What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

I think in attack it's hard to say just now until we know what system the next manager will play. RW, #10 and striker are all possible options but until we see the set-up it's hard to be dead set on anything IMO.

Most would agree one CB is needed, I want to see Bailly back to his best and I want to see Lindelof continue to progress and I want to see Axel intergrated into the squad next season, but Jones and Rojo could be shifted on for an upgrade.

I feel we need another fullback, Young and Valencia need jettisoning and I think Dalot and Shaw need competition for their spots as well.

Midfield needs one addition for sure, we need a mobile, playmaker added to the mix to take up the spot we waste week in and week out on Matic.
 
I feel like I'm not in some sort of running joke. There have been repeated assertions on here this squad is capable of challenging for a place in CL position yet there is such doom and gloom about the impending rebuild which awaits us in the future. Did all of you really buy into Mourinho's 'Squad is shit' agenda?

I feel we have a good blend of quality, experience and youth. We are lacking few personnel in couple of areas, but it's not something which cannot be fixed.

Weakest area by far is our defence. Dalot, Shaw, Bailly are all solid players who can become better defenders if they are coached properly, a strong CB would go a long way in solidifying us at the back. Even though half of this place wants Matic sold, I feel he could be an important player still. He's just been run into the ground with games on his body, with a proper break he'll discover his form. Pogba is obviously quality and while there are question marks around Fred, he offers us penetration from midfield. We need a new midfielder who can add some much needed intensity and bite.

In attack, despite their shit productivity I feel we have a lot of goals at our disposal. Lukaku scored 27 last year and that was in a disjointed side which doesn't play to his strengths. Get him in shape, and play him at the shoulder of last man and he'll be scoring goals for us again. Martial is obviously our most prized attacker, and he'll thrive under a more progressive manager. That still leaves us with Sanchez, Rashford and Lingard. All of them who have proven they can score goals. A touchline winger is needed to add more variety.

So all in all, three key signings could help us become a much more potent outfit. I don't buy into the narrative of us requiring a billion pound to compete again. Just be ruthless in getting rid of the shit (looking at likes of Darmian, Rojo, Jones, Fellaini, Young, Valencia etc) and recruit with some sort of vision in the mind.
 
In somewhat of an order of priority

Two central defenders
A midfielder who can help control the game and create
A top class attacker preferably a right sided one
A defensive midfielder
Either a top class left-back or right back

Basically all of our central defenders are crap. We need a colossal defender and probably a calm defender who's good on the ball. Kouilably (sp) and Alderweireld for example would be ideal. A midfielder like Eriksen or someone of that ilk and then someone of genuine quality in the final third (not sure who'd be available), DM I like Herrera as an option and maybe Fred could work (?) but I'd rather bank on a proven DM who's either entering or in his prime. Probably need someone to push Shaw or back up for him and same for Dalot. Maybe if we got a top RB then Dalot is the competition in both positions.

Players that really have no business at the club IMO - Jones, Rojo, Valencia, Fellaini, Young, Matic, McTominay, Darmian

Players that could be useful as squad players but aren't terribly important - Lindelof, Bailly, Mata, Lingard, Smalling

Squad players that are more useful - Herrera, Fred, Rashford, Dalot - the latter two being potentially key prospects and Fred being a new signing could be very good.

Players that could potentially thrive/be important - Lukaku, Sanchez, Martial, Shaw - the former two could also be dump with a new manager too

Key players that the team should be built around - De Gea, Pogba

It could be a two summer build or even a three summer build. We've got to get everything as right as we've gotten everything wrong since 2013. Hopefully a DOF and some proper scouting can help with that in addition to Woody not trying to think he's got an idea what he's doing.
 
I'd start with the below template and work from there, 3 key signings for the first 11 and I'd also add another fullback. I'd also look at Jovic while his buyout clause is so reasonable.

I put Lindelof but the CB we get might be better paired with Bailly or Smalling, I just had to put one of the CB's as I don't think we'll buy two. I also set the front 3 up as a I did but depending on the manager we might be looking for more of a #10 to play behind Martial and Rashford.

 
Devil may care said:
I'd start with the below template and work from there, 3 key signings for the first 11 and I'd also add another fullback. I'd also look at Jovic while his buyout clause is so reasonable.

I put Lindelof but the CB we get might be better paired with Bailly or Smalling, I just had to put one of the CB's as I don't think we'll buy two. I also set the front 3 up as a I did but depending on the manager we might be looking for more of a #10 to play behind Martial and Rashford.

I like what you've done with the team graphic (I can't quote the graphic #newbie) Makes it easy to see what we need and that our team isn't as poor as its been made out to be.

If the 50 million Ole supposedly has to spend in January what position would you buy for? Doubt we could get a right winger for 50 mill (should of got Mahrez) a decent CB for 50 Mill would be doable, but who?
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I'm happy with our attack. We should build the side around Martial and Rashford, with Sanchez, Lingard, Lukaku, Mata and Chong offering different options in support.

The likes of Pogba, Fred, Herrera and Matic are all good to great in midfield. Maybe a better DM would be nice, but it's not a priority.

What is a priority is fixing the defence. We can only get away with an attacking system if the defenders are good enough to do the job without the rest of the team set up to help them. That means I'd be more than happy for the club to spend 80m+ each on two defenders. If that's how much it takes, then that's how much it takes.

It's the hill that Mourinho died on. He could obviously have been more open to taking risks to tackle the problem, but he was right to identify the issue with our CBs. The purchases he made were not quite up to grade, so he shares the blame. But pointing the finger isn't going to help anybody at this point.
 
Dante said:
I'm happy with our attack. We should build the side around Martial and Rashford, with Sanchez, Lingard, Lukaku, Mata and Chong offering different options in support.

The likes of Pogba, Fred, Herrera and Matic are all good to great in midfield. Maybe a better DM would be nice, but it's not a priority.

What is a priority is fixing the defence. We can only get away with an attacking system if the defenders are good enough to do the job without the rest of the team set up to help them. That means I'd be more than happy for the club to spend 80m+ each on two defenders. If that's how much it takes, then that's how much it takes.

It's the hill that Mourinho died on. He could obviously have been more open to taking risks to tackle the problem, but he was right to identify the issue with our CBs. The purchases he made were not quite up to grade, so he shares the blame. But pointing the finger isn't going to help anybody at this point.
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Which two CBs would you want the club to go big on?

I would personally go big on De Ligt and Milenkovic. They aren't the most experienced but the potential is huge.
 
Reddevil1978 said:
I like what you've done with the team graphic (I can't quote the graphic #newbie) Makes it easy to see what we need and that our team isn't as poor as its been made out to be.

If the 50 million Ole supposedly has to spend in January what position would you buy for? Doubt we could get a right winger for 50 mill (should of got Mahrez) a decent CB for 50 Mill would be doable, but who?
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For £50M you can rule out Koulibaly, Skriniar and de Ligt. @Adnan Would £50M get your boy Milenkovic?
 
Devil may care said:
For £50M you can rule out Koulibaly, Skriniar and de Ligt. @Adnan Would £50M get your boy Milenkovic?
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Fiorentina are strong at CB without Milenkovic so anything between £40m -£50m should do it. Fiorentina are also a selling club compared to Inter and Napoli. Bayern and Juve are also sniffing around and I personally hope we close the deal in January.
 
Adnan said:
Which two CBs would you want the club to go big on?

I would personally go big on De Ligt and Milenkovic. They aren't the most experienced but the potential is huge.
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If we go for two, it'll most likely be Milenkovic and then Alderweireld in the Summer.
 
Adnan said:
Fiorentina are strong at CB without Milenkovic so anything between £40m -£50m should do it. Fiorentina are also a selling club compared to Inter and Napoli. Bayern and Juve are also sniffing around and I personally hope we close the deal in January.
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That's nearly half the fees being touted for the others. I'm not as sure about him as you are but his aerial prowess would compliment Bailly or Lindelof as neither are great in that regard.
 
Midfield is a massive priority. Although he was much better on Saturday, we need a number 6 to replace Matic and a real top number 8. Sign both those and we are really in business.
 
Devil may care said:
For £50M you can rule out Koulibaly, Skriniar and de Ligt. @Adnan Would £50M get your boy Milenkovic?
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Where has the '£50m' transfer kitty come from ?
Surely we are able to pay top dollar for the right players(s), Koulibaly looks perfect for us and If he cost say £80m then so what, I keep saying this but it's not about buying in, it's also about shipping some out.
A January priority is a CB and RW.
 
I'd spend that £100m kitty we supposedly have available on Kostas Manolas (£32m) & Lucas Hernandez (£76m) on release clause in January.

Both can play out from the back. Both are great in the air. Both are aggressive.

Hernandez is versatile & left-footed. If we go 4 at the back he can play either lcb or lb to offer a more defensively solid option to Shaw. Huge upgrade on Rojo imo.

Manolas is experienced & can be the vocal leader we so desperately need in defence.
 
Doracle said:
Midfield is a massive priority. Although he was much better on Saturday, we need a number 6 to replace Matic and a real top number 8. Sign both those and we are really in business.
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I think having a settled and solid back four is more priority than upgrading our no 6 and no 8.

Everything start from defence, having solid defence is also important to challenge the league (Liverpool signed Robertson & VVD is one of an example a team with average midfielder but solid defence & attackers). Another example is when we lost Stam, we only won the league once in 4 seasons until we had Rio, Vidic & Evra. We won the league with 40 yo Giggs, Anderson & Cleverley as our midfield but we had world class defence.

Modern football nowadays offer build up from the back and has attacking full backs. And right now we conceded lot of goals, we only have one attacking left back (need cover), young isn’t young anymore, & centre back lacks of leadership.
 
I feel the squad as a whole currently has lots of potential and good squad players, but what we are truly lacking is a commanding CB.
Commanding in the sense not just his own defensive qualities, but the being able to command and organize the defense, aka Leadership.
Someone in the mold of Rio / Vidic in their prime, or in current context Godin / VVD (pains me to say this).

Not sure of Milenkovic / De Ligt / Militao fits this mold yet. Do we need another ‘potentially’ good CB currently when we are lacking someone to drag this team forward now? Getting them now seems like another project just like Lindelof and Baily, both whom I still have hopes of developing into World Class CBs.

Once thought Jones would develop into such a player, but unfortunately not, due to injuries or various reasons. I do however admit he is our most gutsy defender.

Is there anyone out there that fits this mold of Commanding CB? This signing would be the priority and form the foundation of the team.
Maybe Varane or Koulibaly? But probably not realistic.
 
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A good team is always built from the defence and as we're realising our defence needs a couple of class defenders - this is imperative at this stage and should have been tackled last summer.
 
We need an experienced right back as Valencia seems to be done on this level and Dalot isn't ready to make that position it's own. We could do with a backup/competition for Shaw (if Young leaves) and an experienced CB.

Get rid of Valencia, Rojo and Darmian. Should free up some wages.

We obviously also could do with a right winger.
 
Sancho and Maguire would be a good start.

That is probably £200m plus already though.

It's going to be mind-blowingly expensive to make this team a title contender with a minimum of 4-5 first team positions to fill.
 
We need minimum of 4 players to challenge for the titles in my opinion. Quality Rw, Cb, Cm, and a lb/rb. Not gonna happen though through one summer so, we will have to wait. Rw is a question for ages since we should have gotten one 5 years ago.
 
It's actually good we can look forward to new signings improving what we have whereas before it seemed utterly hopeless and pointless exercise because we were turning everyone to shite.
 
I don’t think we need too much. I’d be happy with a pacy right winger only.

In an ideal world, a commanding CB, possibly Alderweireld for £25m? Then again, I’d also just like to see Bailly given a long run in the team.
 
Thankfully no more Willian Perisic links.

RB - Valencia replacement
CB - Rojo replacement
ST - Lukaku replacement

Want to see what Sanchez can do as a right forward before we sign one. A young RW with high potential would be good though.

Not sure if we need a CM, a lot depends on Fred & Andreas adapting and improving.

GK - De Gea
RB - new signing / Dalot
CB - new signing / Bailey
CB - Lindolof / Smalling
LB - Shaw / Young
CM - Matic / Andreas
CM - Herrera / Fred
CM - Pogba / Fellaini
RW - Sanchez / Lingard / Mata
ST - New signing / Rashford
LW - Martial / Rashford / Gomes

Out
- darmian
- lukaku
- jones (I sense a contract renewal though)
- Rojo

If those 3 signings are strong and suit the style of the new manager. I think that sets us up for decent challenge next season. Don’t need 11 100m players to be title contenders. You only have to look at players like Gigi,Shaquri & Robertson for Liverpool who were signed from relegated sides. Those 3 signed for the same amount we paid for Matic.
 
Toby for 25m is a steal I think

after that we need to be smart - Spurs signed Moura and Son for about 50/60 combined so players like those should be scouted

wonder how extensive our scouting is in South America- there's bound to be some talent there

in the longer term we need to be looking at RW, CB, RB, CM, LB with Darmian, Jones, Rojo as a minimum phased out. Big year ahead for Sanchez, Lukaku and Matic who've underperformed for a while
 
We're okay for goalkeepers.

Defence
1. World class CB to boss the defence
2. First choice RB
3. Backup LB

We need the fullbacks to be first team quality so they can rotate and we're able to play a high intensity in that position regularly.

Midfield
We should have 6 central midfielders. Right now we have Pogba, Matic, Herrera, Fred, Periera and Fellaini. I think we should replace Fellaini with either a CDM or a CM, depending on where we play Herrera. I think whoever we bring in should be top quality. We want a midfield who could go toe to toe with the very best. You won't do that simply "making do".

Attack
We need a right winger. Other than that I think we're in a good place.

Priorities
1. RW
2. CB
3. RB
4. CM/CDM
5. LB
 
CB is top priority. Then RB, RW and CDM/CM. Rashford and Lukaku have the rest of the season to prove that they are good enough to be No.1 choice and we don't need a replacement. Even Sanchez has had his best results playing as a striker so even he should be a given a chance in that role.

Players who should definitely leave in the summer:

Valencia
Jones
Rojo
Fellaini
Pereira (for his own good)
 
sideshow_bob said:
Lucas Hernandez (£76m) on release clause in January.
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Is that all his release clause is as if so he just jumped to the front of the queue for me in terms of CB’s always been really impressed with him but even then I imagine it would still be super hard to convince him to leave and come to us. Worth a try.
 
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If we got Poch as manager and signed the following players we would win the title mark my words. Koulibaily, Škriniar, Ndombele, and finally a young RW with big potential thinking someone like Sancho perhaps? Yes, this will cost a fortune but we need to offload a lot of crap we have in the squad. If we sort out our defence and add some creativity on that right wing which we have missed for so long then we would give the likes of Liverpool and City big problems.
 
If we want to keep playing entertaining fast paced possession football, then I wouldn’t get too fixated on a commanding centre back, how about a commanding centre back, who can also pass the ball between the lines as well as bring the ball out from the back?

I think Mourinho was right in identifying Maguire, how are Skriniars,Milenkovic and Koubilay as well as Andersen’s passing and bringing the ball out from the back? Any stats?

I think the above as well as a pacey right winger that offers us a right sided threat then I’d see how the team goes, giving some of our prospects a chance to prove what they can do
 
I would like us to sort our right side...
RB? Whats happening with Pavard? Is he having a good season?
RW - blow majority of the budget. 100 mill - Sancho, Dembele, Dybala or someone like that
Then CB - Toby alderweireld
Then try get Rabiot. I know there are links to Barca and Real but we should offer more wages and try our best to get him. Will be our missing link in midfield.
As an outside crazy hope and a prayer I would offer players plus cash for Kane - lukaku, lindgard and 50 mill would be hard to refuse.

So team would be:
————-De Gea————-
-Pavard-Toby-lindelof/jones-shaw
——Rabiot—-Herrera—Pogba—
—-Sancho—-Kane—-Martial—
 
UpWithRivers said:
I would like us to sort our right side...
RB? Whats happening with Pavard? Is he having a good season?
RW - blow majority of the budget. 100 mill - Sancho, Dembele, Dybala or someone like that
Then CB - Toby alderweireld
Then try get Rabiot. I know there are links to Barca and Real but we should offer more wages and try our best to get him. Will be our missing link in midfield.
As an outside crazy hope and a prayer I would offer players plus cash for Kane - lukaku, lindgard and 50 mill would be hard to refuse.

So team would be:
————-De Gea————-
-Pavard-Toby-lindelof/jones-shaw
——Rabiot—-Herrera—Pogba—
—-Sancho—-Kane—-Martial—
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Stop playing FIFA.
 
Andersons Dietician said:
Is that all his release clause is as if so he just jumped to the front of the queue for me in terms of CB’s always been really impressed with him but even then I imagine it would still be super hard to convince him to leave and come to us. Worth a try.
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His release clause is supposedly between €80m to €85m. Atleti are reportedly trying to renegotiate with him to bump that clause up to €150m.

His brother, Theo Hernandez made the controversial move from Atleti to Real. Lucas too surprised some when he chose to represent France over Spain. Point is he's not the most loyal fella around.

World cup winner, versatile & great in the air. He'll form a deadly left wing with countrymen, Pogba & Martial. We should be all over this.
 
Set of full backs and a Center back will do wonders to this team
Imagine what Robertson,Alderweireld and a Walker can do to this team ?
 
sideshow_bob said:
His release clause is supposedly between €80m to €85m. Atleti are reportedly trying to renegotiate with him to bump that clause up to €150m.

His brother, Theo Hernandez made the controversial move from Atleti to Real. Lucas too surprised some when he chose to represent France over Spain. Point is he's not the most loyal fella around.

World cup winner, versatile & great in the air. He'll form a deadly left wing with countrymen, Pogba & Martial. We should be all over this.
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80m for a left back. Its not worth it now.
 
UpWithRivers said:
Whats happening with Pavard? Is he having a good season?
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honestly, no. Stuttgart have been struggling mightily (also have sacked a manager already) and Pavard also has had a pretty weak season so far. In terms of position, he always plays as CB there anyway (as he should be, he's much better as CB than as RB due to his passing range and vision).

-----

personally I feel we still need:

- a CB: should be highest on the list. If Alderweireld is interested we'd be mad not to get him.
- a RB: Dalot has a lot of upside, but with Valencia and Darmian being frozen out another option would be great.
- a DM: I'd be happy with a young understudy to Matic next season. Someone like Arne Maier maybe?
- a RW: possibly, but maybe Ole can make it work with Sanchez etc ... we'll see.
 
I presume there's a chance we would act on long term targets regardless of whether we have a manager or not? From all the Mourinho stuff I got the sense that the club has players it would sign regardless of what mourinho thought
 
Dominant CB and a RW. We're conceding far too easily when we're not pressing.
 
Maguire (75m) in the January window.

Milenkovic (50m), Sancho (80m) and Neves (60m) in the summer.

Sell Darmian, Rojo, Jones, Valencia and Fellaini for a combined total of around 50m. Retain Fosu Mensah as a right back squad option and we're good to go.
 
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