The centre-forward market...

[Pickle85]

Disagree to be honest. I think he looks nailed on to be a really good striker.

Players like Ivan Toney will be 60+Million and Ferguson will be at least that good.

Yeah, I've not seen that much of him tbf. Just given what a small sample size we have to judge him on, 60 mill would be a hell of a risk.

 

[Hughes35]

Yeah, I've not seen that much of him tbf. Just given what a small sample size we have to judge him on, 60 mill would be a hell of a risk.

Risk with any signing. If he had no risk, you're talking 120 million. That's how it works.

For me, Kane would be first choice and then Ferguson second.

 

[SAF is the GOAT]

Santiago Gimenez will be a star.

Quote me in 3 years.

Really don't know this source

 

[DWelbz19]

Eredivisie attackers are such a lucky dip. Tend to flatter to deceive more often than not. With no.9 being such an important transfer, we'll probably look elsewhere. He'd maybe be worth the punt if Martial can prove to stay fit from now until the end of the season, playing serious minutes at that too.

 

[Kinsella]

Anyone who has watched Ferguson play, can you compare him to a striker he's most similar to?

I've heard good things but I don't watch Brighton.

He looks like a very complete centre forward to me. A kind of Shearer - Kane hybrid.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Really don't know this source

Guess the jig is up. I'm actaully Erik ten Hag. heh.

 

[CM]

I wouldn't hate it if Gimenez was coming in alongside another striker signing as a supplementary option, but I don't think we'd have the funds for that if we target one of the top tier options like Kane or Osimhen. Maybe as an addition if we went for Evan Ferguson?

 

[WhyYouGottaBeSoRuud?]

1. True, striker is our biggest priority but we also need to be smart about it
2. Benfica likely will as they still haven't upgraded Ramos's contract which he is apparently pissed about. They apparently have a younger prospect who they feel will be even better than Ramos. I definitely feel they would consider a deal of 80m for Ramos a good fee. Leao's contract talks have been going on for ages and the longer it goes on, the more you think Milan will put him on the market soon to get a fee if no agreement is reached.
3. Watford will be stuck in the Championship next season with no PL parachute payments to help them. I think a deal of 30-35 for Joao Pedro is do-able

1. I agree but also think that the importance of getting the right player should almost dictate our budget for this summer.
2. Ramos' contract runs until 2026, absolutely no guarantees of getting him for around £80m. Even if he down-tools like Enzo did, Benfica held strong and still got £100m+ . As for Leao - I think he's a great player but to me feels a bit similar to Rashford (more of a winger/inside forward) - and I'm not sure he's a dedicated out-an-out CF which is what I personally think we need.
3. Yes they (Watford) are in the Championship but because of the contract length they are in the driving seat.

Not bad options though! Different from most saying Kane/Osimhen (of which I'm one of these)

 

[WhyYouGottaBeSoRuud?]

Eredivisie attackers are such a lucky dip. Tend to flatter to deceive more often than not. With no.9 being such an important transfer, we'll probably look elsewhere. He'd maybe be worth the punt if Martial can prove to stay fit from now until the end of the season, playing serious minutes at that too.

Totally agree with this.

For every Ronaldo/RvN/Suarez there is an Afonso Alves.

 

[croadyman]

I wouldn't hate it if Gimenez was coming in alongside another striker signing as a supplementary option, but I don't think we'd have the funds for that if we target one of the top tier options like Kane or Osimhen. Maybe as an addition if we went for Evan Ferguson?

Yeah would only work as a supplementary to like you say a Kane/Osimhen or possibly potential talent in Hojlund/Ferguson

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

1. I agree but also think that the importance of getting the right player should almost dictate our budget for this summer.
2. Ramos' contract runs until 2026, absolutely no guarantees of getting him for around £80m. Even if he down-tools like Enzo did, Benfica held strong and still got £100m+ . As for Leao - I think he's a great player but to me feels a bit similar to Rashford (more of a winger/inside forward) - and I'm not sure he's a dedicated out-an-out CF which is what I personally think we need.
3. Yes they (Watford) are in the Championship but because of the contract length they are in the driving seat.

Not bad options though! Different from most saying Kane/Osimhen (of which I'm one of these)

It is boring that everyone says Kane and Osimhen but unfortunately I think it's because they're the only two potentially available strikers that would almost guarantee that our ceiling is raised. I think with others like Ferguson and Ramos, there would have to be a period of patience which we can't really afford after spending big on 30ish year olds in Case and Varane. There's just a dearth of talent in between the too-old worldies like Benzema/Lewandowski and the next gen of hot shots like Ferguson/Tel/Hjolund/Endrick. Even Kane isn't that ideal given his age and is only really viable because he's on the last year of his contract.

 

[lex talionis]

It is boring that everyone says Kane and Osimhen but unfortunately I think it's because they're the only two potentially available strikers that would almost guarantee that our ceiling is raised. I think with others like Ferguson and Ramos, there would have to be a period of patience which we can't really afford after spending big on 30ish year olds in Case and Varane. There's just a dearth of talent in between the too-old worldies like Benzema/Lewandowski and the next gen of hot shots like Ferguson/Tel/Hjolund/Endrick. Even Kane isn't that ideal given his age and is only really viable because he's on the last year of his contract.

The question of Kane's age is a legitimate one, but on balance the answer heavily leans toward the conclusion that he's got at least 3 more seasons of world class ability left in him.

With the players that we have now, we need to be thinking about going for the PL and CL trophies next season, not 2-3 seasons from now.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

The question of Kane's age is a legitimate one, but on balance the answer heavily leans toward the conclusion that he's got at least 3 more seasons of world class ability left in him.

With the players that we have now, we need to be thinking about going for the PL and CL trophies next season, not 2-3 seasons from now.

The reason Kane is risky is because there is no chance in hell we are ready to challenge for a PL trophy next year and it's more likely that it will be three years before we have a squad that can challenge on all fronts just as Kane, Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen and possibly even Bruno and Shaw are heading into decline.

This season we have been light years better than last season but we are still light years away from being able to compete for a league title because we are still about three elite players short in the team AND we have no squad depth. We've seen only too clearly how much an injury or suspension to a key player can affect us so can't rely on a strong XI alone.

 

[lex talionis]

The reason Kane is risky is because there is no chance in hell we are ready to challenge for a PL trophy next year and it's more likely that it will be three years before we have a squad that can challenge on all fronts just as Kane, Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen and possibly even Bruno and Shaw are heading into decline.

This season we have been light years better than last season but we are still light years away from being able to compete for a league title because we are still about three elite players short in the team AND we have no squad depth. We've seen only too clearly how much an injury or suspension to a key player can affect us so can't rely on a strong XI alone.

If you're right that United will still, no matter what do in the transfer market this summer, be light years away from being able to compete for the league title, then of course it makes no sense to go in for Kane...or for Kane to consider United for even a moment.

But I don't agree with your pessimism, although I do concede the possibility that you'll be proven right that we'll be "light years away" from competing for the league trophy in 23/24.

Perhaps you don't really mean "light years" metaphorically, as top four isn't really light years away from the top. But your meaning is clear -- that we have no business going in for players of Kane's age in light of the very real possibility that we'll only be in the conversation for the league trophy when Kane turns 32, by which time his decline will have begun.

I just double-checked and here are some interesting ages, as of today, to bear in mind:

Harry Kane -- 29. Kane turns 30 in July.
Anthony Martial -- 27. Martial turns 31 in December.
Casemiro -- 31. Casemiro just turned 31 in February.
Raphael Varane -- 29. Varane turns 30 in April (two weeks from now).
Bruno Fernandes -- 28. Bruno turns 29 in September.
Christian Eriksen -- 31. Eriksen just turned 31 in February.
Luke Shaw 27. -- Shaw turns 28 in July.
Harry Maguire -- 30. Maguire just turned 30 in March.
David De Gea -- 32. De Gea turns 33 in November.

Harry isn't exactly old by modern elite professional footballer standards. He's no longer a young footballer, without question, but he is at the peak of his career despite playing for a club in turmoil whose squad is woefully underperforming.

Casemiro is still immense at 31 and plays in a much more physically demanding position than Kane. Varane divides opinion on the caf, but in my book he's one of the world's top central defenders. I can go on, but the point is that United are not in a position to wait 2-3 seasons to compete for PL and CL trophies. We may not get there, and we shall see about that, but it would be gross mismanagement on our part to throw our hands up in the air on the ground that we're fukked no matter what we do so let's pass up on the best players we can possibly get so that we can bring in projects who may or may not come good to play with proven world class footballers like Casemiro, Varane and Fernandes.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

If you're right that United will still, no matter what do in the transfer market this summer, be light years away from being able to compete for the league title, then of course it makes no sense to go in for Kane...or for Kane to consider United for even a moment.

But I don't agree with your pessimism, although I do concede the possibility that you'll be proven right that we'll be "light years away" from competing for the league trophy in 23/24.

Perhaps you don't really mean "light years" metaphorically, as top four isn't really light years away from the top. But your meaning is clear -- that we have no business going in for players of Kane's age in light of the very real possibility that we'll only be in the conversation for the league trophy when Kane turns 32, by which time his decline will have begun.

I just double-checked and here are some interesting ages, as of today, to bear in mind:

Harry Kane -- 29. Kane turns 30 in July.
Anthony Martial -- 27. Martial turns 31 in December.
Casemiro -- 31. Casemiro just turned 31 in February.
Raphael Varane -- 29. Varane turns 30 in April (two weeks from now).
Bruno Fernandes -- 28. Bruno turns 29 in September.
Christian Eriksen -- 31. Eriksen just turned 31 in February.
Luke Shaw 27. -- Shaw turns 28 in July.
Harry Maguire -- 30. Maguire just turned 30 in March.
David De Gea -- 32. De Gea turns 33 in November.

Harry isn't exactly old by modern elite professional footballer standards. He's no longer a young footballer, without question, but he is at the peak of his career despite playing for a club in turmoil whose squad is woefully underperforming.

Casemiro is still immense at 31 and plays in a much more physically demanding position than Kane. Varane divides opinion on the caf, but in my book he's one of the world's top central defenders. I can go on, but the point is that United are not in a position to wait 2-3 seasons to compete for PL and CL trophies. We may not get there, and we shall see about that, but it would be gross mismanagement on our part to throw our hands up in the air on the ground that we're fukked no matter what we do so let's pass up on the best players we can possibly get so that we can bring in projects who may or may not come good to play with proven world class footballers like Casemiro, Varane and Fernandes.

I think we've made huge strides this year to be in the chase for top four as I personally didn't see that as possible at the start of the season but I think we would need to make an even greater step up than we've already made in order to win the league. My gut is that it will probably be a three year project (with minor trophies won along the way and maybe a good CL run) before we could be in a position to really challenge for a league title - despite this season going about as well as could have been expected for a squad that was divided into factions and from a playing standpoint is still terribly imbalanced and short of technical quality compared to peers. We've also benefitted from implosions at Liverpool and Chelsea which will surely be addressed in the near term.

However, I don't accept that because we don't go for a 30 year old Kane that we are throwing our hands up in the air in resignation. My view is that we just go for the younger striker who can be here for those three years and more and will still be at his peak by the time we have our hypothetical ideal squad rather than another thirty year old who will be aging out at about the time we have all the holes in our squad plugged.

Arsenal are currently top of the league with a far younger team/squad than us so they won't be in a position where they have to make wholesale changes year on year to replace influential players and therefore they can afford to buy one or two elite players each summer where we will need a few €200mn windows just to be able to compete and then the cycle of rebuilding will have to restart as so many of our most influential players will be declining.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Honestly wouldn't mind a punt on Evan Ferguson. I think he's got all the tools to be a top class striker for 10+ years.

I'd prefer him over Osimhen too perhaps.

 

[L1nk]

I don't see us buying 2 strikers unless 1 of them is older ala Harry Kane, but if our other targets are to be believed, ala Ramos and Osimhen, then they are only 21 and 24 respectively so I don't see us bringing in another striker in a similar age bracket. Maybe one of them and then an older experienced striker on the cheap, like a better Weghorst? Or someone like Kane and then a younger understudy.

Personally don't think we can go wrong investing in either Ferguson or Hojlund

 

[Kingslayer18]

It is boring that everyone says Kane and Osimhen but unfortunately I think it's because they're the only two potentially available strikers that would almost guarantee that our ceiling is raised. I think with others like Ferguson and Ramos, there would have to be a period of patience which we can't really afford after spending big on 30ish year olds in Case and Varane. There's just a dearth of talent in between the too-old worldies like Benzema/Lewandowski and the next gen of hot shots like Ferguson/Tel/Hjolund/Endrick. Even Kane isn't that ideal given his age and is only really viable because he's on the last year of his contract.

Everyone says we can't wait because of Case and Varane but let's be honest, are we likely to win the premiership whilst Pep is at City and with the holes in our squad. Pep has probably got 3 more years at City in him and I don't see Klopp seeing out his contract at Liverpool. I think we need to be realistic and take the view that Varane, Case and Fernandes gets us to solidify our status as constant Top 4 members and challengers. I think this team is likely to need 2-3 years before getting to the point of really going after title, by which, Case and Varane will be on the way down and likely supplanted by younger players. In that sense, despite Kane making sense from a player point of view, his age and fee means we should skip him and go for a younger alternative. I like Osimhen, just not 100% sure he will fit with ETH style of play. If we get a younger ST like RKM or Ramos, whilst beefing up other areas of squad, I wouldn't be surprised if we would do equally as well as if we got Kane but didn't have the budget to fill in other much needed areas. We also have to assume guys like Antony and Sancho will improve their goalscoring records and so equally share the load with a new striker.

 

[Primex]

Kane this season,sesko next season
Am a big osimhen fan,but I want him to go to Bayern he'll fit perfectly there, after watching them play yesterday.

 

[croadyman]

Kane this season,sesko next season
Am a big osimhen fan,but I want him to go to Bayern he'll fit perfectly there, after watching them play yesterday.

Would you prefer Sesko over a potential talent like Hojlund/Ferguson then

 

[Still ill]

Anthony Martial -- 27. Martial turns 31 in December.

So frustrating how quickly our players age.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

only reason i wouldnt spend over 100 on kane is just the fact that we only have a certain amount able to spend, and need so many new players. I like having more throws at the dart board. Really for any position id rather spend for 2 50 million talents vs 1 100 million player. Nothing is certain, not even a player like Kane. Id just rather have multiple throws at the board, especially if we had an actual scouting/transfer department that could be trusted.

 

[NoPace]

Ferguson reminds me of a young Alan Shearer.

Is he that explosive? The game I watched him closest I felt he was a little slow but his first touch was fantastic.

Not sure who to compare him to. Big, very good link up, should score goals, not really a dribbler (may improve there, Kane did).

 

[croadyman]

only reason i wouldnt spend over 100 on kane is just the fact that we only have a certain amount able to spend, and need so many new players. I like having more throws at the dart board. Really for any position id rather spend for 2 50 million talents vs 1 100 million player. Nothing is certain, not even a player like Kane. Id just rather have multiple throws at the board, especially if we had an actual scouting/transfer department that could be trusted.

So what striker would you bring in then

 

[FerociousCorgis]

So what striker would you bring in then

honestly i dont know who exactly. Depends on what prices clubs are looking for, which is info i dont really have privy to. Plus id expect the scouting department at a club like manchester united has better resources than me. The profile id like is someone not far off from a first team duty, so no huge project guy that is years away. Shit someone like alvarez for city would be a great type signing. They didnt spend 100 plus million on him and feel like he could easily be a starter full time if no haaland. Thats what id like to see the club do. Look for good talent that either is available at a good price, or has a good release clause so we dont have to waste the entire window haggling. I just cant imagine Levy lets kane go easily, regardless of the situation. But considering i could prob just load up football manager and get a decent possible list going id imagine the club could do something much better than just picking a super expensive british option.

 

[lex talionis]

Is he that explosive? The game I watched him closest I felt he was a little slow but his first touch was fantastic.

Not sure who to compare him to. Big, very good link up, should score goals, not really a dribbler (may improve there, Kane did).

I don't think this Ferguson will ever reach the level of Shearer but I do see great things ahead for him. Shearer had deceptively great pace and I agree with you that Ferguson doesn't have the pace Shearer had at the same age, although to be fair I didn't start keeping an eye on Shearer until he was 22.

Kane is a good comparison.

 

[lex talionis]

Everyone says we can't wait because of Case and Varane but let's be honest, are we likely to win the premiership whilst Pep is at City and with the holes in our squad. Pep has probably got 3 more years at City in him and I don't see Klopp seeing out his contract at Liverpool. I think we need to be realistic and take the view that Varane, Case and Fernandes gets us to solidify our status as constant Top 4 members and challengers. I think this team is likely to need 2-3 years before getting to the point of really going after title, by which, Case and Varane will be on the way down and likely supplanted by younger players. In that sense, despite Kane making sense from a player point of view, his age and fee means we should skip him and go for a younger alternative. I like Osimhen, just not 100% sure he will fit with ETH style of play. If we get a younger ST like RKM or Ramos, whilst beefing up other areas of squad, I wouldn't be surprised if we would do equally as well as if we got Kane but didn't have the budget to fill in other much needed areas. We also have to assume guys like Antony and Sancho will improve their goalscoring records and so equally share the load with a new striker.

This is an important take.

I think you meant to write "...are we NOT likely to win the premiership whilst Pep is at City and with the holes in our squad."

If you did mean to suggest that we are not likely to win the PL while Pep and Klopp are in charge, I just cannot buy into that mentality. Even if Arteta loses out to Pep in the end, he's put in a proper challenge and there's no reason why we should give up on putting in a proper challenge over the next three seasons while we wait for Pep and Klopp to move on.

There's no denying that we'll end up far behind Arsenal and City in the final table this season, but Arsenal proved this season a team that's properly resourced and managed can go from top six to top of the table. Adding Kane alone won't get us from top four to top of the table, but if we add a top striker and a top midfielder we will be in contention for the PL trophy. Once you're in contention for the PL trophy you still need fortune going your way whether it be keeping the physioroom empty, referee decisions, opposing manager bounces and the like. Arsenal have earned their top spot for now, but it also can't be denied that fortune has been their friend this season.

Let's not throw away the next two seasons -- when we have genuinely world class players like Casemiro, Varane and Bruno still in their prime -- for the sake of a 3-4 rebuilding project.

 

[Primex]

Would you prefer Sesko over a potential talent like Hojlund/Ferguson then

Yeah without a doubt,took time to watch them (boring I know),hojlund and Ferguson are good yeah but they're just hyped because they're the flavor of the season, there's always someone new every season.
As for sesko he has the highest ceiling of them all IMO.he has both their qualities and non of their flaws.
He biggest issue is he's raw, imagine if he improved his shooting rate and conversion.

 

[croadyman]

The reason Kane is risky is because there is no chance in hell we are ready to challenge for a PL trophy next year and it's more likely that it will be three years before we have a squad that can challenge on all fronts just as Kane, Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen and possibly even Bruno and Shaw are heading into decline.

This season we have been light years better than last season but we are still light years away from being able to compete for a league title because we are still about three elite players short in the team AND we have no squad depth. We've seen only too clearly how much an injury or suspension to a key player can affect us so can't rely on a strong XI alone.

Yeah definitely lacking elite players at RB,CM & ST,could even say GK as well because DDG lacks that modern style Erik wants

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Is he that explosive? The game I watched him closest I felt he was a little slow but his first touch was fantastic.

Not sure who to compare him to. Big, very good link up, should score goals, not really a dribbler (may improve there, Kane did).

Definitely not explosive but fast once he's picked up speed. The thing I like about Ferguson is he plays like a 32 year old vet; doesn't chase lost balls like a lot of kids but he's just so efficient with his movement and actions and he also seems really clever from a tactical perspective. Drifts into good positions in the box and has good technique and uses the ball well even when he can't get a shot off himself.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

This is an important take.

I think you meant to write "...are we NOT likely to win the premiership whilst Pep is at City and with the holes in our squad."

If you did mean to suggest that we are not likely to win the PL while Pep and Klopp are in charge, I just cannot buy into that mentality. Even if Arteta loses out to Pep in the end, he's put in a proper challenge and there's no reason why we should give up on putting in a proper challenge over the next three seasons while we wait for Pep and Klopp to move on.

There's no denying that we'll end up far behind Arsenal and City in the final table this season, but Arsenal proved this season a team that's properly resourced and managed can go from top six to top of the table. Adding Kane alone won't get us from top four to top of the table, but if we add a top striker and a top midfielder we will be in contention for the PL trophy. Once you're in contention for the PL trophy you still need fortune going your way whether it be keeping the physioroom empty, referee decisions, opposing manager bounces and the like. Arsenal have earned their top spot for now, but it also can't be denied that fortune has been their friend this season.

Let's not throw away the next two seasons -- when we have genuinely world class players like Casemiro, Varane and Bruno still in their prime -- for the sake of a 3-4 rebuilding project.

I think its more than 3-4 players though; it's also having squad players that don't absolutely gut us when our main men are out. Our form has gone out the window in Bruno's absence for the last 5/6 games and we've also felt the absence of Antony in terms of balance anytime he's been out. God knows what's ahead if Rashford is out for a while.

I think Arteta, as much as I find him immensely annoying, is going about building his squad very intelligently. They've built a squad of really young and highly technical players that are tactically adaptive. Partey is probably the only one an Arsenal fan might be worried about replacing nearish term for a couple of reasons and Xhaka, although think he's far more replaceable. In contrast, we may need to do another rebuild in as few as three years.

 

[daba]

This is an important take.

I think you meant to write "...are we NOT likely to win the premiership whilst Pep is at City and with the holes in our squad."

If you did mean to suggest that we are not likely to win the PL while Pep and Klopp are in charge, I just cannot buy into that mentality. Even if Arteta loses out to Pep in the end, he's put in a proper challenge and there's no reason why we should give up on putting in a proper challenge over the next three seasons while we wait for Pep and Klopp to move on.

There's no denying that we'll end up far behind Arsenal and City in the final table this season, but Arsenal proved this season a team that's properly resourced and managed can go from top six to top of the table. Adding Kane alone won't get us from top four to top of the table, but if we add a top striker and a top midfielder we will be in contention for the PL trophy. Once you're in contention for the PL trophy you still need fortune going your way whether it be keeping the physioroom empty, referee decisions, opposing manager bounces and the like. Arsenal have earned their top spot for now, but it also can't be denied that fortune has been their friend this season.

Let's not throw away the next two seasons -- when we have genuinely world class players like Casemiro, Varane and Bruno still in their prime -- for the sake of a 3-4 rebuilding project.

I think its more than 3-4 players though; it's also having squad players that don't absolutely gut us when our main men are out. Our form has gone out the window in Bruno's absence for the last 5/6 games and we've also felt the absence of Antony in terms of balance anytime he's been out. God knows what's ahead if Rashford is out for a while.

I think Arteta, as much as I find him immensely annoying, is going about building his squad very intelligently. They've built a squad of really young and highly technical players that are tactically adaptive. Partey is probably the only one an Arsenal fan might be worried about replacing nearish term for a couple of reasons and Xhaka, although think he's far more replaceable. In contrast, we may need to do another rebuild in as few as three years.

I wouldn’t say we’re that far away if we make 4 great signings this summer.

To use Arsenal as a comparison, last year they were nowhere near. In fact, we’re a lot closer to challenging than Arsenal were last year. Arsenal went on to make 4 first team signings in the summer. 2 of those were additions that were straight for the 1st XI (Jesus and Zinchenko) and the other two have been squad players (Fabio Vieira and Turner).

So with just two new 1st XI additions and two squad additions, they’ve gone from bottling top 4 to leading a Man City team that won the league the year before now with Haaland leading their line. Arsenals signings were very shrewd and added both intensity and a much needed winning mentality to their team.

Fortunately we have more financial muscle than Arsenal so can find probably for 3-4 1st XI additions with 1-2 squad additions on top.

If we added..

Kane - £100m
Ugarte - £45m
Frimpong - £40m
Costa - £65m
Ndicka - FREE
Rabiot - FREE

..I genuinely think we’ll be challenging next year.

EDIT: appreciate I’ve listed 6 players there, but if you removed the two free signings, I still think we’d be there or thereabouts.

 

[Rozay]

Just popped into this thread to see the ‘nobody but City or Liverpool are able to win the league’ narrative is still rife. Even in spite of Arsenal having been top all season and Liverpool feck knows where. Get a fecking grip.

 

[lex talionis]

I wouldn’t say we’re that far away if we make 4 great signings this summer.

To use Arsenal as a comparison, last year they were nowhere near. In fact, we’re a lot closer to challenging than Arsenal were last year. Arsenal went on to make 4 first team signings in the summer. 2 of those were additions that were straight for the 1st XI (Jesus and Zinchenko) and the other two have been squad players (Fabio Vieira and Turner).

So with just two new 1st XI additions and two squad additions, they’ve gone from bottling top 4 to leading a Man City team that won the league the year before now with Haaland leading their line. Arsenals signings were very shrewd and added both intensity and a much needed winning mentality to their team.

Fortunately we have more financial muscle than Arsenal so can find probably for 3-4 1st XI additions with 1-2 squad additions on top.

If we added..

Kane - £100m
Ugarte - £45m
Frimpong - £40m
Costa - £65m
Ndicka - FREE
Rabiot - FREE

..I genuinely think we’ll be challenging next year.

EDIT: appreciate I’ve listed 6 players there, but if you removed the two free signings, I still think we’d be there or thereabouts.

I'm not even sure we need 4 signings, let alone 6. That said, what we all agree on is that we need to see better production out of Sancho and Antony next season...but we have every reasons to believe that we will.

We can debate the names, but if we do bring in a top 9 and top 8 there's no doubt in my mind that we're at the very least in the conversation for the PL title. We will not run away with the trophy and it could all go terribly wrong, as is has for Liverpool and Chelsea this season, but with those two signings it could incredibly right.

 

[Mainoldo]

How can you want anyone but Harry Kane after seeing Tony Martial like this.

 

[bosnian_red]

The sad thing is that Martial when not injured and in form is a 100m player. He never showed consistency true, but he's no worse then Joao Felix who never showed enough scoring instinct either. Poor guys muscles can't hold up

 

[Erik the Red]

If you're right that United will still, no matter what do in the transfer market this summer, be light years away from being able to compete for the league title, then of course it makes no sense to go in for Kane...or for Kane to consider United for even a moment.

But I don't agree with your pessimism, although I do concede the possibility that you'll be proven right that we'll be "light years away" from competing for the league trophy in 23/24.

Perhaps you don't really mean "light years" metaphorically, as top four isn't really light years away from the top. But your meaning is clear -- that we have no business going in for players of Kane's age in light of the very real possibility that we'll only be in the conversation for the league trophy when Kane turns 32, by which time his decline will have begun.

I just double-checked and here are some interesting ages, as of today, to bear in mind:

Harry Kane -- 29. Kane turns 30 in July.
Anthony Martial -- 27. Martial turns 31 in December.
Casemiro -- 31. Casemiro just turned 31 in February.
Raphael Varane -- 29. Varane turns 30 in April (two weeks from now).
Bruno Fernandes -- 28. Bruno turns 29 in September.
Christian Eriksen -- 31. Eriksen just turned 31 in February.
Luke Shaw 27. -- Shaw turns 28 in July.
Harry Maguire -- 30. Maguire just turned 30 in March.
David De Gea -- 32. De Gea turns 33 in November.

Harry isn't exactly old by modern elite professional footballer standards. He's no longer a young footballer, without question, but he is at the peak of his career despite playing for a club in turmoil whose squad is woefully underperforming.

Casemiro is still immense at 31 and plays in a much more physically demanding position than Kane. Varane divides opinion on the caf, but in my book he's one of the world's top central defenders. I can go on, but the point is that United are not in a position to wait 2-3 seasons to compete for PL and CL trophies. We may not get there, and we shall see about that, but it would be gross mismanagement on our part to throw our hands up in the air on the ground that we're fukked no matter what we do so let's pass up on the best players we can possibly get so that we can bring in projects who may or may not come good to play with proven world class footballers like Casemiro, Varane and Fernandes.

No wonder he is always injured he ages 4 years for every one human year.

 

[Bondi77]

Rasmus looks like he has all the tools to succeed in England and has that X factor to get the fans out of their seats and he is a huge Manchester United fan to boot.

 

[croadyman]

I'm not even sure we need 4 signings, let alone 6. That said, what we all agree on is that we need to see better production out of Sancho and Antony next season...but we have every reasons to believe that we will.

We can debate the names, but if we do bring in a top 9 and top 8 there's no doubt in my mind that we're at the very least in the conversation for the PL title. We will not run away with the trophy and it could all go terribly wrong, as is has for Liverpool and Chelsea this season, but with those two signings it could incredibly right.

Personally feel we need 4 signings for the first XI alone maybe 5 if Martinez is out for months

 

[croadyman]

Rasmus looks like he has all the tools to succeed in England and has that X factor to get the fans out of their seats and he is a huge Manchester United fan to boot.

Can he be a starter though