I would have liked Rice at SB though due to money never likely to happen would be interesting indeed if he went to BM.

Shame we aren't going to get him, I think he's underrated and would be game changing in a midfield with Enzo. He's criminally underrated by some on here and I've never understood why. 

Doubts about Ugarte who I can see us ending up with, I'm also concerned about the HG rules and whether they will start to affect us. 

 

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Shame we aren't going to get him, I think he's underrated and would be game changing in a midfield with Enzo. He's criminally underrated by some on here and I've never understood why. 

Doubts about Ugarte who I can see us ending up with, I'm also concerned about the HG rules and whether they will start to affect us. 

We simply can not have more than 17 non HG players for a max squad sized of 25. 

 

Bettinelli

Chalobah

James

Chilwell

Sterling 

Broja

Colwill

Carney

 

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We simply can not have more than 17 non HG players for a max squad sized of 25. 

 

Bettinelli

Chalobah

James

Chilwell

Sterling 

Broja

Colwill

Carney

 

Yes I know how it works, but we don't seem to be linked with any HG players and we are not definitely going to have all of those names in the 25 squad next year. 

Just now, bisright1 said:

Yes I know how it works, but we don't seem to be linked with any HG players and we are not definitely going to have all of those names in the 25 squad next year. 

Think we will. Think we are going to have a bloated defence unfortunately. 

27 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We simply can not have more than 17 non HG players for a max squad sized of 25. 

 

Bettinelli

Chalobah

James

Chilwell

Sterling 

Broja

Colwill

Carney

 

Depending on who we sell we can add Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, and Madueke to the homegrown list

One thing to note is that a few of our January signings that where classified as U21s will have to be added to the 17 for next season.  Enzo, Mudryk, and Badiashile all now 22.

1 minute ago, DarkMata said:

Depending on who we sell we can add Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, and Madueke to the homegrown list

One thing to note is that a few of our January signings that where classified as U21s will have to be added to the 17 for next season.  Enzo, Mudryk, and Badiashile all now 22.

Good call. Yeah a real headache this. 

15 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Good call. Yeah a real headache this. 

It may not be a bad as I first thought, expecting most if not all these players to be sold or loaned:

Hudson-Odoi £25-30m
Lukaku £30-40m
Bakayoko £10m
Sarr £5m
Maatsen £5-10m
Baba Rahman £2m

Mendy £20m
Kepa  £25m
Koulibaly £15-20m
Azpilicueta £0-5m
Kovačić  £25-30m
Pulisic £25-30m
Loftus-Cheek £15-20m
Ziyech  £15m
Aubameyang 10p

So that leaves us with this team with 12 none homegrown players including 3 expected signings too.  Highly possible we keep one of Kepa or Mendy so make it 13.

NEW GK
Bettinelli
Kepa or Mendy

James
Gusto (U21)
Chilwell
Cucurella
Fofana
Badiashile
Colwill
Thiago Silva
Chalobah

Enzo
Gallagher
Kante
Santos (U21)
Mount
Chukwuemeka
NEW DM - UGARTE?

Nkunku
Mudryk
Madueke
Sterling

Havertz
Broja
NEW ST

 

On 30/05/2023 at 09:54, RIP Mourinho said:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/declan-rice-transfer-bayernmunich-arsenal-30106853

Bayern Munich are prepared to pay a staggering package worth £95million to land Declan Rice from West Ham.

It has signalled the start of the battle for one of the most sought-after players in Europe this summer. Bayern, who retained their German title on Saturday, are determined to beat Arsenal to the signing of 24-year-old Rice.

Wonder what all these European giants see in Rice, @Gol15 told me he wasn't very good.

 

Good, let's see it. Let's see a big club signs him. Any. 

On 30/05/2023 at 12:49, bisright1 said:

Shame we aren't going to get him, I think he's underrated and would be game changing in a midfield with Enzo. He's criminally underrated by some on here and I've never understood why. 

Doubts about Ugarte who I can see us ending up with, I'm also concerned about the HG rules and whether they will start to affect us. 

 

He's not a game-changer. Enzo is. Let's not get it twisted.

24 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

He's not a game-changer. Enzo is. Let's not get it twisted.

Remind me how many games we won since Enzo joined? The evidence suggests Enzo on his own is not a game changer.

Enzo is a game changer in the right midfield. Rice compliments him perfectly and the two together would be game changing for us.

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Remind me how many games we won since Enzo joined? The evidence suggests Enzo on his own is not a game changer.

Enzo is a game changer in the right midfield. Rice compliments him perfectly and the two together would be game changing for us.

Oh yes he is, without him we don't even have a midfield at all let alone a team that can try and play with the ball. Take him out and see how much our team is weak, a game-changer for us has been Enzo even if we lost the majority of matches. After all he just joined a team that isn't a team and that doesn't really have a manager.

I think we both know that seeing a win rate of a team doesn't really show the full picture, after all Rice has won just about 30% of all PL matches he has featured in, -13 goal difference doesn't show that he's this 100m player.

Why not sign his real partner from Argentina that won the World Cup, MacAllister instead?

Or maybe his real partner in Benfica Florentino?

You talk about evidence but there is none that suggests that Rice fits perfectly into our team. Yes we need a midfielder, spending 100m on Rice doesn't make him the best option at all.

Just don't see how we could another 100M MF under the circumstances, still got the issues with retaining Mount and Kante. Arsenal seems him as the player to take them to the title next season, that's why they are willing to gamble on him. I think they will be in for a surprise. We know our priorities, let's not blow a big chunk of our budget on Rice

He's probably not coming, but I'd love to have him. 

10 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Oh yes he is, without him we don't even have a midfield at all let alone a team that can try and play with the ball. Take him out and see how much our team is weak, a game-changer for us has been Enzo even if we lost the majority of matches. After all he just joined a team that isn't a team and that doesn't really have a manager.

I think we both know that seeing a win rate of a team doesn't really show the full picture, after all Rice has won just about 30% of all PL matches he has featured in, -13 goal difference doesn't show that he's this 100m player.

Why not sign his real partner from Argentina that won the World Cup, MacAllister instead?

Or maybe his real partner in Benfica Florentino?

You talk about evidence but there is none that suggests that Rice fits perfectly into our team. Yes we need a midfielder, spending 100m on Rice doesn't make him the best option at all.

Its funny saying Rice isn't a game changer when we had Makelele playing such an important role for us in midfield to allow Lamps etc. to have the freedom to play his best. Lamps was the game changer but we needed Makelele to complement him. Enzo will be a game changer but needs an anchor to do the dirty work for him. 

MacAllister isn't a holding mid so same issue there. Florentino has a £105m release clause with zero top flight experience.

Looks like he's going Arsenal anyway, big W for them. 

19 hours ago, Gol15 said:

He's not a game-changer. Enzo is. Let's not get it twisted.

Potentially for us, from what we have seen so far. I think he will work out well with Pochettino but the partnerships are really important i think for a player of his age, even with his potential.

McAllister was important for Enzo in the WC but De Paul was just as important as well. Its finding the right blend to complement each other.

22 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Potentially for us, from what we have seen so far. I think he will work out well with Pochettino but the partnerships are really important i think for a player of his age, even with his potential.

McAllister was important for Enzo in the WC but De Paul was just as important as well. Its finding the right blend to complement each other.

It really is and what do both McAllister and De Paul have in common? They always look to go forward, win space. And Enzo can always look up and pass forward.

McAllister could be a key signing for us in general, now that Kante isn't fit anymore. But we do need someone that likes to play with the ball, and not to hide.

Without Mount this is a pipe dream, with Mount it’s a sure thing.

Edit: if we want it that is.

Edited June 6, 20233 yr by Frawdulant

Leaving the club after winning West Ham probably the biggest trophy they could dream of. Looks like a £100m+ deal to Arsenal is the most likely destination, going to leave West Ham in a much better position than when he came through the ranks. A proper leader and captain, shame we couldn't push for him to partner Enzo, that's the midfield sorted for a decade.

2 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Leaving the club after winning West Ham probably the biggest trophy they could dream of. Looks like a £100m+ deal to Arsenal is the most likely destination, going to leave West Ham in a much better position than when he came through the ranks. A proper leader and captain, shame we couldn't push for him to partner Enzo, that's the midfield sorted for a decade.

Agree he looks set to be an Arsenal player soon, but that 100M valuation is driven by the media and the WH owners and it is understandable, it's business afterall, Rice is their most valuable asset and they are going to milk every penny out of this business. 

For me he is a 40-45M player at best. More of a CB playing in midfield. He does not score, nor assist and to be absolutely honest there are other defensive midfielders that are not scoring machines, like Kante, Rodri, Bruno Guimaraes etc, but they influence the game way more than Rice does.

For example last night the battle of defensive midfielders Amrabat v Rice looked like Modric v Bakayoko to be fair. I've watched so many WH matches and Rice simply does not look as a world class midfielder, he is a destroyer with limited abilities that would offer you things on the pitch worth 40-45M and that's about it. The rest to 100M I don't see where it could come from.

Brighton's Caicedo is a better player IMHO, cheaper and with a higher ceiling that Rice. To me it looks that he is our no. 1 target to pair Enzo Fernandez with, although it might take a while because I believe Levi Colwill could play a big part in that deal. Think Chelsea have not made their mind up regarding Colwill yet, I guess some people would let him leave, some people would not, think it is still a debate inside the club whether it is a straight cash offer for Caicedo or a Colwill plus cash one.

2 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Brighton's Caicedo is a better player IMHO, cheaper and with a higher ceiling that Rice.

Caicedo is a better player, unfortunately he is not that much cheaper and he is also extremely over priced. £80 Million for a player who has played 45 games for Brighton!!!

Price set at £92m according to Matt Law. Arsenal working on their bid. 

Think if we want Caicedo this works in our favor as Arsenal need 3-4 other signings on top of Rice and United aren't prioritizing him. 

 

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Leaving the club after winning West Ham probably the biggest trophy they could dream of. Looks like a £100m+ deal to Arsenal is the most likely destination, going to leave West Ham in a much better position than when he came through the ranks. A proper leader and captain, shame we couldn't push for him to partner Enzo, that's the midfield sorted for a decade.

A real shame we ain’t the front runners for Rice anymore.

At one point I thought having Mount here could actually benefit our pursuit of Rice but apparently we’ve somehow managed to mess up early negotiations with Rice and now look like ending up with neither.

If he does end up at Arsenal that’s gonna hurt, as well as improving them as well.

Our midfield rebuild worries me, like a lot.

We are shifting everyone we have, a midfield that at it's best became Champions of Europe (Mount, Jorgi, Kova, Kante) and we are seemingly missing out on our targets with Rice and Ugarte out of the picture already. We made a late move for Mac Allister but it was rejected, Caicedo seems to be next but is that likely? I doubt we land him personally.

If that happens we are going to be left with the "C" options are we not? And you don't want C options when you need to replace a bunch of top class midfielders...

Edited June 8, 20233 yr by OriginalS

Declan Rice and Mason Mount to be reunited at United?   Rice would always be a decent option, but for half the money mentioned in the media. We did pay a lot of money for Enzo, but he is the real deal, a generational talent, a World cup winner, voted the best young player at a World Cup. Enzo is in a different league.  Point being none of the DM's being talked about are worth 'Enzo money'.

Kovacic to Citeh. The harshest part of losing Kovacic to Citeh would be that Gvaridol will join his mate there. Gvardiol has been on the Chelsea wanted list for a long time now. 

DM?  I would go for Leandro Paredes [29] on a FREE transfer from PSG.   Andrey Santos is also a very versatile player who can play as a DM.  I would also look at Romeo Lavia or Manu Kone.  Caicedo? Too much money imho - it would be like buying Cucurella all over again.  Also, we MUST hold on to the talented Levi Colwill.