Nah, I'm happy with Brazil's CMs.
Do you think we'll sign another top midfielder in the next 3 days?
- Thread starter Bastian
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I don’t think we’ll sign another midfielder full stop.
Antony and maybe a GK and that’s it imo (and a RB if AWB leaves )
Antony and maybe a GK and that’s it imo (and a RB if AWB leaves )
Unlikely, but 2 forwards, RB and GK is a possibility
Not at all, I think we have all the eggs in the Antony basket.
Has he played his way back though? He's only started because Busquets is suspended, he looked out of place when he played and he was made to play the pointless friendly against City. Add to that, the money issued and you can pretty much say they still don't want him.
Dubravka and that will be it most likely.
Looks like it'll be one final push for Antony, which probably won't leave any room for further transfer sagas for us to get involved in. If Antony was signed in the next 2 days, it wouldn't surprise me if we tested the waters with other midfielders. I've had a hunch we'll try for Caicedo if there's time.
If the club are serious about building a team that will compete soon and they don't want to waste time they should still be trying to get De Jong as well as Antony, and a RB no less.
Really depends, if we sign Antony for the figures that are quoted I doubt we would have much left in the budget.
Maybe if we get some sales done, which doesn't seem likely..
Think FDJ and Barca are still going to be playing chicken over these wages. He also doesn't seem to want to leave. That's out of our hands and I don't think we would go for anyone else as we will probably try again in January or next Summer.
I'm not even sure we will sign a new RB this summer unless we get rid of AWB... I don't see who we would could get in, unless we paid a fortune.. probably something for next season.
I think Ronaldo will go next season, we will get a striker, midfield, RB and the GK situation will depend on if the relationship between Henderson and the club can be mended..
Maybe if we get some sales done, which doesn't seem likely..
Think FDJ and Barca are still going to be playing chicken over these wages. He also doesn't seem to want to leave. That's out of our hands and I don't think we would go for anyone else as we will probably try again in January or next Summer.
I'm not even sure we will sign a new RB this summer unless we get rid of AWB... I don't see who we would could get in, unless we paid a fortune.. probably something for next season.
I think Ronaldo will go next season, we will get a striker, midfield, RB and the GK situation will depend on if the relationship between Henderson and the club can be mended..
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No we're done with midfielders. We signed Eriksen and Casemiro. Priority is a RW who can compete with Sancho/Rashford. And should be a goalkeeper but backup only there.
We've signed Eriksen and Casimero this summer who are both top midfielders. The squad needs confidence more than it does another midfielder, so no.
No
I think Ronaldo in goals could work. He wants to play every game, we all know that, but doesn't like to run around as much as he once did. He is a tall bloke and he would be great with the ball at his feet in the modern style (sweeper/keeper). Also, I can see him going up and scoring a header in injury time when its 1:1, especially in a cup match. The commercial people will be happy too as they can sell loads of keepers jerseys with his name on. ETH should try it, you know, in training first and see how it goes & then use it for the Arsenal match 4th September.
Spent too much time fecking around with Frenkie.
This is what you get when you don't have best in class personnel running our recruitment side, or in fact any side of the club.
Casemiro is not going to paper over these cracks for me. We're still run by fecking clowns.
This is what you get when you don't have best in class personnel running our recruitment side, or in fact any side of the club.
Casemiro is not going to paper over these cracks for me. We're still run by fecking clowns.
We might just check up what's going on with De Jong, but I don't believe he will move this summer, or i don't want to believe that we can get him even though Barcelona doesn't seem to get rid of Depay or Dest, Juventus called of the Depay move and Dest doesn't want to leave (and didn't get any serious bids). So for Barcelona it means, either sell Auba to Chelsea for the price that Chelsea wants to pay and somehow make it enough for them to register Kounde or worst way scenario for them would be to let Kounde go for free. Chelsea is in a very good position here, they can almost pick and choose from De Jong (if he wants the move), Auba (if they want to pay the 30m euros that Barcelona ask) or just sign Kounde if Barcelona cant register him and save almost 100m euros they are prepared to spend on Fofana.
Dubravka and Antony. That's it for us. 4/5 window for us.
Dubravka and Antony. That's it for us. 4/5 window for us.
I feel sorry for the Ajax manager but I also want to punch him in the face. He has a very punchable face.
Out of the box thinking; you'll go far.
No. Antony will be our last signing
I think there will be 1/2 signings after Antony but it won't be Frenkie.
Most likely it's some free agent/cheap 3-5m backup GK/RB
Most likely it's some free agent/cheap 3-5m backup GK/RB
No
No need.
We already have enough.
Let’s not make too much changes far too soon. It’s already a big change as it is. The mentality change is far more important as we can see from the dippers match.
Just my opinion.
We already have enough.
Let’s not make too much changes far too soon. It’s already a big change as it is. The mentality change is far more important as we can see from the dippers match.
Just my opinion.
In a way, it's good that we weren't able to land FdJ earlier in the window, we wouldn't have gone for Casemiro, obviously now it means that we're very unlikely to buy FdJ, but he's not suited to the deeper midfield role. He was playing there the other day with Gavi and Pedri ahead of him, and even with the way Barca play with so many passing options, he was still struggling.
If I had to pick between FdJ and Casemiro, or even between a CM and a DM. I'd have preferred the latter.
If I had to pick between FdJ and Casemiro, or even between a CM and a DM. I'd have preferred the latter.
Sadly not. It looks very much like it’s De Jong or nothing in that department now and that’s that. There’s no doubt we will regret it unless Ten Hag really believes in the youth and plans on using them.
Nope. We're due another one in about 5 years based on our history
No , Antony and a GK
done
done
FDJ will be fully written off until 1 minute to the deadline when Sky Sports announce the shock signing and we see a clip of him arriving at Carrington in a stealth bomber.
No and I don't think we should focus on midfield now, let's focus on what works and doesn't work for next few months and maybe go for another mid in the winter. If Casemiro can stay fit I think we're ok, and we have other priorities.
I don’t know why posters are so against Tielemens. Is he a top top midfielder? No. But is he is a very good one ? Yes and can get better in a better team under ten hag. Especially for the price 25-30m, this should be a serious consideration. Either Tielemens given the price or Neves assuming de Jong is over. Not ideal midfielders but way better than other options because there aren’t any top midfielders available and please don’t mention SMS, neither he is a top midfielder nor he will cost cheap.
The only people who think SMS is excellent are those who watch the you tube highlights. Follow serie A or watch Lazio on a regular basis and you would know how good he is. Sign Luis Alberto if you want to sign someone from lazio and even he is bang average.
The only people who think SMS is excellent are those who watch the you tube highlights. Follow serie A or watch Lazio on a regular basis and you would know how good he is. Sign Luis Alberto if you want to sign someone from lazio and even he is bang average.
This is a bit unreasonable. We've spent around £130m so far, signing Antony for the reported £80m or so would make this our biggest spending transfer window ever, while we've only recouped around £10m so far. The De Jong fee was what, £70m or so, so that take you up to £280m which would take the club past the world record spend for one window (and I think past the record spent for a season including January window too), and you then want a right back so for arguments sake say £30m as well? Over £300m in one window or the club isn't serious about wanting to compete?
I'm not disputing that we need players in the positions mentioned, plus a goalkeeper and a striker too, but these things aren't all done in one window.
Nope. Which is a shame because another top class midfielder would transform our fortunes hugely.
True!
I'd like to think there is a chance to do the de Jong deal but most likely not. Brazil's midfield will have to do for now.
Eriksen and Casemiro mean we're fine in the short to medium term. What we need now are long term appointments. Unless Tielemens or Neves are exactly the players we want to build our team around, then we really shouldn't be in for them. Better to take our time and get it right.
No, not until January at the earliest.
No. After Casemiro signing, I think we will leave the midfield until next summer. We will sign Antony and bring in Dubravka on loan. If AWB and/or Ronaldo leave, we will try and sign replacements for them. If they're staying, I expect us to be done.
You're right, it shouldn't have been left until now to address all of these issues; some of this should have been done last summer. Look at it as spending the money we needed to spend right now plus what we needed to have spent last summer to avoid the situation the club now finds itself in.
Don't get me wrong, I have no expectation that this would actually happen, but it'd be a way for the Glazers to demonstrate that they hear the complaints and they're serious about fixing things. Let's not act like the money isn't available.
Where I come out on the question of adding a midfielder is that if ETH knows now that Frenkie isn't coming then we need to move on to someone else before September. We've talked about Ruiz and Tielemans and who knows about what's realistic and who has sufficient quality. But persisting with Fred as an option carrying the ball out of the back even with Casemiro by his side doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. What I'd really like to see is Garner given a season to be Casemiro's understudy and see what comes of it. McTominay should be sold but we'll see if there's a buyer. Fred can do spot duty for us with Eriksen, whom I assume can't go 2x a week at this stage of his career. Bruno is Bruno, who can be both brilliant and shambolic in the same match, even in the same sequence of play. So adding another quality(ish) midfielder would serve us well.
I assume at this point Antony is in the bag, which we really need for obvious reasons.
I assume at this point Antony is in the bag, which we really need for obvious reasons.
I thought, weirdly enough, that Casemiro was De Jong's replacement but maybe ten Hag wanted Casemiro (or another holding midfielder) and De Jong all this time.
I mean, a double pivot consisting of those two would be ridiculous on paper. De Jong playing that libero role he played at Ajax, with Casemiro playing the role of ball winner like Schone.
Honestly, I'd be over the moon if we could get De Jong. He'd take us to a whole new level.
I mean, a double pivot consisting of those two would be ridiculous on paper. De Jong playing that libero role he played at Ajax, with Casemiro playing the role of ball winner like Schone.
Honestly, I'd be over the moon if we could get De Jong. He'd take us to a whole new level.
It is painful to see us come up short when they put so much effort into both Frenkie and Antony. The team looks short at the forward position, and one of their forwards is a superstar who is not going to press and thus will be held out vs many opponents.
Also I do not like the dependency on Ericksen. I love Ericksen and his game but I worry about him holding up, and not getting Frenkie means he will be performing that role instead of pushing Bruno and serving as a moveable piece and bench answer from midfield to forward.
This looks like a team that might settle into playing well when they have everyone, but it is a long season and they have zero chance to surprise with a top four finish when they lack the pieces. Martial is already likely to miss another game this weekend with his injury. The manager is going to be making lemonaide with the lemons he is left with all season long, barring last minute miracles in the trade window or multiple young players making enormous strides in their games.
And they have to get Keeper sorted quickly. This team moves way too slowly on everything, though that is not a surprise with our owners is it.
Also I do not like the dependency on Ericksen. I love Ericksen and his game but I worry about him holding up, and not getting Frenkie means he will be performing that role instead of pushing Bruno and serving as a moveable piece and bench answer from midfield to forward.
This looks like a team that might settle into playing well when they have everyone, but it is a long season and they have zero chance to surprise with a top four finish when they lack the pieces. Martial is already likely to miss another game this weekend with his injury. The manager is going to be making lemonaide with the lemons he is left with all season long, barring last minute miracles in the trade window or multiple young players making enormous strides in their games.
And they have to get Keeper sorted quickly. This team moves way too slowly on everything, though that is not a surprise with our owners is it.
Mixed feelings really, we’ve had a decent window but then on the other hand it’s not. We was all out for De Jong then Casemiro was signed out of nowhere, I’ve hit a horrible feeling that he ain’t a ETH signing… but to answer your question absolutely not, we ain’t signing anyone else by the looks of it. The Antony situation is a complete embarrassment and together with the high fee for Casemiro it feels like Woodward ain’t left…
If you had asked me before the beginning of the summer transfer window, with the knowledge that most of us had that Eriksen would be joining United, whether I'd want to bring in de Jong or Casemiro (yes, the 30 year old) I actually would have taken Casemiro.
Of course I had no idea Casemiro would have been an option as surely he was never leaving Real, but he did and somehow he's now our man. Given what the most opponents in the EPL are fundamentally about -- gladiators wearing shorts -- Casemiro fits exactly what we needed to repel the likes of Brentford, Palace and West Ham from the smash and grab victories over us we've given away in recent seasons. These opponents will sit back, laugh their asses off when we can break down their low block and then hit us on the counter. Casemiro fukks all that up more than Frenkie would.
Where a player of Frenkie's caliber comes in and elevates us is against the better sides like City, Liverpool and Chelsea, who will push us hard and we need to counter successfully, and eventually stand toe to toe against such clubs and control midfield over them. It would be insane to have both Casemiro and Frenkie and I haven't given up hope up that we will, but given the dungeon we have to climb out of first Casemiro was the more urgent signing. Somehow, incredibly, we pulled that off.
Of course I had no idea Casemiro would have been an option as surely he was never leaving Real, but he did and somehow he's now our man. Given what the most opponents in the EPL are fundamentally about -- gladiators wearing shorts -- Casemiro fits exactly what we needed to repel the likes of Brentford, Palace and West Ham from the smash and grab victories over us we've given away in recent seasons. These opponents will sit back, laugh their asses off when we can break down their low block and then hit us on the counter. Casemiro fukks all that up more than Frenkie would.
Where a player of Frenkie's caliber comes in and elevates us is against the better sides like City, Liverpool and Chelsea, who will push us hard and we need to counter successfully, and eventually stand toe to toe against such clubs and control midfield over them. It would be insane to have both Casemiro and Frenkie and I haven't given up hope up that we will, but given the dungeon we have to climb out of first Casemiro was the more urgent signing. Somehow, incredibly, we pulled that off.