Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

I hope you're right as there's nothing better than a home grown player coming through. Not many of us thought Kane would be the player he has become (although right now he's still only a 2 season wonder ;-))

Checked out the Newcastle Sissoko thread and they are laughing about 30 million for him. They watch him week in week out and don't seem too gutted he's leaving!

 

Onomah and Edwards are ranked as two of the best young prospects in the country. We all know the club has high hopes for Winks too and whenever I've seen him play he's been a very tidy player. Carroll isn't top 4, granted, but he's not as bad as some make out either, it's safe to say we all know he's likely not going to start many games but having him around his handy, rumour has it he's well liked around the dressing room so maybe he's somewhat vital to squad morale? But who would've thought Dele Alli would've become a star like he did last season? Likewise for Kane a few years back. We'll never know if a player is good enough unless we give them time and chances.

Also, Onomah, Edwards, Winks and Harrison aren't likely going to be starting many games, especially Edwards and Harrison who are still well down in the pecking order.

Our squad is technically the same size as last season and I think CL will be easier to manage than the EL, even though the competition is of a higher standard there's more rest time in between CL and Prem matches and there won't be as much travelling (Moscow aside).

Yedlin and Pritch weren't involved.
Wanyama's in for Nabs.
Winks is in for Mason.
Nkoudou is in for Clint.
We've added Janssen who we could say has taken Nacer's slot.

I don't see there being a problem unless we get a ridiculous amount of injuries around the squad, which every club is in danger of.

 

I'm just gonna go along with whatever SoS says. He says Isco is coming? Fantastic. He says blood the youngters? Let's do it!

 

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You make a good case as always and I hope you are right. Still hoping you are right about Isco! Ha!
It's probably harder this year to look rationally at it because of the insane amount of money that is being spent by everyone it seems except us!
I still feel it would have been a real statement of intent to get a real marquee signing. We will never be in a better situation than now to attract a top player to the club.
But also trying to be rational there is no point spending a load of money just for the sake of it. We do have a great team spirit at the club and that is worth a lot in itself.

 

I'm of similar opinion on both your points.

I've already seen digs at Onomah on social media just because he hasn't "Alli'd" it. It seems as though people forget Kane was in a similar situation when he was 18/19, everyone wrote him off because he didn't bag 20 goals in his first 20 games but when he grew up, developed his body and got his head down, he's become a superstar. I'm not saying Josh will follow the same path but he deserves to be given the time, at only 19, the kid has major developing to do, both footballing wise and with his physical attributes, likewise for the other youngsters. For the record, has anyone noticed how much of unit CCV looked in pre-season? He's not even 19 yet! Imagine what he'll look like at 21-22!

As for Sissoko, a £20m deal would be about right, I'd personally say £15m up front with a further £5m in performance based add-ons would've been a very fair deal. £30m however is beyond a joke.

 

I don't think there is as much difference between players as most people imagine. I don't think I'd have any of the Everton or Liverpool squad instead of our best eleven (may be Coutinho or Berkeley for Eriksen) but both clubs played as well as us in the two matches this season. If Onomah played ten matches running as a starter I reckon he'd look pretty good

 

Apart from the fact that we dumped the tie against Dortmund because we didn't have a strong enough squad to play for the PL and EL and we fell apart at the end of the season as players ran out of gas. We're negotiating for Sissoko because we know we're light not because Levy can't help himself but get into a night of wasted negotiations.

 

looks like that's it then! surely it's too late for anything now? and surely we'd have heard by now if there was another target we are working on?

The squad could be worse, but we've definitely missed a trick not getting a special player for our CL campaign.

 

This confirms that Batshuayi is a Chelsea player...

 

Haha I think it's safe to say Isco will have to be done in January .
Don't get me wrong I'd love a marquee signing, if we could get a player better than anyone in the first XI that'd be amazing as it'd then mean the competition for that particular role would be tantalising to watch.

In regards to Prem rivals spending, most have overspent on 'good' players in my opinion, the prices they've paid now would've got them world class players just a year or so ago, so I'm not concerned about it. To think Everton will have spent £60m on Bolasie and Sissoko (if the latter goes through) just shows what a joke the market is now.

Though, Poch said in an interview that clubs spending huge amounts are clearly panicking and are not happy with their squads, I thought that was a brilliant statement. The one thing we have over most of our rivals is having a settled side, I think (or hope!) that could be key down the line.

 

We are trying to sign Sissoko because we think we can get him for less than he is worth. Whether he is actually better than Winks remains to be seen. It's not heaven if we sign him nor hell if we don't. He makes our squad very slightly better.

 

Anyone else noticed the typo in the OP? Namely this one...
Nabil Bentley (Schalke)

 

I thought it was too good to correct....

 

The main reason I wanted Sissoko is I was hoping away at the bridge we could play Janssen and Kane up front and then a midfield of Wanyama, Dier, Dembele and Sissoko and finish the job we started last season and really smash them up!

 

No team on the planet has a second string squad capable of beating Dortmund, they're one of the best teams in world football. The mistake was that Poch rotated the side at the worst possible time, that selected team should've been playing in the Qarabag ties and other earlier round fixtures, along with the early rounds of domestic cups, we played way too many first teamers in the earlier rounds that could've been easily rested. It's something I'm sure Poch would have learnt from.
We won't be fielding rotated sides in the CL though, there maybe one or two changes but it'll be predominantly the best XI available unless we can guarantee qualification to the knockouts with a game to spare. The CL is easier to manage than the EL in terms of fatigue and travelling, the standard of football is higher but it's a dream compared to some of the nightmares involved in being in the EL.

EDIT: As for Sissoko, he'd be a good addition but as 3rd/ 4th choice there's no guarantee he'd get an abundance of game time and at £30m, I'd happily wave goodbye at that option.

 

I'm not sure I totally agree. We either need to strengthen the position, or we don't. If we do, and don't want to overspend, we should buy a another option. Not pretend we didn't need strengthening in the first place. That nonsense lost us the league last season.

We are the Champions League for goodness sake! Why is there less excitement and less fear driving elements in the squad than there was the last time we qualified?

It's all a little limp if you ask me.

 

A reporter I follow on Twitter who I'm pretty sure used to work for SSN, (and I've never seen talk bullshit to be fair to him), has just tweeted saying that we're attempting to hijack the move for Sissoko.