Now let's make this interesting.
Yes or no, should we have signed Shaqiri for the price?
I'll say yes:
+Shaqiri is 23 years old and 15 in 41 for the Swiss and went 11 in 26 starts and 27 sub appearances in the Bundesliga, which is pretty impressive. How many wide players have a better record?
+We need a wide goalscorer from the right. Di Maria on the left (narrow), Shaqiri higher up on the right, Rooney centrally, Herrera behind him and then rotate the final 2 spots depending on a variety of things between Van Persie, Falcao, Januzaj, Mata, Blind, Carrick and a future signing or two.
Right now, we don't have a single very good wide player apart from Di Maria, who is better centrally. I actually think the ideal is to get 2 wide players in, long-term.
+He might have been too stupid/selfish/undisciplined/positionally confused for Guardiola (like everyone), but Pep is sort of an extremist on these fronts. I am too, but we're not turning into a Guardiola team anytime soon.
+There's not some great 2nd tier of wide attackers potentially on the market if we don't get Bale, Robben or Ronaldo. Who is it? Cuadrado? Can Lacazette play wide? Nobody in the Prem jumps out, that's for sure.
-He's another defensively questionable player, so if the long-term plan is Di Maria and Herrera in the middle in front of Blind, does that work?
-Succeeded for Swiss and at Basel and failed at Bayern. Could suggest he'll top out at a level below what we hope to be in a year or two
-Would he just be blocking Janujaz by next year?
