Pizy

Is that not a valid concern? If ourselves and United are after the same player and they offer 100k more than we do where is that player going?

£300m Mourinho spending spree inbound. Hopefully we aren't after the same players because I doubt we'll offer players £300k a week like they will.

Guess I'll watch this. Until United score, anyways.

United will win comfortably, I think. I'd do almost anything to see Mourinho in the Europa League again next season but he's a master at these one off, must win, grind out a result matches so I expect a straightforward win.

Absolutely beautiful if real.

I agree. I doubt we'll even try to compete with United spending wise, though. I may be proven wrong if the Lukaku figures turn out to be true, but I can't really imagine us spending £80-100m on a single player like they do. I think we'll be buying a bunch of very good player with potential to become great whereas United will buy ready made superstars like Griezmann and like they did with Ibra and Pogba. Mourinho absolutely needs to win a big trophy next season or he'll have failed. He'll spend ludicrous amounts of money to try to ensure it happens. We thought the spending of the Manchester clubs was insane last summer but I think this one will blow it away.

Think regardless of whether they win the final they'll go crazy in the transfer market. Maybe slightly crazier if they win. They so desperately want to be the Madrid or Bayern of the PL by buying big name after big name. Griezmann will be one of about 3 or 4 "Galacticos" they'll bring in, imo. I trust Conte (if given the backing by the board) to buy intelligently enough to stay at the top. Both ourselves and Spuds (Liverpool, too, to a lesser extent) proved this season that simply bringing in huge names isn't a guarnetee of success. But yeah, I expect them to break the transfer record more than once this summer.

Couple of tough decisions for Conte here. Do we start Cesc against his former club who he'll be desperate to beat? He's in great form and they'll have a weakened defense that he can pick apart. Or do we go for safety first and start with Kante & Matic? Then there's the Willian/Pedro spot. Both have been fantastic lately.

30 wins from 38 matches really is insane when you think about it. In Conte's first bloody season!

Diego having an absolute shocker so far...

Diego will score 10 here and win the Golden Boot.

Prize money + Nike sponsorship + player sales + whatever funds were going to be there anyways out of Roman's pocket. We really could afford a Real Madrid/Man United/City style summer if we want to. More money available than ever before and with the club in a better position than ever before. Alexis, Verratti, Kyle Walker, and Van Dijk and we'll be one of the favorites for the CL and clear favorites for the PL. We MUST go big this window! Give Antonio all the tools to build a dynasty. Mourinho and the club talked a big game after winning the league last time and we failed miserably to live up to it. No complacency and no settling for "good, but not great" signings.

Still way too much. Would he even displace Matic? I don't think he would. For that sort of money we need to be getting a clear upgrade. Unless Conte is switching systems.

That is way too much for him.

We keep saying the fee would be ridiculous, and it is, but when you compare him to what United bought Pogba for it may be a bargain years from now when we look back on it. Pogba doesn't score goals and really doesn't directly create many either. For about the same price we'd be signing a player who's the same age as Pogba but scores a pretty much nailed on 20 goals per season in the PL alone. So yes, £80m+ is crazy, but if he scores us 20+ goals a season for the duration of his contract that'll be worth it. So long as he's not the sole player we depend on for goals I'll be happy with his signing.

My absolute dream signing and probably my favorite non-Chelsea player in world football. Don't think I would be able to contain myself if we somehow signed him. I really do think we'd be unstoppable domestically with him added to our midfield. We should pay whatever it takes to try and lure him away.

That would be fine with me, though Sanchez should still be a priority. Just make it known to Sanchez that we really, really want him to turn his head and then present Arse with a huge offer. If it's impossible then go for Morata instead.

Doing essentially a straight swap of Costa for Lukaku without also signing an additional striker just doesn't make sense. This is why I'm not worried. We have to be signing more than one forward. It's going to be Lukaku + someone. Going from Costa & Batshuayi to Lukaku & Batshuayi doesn't make us any better.

I think it definitely plays a big part. They hate us, we hate them. The Modric situation as well as the Willian situation probably wouldn't help, either. Plus we just beat them to the title and they probably see us as their biggest title rival going forward. City are such a nothing club that their fans would quickly get over it. Walker would be hated and booed by Spud fans forever if he moves here.

Ehhhh. Van Dijk is much better, I think. Think VVD has absolutely everything in his locker to be a dominant, top class CB at any big club. £60m is of course absolutely ridiculous and we'd likely never pay that, but he's going to be very expensive. Stones for £50m has probably changed the market for a CB forever. And I'd have Van Dijk ahead of Stones 10 times out of 10.

Don't think I've ever seen Arnautovic not look miserable.

I see a couple of places are now linking us with Kyle Walker. I'd say he would be the best possible fullback signing we could make but there is absolutely zero chance Spuds would sell one of their best players to us. He sure would be perfect in our system, though, and a significant upgrade on Moses who could then become a solid rotation option.

He's a player that you need a specific system to get the best out of him. He'd have been the perfect signing for us before he moved to Madrid and we were still playing the 4-2-3-1 with a #10. No place for him here under Conte unless we changed the system.

Yeah, I don't think Griezmann goes there unless they're in the CL. Unless they offer him £300k per week like they did Ibra, which I suppose is possible. It really would make perfect sense and he'd fit in here perfectly. Will our board sanction a £90m move for him, though? I doubt it when it seems like Lukaku will be our main attacking signing. If we seek Diego for absurd money we should really be after both. Lukaku and Griezmann together with Hazard would be unbelievable. Just depends on how serious the board are about making a run at the CL and creating something truly special. We saw the kind of backing they gave Mou after he won the title so I'll believe it when I see it. He wanted to create a "dynasty" remember.

I wish! He'll probably end up at United as well if they win the Europa League. Mou will likely spend about £250m this summer. We'll have to be shrewd and decisive in our business if we want to repeat as champions because I doubt we'll be willing to spend like the two Manchester clubs will.