Sorry, but I have a lack of confidence in having (a) that sort of money to spend and, (b) having Rafa around to spend it.
Defoe Abrahams Sigurdsson (yes bigger clubs will be interested but we kept Rafa so why not??) Townsend Mvilla Hughes A nasty bastard centre back
He seemed to keep picking up little muscle strains at spurs. Everton has been similar. Probably typical of explosive wingers to be fair to him. Out of those mentioned he seems less likely to be injured all the time. Zero end product and if I could have him or Markovic is go for the latter.
I'd have Townsend back over Lennon. Rafa had him playing pretty good stuff and is less of a question mark than Lennon. Markovic I've never seen play so can't comment. What's everyone's view on signing Atsu permanently? He's been good at times but also woefully poor in some matches and he'd have to be a back up to Ritchie and whoever else is signed if we were to sign him. He'll not be good enough to play week in week out imho as I think Premier League defenders will snuff him out pretty easily and also at that level you need players who are more consistent in their performances.
We need numbers so for the money I think it's fine. I'm happy if we take him. Also his pace makes him useful off the bench. He can make things happen.
If I was playing a computer game: M'Villa, Sigurdsson, Shawcross, Townsend, Defoe. Confident they would be less than £50m in total and suspect we'll be spending that sort of figure. Also confident none of those will come. We NEED a battling DM, an experienced CD, a winger and a goal-scorer. We could obviously do with more but if we get those 4 players of mid-table quality I think we may be ok. ps. Is Anita going at the end of the year? I'd have him around the squad and possibly first choice RB!
Jetro Willems from PSV, returned from a bad injury this season, still 23 years old, would be a gamble, should pay off and better than Dummett at LB!!! Youri Tielemans - Anderlect - 19 yrs old, top clubs are after him, we would need to pay 25 -30m for him if we were gonna sign him, not very likely Gabriel Barbosa - Inter Milan - Loan - not getting much time on the pitch at Inter, a season loan could benefit both clubs, Supposed to be better than Man City's Jesus. Leon Baily - Winger - Gent - Jamaican - Like a faster, more skilful, less injury prone Rolando Aarons. baily got 7 goals and 11 assists in his first season at Gent aged 18. He has 7 gaols and 3 assists in this years Europa league. Again could be quite costly, but his price is only going one direction I'd take Sigurdsson and Defoe from the teams going down, maybe even Pickford, but not that fussed. Kelchi Ineanacho from Man City? If they were to sign another striker then he gets further down the list. Young, grabs goals knows the league a bit, still learning. Season loan with option to buy. Even give city first choice on a buy back or something? I've gone for a lot of young players and there's no doubt interest would be high. But if we wanted to grow these are the types of players we need to be looking at.
Although it is hard to argue with any of those that would knock out most if not all of any budget we have. I see these types of players as the ones we may prioritise in a year or two IF we are still in the league. For now I'd prefer to pay over the odds on players like Shawcross and Siggurdsson. If those two plus Defoe were £50m (with signing on fees) I would know we'd been taken to the cleaners but I'd also be more confident in our team to finish above 18th - which is surely the immediate aim.
I think the difference being, if we did sign any of those players a) they would want to be here because rafa only signs players who want to be here b) they would be managed by Rafa, not Pardew or McClaren , which will make a big difference. I couldn't comprehend paying £50m for Shawcross, Sigurdsson and defoe. especially when you consider their ages. Swansea will need cash, max, £15m, clubs will look to drive his price down. Shawcross again, 29 would you pay much more than 15? then defoe, on a free signing fee of around £2m max as he's 34, I would wanna get the lot for closer to £30m then 50
Oh I know it's well over the odds, my point was just that I can see £50m being made available plus player sales (so £70m ish). If you offered me: Darlow Dummett, Lascelles, Shawcross, Clark Ritchie, Shelvey, Siggurdsson, MVilla, Townsend Defoe I'll snap your arm off. M'Villa (£10m), Townsend (£14m). It isn't going to happen though, not for a moment. We'll get maybe one of those players and the a handful I've either never heard of or ones I've heard off but wary of (or who used to be good but simply aren't now).
M'vila I'm not sure about, Hughes maybe, would prefer Tom Cairney to both, if we can snap him up. Townsend definitely, but I think unfortunately Allardyce sees him as a key squad member now, and we won't just be able to buy him back for what we sold him for. Ballsing the deal up in Jan is gonna come back to haunt us. Defoe, would he come? Sunderland fans loved him, and would he immediately want to sour that? I can only see him going to London anyway. Abrahams absolutely, can't see him going straight into the Chelsea team next year, and this is probably the path they had planned for him - i.e. prove himself in the Champ, then loaning him to a newly promoted team in the Prem would be the next logical step. Sigurdsson I'm sure will be moving on from Swansea, but I'd be surprised if we get him (but delighted if we do), did well at Spurs, and would surely be a good player for the likes of Everton or even Liverpool or Man U. Yes to CB, Clark and Mbemba are up to it, but Laecelles isn't quite there yet, older experienced tough CB needed.
I like M'Villa as a person, but he's a bit of a nutter. Didn't he come out and say how he wanted Sunderland to be relegated? Sounds like he would fit right in, but didn't he go awol with Ruben Kazan? he also got banned from the france national team at some point. Good player, bit of a loose cannon. Usually I worry about transfer windows, but this year (so long as we have Rafa) I'm quite confident. I'm confident he will know who to bring in, he will get some good deals, some players will be un-heard of and some more familiar, but Rafa will not go into the season not prepared.
Been linked with Luca Caldirola from Werder Bremen. Italian CB who can play LB. Anyone know if he's any good?
Never heard of him but he needs to be a specialist CB rather than a jack of all trades. We already have 2 CBs who can play left back. If we are looking for a left back then he needs to be a more attacking, ball playing type rather than a bigger CB type.
We can rule out Aaron Lennon, there are reports in the media today that he is suffering from mental health problems.
This should be about the minimum spend we are contemplating. We had a relegation squad and extracted £30 million net from it. Pump £30 million net into the current squad and it will be relegation quality again. £50 million net should get you a squad which is only occasionally in the relegation zone.
