Superblue

If the club were to sell Tammy and Giroud and had exhausted all possibilities of a Haaland deal then I wouldn't be completely against us buying Ings if the price was right. Considering he has one year left on his contract, his injury history and age we shouldn't be paying anything over £25m in my opinion. I personally think he's too important to Southampton to sell for that sort of fee and they'd want more. Especially as just keeping him for the final year of his contract would likely be more valuable to them if his goals kept them in the league again. The important thing is to add quality not just add for the sake of it. If Southampton are asking silly money for him, I'd be loathe to blow a big part of the budget on someone like him. But there does also have to be some consideration in the futures of Tammy and Giroud. I don't mind going into next season with one of them, Werner and Havertz as our main options for the central attacker, but if both were to leave then we would be left incredibly thin (unless Tuchel was planning on someone from loan or the academy stepping in) and therefore we would have to add something to the squad. He'd be a good rotational option that has a proven goal record in the league and is actually a better technical player than he's probably given credit for (I don't think he would look out of place technically in our squad like some striking options would). And importantly he wouldn't get in the way of potentially a big attacking signing next season. I wouldn't even mind him the following season on a freebie as an experienced, rotational attacking option. If he doesn't move this summer, he could be a shrewd move for someone next year.

We technically signed Tuchel 😉 I agree. There shouldn't be a compromise on quality. Obviously the best player or best fit doesn't mean spending the most money and if Tuchel and the club see a player that could come in and fulfil an important role that wouldn't necessarily be considered on these boards as a great signing then I have full trust in what they're doing. But if we have eyes for example on 4 positions then I would much rather we only buy for 1 or 2 of these if it's the main target and fill the other couple of positions next summer, as opposed to trying to fill all 4 this summer but reducing the quality. I think the work that Tuchel has done already has reduced the number of obvious holes in this squad anyway.

I'd say the Arsenal and West Brom games that he was particularly poor in are highlighted more than the games that he has played well. Maybe it's because in those games he made individual errors and in games he plays well in he doesn't necessarily do anything that individually stands out. For example, Kante received all of the plaudits (and completely deserved) during the latter stages of the Champions League but I thought Jorginho was excellent along side him, particularly in the second leg against Madrid and the final. I completely agree with the comment regarding Modric though. I think his win wasn't just for the season he had but there were elements to it of celebrating a player that had been consistently excellent for a number of years and the win almost felt a culmination of that appreciation.

When it comes to transfer windows, the feeling is usually you're only as good as your last one and it can just take one bad window to push things back again (which is why I'd rather us not go and spend just for the sake of it this season, I'd rather start the season with no new signings than 3rd or 4th choice options). Definitely agree with the luck of the pandemic and also the irony that the transfer ban actually benefitted us bringing through academy talent. But the opportunity that had arisen from that luck, we definitely took with both hands. I feel that there is still an opportunity this summer (I don't think quite as much though), but the area we are most looking at, such opportunity isn't really there simply because of the lack of quality strikers potentially available. Would the window be a complete disaster if we didn't sign a striker given what the market looks like for striking options after Haaland?

I do think his value is seriously understated at times. He's one of those players that can have 10 great games but all it takes is one bad game and the 'must be sold' comments start rolling out at will. Obviously under Lampard, he doesn't look the same player because the athletic weaknesses that he does have are magnified in a far less structured system. Under Tuchel his weaknesses are less apparent due to the structure around him, and his strengths are in far greater focus. I personally don't think he'll win the balon d'or but I think your wide of the mark if you don't think he has a profound impact on this Italy squad. The squad and manager himself all recognise him as the main player.

Starting to get the recognition he deserves. He seems to be getting better too, which bodes well for us.

It was meant in a sarcastic manner. I assume he's probably on around 200k but who knows with what they're paying other players?!

I do think Kepa aside we've been far better in our transfer dealings since the disaster of Conte's last season. Obviously you're never going to hit 100% success on transfers but it does speak volumes that Kepa was clearly done very quickly in a panic. It was an absolute disaster. The rest of the transfers since then however have been well thought out and I'd say pretty much all the major signings since then have been successful - Jorginho, Kovacic, Pulisic, Thiago Silva, Mendy, Havertz, Werner, Chilwell I think were all good signings. The jury is out still on Ziyech but I do think if he stays on he'll show improvement next season. Whether by luck or design (I think a bit of both) we've really re-shaped and re-energised a squad that was ageing and looked stale in that second season under Conte. There's been major changes which have led to that Champions League win. I completely agree with you that it's easier to lose trust than earn/gain it but I do feel much more confident in the club from the last 2-3 years work that has been put in.

I'm thinking more along the lines of if Haaland ends up a no-go, the drop off in quality options is pretty significant and I wouldn't want the club spending big money on an alternative to their real top targets. Therefore given Barca's position it may be an opportunity to just take a player off them on loan for a season if they're that desperate to let players go, and then we're not stuck next summer with a big money player who hasn't worked out but is preventing us going back in for our top targets. I didn't realise Barca were paying Griezmann so much. Aguero is probably on £500k a week himself so it is probably pointless to even speculate!

To be honest if La Liga stand firm on Barcelona, I just cannot see how they get their wage bill down from this position. We may be able to loan Aguero off them next season if they're not allowed to register him.

Yeah that won't go down well at all.

I think they would have been used by Sarri, especially with the transfer ban. However I find it difficult to believe either would have played anywhere near the amount that they have over the last 2 seasons under Lampard, then Tuchel. Obviously such a massive exposure to game time has certainly been a huge factor in their growth and development over the last couple of years.

Given Barca's position, if the top striking targets are unobtainable this summer I wouldn't be against taking Griezmann off them for a season loan. I think he would mesh well in our current setup, and he's always had a good work ethic and eye for goal.

Really interesting interview, and I think dispels what I always felt was a myth that the club wanted him out. I do wonder quite a bit what would have happened had Sarri stayed at the club. On one hand, I do think towards the end of the season we were on an upward curve which culminated in a rather embarrassingly (well for them) one sided final against Arsenal. But then we were losing Hazard who had been critical for Sarri. It's interesting he mentions the squad Chelsea have now is tailor made for his style of football with the players that have been brought in. Would these players have been targeted or obtained under Sarri? Would players like Mount and James have come through under him? Ultimately everything has worked out really well for us when you think just 2 years ago we were losing Hazard, had quite an ageing squad and were staring into a transfer ban. But it is definitely a real 'What If?' moment.

But even then if you listen to them on podcasts that they've been on, they are all so vague at times when it comes to discussing the transfer market and will regularly stick to fairly generalised statements. They are clearly more reliable than most with their connections/insiders close to the club, but I still think very little is leaked compared to other clubs.

No it's not aimed at anyone in particular, it's based on that I've watched Camavinga a few times (probably not nearly as much as you) and I've not been impressed. He looks ok but hasn't stood out as this fantastic player that I keep hearing he is. The hybrid comment worries me a little too because when I've seen him I can't work out what he is because as you said he does have a bit of everything but I don't think he particularly excels in anything (not yet anyway). He doesn't look like he'd be disciplined enough to play a defensive midfield role at the top level, for me that will take a lot of time and patience to be worked on. I could be completely wrong but he doesn't look like the player United need to complement Pogba and Bruno.

Ironically a couple of reports in France have cropped up today that we've been in touch with Camavinga's agent to register an interest.

Maybe he is the second coming and over time it could be a great signing but from what I've seen so far of him Camavinga's reputation seems to be bigger than what he's actually accomplished. Renato Sanches is another who seems to be lauded as this great player but I just don't see it. Maybe they're really good players in Fifa or Football Manager and that's why they get more love then I think they deserve at this stage. I'm not completely sold on Rice. I do think he's better then some people give him credit for and as a defensive midfield option and a bit of muscle and size into the midfield I think we could do a lot worse. However I'm yet to be convinced his ability on the ball is up to scratch to play at the highest level and the price West Ham will ask for is astronomical. Having said that our transfer activity since the 2017 debacle has been very good, Kepa aside, and I can only be confident that whomever we target, we can continue this trend.

The problem is too many people are moaning that we haven't signed anyone yet but there just has not been much done. Still a lot of if's, but's and maybe's. I'm sure if the opportunity arises the likes of United, City and Liverpool will all attempt to strengthen, but I am also confident that we will too.

Who exactly is 'going for it'? United so far have brought in a player they were trying desperately to buy last summer. That's it. There's lots of rumours but ultimately very little movement in the window currently. I highly doubt the club is just sitting on it's hands reluctant to do business but you had the right word in your statement. It's about 'quality'. Until we've exhausted all possibility of getting first choice targets, I'd rather we didn't just easily settle for moving on to alternative's because they may be easier to complete.

To be fair from what it sounds Tuchel wanted the opportunity to assess these players before deciding if they should be moved on or not. Given the amount of players who have been at the Euro's and will be back late for pre season, these players will have a couple of weeks where they won't be lost in the shuffle and get some proper time to work and speak with Tuchel and vice versa. Otherwise he'd be starting up today with about 8 - 10 players from the first team squad and the rest filled up from the academy. There were some players before Tuchel came in who looked to be on the outer and are now important players within the squad so it's not a foregone conclusion that all of these players are just automatically binned off. If Tuchel finds one player to be "salvaged from the scrapheap" that he thinks can do a job within the squad this coming season then that process has been well worth it in my opinion.

In Sancho's case he won't be in until much later in pre-season due to England's participation in the Euros.

I knew we'd had a few links with him thrown around but we get that with about 100 different players a season. I can't remember though there being really strong links to him signing for us over the few weeks prior to it being confirmed. Even a couple of days before it was confirmed there were still reports that Liverpool were favourites for him. Maybe I was just not paying any real attention at the time but it seemed like it really came out of the blue. The main point though is everybody is losing their mind that we haven't signed anybody yet and it's effectively coming on the back that United have signed Sancho (who they've been trying to buy for a year) and they're in discussions with one other player. There has been hardly any movement so far in the market in general, I would expect to see more movement over the next 3-4 weeks as the Euros wrap up but ultimately the signings have to be right. United may have taken a year but they got the player they wanted rather than settling for a second rate alternative. We had to play a waiting game to sign Havertz last summer. Would people have preferred us then to instead use that money to buy an alternative because the negotiations for Havertz were long and drawn out? There's still plenty of time for movement, people need to relax a bit.

Wasn't this a case of him wanting to leave rather than us wanting to get rid?

People do realise we blew everyone out of the water last summer with our spending and it has to be deemed a success because of what we ended up winning. United could have had Sancho last summer but chose to bide their time. It's been a deal that has likely been in the works for over a year so it's hardly like this would have dragged on for another summer. Also they are in talks to sign Camavinga but it's no foregone conclusion. If he is as good as some people on here think and given the price I would expect PSG at the least will be looking at him. People need to give everything time. We've always been extremely quiet with our transfer dealings to the point where even the top tier journalists I don't think know as much as they make out (not at least until much later in negotiations). The Pulisic deal which was a massive transfer considering the price and his standing in the US was completely under wraps until it was being announced and seemed to come completely out of the blue with no real rumours beforehand. I'm sure the club are looking to strengthen but there's a big difference between strengthening and adding. If we're trying to shop as close to the top table as possible, those deals are much harder to get done, even more so with the Euros currently on. Let's assess things at the end of this window.