What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

I'd say the players that deserve to start next season based on the season (not today)

Keeper
AWB - Lindelof - Maguire - Shaw
Midfielder - Pogba
Winger - Bruno - Rashford
Striker.

You can go one extra season with a subpar keeper but we really need a midfielder, winger, and striker and another midfielder if Pogba leaves. Fred, McTominay, DVB en Matic are quite poor to be starters.
 
Doesnt it say much that almost everyone is asking for 3-4 starters? I think we are not playing up to the squad's full potential. We have a coaching problem that will continue as long as we dont fix it no matter how many players we bring.

Getting Ndidi, Haaland, Sancho, Varane, Grealish or whoever is going to suddenly make us play as a cohesive team? I mean its not like we seem just 1-2 players away from clicking. We play awful, is most games we seem as an improvised team with a bunch of players that are playing together for the first time specially in attack.

I think getting a new manager should be our first priority for the summer.
 
Inspired by a few posts up. What I think we need for next season

Gk DDG or Henderson - not the biggest issue at united
RB AWB - limited going forward although better than last season
LB Shaw - best season for him & contender for united POTY
CB - Maguire or lindelof - not as a pair not good enough
CB - new defender to partner one of above. We need a quick defender that's comfortable on the ball & can pass

CDM - need a new player, Fred not good enough can't pass, McTominay is not a CDM, he a box to box that's best in the final 3rd. Another bad passer. Matic is done
CM this would be a box to box player, I'd prefer a new player but would be prepared to have VDB & McTominay to battle it out for this spot (I'm convinced Pogba is gone)

AM Bruno - POTY candidate

LW Rashford - played all season injured, our 2nd highest scorer & our team looks worse without him.
RW new player - amad has loads of talent but is a couple of seasons away from being ready, Greenwood is a CF not a winger.

CF - I think if Cavani stays, Greenwood & Martial we have enough their. We just need better quality & more chances created for them.

Players I'd let go is Matic, Fred, Lingard, mata, dalot & James. Pogba will probably go as well. I'd also like one of our keepers to be sold as I don't think we need both & unpopular opinion, I'd prefer we kept DDG as I'm not overly impressed with Henderson at all.
 
Just when it looks like we may only need a couple of key additions to really kick on it soon inevitably becomes apparent actually half the fecking team need replacing. :lol:
 
AjaxCunian said:
I'd say the players that deserve to start next season based on the season (not today)

Keeper
AWB - Lindelof - Maguire - Shaw
Midfielder - Pogba
Winger - Bruno - Rashford
Striker.

You can go one extra season with a subpar keeper but we really need a midfielder, winger, and striker and another midfielder if Pogba leaves. Fred, McTominay, DVB en Matic are quite poor to be starters.
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•Declan Rice to partner Pogba.

•Cover/competition for Wan Bissaka: Trippier

•RW first choice would still be Sancho but there are other options

•Striker first choice is obviously Haaland
 
SAFMUTD said:
Doesnt it say much that almost everyone is asking for 3-4 starters? I think we are not playing up to the squad's full potential. We have a coaching problem that will continue as long as we dont fix it no matter how many players we bring.

Getting Ndidi, Haaland, Sancho, Varane, Grealish or whoever is going to suddenly make us play as a cohesive team? I mean its not like we seem just 1-2 players away from clicking. We play awful, is most games we seem as an improvised team with a bunch of players that are playing together for the first time specially in attack.

I think getting a new manager should be our first priority for the summer.
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If we finish top 4 which looks likely theirs no chance Ole will go. I agree though that coaching is an issue but by & large the results haven't been.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
Just when it looks like we may only need a couple of key additions to really kick on it soon inevitably becomes apparent actually half the fecking team need replacing. :lol:
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Basically been my view for a couple of years, too many people rate the likes of Fred, mctominay, martial, Maguire and Henderson.

Half the squad isn’t cut out to reach the heights the club should be striving for, some have qualities but clearly not the desire, like martial. It’s a failed transfer strategy over 4 managers with one of the highest nets spends in Europe since fergies retirement.
 
Steve Bruce said:
If we finish top 4 which looks likely theirs no chance Ole will go. I agree though that coaching is an issue but by & large the results haven't been.
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Agree, I dont see us sacking him if he gets top 4. We are stucked at this level far away for titles but not bad enough to get him sacked, somehow it makes it even more depressing that way.
 
Zoo said:
•Declan Rice to partner Pogba. Would like this but Pogba is likely to be gone. Bissouma might be a good alternative if the figures for Rice don't match up.

•Cover/competition for Wan Bissaka: Trippier Agree

•RW first choice would still be Sancho but there are other options with the amount of players needed I can't see us using our budget on sancho. The Leeds winger might be a good alternative for around 25-30m

•Striker first choice is obviously Haaland That's the dream signing but just like sancho, I don't think the budget is their. Not sure who would be a good alternative for reasonable money
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See bold responses in quote
 
SAFMUTD said:
Agree, I dont see us sacking him if he gets top 4. We are stucked at this level far away for titles but not bad enough to get him sacked, somehow it makes it even more depressing that way.
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Yeah it's actually worse. We're in the grey area or purgatory...... take your pick
 
At this point anyone who thinks that a new CDM/CM is not a priority is deluded. It has to be a priority. I hope Ole sees that way too.
Then CB and RW.

To splash all the money on Haaland only would be fecking stupid. There won't be any fundamental changes. We need to build from the back.
 
Zoo said:
•Declan Rice to partner Pogba.

•Cover/competition for Wan Bissaka: Trippier

•RW first choice would still be Sancho but there are other options

•Striker first choice is obviously Haaland
Click to expand...
Last post of the day, but I fear we don't have the funds for this. I'd not buy Trippier and just give Laird the chance. Rice is a good option but very expensive, would look for alternatives. No way we can fund Sancho and Haaland. I think we should find one cheaper alternative for one of them.
 
Either a DM to play alongside Pogba or if Pogba leaves a replacement and a DM. I think that improves team the most unless you can get Haaland which is extremely unlikely.
 
Ndidi, Tielemans, Rice any CM that can pass the ball properly, make tackles. We lack a lot in this area.
 
A striker. Nothing but a striker. A striker like Haaland, Ronaldo, Cavani that drive the whole attack towards goa with each wave relentlessly.

Our best games this year have come with Cavani on the pitch - no surprise.

Martial is piss lazy and has no natural drive to push the team towards goal.

Rashford is a hopeless 1 in 5 finisher on a good day.

Greenwood looks like he’s picking up habits from Cavani but is still a couple years out. The kid needs to sort out his first touch.


We need a proper striker. You’ve got Bruno and Pogba carving up chances ffs

Remember - attack is the best defence at United - it always has been
 
A proper CDM, a proper CF, a CB.

Bring through Mengi, bring back Dalot or Laird.

Can someone start the thread on who we need to get rid of?

Matic
Mata
Jones
Pereira
Bailly
Romero
Chong
 
Just watched the Leicester cup game and incredible how much it spotlighted that we need:

-A 9 who works hard and is a genuine threat from crosses or in some other way against a team sitting deep

- a CM/DM who can pass (unless Pogba is staying and we're commited to letting BOTH him and VDB compete for the #8 spot, with McTom and Fred competing for one spot as the defensive type next to them and can still occasionally both together to try to defend a lead or play on the counter)

-a RWB option who can really impact a game going forward to rotate/compete with Wan-Bissaka.

-A quality #1 center back to run the game

-A RW who can impact every game while Greenwood and Amad get minutes there too (With Greenwood getting some time as a 9 too),

If we can't get all 5, I guess I could see waiting on the 9 for a year if we want to ride Cavani proper for one last year, give Rashford and Greenwood more time as 9s (though we'd have to trust James or Pogba on the left) and the same with Pogba/VDB, and bringing Dalot back to be the RWB, but the CB and the RW seem like absolute needs unless Amad is going to be ready.
 
NoPace said:
Just watched the Leicester cup game and incredible how much it spotlighted that we need:

-A 9 who works hard and is a genuine threat from crosses or in some other way against a team sitting deep

- a CM/DM who can pass (unless Pogba is staying and we're commited to letting BOTH him and VDB compete for the #8 spot, with McTom and Fred competing for one spot as the defensive type next to them and can still occasionally both together to try to defend a lead or play on the counter)

-a RWB option who can really impact a game going forward to rotate/compete with Wan-Bissaka.

-A quality #1 center back to run the game

-A RW who can impact every game while Greenwood and Amad get minutes there too (With Greenwood getting some time as a 9 too),

If we can't get all 5, I guess I could see waiting on the 9 for a year if we want to ride Cavani proper for one last year, give Rashford and Greenwood more time as 9s (though we'd have to trust James or Pogba on the left) and the same with Pogba/VDB, and bringing Dalot back to be the RWB, but the CB and the RW seem like absolute needs unless Amad is going to be ready.
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its like a jigsaw. And we will have to prioritise. We have laird and dalot as rwb options but also people forget williams too had been playing there. It would be stupid to waste money on a rotation player with so many other priorities.

I think that a proper cdm is first, that might paper over the centre back crack and will allow us to play pogba and bruno ahead of them.

we are also absolutely crying out for a rw player, still think we need to get someone in there because no one has convinced in that position and every time we try to rotate we arent good enough up top.

we need a new cb ideally/eventually and also a cf but if we move greenwood inside, keep cavani one more year and have martial too we have players there for now.
 
1st priority should be Sancho as a lack of creativity from our right side is our most apparent flaw. We need a proven top quality RW and the worlds 3rd best in this regard (Sancho) is available and wants to play for us. Given how rare it is to obtain actual world class players this signing makes too much sense for us to snub it. Haaland is the better player but he'll do nothing to fix this problem - a problem that, if fixed, makes us main contenders for Haaland's signature next summer. A much more likely scenario than us getting Haaland now.
2nd priority should be a DM who's technically sound. Would cover our CB's and allow for Pogba and Bruno to play together without it messing up our balance too much. Rice/Ndidi/Tchouaméni are dream options, Zubimendi/Neuhaus/Berge are more affordable.
3rd priority should be replacements for either one of Pogba/Bailly/De Gea in case of departure. a decent backup GK and a competing CB are attainable for fees similar to those we'd receive. Pogba replacement alternatives are Locatelli/Brozovic/Ward-Prowse/Tielemans.

Above is what I feel we need to get >80pts in PL and go far in CL with a (somewhat) realistic spending.
We also need a CF, an attacking RB and a CB, but those needs aren't as urgent.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
Just when it looks like we may only need a couple of key additions to really kick on it soon inevitably becomes apparent actually half the fecking team need replacing. :lol:
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Form has always been patchy during Ole's time with us so during every good streak we have, we're 1-2 players away and during every poor streak people are up in arms about throwing out half the squad. I see the Maguire, AwB haters are in full flow already, so give it a bit and we'll swing back to the crowd that says we'll be challenging next year.
 
More and more I'm thinking a striker is the absolute priority this summer. Our goals have majorly dried up from Martial and Greenwood and Rashford is not a #9. Would love Raul Jimenez or someone of that ilk. Jimenez and Sancho would be brilliant, but there's no way we have the money for that. Wait and see time.
 
Starting to get in muppet mode.

We have four positions that are weak spots. Priority for me is in order: CF, DM, RW, CB

CF: If we forget the dream signings like Haaland/Mbappe/Kane, there is Youssef En-Nesyri who looks like a fox in the box type of striker, a goal every 112mins is pretty good - we lack that player who will find good positions in our box, only Cavani really does it right now. Then there is the Dusan Vlahovic guy who we have been recently linked with, only 21 years old so far from the finished product - he looks very energetic, is pretty tall but still kind of pacey, potentially a very good all round striker, Ole seems to prefer this kind of striker who can also play with his back to goal. Obviously these two examples are not as much a guarantee as the first three mentioned players, but i don't think we can rely on Cavani for next season and Martial/Greenwood/Rashford has not shown that they can be the forward we need them to be - we need someone.

DM: Here we could go for a more controlling midfielder like Rice or a player who constantly keeps on opposition toes like Ndidi. For me it depends on Pogba's future, and whether we will put our trust in him to be at his best in a box-to-box position. If we play Pogba as a cm, i think Ndidi would be a great partner, evidenced by his partnership with Kante for France.

RW: A more creative type of player and not so much a wide forward would be ideal here. Sancho can do everything and he seems to be realistic compared to Haaland and so forth so maybe this should be our big money signing. Then you have Raphinha who has done a good job at Leeds, but i feel like he needs another season to show his exact potential.

CB: Realistically 2 signings may be a big ask, so 4 signings are completely out of the picture. We need Bailly to have a less injury ridden season. I feel we need someone here, but also that our defence is in a decent position anyway. We have Lindelof and Bailly competing to partner Maguire, while Tuanzebe can hopefully get his real breakthrough.

Our squad could look something likes this:

Henderson/DDG/Backup
AWB/Williams Bailly/Lindelof Maguire/Tuanzebe Shaw/Telles
Ndidi/Fred Pogba/McT/DvB
Sancho/Diallo Bruno/Pogba/DvB Marcus/Martial
Nesyri/Mason
​
CF position still looks kinda sketchy, but we have to gamble imo. Ideally i'd like to keep Cavani in the squad, but signs are indicating that he would like to go back to SA.
 
To make a genuine title challenge next season into April/May, we need:

  1. To keep all our key players, including Paul Pogba
  2. Sign a Centre Back who'd be good enough to start every game for United/City/Liverpool etc
  3. Sign a Prolific Forward/Striker who'd be good enough to start every game for United/City/Liverpool etc
  4. Sign good competition for Wan Bissaka. Similar to the Shaw/Telles competition.
  5. Keep everyone fit
We'll need a long-term Matic replacement soon, but I think we can challenge next season with just the above.
 
Jezpeza said:
its like a jigsaw. And we will have to prioritise. We have laird and dalot as rwb options but also people forget williams too had been playing there. It would be stupid to waste money on a rotation player with so many other priorities.

I think that a proper cdm is first, that might paper over the centre back crack and will allow us to play pogba and bruno ahead of them.

we are also absolutely crying out for a rw player, still think we need to get someone in there because no one has convinced in that position and every time we try to rotate we arent good enough up top.

we need a new cb ideally/eventually and also a cf but if we move greenwood inside, keep cavani one more year and have martial too we have players there for now.
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Yeah the sense I keep getting is that Utd are convinced that signing a top drawer CB will improve the midfield in front of it which quite frankly I don't know where they are getting a nuts idea like that from, should be thinking that a CDM would greatly improve the CB's behind but we don't seem to do sensible logical thinking hence the links to Haaland
 
croadyman said:
Yeah the sense I keep getting is that Utd are convinced that signing a top drawer CB will improve the midfield in front of it which quite frankly I don't know where they are getting a nuts idea like that from, should be thinking that a CDM would greatly improve the CB's behind but we don't seem to do sensible logical thinking hence the links to Haaland
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a new cb wont solve the fact that playing matic on his own in front of the back 4 is like placing an inanimate object on the pitch such as a wheelie bin which is simply a mildly inconviencing placeholder to dribble round, or that we have to sacrifice pogba or bruno to play mcfred in front
 
I've got a feeling that Sancho will come to United while Chelsea will get the Haaland deal done with Werner or Pulisic going the other way.

I think the following would give us a decent chance of being competitive next season.
Sancho (VDB + 40m)
Pau Torres (looking likely by the rumors) (20m + Bailly)
Patson Daka (35m)
Bissouma/ Zakaria (30m)
 
beingshe7don said:
I've got a feeling that Sancho will come to United while Chelsea will get the Haaland deal done with Werner or Pulisic going the other way.

I think the following would give us a decent chance of being competitive next season.
Sancho (VDB + 40m)
Pau Torres (looking likely by the rumors) (20m + Bailly)
Patson Daka (35m)
Bissouma/ Zakaria (30m)
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Think Haaland and Sancho would be all we need. An attack like that makes the back and midfield look a lot stronger then they are now. Much different ball game when you can hit people with an attack like that. Sancho isn’t happy cause he couldn’t leave when he wanted imo. Those two and a center back and I think we’re good.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
To make a genuine title challenge next season into April/May, we need:

  1. To keep all our key players, including Paul Pogba
  2. Sign a Centre Back who'd be good enough to start every game for United/City/Liverpool etc
  3. Sign a Prolific Forward/Striker who'd be good enough to start every game for United/City/Liverpool etc
  4. Sign good competition for Wan Bissaka. Similar to the Shaw/Telles competition.
  5. Keep everyone fit
We'll need a long-term Matic replacement soon, but I think we can challenge next season with just the above.
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Pogbas heart isnt in it. Talented player but the heart of a tabby cat. Get rid.
 
TheRedHearted said:
Think Haaland and Sancho would be all we need. An attack like that makes the back and midfield look a lot stronger then they are now. Much different ball game when you can hit people with an attack like that. Sancho isn’t happy cause he couldn’t leave when he wanted imo. Those two and a center back and I think we’re good.
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Sancho and Haaland in one window would be a boss move and I agree that the rest of the team will go a level up with that kind of firepower but I have huge doubts regarding the financial gymnastics needed to make such a move. We are talking about a fee north of £200m and it's difficult to see how we would fund that.

We could sell players like VDB, Martial, Tuanzebe/Bailly, Lingard, Pereira and maybe get a bigish fee for Pogba but I don't see the Glazers putting up the £100m or so seed money needed to supplement the money we could get from sales. If we could find a way to fun it I'd be all for it.
 
Jezpeza said:
its like a jigsaw. And we will have to prioritise. We have laird and dalot as rwb options but also people forget williams too had been playing there. It would be stupid to waste money on a rotation player with so many other priorities.

I think that a proper cdm is first, that might paper over the centre back crack and will allow us to play pogba and bruno ahead of them.

we are also absolutely crying out for a rw player, still think we need to get someone in there because no one has convinced in that position and every time we try to rotate we arent good enough up top.

we need a new cb ideally/eventually and also a cf but if we move greenwood inside, keep cavani one more year and have martial too we have players there for now.
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You're probably right about a backup/competitor at RB who is also the starter when we play 3 at the back at RWB being 2nd priority, but I'm not sure that our midfield, if Pogba stays, is not in a better situation to survive one season than our CB options or the RW situation, with VDB in year 2, hopefully a healthy Pogba, and McTominay probably outplaying the CBs on the whole this season. Might be able to survive with a one year loan for a #6, either an experienced guy, or a loan to buy like Spurs did with Vinicius for an athletic #6 from Ligue 1 or Germany.

I guess I'd be selling off Martial and being bolder, but if we can only bring in 3 starters, to look at recent rumoured names, let's say it's Pedro Neto or Sarr at RW and a #1CB like Kounde, with Dalot being brought back and we're able to get a decent DM option, like Zakaria, so we spend about 140M on those 3 with like 60 for the CB, 40 each for the other 2 :


--------------------------------------------Greenwood(Martial,Cavani)------------
Rashford(James)---------------------------------------------------------------Pedro Neto(Diallo)
-----------------------------Pogba(Fred)------------Bruno (VDB)-------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------Zakaria(McTominay)-------------------------------------------------
Shaw(Telles)--------Maguire(Lindelof)------Kounde(Bailly)--------------WanBissaka(Dalot)
----------------------------------------------De Gea(Henderson)------------------------------------------------

We'd certainly be better off selling Martial, letting Cavani go to save on wages and getting a proper #9 for Greenwood to back up, but this would still be a fair amount of change for Ole, in a new CB partnership, a new DM to anchor things and a new RW. I could see this being the summer and we're planning on selling Martial and hoping for Haaland or a new #9 having emerged (Kane wanting out maybe but more likely someone like Isak or Daka or a similar young talent blowing up) in the summer of 2022, as well as maybe a new RWB if Dalot isn't sticking around.
 
NoPace said:
You're probably right about a backup/competitor at RB who is also the starter when we play 3 at the back at RWB being 2nd priority, but I'm not sure that our midfield, if Pogba stays, is not in a better situation to survive one season than our CB options or the RW situation, with VDB in year 2, hopefully a healthy Pogba, and McTominay probably outplaying the CBs on the whole this season. Might be able to survive with a one year loan for a #6, either an experienced guy, or a loan to buy like Spurs did with Vinicius for an athletic #6 from Ligue 1 or Germany.

I guess I'd be selling off Martial and being bolder, but if we can only bring in 3 starters, to look at recent rumoured names, let's say it's Pedro Neto or Sarr at RW and a #1CB like Kounde, with Dalot being brought back and we're able to get a decent DM option, like Zakaria, so we spend about 140M on those 3 with like 60 for the CB, 40 each for the other 2 :


--------------------------------------------Greenwood(Martial,Cavani)------------
Rashford(James)---------------------------------------------------------------Pedro Neto(Diallo)
-----------------------------Pogba(Fred)------------Bruno (VDB)-------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------Zakaria(McTominay)-------------------------------------------------
Shaw(Telles)--------Maguire(Lindelof)------Kounde(Bailly)--------------WanBissaka(Dalot)
----------------------------------------------De Gea(Henderson)------------------------------------------------

We'd certainly be better off selling Martial, letting Cavani go to save on wages and getting a proper #9 for Greenwood to back up, but this would still be a fair amount of change for Ole, in a new CB partnership, a new DM to anchor things and a new RW. I could see this being the summer and we're planning on selling Martial and hoping for Haaland or a new #9 having emerged (Kane wanting out maybe but more likely someone like Isak or Daka or a similar young talent blowing up) in the summer of 2022, as well as maybe a new RWB if Dalot isn't sticking around.
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its difficult to choose. I wish we could just have the 250million budget pep would get in this scenario but we wont.

Martial was dynamite last season and I want him to recover his form. I think we need someone more consistent long term. On paper the idea of selling Martial is potentially good but i dont think we want to and I dont think we would get much for him in the current market and on the back of this season. Its very difficult for us to sell players as unless its real madrid or barca coming in with a mega offer for the superstar then the transfer is going to be deemed the sale of a flop and instantly people want a bargain basket fee.

imho i think we will do little business this summer. A few obvious ones will be sold or go on loan. Jadon Sancho would be my first port of call. If we dont sign him this summer we never will. If we offer 90m and he wants to come hes all ours. If not then there are other options.

i’ve always believed a game is won or lost in midfield and whilst i think we need a cb i think we need the last piece of that midfield jigsaw. Playing mcfred has some positives but we have lost points against some poor teams this year. It will be better to get a midfield player who can screen the centre backs on their own and play some passes and also allow us to play two of pogba/bruno/vdb ahead of them than it will to sacrifice a creator for the mcfred duo or play matic ahead of the two centre halves. As you've eluded, Zakaria is the most gettable player of that ilk out there. Rice might be gettable as west ham are struggling a bit financially but every time i watch him and even for england he just doesn’t really strike me as being anything special.

I kind of dont get the whole rwb obsession either. TAA had a couple of crazy seasons at liverpool and now people seem to think its within the remit of a right back to get 15 goal involvements a season. AWB has more goal involvements over the last two seasons than Kyle Walker who everyone brands an ‘attacking right back’. I think we just need assists from the right hand side which we can address with a good rm/rw signing.
 
Try a swap deal Martial for Andre Silva

Sell Fred, Jones, Pereira and Lingard. Let Mata, Romero and Matic go.

Buy Ruben Neves, Jules Koundes and Pedro Neto.
 
reddevilz007 said:
Try a swap deal Martial for Andre Silva

Sell Fred, Jones, Pereira and Lingard. Let Mata, Romero and Matic go.

Buy Ruben Neves, Jules Koundes and Pedro Neto.
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i read a really good article from a real football agent on why swap deals basically dont happen outside of video games.
 
Quite a few exits this summer me thinks

Romero, Mata, Chong, Dalot, Pereira, Jones, Lingard, Williams, Matic, VDB, Martial,Cavani, Axel...some possibly on loan

Would certainly raise some transfer funds and free up some wages.

Could use Axel in part ex for Grealish.
Lingard part ex for Rice.

We can then add centre forward, a central midfielder, a right winger, and a centre back and get back in big time
 
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