Great statement of intent - three good targets in areas we needed to strengthen. Damaio or a player of similar quality plus a wide player in addition to Lovren and Wanyama and I'll be really happy with the window
If we get Damiao as well I'll think we've done some fantastic business. Wanyama is an excellent signing, I don't know much about Lovren but he seems to have the right attributes and pedigree.
Sign Leandro Damião and Davide Astori and I will be ecstatic. With every other PL club having money to spend we have to be clever to stay ahead of the game and we seem to be making very astute signings. Standing still means going backwards in modern football and we seem to be storming ahead. Well done Nicola for some very clever negotiating ploys including having a fall back position for each signing and giving those parasites the Footballers' Agents short shrift. It is great being a Saints fan at the moment.
Just Banega on top of Lovren and Wanyama and I'd be thrilled. Wouldn't turn down another top CB like Astori but also not sure about slotting a whole new partnership into the middle of the defence, Yoshida really started to bed in (I also thought Fonte was also hitting his straps and was playing the best any of our CBs played before he got injured but from there on out he didn't get a look in, that's the nature of football) last season so I'm happy for Lovren to slot in next to him to keep our back four as settled as possible. The more I think about Damiao the more it just doesn't sit with me, signing him would be a huge statement of intent but I'm not sure we would reap the rewards that the profile of the signing would suggest. My hunch is that we'll get Wanyama in tomorrow and then it'll be a long wait until early August just after we get home from our preseason tours until we sign someone who hasn't even been mentioned so far, and then we'll make one more around transfer deadline day.
On the subject of optimum number of signings, what does everyone make of the goings on at Sunderland? They are up to 8 already, with quite a few more rumoured to be on the way. My opinion is that he has to get what is virtually a brand new team firing on all cylinders very quickly, extremely risky and if he doesn't get it right they could be in a real predicament before they properly gel as a team. If he pulls it off however it will really change my perception of him as a manager, there has never been any doubt of his ability as a motivator, but he'll need to do more than that to pull this off.
But if you ran Sunderland, wouldn't you want at least 11 players? Worst team I saw last season, with the exception of their goalkeeper and he's gone. And yes, I am aware of our results.
If anyone is interested, Bueno scored late on for Uruguay's u20s to make it 1-1 with Iraq. Uruguay then went on to make the final. Edit: just seen rumour thread and realised it has been posted there.
I just can't think of many examples were this has ended well before. If you are going to do it they had better be world beaters to make up for their inexperience as a team, in Sunderland's case I don't think they are, decent players yes, but good enough to survive this upheaval....hmm?
Personally, the biggest red flag isn't even how quickly they gel, it's whether when importing that many players you can have much of an idea how the pieces will ultimately fit; if not, even a couple months of working together won't leave them getting the most out of the squad. There's no doubt that there are upgrading the talent in a massive way, but if they get to October and discover that the players make for an awkward unit, it's going to mean real trouble.
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Viktor Fischer as a potential signing for the wing position. He's only 19, but has scored 10 in 23 for Ajax, as well as representing Denmark at all levels, including 20 goals in 30 games at U17 level. He may accept being rotated with other wingers due to his young age, and would appear a better signing than the like of Stoch. Not sure whether he'd be interested or how much he might cost though. Add in Banega, a striker and cover for RB as well, unless Chambers is ready, and we'd have a very strong squad.
I think if Wanyama signs we still need an attacking midfielder and a striker. We should be looking to upgrade on Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Guly as they are not quite good enough for this level IMO. So if we can move these on an replace them, then all the better.
Sunderland have made plenty of signings but some are for the development team and they have had players leave - El-Hadji Ba (20) - AC Le Harve - Free Transfer Jozy Altidore (23) - AZ Alkmaar - £8.8M Vito Manoone (25) - Arsenal - £2.1M David Moberg Karlsson (19) - IFK Goteborg - £1.5M Modibo Diakite (26) - SS Lazio - Free Transfer Cabral (24) - FC Basel - Free Transfer Valentin Roberge (26) - CS Maritimo - Free Transfer Duncan Watmore (19) - Altrincham FC - ? Some unproven signings there that could end up being good players but there will be some duds too.
Has everyone forgotten we've got Forren? We have Lovren, Forren and Yoshida who are probably all ahead of Hooiveld and Fonte, so we don't really need another centre-back.
No not at all, I believe we need to have at least 4 good centre backs to last the course of a season we currently have three IMO (Lovren, Forren and Yoshida). I don't believe Fonte or Hooiveld are quite up to the standard of the others but I can't see us bringing in another unless we move these on.
I'm not sure how anyone can comment objectively on Forren at this time as none of us has seen him play a first team game.
Couldn't agree more Godders. A lot of people are putting him straight into their first team, when nobody, bar an U-21 game where he was pretty poor, has seen him in a Saints shirt. I'm not overly concerned about the CB position now. I don't think it's our strongest area, but it's not priority to strengthen it. However should someone the calibre of Astori become available, we'd be mad not to try and bring them in. Striker seems to be the key position now though.
Big changes at Stoke as well. It will be "interesting". The good news for them is that there are a lot of other candidates for the bottom three, so it might be a good season to have a bad season.
