Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[abdulaziz1]

5 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Yeah, some people are ignoring the reasons why his form tailed off and that he wasn’t the only player that was affected in that way,  most of the team did and we kind of just got over the line in the end. The weakness of our squad was exposed during the latter part of the season.

It’s easier to criticise or pile on a player when he’s leaving (and to make yourself feel better) although he has received plenty of flak (some of it justified) this year…

He excelled when he had a quality and capable DM with him and didn’t have to go back to that defensive role, when that option wasn’t available he had to go back there again so was obviously going to be curtailed to a degree. We all said and knew that we would see a better version of him when he was given more freedom and less defensive responsibility, and that’s exactly what happened (have we forgotten?)… and having Unai to learn from made him even better. He excel at creating chances and scoring goals, more than defending - we all know that.

Let’s also not forget that it was Dougie’s form after lockdown, under Deano, and in that DM role that played a massive part in us avoiding relegation. 

Anyway, I think I’ve said enough on him and it’s not his thread… plus we’re all more interested in who’s coming in and going to replace him. I’d just like to see better or more suitable suggestions… or even just different ones.

The sooner we sign such a player, the better… and I might shut up then too

I think it’s related way or another. Luiz was good when he played with Dendonker as well.

If we had him and Enzo this season we’d do fine I guess. That’s why I think we need Luiz replacement not Kamara. Someone like Fofana who can be used like Luiz. Cover DM if needed but play as Luiz in games where we need to do so. 
The sooner we get him or a similar player the better it will be for us. I think if we got Fofana we’ll be stronger then how we’ve end the season, we’ll see how Enzo does to know if we can be better than the beginning of last season.

[abdulaziz1]

5 hours ago, zab6359 said:

I doubt we will be getting a like for like replacement for DL those contributions will just need to be spread out amongst the team.

Why won’t we do? Fofana will only cost 25m for example. Other than that it will depend on who we sell. We’ve already added to the squad. So if we sold Duran, Cash, Carlos or any of them we’ll get a replacement otherwise we don’t really need unless a bargain buy comes up such as Rogers.

[CVByrne]

For me our squad looks like this (I put players in the position they will most often occupy). I'm excluding player we will sell / loan out or at least hope to achieve that. While players like Duran, Carlos, Cash etc.. if we sign a new player in their position it would be to replace them essentially, so a one in one out.

Watkins / Duran - ST

Diaby/Buendia - S/S 

Bailey/McGinn/ Dobbin - RM

Ramsey/Rogers/Iling Junior - LM

Tielemans/Barkley - CM

NEW/Kamara/ Barrenechea - CM

Digne/Maatsen - LB

Pau / NEW - LCB

Carlos/Mings - CB

Konsa/Cash/ Nedeljkovic - RB/RCB

Martinez/Gauci/Olsen - GK

 

So essentially we're looking at 22 experienced first team players with 2 per position and then 4/5 younger players who are there to progress and get minutes on the pitch.

[Philosopher]

We are looking for a ball winner with technical skills. Someone we can play as an 8 or a 6.  We are looking to add dynamism, and aggression, without the technical side suffering.

Gallagher, Onana, and Fofana can all be considered to be capable ball winners, that cover a lot of distance, as well as having good technical qualities. 

I prefer Fofana and Onana as I like their ball carrying abilty, size, and they both seem better playing in a double pivot. Gallagher played primarily as a 8 / 10 last season.

I think we should move on Carlos and bring both a RCB and  RB, and a LCB (Hermoso),  as Mings won't be ready till January.

My first choice signings are Fofana, Hermoso, kayode, and Araujo. However Fofana and Araujo are long shots imo. Fofana has a lot of top clubs interested, and will want big wages. Also heard he isn't the nicest guy. Araujo will be expensive.

I reckon Onana and Tobido are more realistic, but even then Onana has a large price tag I'm not convinced is fully justified. Tobido is meant to be going to ManUre. 

Kayode if available for 20m or under is a very good signing. He's going to be elite. Hermoso offers a different option at left back, as well as being a very good centre back. Even though he's 5'11 he is very competitive in the air.

[Demitri_C]

12 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

We are looking for a ball winner with technical skills. Someone we can play as an 8 or a 6.  We are looking to add dynamism, and aggression, without the technical side suffering.

Gallagher, Onana, and Fofana can all be considered to be capable ball winners, that cover a lot of distance, as well as having good technical qualities. 

I prefer Fofana and Onana as I like their ball carrying abilty, size, and they both seem better playing in a double pivot. Gallagher played primarily as a 8 / 10 last season.

I think we should move on Carlos and bring both a RCB and  RB, and a LCB (Hermoso),  as Mings won't be ready till January.

My first choice signings are Fofana, Hermoso, kayode, and Araujo. However Fofana and Araujo are long shots imo. Fofana has a lot of top clubs interested, and will want big wages. Also heard he isn't the nicest guy. Araujo will be expensive.

I reckon Onana and Tobido are more realistic, but even then Onana has a large price tag I'm not convinced is fully justified. Tobido is meant to be going to ManUre. 

Kayode if available for 20m or under is a very good signing. He's going to be elite. Hermoso offers a different option at left back, as well as being a very good centre back. Even though he's 5'11 he is very competitive in the air.

Tobido isnt allowed to sign for manure

Hence why they are going for de ligt

Edited Tuesday at 06:55 by Demitri_C

[Leeroy]

59 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I agree that CM area looks weaker than last season im aure a nother dynamic CM will be signed as we cannot go in with that CM this summer 

Luiz added a hell of a lot to our team and his injury record was really good 

Our current options for the 2 deeper midfield positions are McGinn, Barkley, Tielemans and Barrenechea + an unwanted Dendoncker. Obviously Kamara to come back but much later on and after a long term injury which may take months to get fully back up to speed.
 

It was widely reported we were really keen to sign Gallagher after we agreed Barkley deal and before we sold Luiz so it’s pretty obvious we want an experienced and trusted player in there. My concern is it is dependent on selling Dendoncker and I’m not convinced a player like Gallagher or even Fofana (who is obviously available too) can directly replace Luiz as neither are as good on the ball. Either player would improve us as a whole though.

 

I feel we need 2 ‘marquee’ signings - a CM and a right sided defender. Getting the required standard of player for these positions will be key to how we do next season IMO. 

[Tubby]

6 hours ago, RicRic said:

This would be more how it would look but none of us know for sure how it pans out, think we need a hybrid forward one that is an absolute beast in that forward area capable of playing off left and as main striker like Ollie rather, id only assume these are positions we are going for. BTW Barrenechea plays where Kamara would, so he would be covering for him.
 

In case Barrenechea is not up to scratch we would then rotate things but we would need to ensure the Luiz replacement is already a serious baller who can boss and control this area of the pitch which will then ease the pressure off Enzo. 

70% - New RB
30% - New CB 

Not certain on which one but could even be both tbf. 

Finally! Someone gets it - although you've left out Iling-Jr on the left. Edit: and Buendia

All this talk of Barkley/Tielemans being our midfield duo... That's just one option, but in truth there will be a rotation and multiple formations. We are still one CM short and I'm fairly certain that player has yet to be signed and they will be equal to or greater than, Luiz.

Edited Tuesday at 07:32 by Tubby

[Zatman]

28 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

Why won’t we do? Fofana will only cost 25m for example. Other than that it will depend on who we sell. We’ve already added to the squad. So if we sold Duran, Cash, Carlos or any of them we’ll get a replacement otherwise we don’t really need unless a bargain buy comes up such as Rogers.

Fofana creativity is nowhere near Dougie level

[oishiiniku_uk]

7 hours ago, Jas10 said:

And this wasn’t just safe or sideways passes all the time, he created more chances for us than any other player. 
 

Last season he created 53 chances, 1 more than Bailey who played about 900 fewer minutes. Also Mousa got 47 chances from 700 fewer minutes. Dougie's chance creation numbers were good, but not elite (he's not in the top 25 for the league).
Also Barkley created fewer chances last season, but his shot creating actions per 90 (3.58) are very similar to Luiz's (3.52) and have been consistently high (averaging over 4 per 90) over his career, whereas it's only since Emery came in that Dougie started getting similar numbers. And the two players' stats overall are pretty similar (and many deficiencies in Barkley's numbers could be attributed to playing for a team like Luton who see a lot less of the ball). So while I'm gutted that Luiz has left, I don't think it's as detrimental to our style of play as people are fearing.

Edited Tuesday at 07:09 by oishiiniku_uk

[fightoffyour]

9 hours ago, nick76 said:

Have a feeling that Ratcliffe will keep pushing that and won’t let him come to rival like us.

Newcastle and Brighton are their rivals now

[CVByrne]

34 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Tobido isnt allowed to sign for manure

Hence why they are going for de ligt

And Man U won't allow Tobido to sign for us as we;re a direct rival. 

[CVByrne]

49 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

Kayode if available for 20m or under is a very good signing. He's going to be elite. Hermoso offers a different option at left back, as well as being a very good centre back. Even though he's 5'11 he is very competitive in the air.

on Hermoso he would perfectly suit the Pau role and he's more versatile in that he can play more of a Left Back role as well if we need him to. If we got him in then with Maatsen, Iling Junior, Hermoso and Kayode (who can play either full back role) we might have enough to let Digne and Moreno leave

Quote

"He was very good," Simeone said of Hermoso's performance in their recent 1-0 win over Real Mallorca. "He played it as he usually does, he is one of the best we have in that sense. He plays as a winger, as a starting centre back, open to the side... he always gives us a lot. I hope he can continue with us."

 

[burchy]

Sell 95m

• Cash 25m
• Carlos 15m
• Moreno 8m
• Duran 35m
• Dendonker 4m
• Chambers 4m
• Bogarde 4m

Loan

• Dobbin

Buy 115m

• Michael Kayode 20m
• Mario Hermoso 0m
• Youssef Fofana 25m
• Joey Veerman 25m - (seriously, he’d be great for us)
• Cristhian Mosquera 25m
• Karim Konate 20m
• Matias Soule (loan with obligation)

Job done

[The_Steve]

If we aren’t giving Dougie the likes of 150k pw (or more), I don’t see us giving that to Hermoso either. I’m not convinced this is anything more than wishful thinking at this point. I don’t dismiss the idea of it, I’m just not convinced. 

[PaulMcGrath_5]

3 minutes ago, burchy said:

Sell 95m

• Cash 25m
• Carlos 15m
• Moreno 8m
• Duran 35m
• Dendonker 4m
• Chambers 4m
• Bogarde 4m

Loan

• Dobbin

Buy 115m

• Michael Kayode 20m
• Mario Hermoso 0m
• Youssef Fofana 25m
• Joey Veerman 25m - (seriously, he’d be great for us)
• Cristhian Mosquera 25m
• Karim Konate 20m
• Matias Soule (loan with obligation)

Job done

Your FM save file looks cool.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, Philosopher said:

I think we should move on Carlos and bring both a RCB and  RB, and a LCB (Hermoso),  as Mings won't be ready till January.

What makes you think Ming's " won't be ready till January " ?

He's already back out on grass, you think he needs another 7 months?

[HKP90]

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

For me our squad looks like this (I put players in the position they will most often occupy). I'm excluding player we will sell / loan out or at least hope to achieve that. While players like Duran, Carlos, Cash etc.. if we sign a new player in their position it would be to replace them essentially, so a one in one out.

Watkins / Duran - ST

Diaby/Buendia - S/S 

Bailey/McGinn/ Dobbin - RM

Ramsey/Rogers/Iling Junior - LM

Tielemans/Barkley - CM

NEW/Kamara/ Barrenechea - CM

Digne/Maatsen - LB

Pau / NEW - LCB

Carlos/Mings - CB

Konsa/Cash/ Nedeljkovic - RB/RCB

Martinez/Gauci/Olsen - GK

 

So essentially we're looking at 22 experienced first team players with 2 per position and then 4/5 younger players who are there to progress and get minutes on the pitch.

On your list, based on the players you've put in each, you seem to have categories for '6 type' midfielders, and '10 type' midfielders, but no '8 types' (hope that makes sense, it sounded better in my head). 

There are the S/S roles, but I can't help but think that a midfield (using those categories) containing Diaby/Buendia, Barkley/Tielemans and Kamara might be a bit top heavy. There would be huge pressure on Kamara to hold the line and win the ball back on transitions. I guess that is where Dougie was useful, helping out. 

If we add another category- CM (8 type), we can only really put McGinn into that category at the moment. 

Do we need another all round CM? 

[HKP90]

26 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

Your FM save file looks cool.

I'm not sure FM is like that now. It's mostly really hard to get players at decent prices. I digress.

[PaulMcGrath_5]

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

What makes you think Ming's " won't be ready till January " ?

He's already back out on grass, you think he needs another 7 months?

I expect Mings to be back from the first day of pre-season and take part like any other player.

[HKP90]

1 minute ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

I expect Mings to be back from the first day of pre-season and take part like any other player.

Whether he is the same player he was will be the million dollar question.

I guess we're all in the dark on this, though. Seems like a big ask from here, but the coaches who are working with him every day will by now have a very good idea what role he can play next season.