What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

Striker and a DM. With another CM if Pogba and Matic are gone.

Although it depends on opportunities. If a player in Varane quality is available in any other position, we need to get him instead.
 
We’ve allowed ourselves to get into a ridiculous situation in which we’re going to start next season in a weaker position than the one we started this season, and even then we had significant issues.

Pogba is going to leave, as is Matic (no loss). Cavani will leave, Lingard will leave, and Greenwood is finished. Martial and Van de Beek might also leave as well.

Even with these players, we were in desperate need of a right back, midfielder and striker, and the club refuse to engage, instead opting for the vanity transfer in Ronaldo. There is no way we’re competently managing that level of turnover in the squad. We struggle to bring in more than three at a time.

What a state.
 
gorky_utd said:
I hope the board actually buys 4 or 5 players if asked by the manager instead of buying one position and neglecting the other one. 2 midfielder, 1 attacker is a must. Don't think the club will spend on defence.
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This is what they do each year since Fergie left. We concentrate on one area instead of weakest positions throughout the team. Right down the spine will have to be where we strengthen first. CB, DM, CF.
Then we need to look at other areas like box to box midfielder, a creative forward player, and a RB
 
If we can get Ten Hag here, surely he'll bring Antony with him? Him and Sancho on either side would be electric. Darwin Nunez looks like a promising player though I've seen nothing outside of YouTube. In CM; Bellingham would be the dream but unattainable - Tielemans as an alternative? We need a bit of grit, though, if Tielemans hasn't got the requisite fight perhaps Bennacer? Urgently need a DM; one of Rice (priced out), Tchouameni, or Bissouma would all be massive improvements.

I don't know what the plan is for the defence, but the midfield and forward positions are surely the priority.
 
If we can get Ten Hag here, surely he'll bring Antony with him? Him and Sancho on either side would be electric. Nkunku has also been mentioned. Darwin Nunez looks like a promising player though I've seen nothing outside of YouTube. In CM; Bellingham would be the dream but unattainable - Tielemans as an alternative? We need a bit of grit, though, if Tielemans hasn't got the requisite fight perhaps Bennacer? Urgently need a DM; one of Rice (priced out), Tchouameni, or Bissouma would all be massive improvements.

I don't know what the plan is for the defence, but the midfield and forward positions are surely the priority.
 
goptun said:
If we can get Ten Hag here, surely he'll bring Antony with him? Him and Sancho on either side would be electric. Nkunku has also been mentioned. Darwin Nunez looks like a promising player though I've seen nothing outside of YouTube. In CM; Bellingham would be the dream but unattainable - Tielemans as an alternative? We need a bit of grit, though, if Tielemans hasn't got the requisite fight perhaps Bennacer? Urgently need a DM; one of Rice (priced out), Tchouameni, or Bissouma would all be massive improvements.

I don't know what the plan is for the defence, but the midfield and forward positions are surely the priority.
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Another Bissouma mention. Does no one read the news, or don’t care how it looks as long as he’s a better footballer?
 
Kag said:
We’ve allowed ourselves to get into a ridiculous situation in which we’re going to start next season in a weaker position than the one we started this season, and even then we had significant issues.

Pogba is going to leave, as is Matic (no loss). Cavani will leave, Lingard will leave, and Greenwood is finished. Martial and Van de Beek might also leave as well.

Even with these players, we were in desperate need of a right back, midfielder and striker, and the club refuse to engage, instead opting for the vanity transfer in Ronaldo. There is no way we’re competently managing that level of turnover in the squad. We struggle to bring in more than three at a time.

What a state.
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The whole structure behind the scenes has changed now so surely only fair to judge this summer rather than compare to the issues previously?

There’s some big wages coming off the books in the summer and I fully expect United to go big in the market for the new manager. The squad will get an over haul. Mark my words.

I just hope we have the CL bonus as not doing so will rule out certain targets.
 
After last nights game and really taking into account the new structure at the club, with Ralf advising after spending around half a season with these players, i'm hopeful we could be in for a good summer. The players we get are going to be different depending on the manager, as I believe Ten Hag would want different players to Pochettino for example, but i'm going to list positions of need and then positions of could do with. Bearing in mind this is my opinion and is subjective, which means you might disagree, which is fine!

Unrealistic option - Players who we'd ideally like but are likely to make a massive dent in our transfer budget and not allow us to invest in other areas
Primary option - Players who we should be targeting (or players of their ilk) who we can likely get cheaper than the unrealistic option
Youth option - Players who maybe don't have as much experience as the primary options yet but are highly touted and could potentially be gettable
Cheap option - Players who are out of contract or their club is looking to cash in on them before their contract runs out

DM - This is absolute top priority and I think most people would agree, the only real one we have on the books is Matic and even if he doesn't leave this summer (which he should) he's beyond past it at this point. I believe we can get one primary one, and then have a youth option in Garner who can do a job from the bench?
  1. Unrealistic Option - Declan Rice
  2. Primary Option - Aurélien Tchouaméni
  3. Youth Option - Nicolo Rovella or Ivan Ilic
  4. Cheap Option - Boubacar Kamara, Franck Kessie
Forward - Ronaldo is 37, Cavani is leaving this summer, Martial may be on his way out, Rashford is looking disinterested and then there's obviously the Greenwood situation. More than ever we can see we lack lethality infront of goal and scoring them has become a chore, we need a clinical striker for the now and into the future.
  1. Unrealistic Option - Erling Haaland
  2. Primary Option - Johnathan David or Aleksander Isak
  3. Youth Options - Benjamin Šeško or Adam Hlozek
  4. Cheap Option - Belotti or Dybala if they don't sign new contracts? (won't be cheap wages though)
CM - The less said about McFred the better, we cannot play them at the same time in midfield, how much more evidence do we need that it doesn't work. Pogba is likely off and he's our best midfielder. Meaning we need at least 1 CM, i'd prefer 2 but that's unrealistic. If we blood in Hannibal and such as well then we might be okay with 1
  1. Unrealistic Option - Jude Bellingham, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz
  2. Primary Option - Youri Tielemans, Ruben Neves
  3. Youth Option - Ilax Moriba, Samuele Ricci
  4. Cheap Option - Renato Sanches? Will only have a year left on contract this summer
These are the 3 transfer we need to make at a minimum this summer, if we don't at least make these I think we'll be in a lot of trouble next season. Next are transfers I believe we should make but are probably of slightly lower priority (they aren't but we have to be realistic and realise we probably aren't going to sign 5-6 players)

FB - LB or RB take your pick really, I think Shaw is lacking, I don't think Telles is the answer, just as on the other side I think AWB is lacking and Dalot isn't the answer
CB - Maguire is not it, Bailly is injured all the time and likely to want to leave, Jones should also be gone
Winger - Sancho looks like our only decent winger currently, I personally don't think Elanga has star quality, Rashford is so off the pace it's unreal

Players who should be gone
Phil Jones
Juan Mata
Jesse Lingard
Edinson Cavani
Nemanja Matic
Paul Pogba (He's our best midfielder, it's just been a circus from start to finish and think it's time to get over it and move on now)
Lee Grant

Players i'd ideally like to see the back of but are unlikely to
Harry Maguire
One of Fred or McTominay

Players we should cash in on (maybe)
Dean Henderson (De Gea isn't being displaced in this form and he wants to start, reckon we can get a decent amount for him)
Anthony Martial (Martial FC will scream but if he does well at Sevilla it's a good time to make a transfer permanent, don't make the same mistake we did with Jesse)
Anthony Elanga (I just don't think he has a wow factor, if someone came in with a good offer we should at least consider it)
James Garner (Maybe, all depends on if we think he has the ability to make it at United, as so far his loan has been successful so this definitely needs evaluating at the end of the season)
Brandon Williams (Maybe, all depends on if we think he has the ability to make it at United, as so far his loan has been successful so this definitely needs evaluating at the end of the season)
Andreas Pereira (Seems to be gone anyway)
Axel Tuanzebe (Either sell him or play him, he's 24 now he's either good enough for United or he isn't)
Tahith Chong

Players who should be brought into the first team permanently (pending good loans the seasons before etc)
Hannibal
James Garner (See above)
Brandon Williams (See above)
Dylan Levitt
Facundo Pellistri
Amad
DVB

Might have missed some things out but that's my evaluation of what we need etc so far!
 
TheReligion said:
The whole structure behind the scenes has changed now so surely only fair to judge this summer rather than compare to the issues previously?

There’s some big wages coming off the books in the summer and I fully expect United to go big in the market for the new manager. The squad will get an over haul. Mark my words.

I just hope we have the CL bonus as not doing so will rule out certain targets.
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It’s the same structure as last summer. Rangnick going upstairs, perhaps. But then the structure isn’t really the issue and all discussion surrounding it has always been overstated. It’s an issue of funds and an issue of the Glazers, who refused to engage in buying what we needed last summer, in spite of being closer to our rivals than we had been in years.

You have a lot more optimism than I do. We’re going to lose one of our best players in Pogba, and our best young player in Greenwood is going to be out on his arse. Any replacements we do bring in are likely to be worse. This is before we’ve even begun to think about right back and defensive midfield.

We’ll be starting next September with Fred and McTominay. Joyous.
 
Priority for me in order

DM
CB
ST
CM (obviously becomes second priority if Pogba leaves which could likely happen)
RB
 
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We could possibly do with this chap in our midfield. He still hasn't signed a extension and will be coming into the final year of his current contract at the end of the season. A French double of Caqueret and Tchouameni would be the way forward imo.


 
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Adnan said:
We could possibly do with this chap in our midfield. He still hasn't signed a extension and will be coming into the final year of his current contract at the end of the season. A French double of Caqueret and Tchouameni would be the way forward imo.


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Against a very good Lens side as well. Love how he keeps it moving forward and feels very in control when on the ball. May be different in the prem as the pace can be pretty frenetic, but he would massively aid our ball retention.
 
Is Caqueret actually good and would that translate to the Prem with less time and a higher physicality?

He looks incredibly technical and very mobile

Is he linked with anyone?
 
I think sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward. It’s as much about taking away negative players or players who don’t actually play and adding one or two fiery/driven players with the potential to be special to bring it all together.

Get rid of Henderson, Martial, Lingard, VDB, Matic, Mata, Greenwood if that decision is made for us, the team looks better without him in recent weeks, Tuanzebe, Pereira, Jones, Chong, Williams, Cavani, Pogba too unless he’ll sign a reasonable deal. Pogba is easily currently the best player of the above and the most worth keeping if we have a plan of how to use him. In a 433 he can still be very valuable.

Bring in the right 3 players. Keep the group small, elite and motivated and supplement with youth. All we have to do is streamline and reinvest wisely. Plenty of minutes for everyone. Less players and more minutes equals less potential divisions in the squad. Real chemistry cannot be formed in such a big self interested group. Plus all the losing and upheaval has spoiled too many of these players. Their chance is up.
 
Ali Dia said:
I think sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward. It’s as much about taking away negative players or players who don’t actually play and adding one or two fiery/driven players with the potential to be special to bring it all together.

Get rid of Henderson, Martial, Lingard, VDB, Matic, Mata, Greenwood if that decision is made for us, the team looks better without him in recent weeks, Tuanzebe, Pereira, Jones, Chong, Williams, Cavani, Pogba too unless he’ll sign a reasonable deal. Pogba is easily currently the best player of the above and the most worth keeping if we have a plan of how to use him. In a 433 he can still be very valuable.

Bring in the right 3 players. Keep the group small, elite and motivated and supplement with youth. All we have to do is streamline and reinvest wisely. Plenty of minutes for everyone. Less players and more minutes equals less potential divisions in the squad. Real chemistry cannot be formed in such a big self interested group. Plus all the losing and upheaval has spoiled too many of these players. Their chance is up.
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If we do move on the 14 players you mention, possibly 15 if we include Bailly. Then I'm hoping we bring in 4 or 5 via the transfer market and also integrate the likes of Hannibal and Garner. But that will depend on who the head coach is.

I'd personally like something like the below.

Tchouameni - DM
Caqueret - CM/DM
Antony - RWF
Striker?

And if the club can sign a young CB that is quick and athletic, as well as having the potential to challenge Harry Maguire/Lindelof in the first 11, then we'll have a real chance of creating the conditions to play a high tempo game style, with players who can potentially transition from a compact low/mid block to a compact high block. Applying a coordinated press would also be a little easier to implement due to the profile of players brought in.
 
Adnan said:
If we do move on the 14 players you mention, possibly 15 if we include Bailly. Then I'm hoping we bring in 4 or 5 via the transfer market and also integrate the likes of Hannibal and Garner. But that will depend on who the head coach is.

I'd personally like something like the below.

Tchouameni - DM
Caqueret - CM/DM
Antony - RWF
Striker?

And if the club can sign a young CB that is quick and athletic, as well as having the potential to challenge Harry Maguire/Lindelof in the first 11, then we'll have a real chance of creating the conditions to play a high tempo game style, with players who can potentially transition from a compact low/mid block to a compact high block. Applying a coordinated press would also be a little easier to implement due to the profile of players brought in.
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I like your targets a lot. Tchouameni and Antony would be great. They are the ideal profile. I would also consider a double swoop at RBL for Nkunku and Gvardiol (who can also fill in at LB) but I’d imagine that’s all a bit too rich for our blood. I fear we’ve left ourselves too much to do in one summer either way. Isn’t it always the way? I would also still love us to go in for Haaland because I feel playing him with Sancho again is instant goals, especially if the team is organised and pressing for him. He won’t come here though. Signing with Mino finished any chance of that one off. Go for bellingham or Szobozlai as the box to box next year and look seriously at full backs.

More realistically. I hope we go for Kessie on a free but he looks Barca bound. Belotti could also be an ok shout on a free for a rotation striker once Cavani splits. I think there’s probably some improvement there in a more dominant team.
 
Adnan said:
If we do move on the 14 players you mention, possibly 15 if we include Bailly. Then I'm hoping we bring in 4 or 5 via the transfer market and also integrate the likes of Hannibal and Garner. But that will depend on who the head coach is.

I'd personally like something like the below.

Tchouameni - DM
Caqueret - CM/DM
Antony - RWF
Striker?

And if the club can sign a young CB that is quick and athletic, as well as having the potential to challenge Harry Maguire/Lindelof in the first 11, then we'll have a real chance of creating the conditions to play a high tempo game style, with players who can potentially transition from a compact low/mid block to a compact high block. Applying a coordinated press would also be a little easier to implement due to the profile of players brought in.
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All good targets but what they cost? Not sure we have that much money and we lose players for peanuts or even free
 
Adnan said:
If we do move on the 14 players you mention, possibly 15 if we include Bailly. Then I'm hoping we bring in 4 or 5 via the transfer market and also integrate the likes of Hannibal and Garner. But that will depend on who the head coach is.

I'd personally like something like the below.

Tchouameni - DM
Caqueret - CM/DM
Antony - RWF
Striker?

And if the club can sign a young CB that is quick and athletic, as well as having the potential to challenge Harry Maguire/Lindelof in the first 11, then we'll have a real chance of creating the conditions to play a high tempo game style, with players who can potentially transition from a compact low/mid block to a compact high block. Applying a coordinated press would also be a little easier to implement due to the profile of players brought in.
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Think Jonathan David would fit in with your list
 
2 midfielders.

a top striker. Right winger.

keep pogba. Bring garner back and see what he can do.

Sign Harry Kane, Antony, tielmanns, neves.
(Harry Kane on last year of contract, tielemans actively says he wants to leave, neves is doable and Anthony has also spoke about wanting to try the PL)

We lose MAtic, Cavani, donny, lingard, mata, martial, Jones, Greenwood, henderson

Main Squad of kane, Ronaldo, sancho, rashford, Antony, Bruno, pogba, garner, tielmanns, neves, mctom, Fred, awb, dalot, laird, lindelof, varane, maguire, shaw, telles, de Gea and a second keeper.

ten hag as manager.

It’s not actually that unrealistic tbh. :nervous:
 
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Adnan said:
We could possibly do with this chap in our midfield. He still hasn't signed a extension and will be coming into the final year of his current contract at the end of the season. A French double of Caqueret and Tchouameni would be the way forward imo.


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Considering that Bruno Guimãres has signed for Newcastle and Fabian Ruiz isn't likely, I'm warming to this idea. I still think he would be better off playing for Lyon for another year, but our options are slim for good passers.
 
Ali Dia said:
I like your targets a lot. Tchouameni and Antony would be great. They are the ideal profile. I would also consider a double swoop at RBL for Nkunku and Gvardiol (who can also fill in at LB) but I’d imagine that’s all a bit too rich for our blood. I fear we’ve left ourselves too much to do in one summer either way. Isn’t it always the way? I would also still love us to go in for Haaland because I feel playing him with Sancho again is instant goals, especially if the team is organised and pressing for him. He won’t come here though. Signing with Mino finished any chance of that one off. Go for bellingham or Szobozlai as the box to box next year and look seriously at full backs.

More realistically. I hope we go for Kessie on a free but he looks Barca bound. Belotti could also be an ok shout on a free for a rotation striker once Cavani splits. I think there’s probably some improvement there in a more dominant team.
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I would love for us to sign both Nkunku and Gvardiol but fear our budget won't stretch that far. If we do move on the 14/15 players you mention and also Ronaldo leaves, then that would free up a considerable amount when it comes to wages. Which might allow us to sign 4 maybe 5 players. But those 4/5 players can't be valued at premium prices.

The problem Mourinho and Solskjaer created for themselves was that they couldn't see past players who cost a premium or would sign players who didn't fit into the modern way of playing the game.

Why sign Sancho for the right, when it was clear he was better coming in from the left on to his favoured right. And it's since been confirmed that Sancho prefers the left. And why sign Bruno as the most advanced attacking player when you're still counting on Pogba.. Now we still require a right sided attacker and still need a CM who can operate from deeper areas in midfield with and without the ball. It would've been better for team balance if a natural right sided player was signed and a natural CM.

The new appointment has to be someone who can be part of a process that is creative in the market, rather than being tunnel visioned, which has seen us waste large amounts of money. But if we're to be tunnel visioned, then I'm hopeful we at least look for team balance and player profile, which fits into a particular way of playing the modern game. The funny thing is, it's not even that modern.
 
bucky said:
Considering that Bruno Guimãres has signed for Newcastle and Fabian Ruiz isn't likely, I'm warming to this idea. I still think he would be better off playing for Lyon for another year, but our options are slim for good passers.
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Tbh with you mate, there's probably numerous other options out there as well. But with Caqueret he's coming into the final year of his contract and might be available for a very reasonable fee.
 
L1nk said:
Think Jonathan David would fit in with your list
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I haven't really seen him play a lot, and i'm lost when it comes to centre forwards. But there is a young 18 year old at Salzburg (Benjamin Sesko) who looks a big talent that has the potential to become a genuine world class striker.

But he's at least a few years away from being a option for a big club.
 
Escobar said:
All good targets but what they cost? Not sure we have that much money and we lose players for peanuts or even free
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It's the wage budget that will increase exponentially if we offload the 14 to 16 players we're speculating about. And that might potentially allow us to bring in a extra player or two.

If I was to guess, i'd say the four players below would cost around £167m to £177m.

Tchouameni - £60m to £70m
caqueret - £17m
Antony - £60m


Striker i'm not sure about but if they can sign someone for about £30m, someone young with high potential, then that would represent good value.

And if we decide to sell Martial and a few others, then that could bring in about £40m. We might already have €10m in the bank for Andreas Pereira, when the window opens in the summer. I think the club could realistically do this.
 
According to Reports New Manager is gonna have £150 million net spend

Incomings

Tchouameni £70 million
Tielemans £30 million
Nunez £70 million
Antony £60 million

Total £230 million

Outgoings

Pogba Free
Lingard Free
Mata Free
Cavani Free
Greenwood Released
Bailly £10 million
Henderson £25 million
Martial £25 million
Jones £5 million
Matic £5 million
Williams £10 million
Chong £5 million

Total £85 million not include wages saved that could go back into the budget

Roughly £145 million & improved 4 areas
 
Adnan said:
I would love for us to sign both Nkunku and Gvardiol but fear our budget won't stretch that far. If we do move on the 14/15 players you mention and also Ronaldo leaves, then that would free up a considerable amount when it comes to wages. Which might allow us to sign 4 maybe 5 players. But those 4/5 players can't be valued at premium prices.

The problem Mourinho and Solskjaer created for themselves was that they couldn't see past players who cost a premium or would sign players who didn't fit into the modern way of playing the game.

Why sign Sancho for the right, when it was clear he was better coming in from the left on to his favoured right. And it's since been confirmed that Sancho prefers the left. And why sign Bruno as the most advanced attacking player when you're still counting on Pogba.. Now we still require a right sided attacker and still need a CM who can operate from deeper areas in midfield with and without the ball. It would've been better for team balance if a natural right sided player was signed and a natural CM.

The new appointment has to be someone who can be part of a process that is creative in the market, rather than being tunnel visioned, which has seen us waste large amounts of money. But if we're to be tunnel visioned, then I'm hopeful we at least look for team balance and player profile, which fits into a particular way of playing the modern game. The funny thing is, it's not even that modern.
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Adnan said:
It's the wage budget that will increase exponentially if we offload the 14 to 16 players we're speculating about. And that might potentially allow us to bring in a extra player or two.

If I was to guess, i'd say the four players below would cost around £167m to £177m.

Tchouameni - £60m to £70m
caqueret - £17m
Antony - £60m


Striker i'm not sure about but if they can sign someone for about £30m, someone young with high potential, then that would represent good value.

And if we decide to sell Martial and a few others, then that could bring in about £40m. We might already have €10m in the bank for Andreas Pereira, when the window opens in the summer. I think the club could realistically do this.
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It all depends on the manager we get and if RR stays with the power to make decisions. Did you read the great reddit post quoted by Caesar2290 (yesterday 1759) about Ten Hag's time at Utrecht? Whatever the budget ETH can work with it while always losing his best players. 17/18 was 12 new players for under 1m euros and he integrated them in time for the Europa qualifiers!! Wherever he has been, he's been a brilliant squad builder working with different DOF's. No matter what budget he's given, he's always improved his squads finding new gems. I would love to see what they can do with our budget. If it's Poch, this summer will all be about Rice and Kane.
 
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I believe “buy expensive British” policy has ended. I liked that we didn’t buy in winter and offloaded Martial. I expect medium sized transfers from Europe. £35-40M pounds. A midfielder and a striker.
 
Adnan said:
Tbh with you mate, there's probably numerous other options out there as well. But with Caqueret he's coming into the final year of his contract and might be available for a very reasonable fee.
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At what level though? Matheus Nunes from Sporting and Vitinha who is on loan from Wolves. Maybe those two. But other than that, it's currently slim pickings really. Maxine Lopez from Sassuolo for example is a good passer, but not much else and I don't think he'd be able to make the step-up. I really like Cheick Doucouré from Lens, but again, it would be asking a lot to become the metronome in our midfield. We are likely losing Pogba, and we've seen the limitations of both Fred and McTominay in terms of passing, which is why I think it's so important to sign someone of high quality in that regard. Even if we manage to get Rice or Tchouaméni, asking them immediately to be the ones, who control games for us via their passing would be unreasonable.
 
Crick said:
I was reading that great article in the


It all depends on the manager we get and if RR stays with the power to make decisions. Did you read the great reddit post quoted by Caesar2290 (yesterday 1759) about Ten Hag's time at Utrecht? Whatever the budget ETH can work with it while always losing his best players. 17/18 was 12 new players for under 1m euros and he integrated them in time for the Europa qualifiers!! Wherever he has been, he's been a brilliant squad builder working with different DOF's. No matter what budget he's given, he's always improved his squads finding new gems. I would love to see what they can do with our budget. If it's Poch, this summer will all be about Rice and Kane.
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I have read about ten Hag's time at Utrecht and he's definitely shown the ability to be creative in the transfer market and would potentially be a good fit for us in that regard. I also agree that Pochettino will look to buy ready made players, and Harry Kane will be someone he will try and saddle us with, which imo would be the wrong move due to the potential high fee and the players age.

For me it's about creating conditions for a particular way of playing the game. And to create those conditions, you don't necessarily have to pay a premium for any player. And for that reason I want ten Hag to be appointed, along with the man's ability to implement a high tempo, fast transition play style, which is flexible, as well as having a mix of Cruyffian and outside influences. It's more difficult to implement this sort of game style, but if he succeeds, then not only will we have the chance to see devastating attacking football at first team level, but the football will seep through to the youth teams imo.

Even if Benfica knock Ajax out, I still hope we appoint ten Hag.
 
I think these 5 are the must:

DM, CM, CB, RB, FW

Anything less, we can give up next season.
 
bucky said:
At what level though? Matheus Nunes from Sporting and Vitinha who is on loan from Wolves. Maybe those two. But other than that, it's currently slim pickings really. Maxine Lopez from Sassuolo for example is a good passer, but not much else and I don't think he'd be able to make the step-up. I really like Cheick Doucouré from Lens, but again, it would be asking a lot to become the metronome in our midfield. We are likely losing Pogba, and we've seen the limitations of both Fred and McTominay in terms of passing, which is why I think it's so important to sign someone of high quality in that regard. Even if we manage to get Rice or Tchouaméni, asking them immediately to be the ones, who control games for us via their passing would be unreasonable.
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We have Hannibal and Garner who are two players we can try as the creative CMs. Garner's gonna be 21 in a few weeks and is the correct profile of player for the role in question. Both players are a fit for the creative CM role, we just need to give them a opportunity. That doesn't mean we shouldn't sign a player via the transfer market for the same role, I believe we should, and Caqueret is someone that has established himself at Lyon and fits the profile. Tchouameni, Caqueret and Bruno in a three man midfield, with Garner and Hannibal as understudies. And we also have several very interesting young creative CMs at youth level, who I believe are also gonna be knocking on the first team door in the next couple of years.

Frenkie de Jong could also be a possibility if we appoint ten Hag. The player seems happy at Barca but there's been rumours about Barca wanting to cash in and get his huge wages off their books.
 
Adnan said:
I haven't really seen him play a lot, and i'm lost when it comes to centre forwards. But there is a young 18 year old at Salzburg (Benjamin Sesko) who looks a big talent that has the potential to become a genuine world class striker.

But he's at least a few years away from being a option for a big club.
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I wouldn’t mind someone like this as understudy to Ronaldo for next season. He’d get loads of games. The pressure though.
 
Adnan said:
We have Hannibal and Garner who are two players we can try as the creative CMs. Garner's gonna be 21 in a few weeks and is the correct profile of player for the role in question. Both players are a fit for the creative CM role, we just need to give them a opportunity. That doesn't mean we shouldn't sign a player via the transfer market for the same role, I believe we should, and Caqueret is someone that has established himself at Lyon and fits the profile. Tchouameni, Caqueret and Bruno in a three man midfield, with Garner and Hannibal as understudies. And we also have several very interesting young creative CMs at youth level, who I believe are also gonna be knocking on the first team door in the next couple of years.

Frenkie de Jong could also be a possibility if we appoint ten Hag. The player seems happy at Barca but there's been rumours about Barca wanting to cash in and get his huge wages off their books.
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I haven't forgotten those two, mate, but we were mainly talking about options to immediately replace one or both of McTominay and Fred in our starting XI. With Pogba and Matic likely leaving, it's good that those two could potentially get more opportunities, but I don't think either can be expected to instantly improve us in midfield. If anything I'd guess their role would be similar to that of Elanga currently. While Fred and McTominay aren't of the required level that we need to compete with City, Chelsea and Liverpool, my point was that there currently aren't many players potentially available and better than those two that could help us catch up to those teams quickly.

I don't think de Jong is realistic at all to be honest, even if we appoint ten Hag. If he actually is available, then he obviously should be on top of our list of targets.
 
bucky said:
I haven't forgotten those two, mate, but we were mainly talking about options to immediately replace one or both of McTominay and Fred in our starting XI. With Pogba and Matic likely leaving, it's good that those two could potentially get more opportunities, but I don't think either can be expected to instantly improve us in midfield. If anything I'd guess their role would be similar to that of Elanga currently. While Fred and McTominay aren't of the required level that we need to compete with City, Chelsea and Liverpool, my point was that there currently aren't many players potentially available and better than those two that could help us catch up to those teams quickly.

I don't think de Jong is realistic at all to be honest, even if we appoint ten Hag. If he actually is available, then he obviously should be on top of our list of targets.
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I honestly don't believe it would be difficult to upgrade on Mctominay or Fred. I think Bennacer and Caqueret would be clear upgrades and have the ability to open up passing angles in confined spaces, which we're missing currently. Vitinha you mentioned earlier is another player that has potential. I would also mention Neuhaus as a option but he worryingly has downed tools at Gladbach.
 
We Need Another Rebuild said:
Is Caqueret actually good and would that translate to the Prem with less time and a higher physicality?

He looks incredibly technical and very mobile

Is he linked with anyone?
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I've been watching him before he became popular on here and I don't think he's the right cm for us.

He's shown glimpses of being able to resist pressing opposition and dribbling ability, but he relies too much on needing passing options. We need a midfielder who can control things alone if needs be, and yes, there are cms we can get out there who can do that.

he'd be a better option than Fabian Ruiz who I see gets some love on here, though. Ruiz would be a terrible signing.
 
Adnan said:
I honestly don't believe it would be difficult to upgrade on Mctominay or Fred. I think Bennacer and Caqueret would be clear upgrades and have the ability to open up passing angles in confined spaces, which we're missing currently. Vitinha you mentioned earlier is another player that has potential. I would also mention Neuhaus as a option but he worryingly has downed tools at Gladbach.
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I'm not saying that it's not possible to upgrade on them, but rather to close the gap on the top teams the number of midfielders available is very limited. Ruben Neves is a good example of that. He would probably improve our midfield, but I don't think he's on the same level as Kovacic, Jorginho, Kanté, Fabinho, Thiago, Rodri, Gundogan or Bernado Silva, and that's what we are competing against. Bennacer I personally find a bit overrated. Since Ndombelé has come in at Lyon, he has been better than Caqueret. Like I said, Caqueret would probably be a good signing, but we would need be patient with him. Neuhaus I thought was getting massively overrated on here, he never was that good IMO. Gladbach's season has been a shitshow, but they might have an interesting midfield prospect on their hands in Kouadio Koné.
 
Yagami said:
I've been watching him before he became popular on here and I don't think he's the right cm for us.

He's shown glimpses of being able to resist pressing opposition and dribbling ability, but he relies too much on needing passing options. We need a midfielder who can control things alone if needs be, and yes, there are cms we can get out there who can do that.

he'd be a better option than Fabian Ruiz who I see gets some love on here, though. Ruiz would be a terrible signing.
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Why?
 
bucky said:
I'm not saying that it's not possible to upgrade on them, but rather to close the gap on the top teams the number of midfielders available is very limited. Ruben Neves is a good example of that. He would probably improve our midfield, but I don't think he's on the same level as Kovacic, Jorginho, Kanté, Fabinho, Thiago, Rodri, Gundogan or Bernado Silva, and that's what we are competing against. Bennacer I personally find a bit overrated. Since Ndombelé has come in at Lyon, he has been better than Caqueret. Like I said, Caqueret would probably be a good signing, but we would need be patient with him. Neuhaus I thought was getting massively overrated on here, he never was that good IMO. Gladbach's season has been a shitshow, but they might have an interesting midfield prospect on their hands in Kouadio Koné.
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Getting close to City, Liverpool etc isn't just about signing players but also about creating conditions for those players to impose their game on the opposition. Klopp at Liverpool did just that by coaching a compact high block with high pressing capabilities. And he did that with quick/athletic CBs who are comfortable defending a large space on the counter and midfielders like Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum etc providing the intensity both in and out of possession, which aided the fullbacks to thrive and be ultra productive on the ball and provide the wide pressing trap option off the ball. That's basically how they control the game with and without the ball.

I do remember yourself not being sure about Neuhaus and you were if i'm not mistaken wanting the midfielder from Napoli, Fabian Ruiz. But in the game today one must sign players who are capable both in offensive and defensive transitions imo. And at big clubs, it's becoming very important to have your CBs, and deeper deployed midfielders to be strong in defensive transitions, defending a large space. So the likes of Neves would be a upgrade on Fred and Mctominay on the ball, but a down grade in defensive transitions high up the pitch in a compact high block. So when looking at a midfielder, I believe one must take into consideration the requirements in the game today both with and without the ball.
 
Definitely need minimum of

DM
CM
ST
CB

That's not including an attacking RB or a proper RW to give us a different dimension
 
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