What do we still need? Post Summer 2016 edition

This squad need everything, defenders, midfielders etc

But Mourinho and Woodward are immobile

So they are happy with this team, and they are happy with the 5th, 6th place

No white text?

If not then it could be worst post ever, Ed has spent over a half of a billion, brought in the most expensive player in the world etc etc.
 
Most of us would like a deep-lying playmaker type of player, but so far we are not linked with any. According to rumours we are going for the likes of Bakayoko.

We don't know what Mourinho thinks, but indications are that we will turn in a different direction than a like for like replacement for Carrick.
 
We desperately need a left back with pace who is a threat going forward, two new midfielders are needed as well, a carrick replacement and competition for pogba and Herrera.

Personally I would offload Rooney and mata and bring in Griezmann as well.
 
This squad need everything, defenders, midfielders etc

But Mourinho and Woodward are immobile

So they are happy with this team, and they are happy with the 5th, 6th place

What the feck kind of post is this ...
 
Griezmann for goals, an RB to deputize and groom as a replacement for Valencia, potentiall an LB depending on if Shaw gets and grabs a chance before the season is over and Carrick type DM, which is by far the hardest one to place imo.
 
I totally get your point but I do personally feel that a 6 regista player needs to be exceptionally good. Also some are more defensive others more attacking. Carrick almost provides a duel role. Would Parades? If not then he would need a great DM alongside. There is also no guarantee that he fits into the prem. Worth a punt with him or Weigl but in the meantime I would bulletproof our midfield with the signings of players like Bakayoko and Strootman who are defensively tenacious and also have good skills. After this experimenting with a new 6 would be easier IMO.
I think @Invictus is right, game intelligence is more important than physicality seeing as 75% of our games are against sides that park the bus against us. In that vein we need someone who can orchestrate play from deep so that we do not witness the laboured buils up that we endure when Carrick is not in the side.
 
No white text?

If not then it could be worst post ever, Ed has spent over a half of a billion, brought in the most expensive player in the world etc etc.

:D

Ok

But if we play often with players like Lingard, Blind on the left, and Fellaini in the mid, and in January we are 6th

Maybe there is a problem
 
Ed has spent over a half of a billion, brought in the most expensive player in the world etc etc.

I'm talking only about the January transfers

Schneiderlin and Depay out

We are 6th

If we want to try to get the 4th, maybe we should try to improve the team now

We don't have a real Carrick replacement and there are other things to fix

I don't wanna see another season without Champions League football
 
Doesnt the Adidas money go down PERMANENTLY for 2 consecutive seasons without CL football?

"The £750m adidas kit deal will be cut by 30 per cent if club do not qualify for the Champions League this season".
 
We desperately need a left back with pace who is a threat going forward, two new midfielders are needed as well, a carrick replacement and competition for pogba and Herrera.

Personally I would offload Rooney and mata and bring in Griezmann as well.
Luke Shaw written off so soon? Before his injury he was called one of the best LBs in Europe on this forum, and one of the best players in our squad, one of the first names on the team sheet. Surely he hasn't lost everything that made him good?
 
We still need to clear out some players. Rooney and Bastian off the wage bill for sure. Young and fellaini out. Need an upgrade on Lingard (sell and buy a starting 11 player). Sell Blind/Darmian.

GK - sell Johnstone and promote J.Pereira/Henderson to first team

De Gea, Romero, J.Pereira

Def - bring in a cb only if we sell 1. Sell 1 of Blind/Darmian or both and bring in cover for Valencia (young prospect) and an experienced LB (an actual LB) to cover Shaw. Bring back CBJ and utilise him as a LB/CB.

Smalling*, Jones*, Rojo, Bailly, CBJ, Blind*, Darmian*, Valencia, Shaw, (New CB*), (New LB*), (New RB*)

Midfield - sell Bastian and Fellaini. Buy a replacement for Carrick. Add Pereira, Mensah and Goss to the squad.

Carrick, Herrera, Pogba, (New CM), Pereira, Mensah and Goss.

Forward - sell Rooney, Young and Lingard. Buy a top RW/LW for the starting 11. Add januzaj and Wilson to the squad.

Zlatan, Mkhitaryan, (New winger), Martial, Januzaj, Wilson, Rashford.
 
I think @Invictus is right, game intelligence is more important than physicality seeing as 75% of our games are against sides that park the bus against us. In that vein we need someone who can orchestrate play from deep so that we do not witness the laboured buils up that we endure when Carrick is not in the side.

No doubt we need some ball players but Strootman and Bayakoko offer defensive solidity and athleticism (very important as prem teams will hit us hard on the counter) and skill wise they offer a lot more than Fellaini, who can be moved on. They can compete with and compliment Herrera. Having a regista would be great of course and we should exoeriment with one. However last night we had almost 30 shots at goal before scoring. Our problems against part-the-bus teams involves also our wingbacks, center backs, wingers and striker (Zlatan is grear but his immobility screwed 2 clear cut chances). It is also becoming clear that Miki is struggling massively in these less open games. Brilliant against Tottenham but seems lost when the opposition is sitting deep. Hopefully he improves. Valencia receives a ton of chances but does not do enough, and nobody offers anything down the left. Last night we also offered no threat in behind because there was not enough pace in the wings and at striker. If Martial and Rashford and Lingard dont offer enough mature quality in this regard we need to supplement.

Its a question of waiting for some players to develop and upgrading in a few areas.
 
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I don't think we need Strootman, but I could see one of Bakayoko/Saul/Keita coming in to compete with Ander for that box to box role. We need the holder though, it's imperative to have that CM that sits deep and is disciplined if we are to get the most out of Pogba.

A CB partner for Bailly and RB cover for Valencia are going to be important as well.

Up front it seems Griezmann is likely but hopefully he we also go for a #9 as it's clear Jose sees Rashford and Martial as wide players not strikers, and Ibra needs to be rested more than he has been this season.
 
For a while I thought a new LB and DM would be enough but it's becoming clearer that we have much deeper issues with our attack. With Ibra we have become a one man team, all goals expected to come from him it seems. When we actually need goal threat from everywhere in the team.

A partner for Bailly that can head set pieces in yet also play the ball out (do such exist though?) with Smalling out.

Both LB (Tierney?) and RB (Semedo) who can cross accurately and get 5 plus assists per season (with Shaw and Darmian out).

None of our three midfielders (4 if you add Fellaini) can score enough goals, so if you assume that Pogba must start (and boy does he need to improve his finishing) then realistically a new #8 is needed who can also score 10 plus goals a season as you don't expect a DM to get many (unless the DM is a playmaker and set piece taker). And ofc such a backup/first choice? DM/Playmaker is needed.

We also need a genuine winger who hugs the wings and reaches the touchline to cross or pull back but can also score goals, this can be an older player who can be backup and replace Young.

And presumably Griezmann (with Rooney making way).

And one of these needs to be a set piece taker, especially corners. Which obviously is a lot of new players which is certainly not ideal and probably necessitates two transfer windows.

I would guess that the backup winger would be in 2018, and probably the new #8. Which would still leave our midfield and wingers with as little goals as at present. Maybe Pereira can make his break out season as a #8 next year and also be our set piece specialist, think he can maybe score more than Pogba. I suppose if Adnan radically improved he could be the backup winger too, but I think he will be sold.
 
For a while I thought a new LB and DM would be enough but it's becoming clearer that we have much deeper issues with our attack. With Ibra we have become a one man team, all goals expected to come from him it seems. When we actually need goal threat from everywhere in the team.

A partner for Bailly that can head set pieces in yet also play the ball out (do such exist though?) with Smalling out.

Both LB (Tierney?) and RB (Semedo) who can cross accurately and get 5 plus assists per season (with Shaw and Darmian out).

None of our three midfielders (4 if you add Fellaini) can score enough goals, so if you assume that Pogba must start (and boy does he need to improve his finishing) then realistically a new #8 is needed who can also score 10 plus goals a season as you don't expect a DM to get many (unless the DM is a playmaker and set piece taker). And ofc such a backup/first choice? DM/Playmaker is needed.

We also need a genuine winger who hugs the wings and reaches the touchline to cross or pull back but can also score goals, this can be an older player who can be backup and replace Young.

And presumably Griezmann (with Rooney making way).

And one of these needs to be a set piece taker, especially corners. Which obviously is a lot of new players which is certainly not ideal and probably necessitates two transfer windows.

I would guess that the backup winger would be in 2018, and probably the new #8. Which would still leave our midfield and wingers with as little goals as at present. Maybe Pereira can make his break out season as a #8 next year and also be our set piece specialist, think he can maybe score more than Pogba. I suppose if Adnan radically improved he could be the backup winger too, but I think he will be sold.[/QUOTE

Highly detailed and very good assessment of what we need in terms of personnel in coming window. Only thing I slightly differ from you is number of transfer windows to complete the task as I believe Mourinho is kind of manager who is not averse to major overhaul in single window . Last summer he would have made further signings had we been able to move some of our unwanted players.

We finally seem to making progress on outgoing front with 2 departures this month.I think Mourinho would try to move on at least 6 players from current squad in summer as well . For our defense Just like you I see 3 incoming a long term replacement for Valencia , a first team CB and some one to compete or replace Shaw depending on his form and fitness. Blind ,Darmian and most probably one of Cb would Ideally be moved on.

Two high potential Centre midfielders already at very good level one replacing Carrick as starter would be needed along with world class attacker to complete our summer window.

To summarise we would bring 6 in with possibly 6 or more as outgoing.
 
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To be favorites for the title and real challengers in the CL (assuming we squeak in):

1. Rooney out, Griezmann in
2. Fellaini out, a more technically skilled CM in to compete with Herrera and backup Pogba
3. Schweinsteiger out, a starting DM who can pass in, with Carrick getting spot starts
4. Young out, An LCB who can pass to start next to Bailly

I think we'd be best off keeping all 5 CBs considering their injury histories, but we could certainly survive with Blind as 5th choice CB and Tuanzebe and Carrick as emergency 6th choice options.

-Ibra and Rashford as the starting 9 and his backup
-Griezmann, Martial, Mkhitaryan and Mata for the 2/3 spots behind the striker, with one or both as bench options (if everyone's healthy and not being rested, which should be rare-ish) Lingard getting some cup games and Rashford getting time there too
-Pogba starts and is paired with Herrera/the new CM (who can be younger since we have Herrera and all those AMs) when we play 4-3-3, in front of our new DM (backed up by Carrick). When we're 4-2-3-1, it's Pogba and either Herrera, the new DM or the new CM.
-Shaw at LB, backed up by Blind
-Valencia at RB, backed up by Darmian or ship him out and we buy our RB of the future and let him start as a backup
-New LCB and Bailly start, Smalling is 3rd CB and Jones, Rojo and Blind are cover, depending on what's needed, as Jones is the best RCB, Blind the best passer and Rojo a decent athlete at LCB.
-De Gea backed up by Romero or if he goes, some other decent backup

So, a summer of say, Griezmann (80M), Weigl (45M), A Promising young CM (20M) and a starting LCB (35M) which would be about 180M in spending, but probably about the same wages with Rooney, Fellaini, Young and Schweinsteiger's wages being so high, though only minor fees can be expected to be recouped.
 
I'm talking only about the January transfers

Schneiderlin and Depay out

We are 6th

If we want to try to get the 4th, maybe we should try to improve the team now

We don't have a real Carrick replacement and there are other things to fix

I don't wanna see another season without Champions League football

Money isnt the problem in January, people releasing players is.

I understand what youre saying but we aint getting anyone to seriously improve the squad in January. Your other points, spot on.
 
Centre back, defensive midfielder and winger would be my three. We need another threat from out wide to take the burden of creativity off Zlatan and Pogba, a Carrick replacement because as yesterday showed we are clueless without him, and a centre back to partner Bailly.
 
The prime objective in the transfer market for next summer will be to find a Carrick replacement since Schweinsteiger doesn't seem to be an option and Schneiderlin couldn't hack it either. We need to find the third man that can give stability to Pogba and Herrera. Also some backup in midfield whose name isn't Fellaini would do us a world of good.

Of course the FB situation needs sorting out too. We need to figure out what's going on with Shaw and Valencia isn't getting any younger right now.
 
Luke Shaw written off so soon? Before his injury he was called one of the best LBs in Europe on this forum, and one of the best players in our squad, one of the first names on the team sheet. Surely he hasn't lost everything that made him good?

If he hasn't lost everything then why would he be written off just because we add some competition. He can't be relied to get or stay fit even without the serious injury, I hope he stays even if we sign a left back but I wouldn't be shocked if Jose sold or loaned him out next season.
 
Central Defender:
  1. Manolas: My first choice. Roma will sell this year with that sell on clause not hindering the fee they receive
  2. Romagnoli: Young left footed CB whose broken into the Italy squad this year. Only issue is I don't see Milan selling with their investment
  3. Lindelof: Bottom of my 3 as I simply don't know anything of him but have heard good things
Left Back:
  1. Luke Shaw: I still believe in him, I just think he needs a run of games, so my first choice would be to persist with him
  2. Grimaldo: Unless I've missed an obvious choice, I don't really know of many good left backs at attainable clubs. (Not seen anything of him personally, but my friend absolutely raves about him
Defensive / deep lying CM:
  1. Saul: If reports are true and Atletico need to raise money, this guy besides Pogba and Herrera would be an excellent midfield
  2. Weigl: Heard more than I've seen, but the lad sounds promising and Dortmund can only resist so much before they sell
  3. Keita: Again, not seen much of him but heard he is the main reason of Leipzig's success. Money club though so will want to keep hold
Striker:
  1. Icardi / Griezmann: Can't pick between the two. I honestly think Icardi makes more sense as an out an out striker, which is probably more what we would need, but Griezmann is the better player.
---------

I think we have a good core of young players ready or close to being ready in Mensah, Tuanzebe, CBJ and Rashford. They'd add extra depth for the team.
Rooney has broken the record and although it'd be a shame to see him leave, it really would make sense. Add to the list Bastian, Darmian, Fellaini, Rojo and Young.
Griezmann could play anywhere in attack. I'd like to see Martial get some matches in a row, I really hope Jose hasn't given up on him.
Blind for me is a good Carrick option. Next season I'd not want to see him in defence, so I'd either sell him or play him in midfield
I could see Mata leaving in the summer. Been a good player for us but I just don't think he's in Jose plans. one of him or Lingard will go in my opinion
 
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I think we need to improve the left-side of our defence, our midfield base (Carrick's long-term successor) and introduce more pace and mobility to our front three. At the same time, we also need to promote our most promising youngsters from the Academy. Having said that, I think ideally we would be looking at the below additions this summer:

--------------De Gea----------------- (Romero, J. Pereira)
---------Bailly--------Jones---------- (Lemos, Rojo, Tuanzebe, Williams)
Valencia-------------------Grimaldo (Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Shaw, Borthwick-Jackson)
---------------Weigl----------------- (Blind, Carrick)
--------Herrera-------Pogba--------- (Buffonge, A. Pereira, Dahoud)
---Mkhitaryan-------------Martial--- (Januzaj, Mata, Chong, Gomes)
-----------Griezmann--------------- (Zlatan, Rashford)


In (in order of priority):
Weigl
Griezmann
Grimaldo
Dahoud
Lemos

Out:
Rooney
Smalling
Young
Fellaini
Lingard
Schweisteiger
Johnstone
 
I'm surprised no club has yet tried to get Ricardo Rodriguez from Wolfsburg. He would be a great choice for the club in my opinion as a LB. He has a lot of experience despite his age (24 years) and is as good as Valencia - so the team would benefit from him. Because it's obvious that the play is lacking a lot from the left side, so it would be great if a player could do take care of the left side as good as Valencia does with the right one.

I believe he is worth about 20 £ mil. - he maybe even had a buy out clause.
 
I'm surprised no club has yet tried to get Ricardo Rodriguez from Wolfsburg. He would be a great choice for the club in my opinion as a LB. He has a lot of experience despite his age (24 years) and is as good as Valencia - so the team would benefit from him. Because it's obvious that the play is lacking a lot from the left side, so it would be great if a player could do take care of the left side as good as Valencia does with the right one.

I believe he is worth about 20 £ mil. - he maybe even had a buy out clause.

I could be wrong but isn't he really slow, especially for a wide player where I'd consider a bit of pace quite important
 
Get Griezmann and Nzonzi at all costs in the summer I would say. N'Zonzi has been incredibly consistent for Sevilla and its not like the Scheniderlin situation, this guy is an actual baller and I would be very disappointed if we let him go to City.

Griezmann as the record signing would be great, playing behind Zlatan instead of Rooney would make such a difference to the team.

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Rojo Shaw
N'Zonzi Pogba
Mkhitaryan Griezmann Martial
Ibrahimovic

You could say Pogba isnt playing in his best position but the fact is when he plays with a partner who has great defensive qualities then he will shine. Trust me on that.

Maybe a Left Back can come in for Shaw but im not convinced hes done just yet.
 
I could be wrong but isn't he really slow, especially for a wide player where I'd consider a bit of pace quite important

I haven't "clocked" him but I would say that he's pretty fast given his size. He has really good positioning. But maybe someone has better knowledge about his speed?
 
Get Griezmann and Nzonzi at all costs in the summer I would say. N'Zonzi has been incredibly consistent for Sevilla and its not like the Scheniderlin situation, this guy is an actual baller and I would be very disappointed if we let him go to City.

Griezmann as the record signing would be great, playing behind Zlatan instead of Rooney would make such a difference to the team.

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Rojo Shaw
N'Zonzi Pogba
Mkhitaryan Griezmann Martial
Ibrahimovic

You could say Pogba isnt playing in his best position but the fact is when he plays with a partner who has great defensive qualities then he will shine. Trust me on that.

Maybe a Left Back can come in for Shaw but im not convinced hes done just yet.

I trust what my eyes have seen time and again with Pogba, he needs the freedom of 2 CM's in the midfield with him to truly maximize his talent.
 
I'm surprised no club has yet tried to get Ricardo Rodriguez from Wolfsburg. He would be a great choice for the club in my opinion as a LB. He has a lot of experience despite his age (24 years) and is as good as Valencia - so the team would benefit from him. Because it's obvious that the play is lacking a lot from the left side, so it would be great if a player could do take care of the left side as good as Valencia does with the right one.
If you're talking about how far pushed forward Valencia is and how he is such a beast and how he dominates the whole flank by himself - that's probably just a tactic and not anything special to Valencia as a player, although he does have to have a certain stamina to do that. Related-wise: what if the poor performances of our left backs is not down to the players themselves but to the way we set up? What if the situations they have to defend against are more diffucul to defend against than the situations the right backs have to defend against?
 
If you're talking about how far pushed forward Valencia is and how he is such a beast and how he dominates the whole flank by himself - that's probably just a tactic and not anything special to Valencia as a player, although he does have to have a certain stamina to do that. Related-wise: what if the poor performances of our left backs is not down to the players themselves but to the way we set up? What if the situations they have to defend against are more diffucul to defend against than the situations the right backs have to defend against?

This will probably answer your question: How well did the player/'s who played instead of Valencia do on the RB when he was "absent"?
 
I think maintaining the three-man midfield set-up is important to get the best out of Pogba so I wouldn't want us to sign Griezmann unless he played on the wing or up front.

I really think we need depth in midfield and a good attacking left back as the main priorities though. That and getting rid of players like Rooney and Fellaini.
 
Manolas
Aurier or Semedo
Mendy
Weigl
Saul
Lemar

------------DeGea------------
Aurier---Bailly---Manolas----Mendy
--------------Weigl-----------------
-------Saul-------------Pogba------
Mhki----------Martial-----------Lemar

:drool:
 
Recall CBJ and a player to take up the Carrick role. That's all we need this window. Be nice to have a left back who can actually assist the attack and put in some crosses of a high quality.
As Carrick cannot play the majority of games, he needs to become a squad player now, rather than have us miss out on his vast influence in 1/3 of our games.
 
GK: de Gea, Romero, Pereira

RB: Valencia, Darmian
RCB: Bailly, Jones
LCB: van Dijk, Rojo
LB: Shaw, Blind

RCM: Herrera, Goretzka
CDM: Weigl, Carrick
LCM: Pogba, Pereira

RF: Mkhitaryan, Anderson
CF: Zlatan, Rashford
LF: Martial, Lingard

Sell: Smalling, Bastian, Fellaini, Young, Januzaj, Mata, Rooney

Buy: van Dijk, Weigl, Goretzka, Felipe Anderson

A RB like Semedo would be nice too, but then it seems to become a bit too expensive if it wasn't already :D
 
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We need to replace Zlatan & Carrick, and we need a midfielder who can dictate play, and we also need a commanding center back.

Aubameyang, Koke, Bakayoko or Nainggolan and Manolas.

I mean, if we can sign Aubameyang, Koke, Bakayoko & Manolas, that will be a fantastic summer. No Griezmann, simply because I think 3 central midfielders is the way to go, he's not a winger these days & not sure he can play as a lone striker either, so it's going to be a problem to fit him in. If we want a winger, Carrasco or Gelson will be my pick, but for now, Martial & Mhkitaryan easily good enough to get the job done.
 
A midfielder and a pacy attacker are the two main priorities for me.I dont think ibra will be leaving next summer so we will not be buying any striker.Griezmann will be fantastic.He can play behind ibra or play as a winger.If not him then I want to see a pacy winger who can stretch opposition defense.In midfield a partner for pogba is needed.Someone like strootman,nzonzi will be nice.I dont think there is any player available who can directly replace carrick so may be we will go for a more defensive matic like player like bakayoko.In defensive department I think we dont need anybody next summer unless shaw is sold.
 
--------------------------------De Gea------------------------------------
Valencia----------------Bailly----------New CB---------------Shaw/Rojo
--------------------------------N'Zonzi------------------------------------
-------------------------Herrera---------Pogba-----------------------------
Griezmann----------------------Ibra--------------------------Mkhitaryan

---------------------------------Rashford-----------------------------------
Lingard-------------------------Rooney-----------------------------Pereira
----------------------------Carrick-----Fellaini------------------------------
Shaw/Rojo----------------Jones--------Smalling-------------------Mensah

Out:
Darmian ==> 15M to Inter
Bastian ==> To US
Martial ==> 30M to Sevilla
Mata ==> 30M to Atletico
Young ==> 8M To WBA or Watford