Hi! Not on the WUM just interested. Jose is there to win you a pot so what positions does he need to improve in order to turn you into a team that can win trophies. Take into account players who's contracts are running down and whether you think they will have a change of mind now that Jose is there. Feel free to speculate on who those players may be based on the type of player Jose tends to buy. I'll try one but will probably be way off as I don't know your team well enough. Lloris Aurier Toby Koulibaly Rose Kante Winks Alli Moura Kane Son So my thinking is big CB a leader who can steady things at the back and organise with Rose signing a new contract but in all honesty I don't rate him and I don't think Jose will so maybe a change there in the Summer. Kante needs to move and to play back in the DM slot so maybe available at a price but that is more likely in the Summer so maybe someone in Jan who would be able to play in the middle with Kante. He then needs to try Moura on a regular basis and make a choice come the Summer. Feel free to lay into me for that team.
I can't see Davies being a Jose player either, LB is probably going to be a target. Chillwell would be good but he'll cost a fortune, didn't you buy that kid from Fulham?
Hard to say, all depends on what type of defence he wants. If a solid, rigid one then Davies is perfect as he's a great defender, if he's looking for his LB to be more attack-minded then either a new LB or convert Sessegnon (kid from Fulham, although seems he's preferably a LW at the moment) to the position. Chilwell would be great but I can't see that deal happening for reasons you've said, Leicester will want Maguire-esque money and we won't be paying that.
I think what Sess has in his favour though is that while he is still a kid, he's got over a 100 first team games under his belt already, so isn't some novice being plucked from the academy.
1.) A defensive midfielder Our team has clearly lacked one of these all season and we've taken to deploying either Winks or Sissoko as an ersatz DM since late last season when both Dier and Wanyama were unavailable. This season it's been made worse by Wanyama clearly being broken (to the point the coach of the Kenyan team gave him both barrels to the press this week) yet he refused to move to Brugge over wage demands, but the real issue is that Dier appears to have been Unpersoned - Denis Zakaria (23yo, A German Team, contracted until 2022) - Lucas Tousart (22yo, Lyon, contracted until 2022) - Sander Berge (21yo, Genk, contracted until 2021) - Santiago Ascacibar (22yo, Stuttgart, contracted until 2023) - Wilmar Barrios (26yo, Zenit, contracted until 2023) - Nemanja Matic (31yo, Man Utd, contracted until 2020...and we all know who our manager is, right) 2.) A centre back Putting aside any talk of their contracts for a moment, we have to acknowledge both Verts and Toby are getting to the point where they simply won't be top-level centre backs for much longer, and while Sanchez can fill the breach after that it's problematic as Foyth is still raw (and seen as a right back), Tanganga is inexperienced and playing silly buggers on a contract while Eyoma still hasn't escaped the black hole that is our U23s - Dayot Upamecano (21yo, Taurine FC Leipzig, contracted until 2021) - Ibrahima Konate (20yo, Taurine FC Leipzig, contracted until 2023) - Joachim Andersen (23yo, Lyon, contracted until 2024) - Nikola Milenkovic (22yo, Fiorentina, contracted until 2022) - Jonathan Tah (23yo, Bayer Leverkusen, contracted until 2023) - Nathan Ake (24yo, Bournemouth, contracted until 2022) 3.) An attacking right back While it is possible that Foyth is our long-term right back, there's no denying that we have had a real issue down the right flank this season as Aurier is lacking something both offensively and defensively while KWP is still a raw talent who people often forget is still at the club, and this has caused a lot of problems with unlocking opponents - and not just those committed to busparquet - Youcef Atal (23yo, Nice, contracted until 2023) - Thomas Meunier (28yo, PSG, contracted until 2020) - Joel Veltman (27yo, Ajax, contracted until 2021)
I think Jose will definitely work on our defence. I think he'll love Gazzaniga. He dropped Casillas at Real for Lopez because he said Lopez was better with his feet, this is the case for Gazza at Spurs, so he could be cementing that number one spot even when Lloris returns. RB: Aurier is terrible, Foyth is very promising but still very raw, KWP is a forgotten man but is so behind with his development I don't think he'll ever make it and that's on us. LB: Rose is now terrible, Davies is great at defending but offers little going forward, Sessegnon would be the opposite if seen as a LB. CB: Toby and Jan likely won't be here next season although Jose is a big admirer of Toby so we may see his form improve. Big question mark over Sanchez, he was targetted by Jose in the Europa final a few years back so initial signs may be bad for him, however he is in the mould of Varane who Jose loved at Madrid, so if Jose can work a bit with him on his positioning and defensive instincts he could be someone Jose will end up loving. So at the very least, a RB and CB should be top of the list, whilst a LB could also be there depending on how he feels about the potential candidates. Then it's the one who protects the defence. Will he throw Dier back into the side or look for someone new? IIRC he wanted Dier when at Utd, though that was back when Dier was injury/ illness free and bloody superb, those illnesses seem to have really affected him along with losing the faith of Poch.
Oh yeah, I forgot one... 4.) Players we have to sign otherwise Steve Hitchen will think we wasted his time One thing that just sprung to mind is that, when Steve Hitchen was dispatched to Argentina, his brief was to look for players that Poch would work with...and that's obviously not the case right now, meaning he's spent a couple of months on the other side of the planet only to be informed that he should have been looking for at least six centre backs. So if we don't want him to be royally ****ed off, I guess we better do something about it... - Agustin Almendra (19yo, Boca Juniors, contracted until 2022)
Mourinho normally works from this list: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mino-raiola/beraterfirma/berater/282 I'd guess that he'll prioritise right-back and try to sort out the current squad until the end of the season, though. If he can butter up some of the disinterested players, turn some of the regulars into leaders and inspire the new boys, then we should be ok. He's been keeping an eye on the team for a while, so I'm sure he's got some idea of what the problem is.
