Matheus Cunha £62.5m release clause

Seems far fetched in the highly likely scenario we don't win the Europa.
 
I don't mind Cunha because he would add a lot in our game but i am little worried about how it will affect our striker search. No10 should be way down in priority.

If we have money for both then great.
From the sounds of it, Rashford, Sancho, Antony and possibly Garnacho will all leave. I wouldn't be surprised to see us sign two strikers and a 10.
 
Yes and no - he is quick with the ball at his feet - but is he a player who is quick enough to counter ? No because that is not the kind of player he is....and it would worry me if our attacking 3 would be Bruno, Cunha and another striker. Bruno and Cunha are much better with the ball at their feet, I want at least one speeddemon in our team that can stretch teams - Bruno and Cunha cant

Maybe that is true. But Bruno will be 31 this autumn. He cant continue chasing the way he used to. He has already started looking better deeper. My assumption is that will be his position next season.

As an AM, he was always at his best from the left. That is also Cunhas best position. If we are buying Cunha, I dont think we will play both as 10s.

Bruno/Mainoo - Casemiro/Ugarte
Amad/Garnacho - Cunha/Zirkzee/Mount
Striker/Zirkzee/Chido

Hopefully there will be a new CM aswell.
 
Cunha and Amad behind Delap with Bruno in central midfield, I like the look of that.
 
Taking NPxG+xAG per 90 as a measure of what they bring to attack (so a combination of goal and assist threat), below is how Bruno and Cunha's PL seasons so far rank:

Bruno 22/23 - 0.66
Bruno 20/21 - 0.57
Cunha 24/25 - 0.56
Bruno 23/24 - 0.51
Bruno 21/22 - 0.49
Bruno 24/25 - 0.47
Cunha 23/24 - 0.44
Bruno 19/20 - 0.42
Cunha 22/23 - 0.24

Worth noting that Cunha is only now the same age Bruno was when he arrived in the league.

My gut feeling is that he's a good player we'd be overpaying for. But the upside argument would be that this season's increased output is a case of a talented player improving as he enters his peak years, and that he'll be able to sustain roughly that level for the next half-decade or so.
 
Oh we badly need a striker, but how would you feel about this transfer + a striker?
Yeah that’s absolutely fine. I just don’t want the striker position ignored again. And by ignored, I mean with a proper striker or forward who can get 20+ in the league
It’s not that easy though. Or Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc would have solved it too. The striker market is dead. So teams get players in from other positions to score too.

We need goal threats from everywhere not just striker. Bruno is the only one at the moment who is capable of scoring 10 plus league goals a season, which is embarrassing for us.
They have players who can score though. Liverpool have Salah. Arsenal have Saka. I’d take either. I can refine the statement to “a goalscoring forward” - we don’t have any. Cunha isn’t one either. None are coming though who’ll be ready next season. Same problems will persist.
I think it’s safe to say we’ll sign at least 1 striker this summer. We need more than just a striker though I am sure you can agree. We need a whole new attacking line up, striker, 10, CM (who can score) and an attacking wing back
We need much more than just a striker yes. But we don’t need anyone as much as a striker. We could get a new goalkeeper, right wing back, midfielder, 2 number 10s. If we don’t get anybody capable of scoring goals, it’s all pointless. Whereas if we sign just one player and he’s a goalscoring striker, I think it could make a big difference. Not title challenging, but it’d take us around 5th I reckon just for that one player. We’d have easily beaten Lyon in normal time and beat Wolves yesterday with a goalscoring forward
Also we did sign a striker last summer and the summer before. They were just shite
Yeah but as I said, nobody with any goalscoring pedigree. We haven’t done that since we signed Ronaldo. We haven’t done it with anyone in their prime since Lukaku.
 
Yeah that’s absolutely fine. I just don’t want the striker position ignored again. And by ignored, I mean with a proper striker or forward who can get 20+ in the league

They have players who can score though. Liverpool have Salah. Arsenal have Saka. I’d take either. I can refine the statement to “a goalscoring forward” - we don’t have any. Cunha isn’t one either. None are coming though who’ll be ready next season. Same problems will persist.

We need much more than just a striker yes. But we don’t need anyone as much as a striker. We could get a new goalkeeper, right wing back, midfielder, 2 number 10s. If we don’t get anybody capable of scoring goals, it’s all pointless. Whereas if we sign just one player and he’s a goalscoring striker, I think it could make a big difference. Not title challenging, but it’d take us around 5th I reckon just for that one player. We’d have easily beaten Lyon in normal time and beat Wolves yesterday with a goalscoring forward

Yeah but as I said, nobody with any goalscoring pedigree. We haven’t done that since we signed Ronaldo. We haven’t done it with anyone in their prime since Lukaku.
Yeah like I said before I think its pretty safe to say we’ll sign a striker this summer and also other attacking players which add goals to the side. If Cunha is one thats cool, double figure PL goals in the last 2 seasons for Wolves as an attacking mid is not to be sniffed at
 
I think he’s a good player but not worth spending £62.5m on. There are so many issues with the squad I can’t believe we’d spend that on one player. We never seem to learn.
 
I think he’s a good player but not worth spending £62.5m on. There are so many issues with the squad I can’t believe we’d spend that on one player. We never seem to learn.
Just wait and see breakdown of deal before making sweeping statements like that
 
They have players who can score though. Liverpool have Salah. Arsenal have Saka. I’d take either. I can refine the statement to “a goalscoring forward” - we don’t have any. Cunha isn’t one either. None are coming though who’ll be ready next season. Same problems will persist.
Saka's best goalscoring season in the league has been 16 from 35 games last year. Cunha has 14 from 27 this year (for a much worse side).

Neither of them are Salah, but I dunno how one is a goalscoring forward and the other isn't.
 
Yes and no - he is quick with the ball at his feet - but is he a player who is quick enough to counter ? No because that is not the kind of player he is....and it would worry me if our attacking 3 would be Bruno, Cunha and another striker. Bruno and Cunha are much better with the ball at their feet, I want at least one speeddemon in our team that can stretch teams - Bruno and Cunha cant

In addition to Bruno moving deeper, I also think it is worth pointing out that this 343-system is not symmetrical. It often look more lika 4231 with Dorgu as a wide winger and Dalot as a right back.

So we will likely be getting a counter threat from one of our wingbacks.
 
???
Cunha - Amad
Dorgu - ??? - Bruno - Dalot
Heaven - De Ligt - Yoro
???​
 
Saka's best goalscoring season in the league has been 16 from 35 games last year. Cunha has 14 from 27 this year (for a much worse side).

Neither of them are Salah, but I dunno how one is a goalscoring forward and the other isn't.
I’ll be quite truthful, I didn’t know what Cunhas goalscoring record was. My assumption was that it wasn’t very good as I hadn’t particularly noticed him as a goal scorer

If he’s a goal scorer and can stay one then all good.
 
No obviously not Dalot

I think Dalot and Amad sharing that position is fine, for now.

Dalot has been quite a lot better at RWB than he was at LWB and will hopefully keep on improving in that position. Amad being the more attacking option there when required.

A specialist RWB would be very useful of course. But it's down the list of priorities for me.
 
I think he’s a good player but not worth spending £62.5m on. There are so many issues with the squad I can’t believe we’d spend that on one player. We never seem to learn.
Do we have a better option ? Genuine question. we need a #10

PL proven, can score goals and a position we need.

Other options are the likes of Cherki and Eze. Not enough goals there .
 
What gives you that belief?
Just some paper talk, but since its such a left field connection I assumed there was probably some truth to it.
I think Sancho would probably suit an environment where he’s not expected to produce consistently but lauded when he does. If wolves get 65m from us they also likely see 25m on Sancho as a decent deal.
 
They spent 45m for him and he delivered in the league so I don't know where the talk of cheaper comes from.

If we want him, the release clause is the minimum we're spending. Profile wise he suits the left #10 position perfectly. Can rotate at CF if needed too.

Cracking player, low risk transfer and wanted him for basically the whole season. I'm all on board.
 
This would be a really good signing I think. We are crying out for someone who can score goals for us and we have literally got the perfect position for him. Add a striker and I shouldy be really happy even if we just signed 2 players this summer. As long as they are good ones we will be looking far better.
 
I’ll be quite truthful, I didn’t know what Cunhas goalscoring record was. My assumption was that it wasn’t very good as I hadn’t particularly noticed him as a goal scorer

If he’s a goal scorer and can stay one then all good.
He actually scores more non-penalty goals per 90 than Salah
 
I think he’s a good player but not worth spending £62.5m on. There are so many issues with the squad I can’t believe we’d spend that on one player. We never seem to learn.

We don't know what our budget is yet.
Lots of unknown variables like if we win EL or whom we sell.

I guess he's guaranteed quality and is PL proven so it's low risk.

He's about to turn 26 so not a bad age.
 
When any of the big clubs go for him you can imagine he will kick up one hell of a fuss to make the move happen if Wolves make it difficult.
 
He brings two things missing in our attack. Someone that can dribble with speed and playmaking from wide positions.

The goals are a bonus in his game to me and he scores at a decent enough rate.

When you watch him he’s someone that can get on the ball either in his half or near the half way line and create through carrying the ball but linking up with others. This is something Garnacho cannot do, he gets the ball and just runs and takes a shot or cuts back, it’s very all or nothing. Rashford was the same too but he at least had quality with his final ball but still it was more focus on the shot or the cross.

We need to be able to create patterns and have intelligent players combine across the pitch. Even someone like Zirkzee would look far better having a player who’s on the same wavelength as him.

Scoring is an issue in the team but creativity is just as bad. It’s why Bruno does everything because no one else can.
 
He brings two things missing in our attack. Someone that can dribble with speed and playmaking from wide positions.

The goals are a bonus in his game to me and he scores at a decent enough rate.

When you watch him he’s someone that can get on the ball either in his half or near the half way line and create through carrying the ball but linking up with others. This is something Garnacho cannot do, he gets the ball and just runs and takes a shot or cuts back, it’s very all or nothing. Rashford was the same too but he at least had quality with his final ball but still it was more focus on the shot or the cross.

We need to be able to create patterns and have intelligent players combine across the pitch. Even someone like Zirkzee would look far better having a player who’s on the same wavelength as him.

Scoring is an issue in the team but creativity is just as bad. It’s why Bruno does everything because no one else can.
His running ability would compliment Zirkzee a lot.
 
I think they will be prioritising physical presence. Big centre forward- more muscle in midfield