January is fast approaching and the stories of who we'll be signing are picking up pace. Obviously we have to be very mindful of FFP and it's likely sales will need to be made to fund new players. In my opinion the 3 sales we can make are Luiz, Ba and Mata. Let's please not start a debate about how good/bad they are but let's look at the fact Jose does not seem to like them and is not playing them therefore their worth to us is diminished but their worth in the transfer market is still high. Conservatively we could expect 60M for them which we would then need to reinvest in a cb and the play maker we all know we need. A striker would be nice but I have a feeling that will not get resolved until the summer. The play maker is going to be the hardest position to fill and I can't understand why Jose didn't address this in the summer. We'll likely be linked with half the players in Europe but in reality we'll likely sign 2 and lose 3. I don't see any front runners right now so over to you Jose!
We paid nigh on £60m for all three so I think we can get more than that. Said before that as long as Mata (especially) is sold abroad and replaced with someone with equal quality then I won't be too pissed off. I would like us to sign Lewandowski though, who in my opinion is a realistic target.
I thought Lewandowski was cast iron to Bayern in the summer. Maybe we could loan him until then and let them have KDB for 6months.
Desperately need somebody who can control the game from deep. Would like Pogba if given the choice, seems like he can do a bit of everything and is still young. But yeah i reckon Ba will go, we only paid 7m am i right? If so, we should even make a small profit on him. Still want us to keep Mata and if we lose Luiz then i guess Jose will be after a CB too.
All three will have their place come the end of the season. We won't be doing any significant business in January especially considering both Mata and Luiz have recently signed 4 year extensions.
Would Lewandowski leave mid-season assuming they stay in the CL? You don't need any more players, just to get the current squad playing anywhere close to their potential and you'll piss the league.
This may well be the first time I am agreeing with something you've said. You're absolutely spot on. We don't need anyone else, we just need those we have to turn up every week.
I think we desperately need another midfielder to sit beside Ramires in the deeper midfield role. We lack the strength and depth in there. Lampard plays in there a lot now but he really isn't the most suitable for that role. I wouldn't mind going for Morgan Schneiderlin, I like him a lot.
A few other names I wouldn't mind seeing- Maxime Gonalons who plays for Lyon, he is a big boy so would be useful at set pieces and he is a very intelligent player. Paul Pogba who has already been mentioned would be awesome, the man is a beast. Sven Bender- would be a good buy but he is very injury prone. Svens twin isn't too bad either - Lars Bender plays for Leverkusen. Lars would be more attacking than Sven and would be more of a goalthreat from midfield.
Concentrate solely on the midfield. That is the beginning , middle, and end of our problems, and has been for 3 years. Everything and everyone else will flourish once that is sorted out.
