According to the papers, the most reliable news so far is that we are in for 5 players this summer. At first, this list didn't seem to make any sense. But then, I started tinkering and realized that this would be the perfect list for Mourinho's system.
I feel, JM is going for this 433 formation –
Belotti
Perisic_________Morata
Pogba_______________Herrera
Fabinho
Shaw____Lindelof____Bailly____Valencia
DDG
It all makes sense because, we went in for
Morata only after Griezmann pledged his loyalty to Atletico Madrid. Replace Morata with Griezmann in the above formation and we'll have the most formidable 433 lineup in the Europe.
We were never interested in dealing with Real Madrid, due to the bitterness involving DDG. But as a last minute gasp, we are being forced to go for Morata. And, Morata isn't a bad second-choice either. Mourinho developed the player at RM and he mostly deployed him as a dynamic attacker drifting in and around Ronaldo. So, he is fluid enough to holdup the play as well as make smart runs. Who knows, with enough desire, he might actually become better than Griezmann.
In Pogba and Herrera, we have the best shuttling-midfielders in the world. And, 433 is the only system which seems to bring the best out of Pogba. Given the age of Michael Carrick, we need a new holding-midfielder and after his impressive performances this season at Monaco,
Fabinho fell into the radar. Fabinho is the surprise signing Mourinho spoke during the season as he wasn't on the radar until the last stages of UCL. In my opinion, Fabinho has a great game-awareness and is an impressive tackler. He seems like the best 'water carrier' at the moment.
We've created good number of chances last-season from the midfield. But, our main problem was that there wasn't a good bridge between midfield and attack. Our right flank was okay, partly due to the brilliance of Antonio Valencia. But, our left flank was very poor. We didn't have a solid full back on the left side and there was no one who could tirelessly convert defense into attack. We deployed Young, Martial, Lingard, Rashford, Mkhitaryan and Rooney on our left wing. But, they were either too absorbed defending or too tired to keep going at the defenders and completing the take-ons. That's why, we are going in for
Perisic. Even though he has only 2 or 3 seasons left at his peak, he is lightning quick, tirelessly successful in take-ons and unashamed to trackback. I think he's been our No. 1 priority for the summer since Christmas.
We need a Target-man. Someone tall, strong, physical, fast with great anticipation and finishing. Trust me people, I've followed all the top scorers across the top 5 leagues in Europe. There's no one better than
Belotti. He's a star in the making and he's a box-office finisher. He's got the physical presence of Ibrahimovic and the movement and pace of Chicharito. We'll be lucky to get him. People who keep wondering why we are buying two strikers when we already have Martial and Rashford, don't understand the importance of a Target-man, especially in Premier League.
And,
Lindelof is an obvious choice. He is the best young CB around and Smalling has lost his hunger/drive in the game. We need to move on from him.
In Mata and Mkhitaryan we have decent creative midfielders and it'd help us to shift to 4231 in some tactical matches requiring to break deadlocks.
Romero, Fellaini, Blind, Rojo, Darmian, Carrick, Young are all good squad players and we definitely need them for rotation.
Rashford, Jones, Martial and Lingard are young and can improve with hard work. If they do so, they'll easily break into the first team. Else, they'll become backups and they are worthy enough backups.
Smalling and Rooney seem excess to the squad and I'd love to see them leave, making Herrera our new captain and DDG our new VC.
If all this happens, next season would be a dream at the Theatre of Dreams.
