

[comtrend]

Issue is you are not going to get a quality WB who will sit on the bench, waiting on Chiwell/James to get injured. Look at the PL, then around Europe, there is no club with 2 quality options at FB. Liverpool have Gomez a CB deputising for TAA, Laporte and Ake take turns in covering at FB for City, a former Reading player is cover for Alphonso Davies at Bayern, an ageing Marcelo is cover for Mendy at Real Madrid. The reality is you are never going to keep rotating your FBs unless they get injured,  and there is so much money flying around in football that even West Ham could afford to sign Zouma who was a rotational player here and even increase his wages. 
Unless the club can unearth a Tsmikas type WB from an obscure league through smart scouting, many will end up disappointed in the summer.

Maybe having two quality options to rotate at FB is what would seperate us from the rest? There is way to many games to keep playing an injury prone Reece James, also who knows how long Chilwell will take to fully recover from his injury, if he ever will. Meanwhile we have the two slowest wingbacks in the league as backups for half the games, or we are forced to play Pulisic, CHO, etc. out of position. 

 

[just]

I'd love us to bring in Fofana from Leicester when Christensen leaves. I think he is a fantastic young talent at centre back and can also play as a full-back. And Bissouma at Brighton seems to get better every time I watch him play in central midfield, there's already quite a bit of interest in him from other EPL sides if you believe the football media. Coutiniho from Barca would also be someone worth enquiring about. Wondered what he would be like returning to the EPL on loan with Villa but he has looked great so far.