Rival watch

There will be a lot of clubs looking to make a lot of transfers this summer.

 

Transfer auction for Aurier you say?

 

Huddle .

 

Aye and a fair few of the big boys needing big overhauls, United, Bayern and Madrid being just three. Rumours that nobody has as much money as you might think are going round but I’ll believe that when I see it. Either way, a lot of big spenders are going to be going after the same crowd of players. Could make it tricky for the likes of us to recruit, unfortunately.

 

Arsenal Fan TV and a nice glass of red before bed?

I don't mind if I do,

 

Let's just go about our business quietly and let the others stew. Let's beat The Bubbles 2-0 and say hello to third.

 

Beat the Spanners and that should be the CL slot secured
(Spurs play first this weekend) .

 

It was always going to be difficult for both clubs following the unprecedented success of Wenger & Fergusson. Liverpool, Leeds. Spurs have all taken years to get back from their greatest managers. Leeds still are. During those successful periods it was hard to see anyone beating them and then it evaporates as if it never was. The huge money in the game has kept both United & Arsenal in the top six and in that sense they have not fallen as far as was the norm in past years.

 

We need to do what we've done to get into this position in the first place, which is doing things a little differently to other clubs.
If there's someone available at a reasonable price that'll improve the team then that's great, but we can't get into bidding wars.
Grab up a few talented, homegrown youngsters, like Sessegnon, Lookman and the like, plus any stray Belgians hanging around.

 

I so agree with this. I can’t help but feel that the hubris about particularly the plight of United is because the current generation of fans have grown up with SAF’s United as a footballing superpower. Fair play to them, they truly were for 15 years or so.

But clubs come and go. Liverpool had their time before United. In the early 60s, Spurs were the team to be. The ****fest about United being poor now is nothing more than an outpouring of grief that it was actually the brilliance of one man, not the strength of an institution, that kept United on top for more than a decade. Some clubs got lucky with their periods of success coinciding with the advent of PL money. Others have had to catch up the hard way, or get lucky with rich benefactors.

Ultimately nobody has a divine right to be a successful club winning trophies. That can only come from savvy management on and off the pitch, which United have been sorely lacking in recent years.

 

No-one - is the answer to your question None of them are good enough to get into Liverpool or City's first team.

The improvements that we will have to see are incremental, in my opinion. Going from challenging (and most likely not getting) top 4 to a league title in one season, in this day and age, is nigh on impossible. Unless, like you say, you have loads of cash.

The new Emirates Airline kit and stadium naming rights deals are going to kick in this Summer, which should give us additional income to spend before player sales, but will it be enough to bridge the gap? I have my doubts. So we just need to focus on being a consistent Champions League club again, which is now much harder to do as there are 6 regular clubs competing for 4 spots. Then you there is Wolves and Everton, who've got wealthy benefactors potentially looking at pushing the top 6 clubs. It's only going to get more difficult.

For a club that has a reputation of being frugal, we sure have wasted a **** ton of money in the last few years.

I am still not convinced by Kroenke, but the current financial mess we find ourselves in are the result of two ex-club personnel who have either been fired or jumped ship. And now they don't have to deal with the consequences of their actions.

 

People used to claim anyone could have done what SAF did with Utd's resources.
This overlooks what SAF did with Aberdeen and what managers before and after SAF at Utd have failed to do.
He took a long time to build a team and develop a system for succession.
The structure he built seems to have been dismantled in half a dozen years (or less) - and at very great expense.

 

Transfer-wise, who are you hoping to get in the summer?

Set to be a big one for all three London clubs. A funny one too if Chelsea's ban is upheld and Hazard ****s off to Real.

 

Shows the power and skill of the man. No matter what one thinks of SAF there can be no doubting he has to be one of the greatest managers in football history.

I mean you can’t deny that he had financial backing when he needed it by and large. And that he got lucky with the Class of 92 - if a talent like Kane is once in a generation, then getting the crop you lot had is once in a millennium. But a house of cards built on one man is a house of cards nonetheless, and the succession planning was faulty to a point.

 

If Hazard goes to Madrid and their transfer ban is upheld, that would be huge for next season and would certainly give the other clubs a big psychological edge.

As for who I am hoping to get realistically:

CB: Konate, Upamecano, Manolas, Romangnoli, Dunk - any of them will be an improvement!
LB: Tierney, Firpo, Chillwell - all of them highly-rated and will be better than our current options.
CM: Ndombele, Rabiot, Doucoure, Barella - with Ramsey going, a powerful midfielder with decent technical qualities and a good engine is needed.
LW/RW: Deulofeu, Fraser, Under, Brandt - Reiss Nelson coming back from Hoffenheim could also be a huge boost, but I feel we need one player in addition to him, as Mkhitaryan is hopeless and Iwobi's end product still isn't good enough.

Any of these options in each of those positions would definitely help us a lot. Whether it will happen or not, based on the transfer budget Emery is allocated, remains to be seen (so it probably won't).

 

Big clear out for us too.

 

Yeah a fair bit of movement for us was well. Ultimately given who’ll probably be leaving, we’ll need three starters, at RB, CM and RW, and probably another three or four to bulk out the squad. When you consider we also need to keep in mind the HG quota, it’s not going to be easy. As others have said, we’ll need to look off the beaten path again, at players like Bowen or Grealish who other top 6 sides might not look at, as well as aiming for one or two big signings with the big bucks we’re likely to get from Eriksen etc.

 

Fergie knew to be successful defence was number ! So he always had choppers in his team.Plus a bit of lolly to buy everyones top scorer! It worked!

 

I'll have a field day with the Chavs on here if it does happen. No way would they get top six without Hazard, not a chance.

Quite similar to us positional wise then, although RB is more a concern than LB for us but CM is our utmost priority.

 

See above for Arsenal's successful period.!