If the talk is true that the Suarez to Barca deal has been on since November we should have signed Mata in January. Assuming Chelsea would have sold to us. Mata could be the playmaker I described in my previous posts.
Surely its a case of fulfilling the old adage. He has bossed the CL as a teenager and won La Liga, but can he do it on a wet Wednesday evening in Stoke? We shall soon see.
well possibly, but as has been said, maybe mourinho was hoping as they had already played them, that utd would have been good enough at the time to take points of chelsea rivals for the title ie us,city and arsenal. or it could just have been a coincidence that it looked like that and it was more ffp rules and budgeting, but i doubt it personally.
Apparently we have the full £75m to spend from the Suarez sale. It was also reported that we had £60m to spend prior to the Suarez sale, although that is pure speculation. But as I have nothing better to do, I will speculate and suggest that Markovic was the last of our summer signings, pre Suarez. So it's: Lallana £25m Can £9m Markovic £20m Lambert £5m Total Pre Suarez sale: £59m Suarez income £75m Other sales £25m Total to spend £100m Where do we spend it? Big signing or quality in depth? This transfer window will define our next 2 or 3 years for sure!! 5 x £20m signings or 1 x £40m and 3 x £20m or what?? Are there any surprises? I hope so! Looking at who we're linked with: Bony £20m Griezmann £20m Lovren £20m Origi £10 Bertrand £8m Moreno £20m Personally, I'd put Shaqiri at the top of the list, he's tricky and built like a tank, can play in a variety of positions including down the centre and would be a handful in the EPL imo and at a reported £15m, a bargain too! My wish list would be along the lines of Shaqiri £15m Lovren £20m Moreno £20m Origi £10m Mascherano £15m Would still leave £20m to spend and some people will have a go for me saying it but I'd spend the lot on a keeper that can distribute and sweep.....playing how we do, it's an absolute necessity! No idea who though!! You could argue that we'd need another striker but the way we play doesn't necessarily mean that we need an out and out striker, for me Shaq would be good. Anyway, if we signed that lot, I'd be a happy man!
My wish list would be along the lines of Shaqiri £15m Lovren £20m Moreno £20m Origi £10m Mascherano £15m ---------------------------- prefer that list, we need quality not numbers(although isnt Origi dependant on loaning back?), we have youth who i hope are good enough to step up as well if needed.
Yeah, I think we'd be loaning him straight back but I can live with that....he seems to be a rough diamond that will only benefit from first team action and might save us £25m next year!
Unfortunately, Shaqiri is off the menu. He's signed a new contract with Bayern. This makes me sad as he was the one I wanted (even above Sanchez).
I didn't see this. The last I saw, Roma were sniffing about him. Am surprised, he wasn't getting game time at Bayern and wanted out.
The signings we have already made, plus Markovic, Origi, Moreno and Lovren, if they happen, I believe have no connection to Suarez's transfer and the £75m. I'm thinking go for two big signings. A forward playmaker and a striker. A striker who can compete and rotate with Sturridge in a front three and partner him in a diamond. A playmaker who can play wide in a front three and give us creativity in the final third and whilst linking with midfield. A player with lots of skill and flair. Both must be decent goal scorers but dont necercerrely need to be 20 goal a season players.
You're as pissed as I was last night if you believe that mate. That lot on top of the £39m you've already spent would take your spend to about £100m, there's no way you'll spend another £75m on top of that without further major departures balancing the books and the wage bill!
Unfortunately, I agree with this. Even the £60m that I made reference to in my speculative post is questionable....Although £60m including any transfers out is very feasible. This would only be a shortfall of £20m or so from my initial stance. ONLY!! (Incredible when you think that there's been many season's when that's all we've had (plus player sales!).
We've got plenty of midfielders in, we need a LB, a striker and possibly a RB. CB is less needed, but another wouldn't harm us. Striker wise, Bony and Remy are okay, but hardly amazing. I'd be tempted to go for Lukaku (sorry Tobes!). Similar to Bony but younger and would forge a good relationship with Sturridge and (later), his international team mate, Origi.
I had my doubts on Markovic but sounds like could be an exciting signing. Still young with big potential it seems.
I'd rather not bring too much in too soon. One more super forward. Pref one who can play anywhere up top. One versatile either wing fullback. Too much too soon isn't a great idea. Spend the money on a few really good players rather than buy half a new team.