The Board

[Laylabelle 9,653]

"Club sources ensure me that their model is to buy potential and grow experience"

Which is so flawed!  We dont need potential we need experienced players 

[Pizy 19,189]

21 hours ago, Strike said:

Like United showed last summer, it is possible to have a smart window even without European football 

True. Personnel wise we won’t need too much in the summer, we just need to be smart and not blow huge money on super risky signings like fucking Gittens. Like United, we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

 

[Vesper 30,818]

3 hours ago, Pizy said:

we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

    
Micky van de Ven  Tottenham Hotspur 
Murillo   Nottingham Forest
Malick Thiaw    Newcastle United 
Jan Paul van Hecke      Brighton & Hove Albion 
Marcos Senesi    AFC Bournemouth 

   +

[OneMoSalah 9,043]

11 hours ago, Pizy said:

True. Personnel wise we won’t need too much in the summer, we just need to be smart and not blow huge money on super risky signings like fucking Gittens. Like United, we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

 

Not too much at all. Just a GK, CB, CM, LW & CF. We need more than just 2 or 3 and they have to be quality signings because everyone else around us will strengthen again. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City & Man United will not scrimp on wages if it means getting quality in the door. 

Be a few pawns sacrificed in the summer too, as usual, to rejig the squad/comply with PSR or FFP/realise we’ve made some more bad signings no doubt. Plus the double signing of Garnacho & Gittens on top of the Sancho loan & Mudryk has really set us back on the left wing. Like thats at least £150m of wasted cash on players that are equally as bad as each other/what we had before. Thankfully we pulled the plug and didn’t sign Sancho despite our best efforts to nearly fuck that up.

If Man United wasn’t Man United, Mbuemo & Cunha probably go elsewhere but they are always going to have that pulling power because of the stature of the club.

 

Mentioning PL best & seeing some names up there - United also firmly in driving seat for van der Ven by sounds of it (again, with or without CL, they’ll have that pulling power).

Plus Liverpool will be desperate for another CB when Konate goes despite signing Jacquet. Van Dijk cant go on forever.

Edited 18 hours ago by OneMoSalah

[Pizy 19,189]

17 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Not too much at all. Just a GK, CB, CM, LW & CF. We need more than just 2 or 3 and they have to be quality signings because everyone else around us will strengthen again. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City & Man United will not scrimp on wages if it means getting quality in the door. 

Be a few pawns sacrificed in the summer too, as usual, to rejig the squad/comply with PSR or FFP/realise we’ve made some more bad signings no doubt. Plus the double signing of Garnacho & Gittens on top of the Sancho loan & Mudryk has really set us back on the left wing. Like thats at least £150m of wasted cash on players that are equally as bad as each other/what we had before. Thankfully we pulled the plug and didn’t sign Sancho despite our best efforts to nearly fuck that up.

If Man United wasn’t Man United, Mbuemo & Cunha probably go elsewhere but they are always going to have that pulling power because of the stature of the club.

 

Mentioning PL best & seeing some names up there - United also firmly in driving seat for van der Ven by sounds of it (again, with or without CL, they’ll have that pulling power).

Plus Liverpool will be desperate for another CB when Konate goes despite signing Jacquet. Van Dijk cant go on forever.

We will almost 100% not be getting a new GK so we can put that to bed. I’d be stunned if we get another CF either with Emegha and maybe even Jackson returning.

I maintain that we don’t need much. Or perhaps to better put it, we don’t have THAT many glaring holes in the squad. It’s just that the few we do have are costing us big time. For me we badly need a dominant CB, a top class LW, and another high quality body in CM if Lavia gets injured once again. 

We don’t need a total rebuild or major surgery like we did a couple of years ago. 

[OneMoSalah 9,043]

19 minutes ago, Pizy said:

We will almost 100% not be getting a new GK so we can put that to bed. I’d be stunned if we get another CF either with Emegha and maybe even Jackson returning.

I maintain that we don’t need much. Or perhaps to better put it, we don’t have THAT many glaring holes in the squad. It’s just that the few we do have are costing us big time. For me we badly need a dominant CB, a top class LW, and another high quality body in CM if Lavia gets injured once again. 

We don’t need a total rebuild or major surgery like we did a couple of years ago. 

We do have glaring holes in the squad, maybe not in quantity but in quality 100%. Barring a handful of players, the majority are average. Particularly the signings the last 2/3 seasons.

It would be a real mistake if we went another season relying on Sanchez, despite his improvement this season, because he is an accident waiting to happen which has been proven at Brighton & here. Welcoming Jackson back to the fold would also be another mistake given how petulant his attitude and discipline is. Not to mention the whole scenario to push through his move to Bayern - where they’ve basically used him sparingly to not have to sign him. The transfers of Gittens, Garnacho & Delap also poor signings last summer (not an improvement on any of the players we already had in those positions). Would replace all 3 within a heartbeat. Perhaps even Hato too. Given the noise around Gittens, Delap & even Garnacho, I would imagine there is scope for them to leave already.

A supposed club with elite ambitions cannot rely on those guys every season. We probably need at 4 good signings to go into the first 11. GK, CB, LW & CF has to happen sooner than later on we risk making no progress at all. Well continue making no progress.

Maybe a CM not as desperate for the starting 11 but Lavia wouldn’t be someone we should be counting on either based on his lack of appearances in the past 2 and a half seasons. Again, most clubs would be looking at moving him on based on that (sick of hearing about his “talent” no good if he is crocked 90% of the time). Going into next season with Fernandez (who has played further forward more with Maresca & now Rosenoir), Caicedo, Santos & Essugo (if not loaned?) as our only fit/reliable options would really leave us short. If Caicedo ever got a long term injury we’d be fucked. 

Edited 1 hour ago by OneMoSalah