Cant believe what we read in the press, but hearing some of the stories I really hope that isnt the case. Talk of five year plans and only players with contract being allowed to leave.
Ragnick had the right idea saying if not happy a player can leave and we have a squad of 36 3/4 of which are fairly established players not all youngsters as some seem to think.
Feel its important over the next two years to get the 28 estalished players down to a really solid 17 or so (thats after several new signings) and that our other squad palcesshould be given to youth players comign through or under 21 of which theere are already a few and other breaking through, as squad of 25 or so.
Ten Hag I feel is in for a shock if he thinks he can make 3/4 signings and his coaching and tactical awareness can turn this side around as a lot of the players simply arent intelligent enough in my opionion and loads of positions need lookign at.
GK: I have been happy with DeGea but lots of fans seem to be tiring of the lack of a modern keeper or controllign the area type. Personally think Henderson should go and a new keeper like Vandervordt that can challenge DeGea should be looked at
RB: Hard truth we are so weak when we actually have lots of players there Bissaka, Dalot, Williams, Laird. I thought Bissaka would be a great signing, I simply dont rate Dalot whatsoever and WIlliams doesnt seem good enough. Would like to see Laird on preseason tour, but lack of game time at Bournemouth is a concern. I do feel Gusto of Lyon and Livaramento are two very young players with massive potential both defensively and going forward that we should be looking at.
CB: The simple fact is NONE of our centre backs has convinced. Varane has had injuriy problems and still doesnt look settled and made plenty of errors himself already. But I like his personality and he obviously has the ability. Maguire is an average defender we massively overspent on, Bailly looked a good signing for a season.....the rest are just squad players. We really need a partnership and an injection of quality there. I love Fofana but too expensive, I like ROmagnoli as a squad option....but beyong that I cant really name anyone as not really seen the likes of Schottenback, Jurrien Timber, Gvardiol that others are raving about to comment.
LB: Although Shaw is frustrating and Telles cant really defend, I think its too far down the pecking order to look at left back even with Shaws contract situation. We also have the yougn SPanish full back in the youth side. Would have loved us to go for Mendes, but the interest there was when Shaw had a good season last year
DM: For me this is our weakest area, only Matic can play the role and his legs are shot. Fred/Pogba/McTominay, none of them can consistently play the pivot and track runners, position themself etc, we simply MUST sign one. The problem is, all the best ones for us are just way too expensive I feel. Persoanlly I reall yhope Calvin Phillips isnt a real link, good player, great personality....but he isnt that good off the ball and gets turned easily fo rme. Personally its Kamara as a no brainer, hope there is truth in links with us. He is free, he is young, he is intelligent, good on and off the ball. Camavinga was perfect, his replacement at Rennes Ugogchukwu look spromising too but is just too yougn and inexperienced I feel.
CM: Well we have Fred who looks much better further forward, but is he the answer? McTominay and Hannibal to come through, so there are options. But we are almsot cerrrtainly losing Pogba and Longard, VDB for me should go too, so I still think we need two central midfielders and Caqueret is the one for me. Relatively cheap, reminds me of a young Lampard/Scholes type, right age and profile and works hard too. I feel he is a better all round option than the likes of Neves and Tielmans, neither of which I am that confident in tbh even though good players.
Wingers: Again we look short but lets not forget as things stand we have Rashford, Martial, Elanga, Sancho, Greenwood, Pellestri, Amad as well as Garnacho looking not too far away. MArtial has to go, Rashford I hope asks to leave and who knows still what happens with Greenwood (personaly regardless if he stays Id rather he was upfront). or me it all hinges on Rashford. Aain (yes Im watching French football a fair bit haha) Sulemana and DOku are two very talented players, both a bit rough around the edges but for me ELanga good as he has been is merely a squad player and still not convinced fully by any of the others, Sancho has all the abililty and can be a huge players for us, but the few good games he has had have been overhyped, I dont see superstar wingers ourside of him with any of the current options and its something we have always had until very recently.
CF: Well dont liek mentioning him again but Greenwood can be a brilliant striker, I personally mention him too often, but Giouri is a must sign we simply arent linked with sadly, outside of the huge names like Haaland and Mbappe simply think he is the best attackign player anybody can sign this summer
For me we simply HAVE to sign a centre back and defensive midfielder this summer, failure to get both and good ones, we dont actually progress, we are so weak there individually and in terms of framework for a team, we simply dont progress at all next season with out doign so. The same goes for a striker if Greenwood is finsihed here.
Outside of that I am not sure there will be enough players moved out to actually do a huge lot more or be chosen to in the first window, wrongly of course....unless its a literal five year plan. I still feel we need a cb, rb, 2 x cm, rw and cf this summer to not fall further behind the top two who will improve too and certainly to make a gap between us and the other challengers as we are where we should be in the league one of the other 3/4 teams to fight for 4th we are behingd the top three for sure and a manager and little activity simply fdoesnt chane that no matter how good they may or may no tbe
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