If we were to move Richarlison on in the summer, then I'd suggest that we need two strikers. Who would people like to see us sign for those places, hypothetically?
Jonathan David, as he's (currently) got a little over a year left on his Lille contract and seems tailor-made for Angeball
Tough one. Think a lot depends on what we'd budget for a new striker because even average ones go for a premium, then there's also the profile Ange may want, both in terms of reputation and style of player. I think we'll only sign one striker though should Richarlison go, as I think it's likely we'll sign another versatile forward instead of a second striker. Vlahovic, Martinez, Osimhen and Watkins all cost a minimum of £80m and there's no guarantee any would even want to join but they're the types who I think come with the closest guarantee of scoring a good 20+ goals a season. Similar could apply to Gyokeres, who's having a fantastic season at Sporting albeit doesn't have the same pedigree yet as those four though would probably cost similar. Toney's a no-go as we know he doesn't fit Ange's attitude with regards to wanting to join Spurs, as he just wants out of Brentford. David, Gimenez and Pavlidis have all scored very frequently in France and Holland respectively over multiple seasons so could be decent punts. Guirassy is having a great season in Germany but he's never had a season like it and is 28 so I'm not sure I'd risk going for him, he's the sort I think West Ham or Everton take a punt on. If I could pick it'd be between Watkins or Vlahovic but I think it's more likely we'd go for one of David or Gimenez.
Benjamin Sesko reportedly has a €50m/£42m release clause active this summer, though I get the feeling it'll be a moshpit of clubs trying to get on that And on the subject of Monster Energy Dusseldorf, Plettenberk says we're monitoring Mohamed Simakan - although I can't see us meeting his €70m release clause given he's a right-footed CB and we're far more likely to be looking at a left-footed CB to cover Mickey Van
Adarabioyo Watch Alasdair Gold says we're stepping up our interest in the event of his contract expiring at the end of the season Scandi Watch Somebody (as in I forgot who...) claims we're looking at Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Larsson, who is basically a younger, more Swedish Hojbjerg...a younger, more Swedish Hojbjerg who could have cost just €7.5m last summer, but now is surely going to be €50m+ Exodus Watch
If we had bought Hugo Larssob for€7.5 mill last year many fans would have said we should have bought an established player for €x miilion
Yep, looking like another young player that Palace have pipped us too that’s looking like they’ll be a star like Eze and Olise.
In Olise's case there may have been different circumstances as we were reportedly refusing to sign unvaccinated players that summer, which meant we dropped interest in Olise Thanks for that, Rennes!
Has anyone read Ally Gold's overview of our squad configurations ahead of next season? It's a long piece which I struggled to follow due to the appearance of an ad every quarter scroll, but the general gist of it is that we're walking an absolute tightrope when it comes to HG and CT spots, to the point that we will probably have to chain Oliver Skipp to the stadium gates.
We don't actually have to fill those spots, but we'll be at a disadvantage if we don't. The form of our midfielders, especially in the holding role, makes me want to see Skipp play. Even if he doesn't do well there, at least we'll know that it wasn't a long-term option. Everyone else is failing to impress there anyway. Links to Walker-Peters and Edwards may make sense in this situation. Replacing Hojbjerg with Gallagher is also more understandable. It's something that should've been prevented from happening in the first place, though.
So a quick roundup Attacking Midfielder Watch Voetball Krant claims we're looking at Genk's 19 year old Moroccan attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannous CB Watch Watch - Tuttosport claim we're looking at Bolgna's 21 year old left-footed centre back Riccardo Calafiori - Sebastian Falk claims that Leverkusen would be willing to sell Piero Hincapie to us for £34m DM Watch Boca Noticias claims we are looking at Boca's Cristian Medina, who has been compared to both Fernando Gago and Ruben Neves (as in it's bloody hard to get an accurate scouting picture of him compared to the others...) Yes to El Khannous as Maddison needs an understudy/heir, while both of the CBs have positives as Calafiori has the buildup traits Angeball needs while Hincapie is capable of playing LB and CB plus is far better in the air than...is there a polite way to say 80% of our defenders?
CF Watch DZ Foot claim we've made an offer to Union Saint-Gilloise for Mohammed Amoura, who had 17 goals in 23 appearances this season
