In my opinion, these are the areas we need to strengthen in and the sorts of money required for players in those positions. Top Quality players. These are wish list players and to fashion our new look team we will have to sell. Sess will be sold IMO if the reports he is homesick are true so we must capitalise on his value. Taiwo is a lad we were linked with 3 years ago and is up for grabs. Johnson may or may not be up for grabs as well but McGeady definitely is up for sale and they both offer pace and skill in abundance. I think we could get Milner as City will rebuild again in the summer and players like Milner will not make the cut. I rate him very highly and as a central player not a winger. Fletcher is a top class central striker who works hard and is powerful in the air, he will be sold now wolves are relegated and at £6m he would be a steal. Sturridge must be yearning for a club he can get 1st team place at and we could offer that. Just a thought provoker this but these are the kinds of players we need to attract if we are to get the mental toughness and the skill and pace required to be a success in the EPL. 1. Gordon 2. Bardsley 5. O Shea (Capt) 6. Brown 3. TAIWO (£4m) 7. JOHNSON (£12m) 8. McGEADY (£10m) 4. MILNER (£8m) 11. McClean 9. FLETCHER (£6m) 10. STURRIDGE (£12m) SUBS: Mignolet, Turner, Killgallon, Colback, Larsson, Campbell, Meyler, Cattermole OUT Sessegnon (£15m), Gyan (£6m), Gardener (£4m), Westwood (£1m), Bramble (£1m), Bridge, Kyriagos, Bendtner, Ji (loan), Wickham (loan), Vaughan (£2m) and Richardson (£4m). £33m The likes of Riveros, Angeleri and McCartney etc, will all have to be just got rid of to save some wages and free up places for Marty to fill with his players. Spending - £52m Sales - £33m NET SPEND - £19m which is certainly not chicken feed but also is not a massive amount of investment for a new manager either imo.
I think we will sell Gordon out of the keepers, Bramble and Richardson from defence and Gardner from midfield. The greek, Bridge and Bendy will go MIG BARDSLEY..O'SHEA..BROWN..COLBACK JOHNSON..CATTS..MCREADY..MCLEAN SESS..ABITHINGYFROMVILLA Cant see us getting Johnson mind
Would be an awesome team but we have no chance with some of those players. I think everyone you've listed apart from Sess should be sold and that would give us around 15m plus 6m from the gyan loan for Mon to play with. Would like to see Moses 8m Fletcher 5-6m Matt Phillips 1m Kranjcar 5-6m Warnock 2-3m All fairly realistic.
would love all of these bar warnock, i actually agree with syd, keep colback at left back, he's done great and could make the position his own for years to come
A nice post Cest but mate I cant see us getting Johnson (wages) as for Sturridge hes (by all accounts highly rated at Chelsea) so cant see them releasing him. As for McGeady theres nee way we are going to pay over the odds for another winger MON has already stated hes more than happy with his two current wide men..I do thoink however that we might make a tentative stab at Moses who can play on both flanks. Bit surprised yer rate Fletcher mind Cest, didnt think he would be your cup of tea..Iam not so convinced about him rather keep Bendtner (wages again would be an issue as they would with Milner) and I think the Nigerian lad at QPR is on daft wages too.
Like I said, its a wish list not a statement. Got to say Quillips, you would have absolutely no chance of getting Matt Phillips for £1m mate. I was speaking to Bobby Saxton a couple of weeks or so ago at the CLS Branch sportsmans dinner at the SOL and he said we were amongst 5 or 6 clubs monitoring that young mans progress. Expect to pay more like £4m or £5m for him, as he is young, English and will have several suitors. BTW, I don't think an attempt for the likes of Sturridge, Johnson or Taiwo is 'over ambitious' tbh. In fact, I would be disappointed not to think the club thought so too. MoN needs the backing financially as we have given Muppet's much more money. Now we have a quality man in charge it would be a total nonsense for Ellis Short to simply say he cant have any. There will be good players up for grabs this summer as the top 5 or 6 re-structure after poor showings in the EPL and Europe. Those fringe or rejected players could make us a far, far better team IMO. It's all about what ambition the club really have.
Personally I would be devastated to lose Sess. Irriplacable IMHO. I too think Johnson is a no go. He will be on daft wages at City and no one takes a pay cut unless they have too.
Keep Bendtner - on £60k to £70k per week for what he offers? I'm more surprised to read that kidda. I've liked Fletcher since he played for Burnley. He has 34 goals in 3 EPL seasons in all competitions, which is canny and for me leads the line like a Quinny or an old fashioned Joe Jordan type of centre forward with height and a bit of pace. With a very pacy striker alongside him like a Sturridge (if Chelsea rate him that highly how come he cant get a game over Torres who cant hit a cows arse with a giant banjo at the moment), I think he would be exceptional. You never know who may or may not come and MoN is a huge advantage for us. He must be backed in the market this summer, or else we may as well have just kept Mrs Doubtfire and hoped for the best.
Id have d cisse back, would do really well under oneil with sess sitting behind. Can hold the ball up as a lone striker, pace, play on the last defender with sess, Larsson threading balls through.
Maybe wishful thinking for 1m cest but even at 4-5m he's potentially worth it. Glad to hear we are watching the situation.
My ideal team would be: Gordon (Doubt it prob Mig) Bardo - Brown - JOS - Taiwo Seb - Catts - Sigurdsson - McClean Sess BIG signing (Not sure who) Subs: Turner Matt Phillips That wouldn't necessarily be the starting line up Hoillet New RB Kranjcar Fletcher Colback Killa Obviously that won't happen, but god would I love it to. The main goals over the transfer window should be: New striker; Shift dead wood; and most importantly keep Sess!
To be fair Cest I would be happy with your team. I would love to see Mon make some audacious bids for the likes or Johnson, Milner and Sturidge. The Sturidge thing is interesting? he has not lived up to the promise he showed at Bolton, I think mainly because he is played out of position at Chelski as a wing/forward rather than an out and out striker. If a new manager comes in and buys some big name strikers he might become available. I don't think Johnson is impossible but would be difficult, Milner on the other hand would be extremely difficult and city would probably want 20m for him. I am not sure about McGready he is a winger isnt he? has he ever played at the really top level? Still I would much rather be talking about signing Sturidge, Milner, Johnson etc.... than Doyle, Heskey, Collin and Agbonglahor. The latter are not bad players but IMO would not improve us.
Correct Vegas. You never know unless you ask but to be able to ask MoN will need a canny support from Ellis. Maybe all of these could come off. Maybe only 2 or 3 will or even just 1 but then again, unless we ask, none of them will.
Your initial team would be absolutely immense Cest Thing is, with MON surely you will be signing a huge striker, Heskey/Davies/AN Other, rather than players like Sturridge and Fletcher.
Mignolet Bardsley new cb (others fight for spot) New left back Larsson cattermole New creative cm McClean Fletcher Odemwingie Matt Philips to push Seb and the strikers Rodellega on a free as competition too colback Meyler Vaughan pushing catts for a starting berth.
Hey, I said it was a wish list not reality. BTW, Fletcher is 6ft 1 and exactly that sort of player MoN likes in his teams. He works his bollocks off for the team, as well as chipping in with 12 to 14 goals a season. For £5m or £6m thats decent business. McGeady is also a real potential signing as could Sturridge if we put in a decent bid. He is 22 now and still not a first team regular at Chelsea, whereas his contemporary Wellbeck has established himself up at OT this season and maybe would fancy a go with us and Martys revolution. As for Johnson and Milner, they would be many clubs wish list players and I rate both extremely highly. We probably couldn't get both but I do get the impression that City will restructure (maybe under new management even if they win the EPL) and there will be players moved on or allowed to go. AJ and JM may be 2 that can be tempted away by our managers reputation. Like I said, unless you ask, you never get.
Yakubu, Fletcher and Gabby (or Rod from Wigan) would be good buys for the forward line, and realistic targets. If bendtner accetps a drop in wages, then for me the best investment would be Yakubu and Rod. if bendtner goes, then get all 3 in. Ji and Wickham to be loaned out. I'd like to think that MON will convince Sess to stay, but even if he does, we need a creative midfielder in to compete with him for the spot. We need a RB to compete with Bardo, and a LB (even if Colback does agree to play there). If Villa go down (or even if they dont) IO still think Hutton would be a good buy for RB. Johnson would be a great buy if we could pull it off. Big IF though. Thats 6 players. 3 strikers have to be a priority, followed by JOhnson as we need someone who can give real competition to our current wingers. I dont think MON will go all out and buy 6 players this summer. I'm guessing he will go for a slower rebuild strategy. Take Bridge on loan again for another season, and take a CB on loan as these are lower priority positions.
Agree with most of this whole thread and it is nice to dream, Moses as well as wings could be the pacy striker. He started up front at Palace I think. Hope the kitty being talked in the papers is just the club trying to get value like as we need a bit of investment to not go backwards.
I would like to see us sign for next season Clyne Moses Izaguirre Samba Sigurdsson Fletcher Long ------------------------------------------Gordon----------------------------------------------- Clyne/Bardo---------------JOS----------------------Samba--------------Izaguirre/colback Moses/Seb-----------------Catts--------------------Sigurdsson--------------------McClean ---------------------------------------Sess------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------------------------------------Fletcher------------------------------------ subs Clyne/Bardo Moses/Seb Izaguirre/colback Long Mig Brown Gardner
