8 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

Well having watched Shrewsbury play Millwall yesterday, I can exclusively report that there are no players in either team that we should be after.

 

Hope that helps.

Well, thats my dream transfer window ruined, I was all in on Aristote Nsiala...

I always liked Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro - purely for his name.  And I always reckon that Abu Ogogo MUST have the nickname Einstein because I always sing this when I hear his name 

 

2 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

I always reckon that Abu Ogogo MUST have the nickname Einstein because I always sing this when I hear his name

Irrespective of our performance this year, there are several areas of our team that need to be strengthened moving forward.  I am hoping that we can retain the following core of the team:  Cortois; Azpi; Luiz; Konte; Hazard; Costa.  

At the back:  I would like to think Zouma and Christensen could both have major roles to play given full pre-seasons with the team.  I think Alonso is underrated by many and offers us a lot going forward with his hugging of that left touchline.  I also appreciate the fine season from Moses.  However,  I think we need to strengthen the wing back positions, more than centre back.  Might Azpi return to the right with a fully fit Zouma, Luiz and Christensen in the middle.  Could Ake be a left wing back.  Or could Aina or DaSilva step up?   Alternatively, we could raid Southampton for Van Dijk and Bertrand, plenty of EPL experience.

So maybe Azpi, Christensen, Luiz, Van Dijk, Bertrand.

In the middle: We need a partner for Kante who is a combination of Matic and Cesc.  Not sure who, as I only really watch EPL.  If we add that one player and keep what we've got then we'll be OK.  What role for the loanees (Lewis, Van Ginkel, etc)

So Kante plus another.

Upfront: We need back up to Costa that Conte likes.  I would be happy for that to be Llorente who has experience in the EPL and with Conte.   Obviously if we could pinch Sanchez from Le Arse that would be fab, but would probably mean William moving on.

So Hazard, Costa, Sanchez.

 

Looks good to me 

Leon Goretzka looks like he could be ideal in a midfield 2 with kante.. tall athletic box to box cm with good technique and can hit it. Only issue is inexperience that RLC could be molded into that role? 

On 11/04/2017 at 12:38, zolawannabe25 said:

Leon Goretzka looks like he could be ideal in a midfield 2 with kante.. tall athletic box to box cm with good technique and can hit it. Only issue is inexperience that RLC could be molded into that role? 

 No way, Arsenal have been interested in him for a long time so he must be spineless.

2 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

 No way, Arsenal have been interested in him for a long time so he must be spineless.

Good thing no? Arsenal were interested in Kante, Ronaldo, Draxler, Ibrahimovic, Messi etc. etc. for ages and never got the man! They have been "linked" to so many players that it's irrelevant. 

Christensen - Free

Mendy - 30m

Bakayoko - 40m

Sanchez - 50m

Llorente - 5m

 

Not a dream summer, but realistic and good enough.

Trying my hand at this. 

Sell Costa to China for the rumoured 80-90 mill and get Christensen into the competition at CB. Get Tammy Abraham a PL loan for a team like Swansea (if they stay up) 

Ryan Sessegnon LB/WB Fulham supremely talented player. If Fulham doesnt earn a promotion he should be had fairly cheap.

Emerson Roma 30 mill

Youri Tielmans 30 mill/alternatively Frank Kessie

And finally, pay the excess of 100 mill to get Sanchez and Morata. 

Seems lkke a lot to spend 170-180 million, but I feel this could take us to the. NExt level and give us some much needed depth.

8 hours ago, Xfaxtor said:

Trying my hand at this. 

Sell Costa to China for the rumoured 80-90 mill and get Christensen into the competition at CB. Get Tammy Abraham a PL loan for a team like Swansea (if they stay up) 

Ryan Sessegnon LB/WB Fulham supremely talented player. If Fulham doesnt earn a promotion he should be had fairly cheap.

Emerson Roma 30 mill

Youri Tielmans 30 mill/alternatively Frank Kessie

And finally, pay the excess of 100 mill to get Sanchez and Morata. 

Seems lkke a lot to spend 170-180 million, but I feel this could take us to the. NExt level and give us some much needed depth.

I don't it would be too much spent given we do sell Costa and still haven't spent the Oscar money. 

As for some other suggestions, one of Aurier, Sidibe, or Pereira for RWB potentially. 

I love Tielmans but do you think he would fit our system? 

 

Can i just ask all those naming these continental young players, is it based on actually watching them week in, week out in their Domestic leagues/cups or one of European games, highlights videos, media reports, football manager, FIFA etc. Not a dig at anyone, but i haven't heard of half these players named, and know very little of most of the others so can have no opinion on them.

19 minutes ago, dkw said:

Can i just ask all those naming these continental young players, is it based on actually watching them week in, week out in their Domestic leagues/cups or one of European games, highlights videos, media reports, football manager, FIFA etc. Not a dig at anyone, but i haven't heard of half these players named, and know very little of most of the others so can have no opinion on them.

I admit Ive seen very little of Frank Kessie, but he seems to be highly rated and fits what we need

42 minutes ago, Neilous said:

 

I love Tielmans but do you think he would fit our system? 

 

Hard to say before he plays for us, but we desperately need better passers in the centre of the park. Tielman is an excellent passer, has a good shot on him, is very adapt at set pieces and is a lot more athletic then a guy like Fabregas and he is still only 19. Might be a little risky to think he can come in as a starter right away, but I like his abilities a lot more then someone like Bakayoko (who I admitedly have only seen 2-3 times in the Cl)

Edited April 19, 20179 yr by Xfaxtor

i rate the most important positions as:

1a) striker
1b) goalie 
3) central midfield players
4) offensive creators
5) the mid centre back in a back 3
6) wingbacks
7) the outside centre backs

out of these, 1a), 3) and 6) should imo be top priority for the summer.

1) a striker who can a) finish well and b) create his own shot (to ease our hazard dependency). lukaku seems to be the best bet for me. (belotti, mbappe, morata, sanchez, aubameyang)
2) a midfield player with both engine, leg speed and passing ability. i really like naby keita from leipzig. (kessie, fabinho, bakayoko, nainggolan) 
3) a left (wing) back to cover and challenge alonso (who i think is fantastic in the epl, but fear might get exposed to the more uptempo cl). mendy seems to fit the bill, not too familiar with other left backs unfortunately.

if we manage to secure these three key positions, we can start to fill out our squad even more.

we also have very interesting players coming back from loan. i would expect conte to seriously look at christensen (who i think is a star and super star in the making) and abraham to at least get a look.

3 hours ago, dkw said:

Can i just ask all those naming these continental young players, is it based on actually watching them week in, week out in their Domestic leagues/cups or one of European games, highlights videos, media reports, football manager, FIFA etc. Not a dig at anyone, but i haven't heard of half these players named, and know very little of most of the others so can have no opinion on them.

A lot of European players like Tielemans etc for me are from highlights/media reports. I tend to sign them on things like Fifa and FM as well (more so FM as I know they're more accurate the database is used by pro clubs) an example of that is a player it brought to my attention a couple of years ago in Bernardo Silva. 

 

Obviously you cant stick to these things religiously because it depends how they develop in the game & anyone can look good in a 2 minute highlight reel (even me!) but it gives you a better insight if you don't watch a lot of football outside the EPL, EFL & SPFL like me.

Right - dream transfer window - has to include neymar and messi :)

 

Something (only a tiny bit more realistic than a neymar/messi double) based on players we have ben linked with and/or are may be attainable...

In:

Christensen (free)

Sanchez (£35 - £45 mill)

Morata (£50 - £60 mill)

Lacazette (£25 - 35 mill)

Babayoko (£40 - 50 mill)

Bertrand Traore (Free)

Ricardo Rodriguez (£15 - £25 mill)

Oscar De Marcos  (£30 - £40 mill)

Veratti (£40-£50 mill)

Tielemans (with loan back clause) - £25 - £35 mill)

Tim Krul - (£4-8 mill)

Total Outlay =  £264 to 348 mill

Out:

Costa  (£100 - 120 mill to China)

Remy (£4-8 mill)

Fabregas (£18 - 28 mill)

Zouma (£18 - 28 mill) - undecided

Willian (£38 - £48 mill)

Bergovic (£11-16 mill)

Batshuayi (£22 - £32 mill)

RLC (Loan - premier league)

Ake  (£13 - 18 mill)

Kenedy  (£9 - £14 mil)

Wallace  (£2-6 mill)

Lucas Piazon (£8 - 12 mil)

Nathan (£6 - 11 mill)

Michael Hector (£5 - 9 mill)

Total income = £254 to 350 mill 

 

Squad:   

GK: Tibo, Krul, Eduardo

CB: Luiz, Cahill, Azpi, Christensen, Zouma (undecided),  One of Kalas/Miazga/Clarke-Salter/Omeruo/Tomori

LWB: De Marcos, Moses , Aina

RWB: Rodriguez, Alonso,   Baba R

CM: Kante, Verratti, Babayoko, Chalobah, Van Ginkel

AM/RF/LF:  Hazard, Sanchez, Pedro, Baker, Pasalic, 

CF: Morata, Lacazette, Traore

First team:

                                   Tibo

              Azpi (c)           Luiz         Christensen/Cahill

De Marcos                                                          Rodriguez

                          Kante     Verratti

Sanchez                                               Hazard

                               Morata

Subs: Krul, Babayoko, Happy, Pedro, Alonso, Moses, Lacazette

 

Highly unlikely ...but would be happy with that!

Edited April 20, 20179 yr by nonotnowjim

Tim Krul as a backup goalie if we sell Begovic is a great shout.

Lukaku or Belotti

Mbappe or Sanchez

Bakayoko or Nainggolan

Mendy

De Vrij..bonus if it's someone like Bonucci or Chillieni 

 

In greizmann morata verratti fabinho krul

Out costa batshuayi Matic begovic

Gk courtois krul

CB Azpilicueta luiz christiensen Cahill zouma Ake

Rwb moses fabinho

Lwb Alonso pedro Ake 

Cm kante verratti fabregas fabinho 

Rw greizmann pedro

Lw hazard willian

St morata Abraham 

Krul for Begovic,  just to keep up homegrown numbers.

Don't think we need a centre back with christiansen coming back.

Fabinho to come in to challenge moses at right wing back and also provide a more steely optional in centre midfield.

I think Alonso has really settled now, I think Ake and pedro would provide sufficient cover or rotation. 

Verratti in to help us dominate teams better, while still being solid defensively.

Greizmann in to take some of the burden of hazard, and provide serious goal threat. 

Morata I think is the best player to link up with our other forwards. Abraham back, I think he is ready to contribute now. Let him pick up minuts off the best and the cups, there should be plenty to opportunities next season. 

Loan out rlc, and kenedy. Sell chalobah with buy back clause. 

Singings:

Mendy

Nainggolan

Lemar

Lukaku/belotti/morata

Non-signings: 

Baker

Christensen

Musonda

I think those signings would defo turn us into a force. We keep musonda, ake, chalobah and bring back baker and christensen. Nect season I want to see us play our younger players more. I hope for baker to return, he's my top pick to keep for midfield plus he's english. 

Dream XI next season would be;

                     Courtois
          Azpi - Bonucci - van Dijk
   Candreva - Kante - Tolisso - Alonso
       Sanchez - Lukaku - Hazard

But realistically I think next season's squad may look something like this;

                                  Courtois/KRUL/Eduardo
                   Azpi/Zouma - Luiz/CHRISTENSEN - Cahill/Ake
 Moses/CONTI - Kante/Fabregas/Chalobah - TOLISSO/Matic - Alonso/ASAMOAH
    BERNARDESCHI/Pedro - MORATA/LLORENTE - Hazard/CALHANOGLU

Edited April 21, 20179 yr by the special one

i highly doubt we'll sign asamoah, llorente, calhanoglu, conti or tolisso. that screams out to me "no ambition" and i believe roman will want us to go far in the premier league and champs league next season. those aforementioned players simply won't be good enough to help us do so. 

Lukaku, Sanchez, Bakayoko and VVD.

Only think we will get 2 though.

I reckon other than the usual suspects who have been named in the thread previously I believe it is absolutely imperative we get some competition in For Alonso & Moses. Both have done an incredible job however of late injuries and form have started to get the better of the two which I believe is purely down to the demanding nature of the role.

The likelihood is we are going to be playing 3 at the back for the foreseeable future alongside many other PL teams (Thank you Conte), in order for this system to work the Wing back position becomes THE most important role in the system. You have to tuck in and defend in a back 5 whilst defending yet offer attacking width when going forward, with Champions League football I really don't believe Moses & Alonso will be able to match there consistency from this season. The bad news is players of such ilk are in very short supply due to the traditional back 4, therefore the options available to any Manager is to get a attacking winger and instill defensive work in there play (Moses) or go for a defender and develop them from a attacking perspective.

The one player who I believe is absolutely perfect for the Wingbacks position is United's Valencia however the likelihood of him signing for us is less than slim. The 2 Monaco's Wingbacks and maybe Adama Traore are some names which spring to mind but other than that there isnt anyone who catches the eye from a quality perspective to take us to the next level from Moses & Alonso.