Overall I think we’ve had a good window and addressed some of the big issues in the squad.
Centre-back and defensive midfield were the areas that needed the big investment, due to Varane’s departure and Casemiro’s decline and that’s what we have gone and done.
Central defence
Ins: Yoro (18) £52m, De Ligt (25) £45m, Total £97m
Outs: Varane (31) free, Kambwala (20) £5m, Total £5m
Net: £92m, average age reduced from 29 to 27.7
£92m to bring De Ligt and Yoro is not bad considering 6 years ago Maguire alone cost us £80m and didn't come with the reputation of either of these two. I see De Ligt as a Maguire refresh/upgrade: six years younger, brings height, physical presence but also experience and leadership. It's a shame we weren't able to move Maguire on last season when offered £30m for him but we needed him in the end. Yoro I see as the long-term replacement for Varane with his pace and quality and hopefully comes back from injury to impress.
Defensive midfield
Ins: Ugarte (23) £44m
Outs: Amrabat (28) (loan)
Net: £44m, average age reduced from 30 to 27.5
A significant fee but again, compared to the market not unreasonable. This has been a high value position in the market for the last couple of years: Tchouameni £70m, Rice, £100m, Caicedo £102m, Lavia £53m, Neves, £60m, Onana £50m, Palhinha £42m. Ugarte raises the physical floor of our midfield which looked leggy and overrun last season. Despite Casemiro improving at the start of this season, if we received a significant offer in the next few days I would probably take it.
Outside of those key areas we did a great job refreshing a couple of other areas:
Striker depth/auxiliary attacker
Ins: Zirkzee (23) £35m
Outs: McTominay (27) £25m
Net: £10m
A lot of the media seem to be positioning Ugarte as a McTominay replacement but given how Ten Hag has deployed the scotsman I see Zirkzee as more of a direct replacement in terms of his goals. Zirkzee I'm sure will exceed McTominay's goal tally of last season, he could/should be on 2 already. He also can play as the starting 9 which McTominay could not and is 4 years younger. McTominay did not offer a great deal in midfield either defensively or in possession so not a big loss on that front aside from being another body.
Right-back
Ins: Mazrouai (26) £13m
Outs: Wan-Bissaka (26) £17m
Net: £2m profit
Smart move to get a more technical right-back rather than extending Wan-Bissaka.
Other outgoings
Then a few more outgoings of players who weren't really in the first team picture: Greenwood, Hannibal, Van De Beek, Pellistri:
about £38m profit.
So overall net spend of just over £100m, maybe around £106m (I'm sure these fees aren't 100% accurate) to invest heavily in CB and DM and refresh RB and CF.
In terms of what we still need:
- A ball playing midfielder (Eriksen refresh/upgrade)
- A new winger (Antony/Sancho replacement) - Garnacho and Amad's emergence have effectively replaced Antony/Sancho but it would be good to have one more with a bit more pedigree
- A new left-back/left centre-back cover
Realistically I don't see us fixing these issues in this window but market opportunities may lead to some movement on these.
- Eriksen may be allowed to go but would need replacing. Rabiot on a free would be most likely but probably not the ball playing midfielder we need. One last punt for De Jong? We would need a significant player sale such as Sancho to fund it
- Sancho will likely move on. My guess would be a loan but fingers crossed for a permanent deal with a reasonable fee. I don't think we will have any irons in the fire for a replacement. I don't see Sterling as a worthy alternative.
- I don't see any real opportunities to address left-back unless we find a suitable loan deal. Hermoso on a free was interesting but seems like there is no real interest.
- Maybe Casemiro will depart if a late bid comes in and we will bring Amrabat back in to cover Ugarte.
