So, things have started to move on the outgoings from, and it sounds like we’re not far away from having raised £45m this summer.
We’ve been linked to a metric shit-ton of CMs already this summer, most of which sound like good to excellent options, so who do YOU want us to splurge our new-founds funds on?
If choosing the Other option, could I ask that it either be someone we know to be available/reasonably priced/ideally linked to us in some way, shape or form?
Yet he’s the only one I ever mention (apart from Barella but that’s in a very negative sense so doesn’t count), I am really frustrated that my persistence hasn’t paid off.
Florian Neuhaus for me. We’re replacing our most dependable central midfielder of the last five years so bringing in a kid doesn’t make sense to me, we need someone on the cusp of taking that next step that we’d be happy playing week in, week out.
Saul Niguez is a player I don’t know much about, couldn’t tell you the difference between him and Koke to be honest and he comes with huge wages and a rocky season behind him and I’m always suspicious when a club is so openly keen about moving someone like him on.
Camavinga and Gravenbach are still too raw for me. Paying a huge fee for potential that they may not realise and probably not yet of the standard and dependability we need in light of the issues we have in CM. Sanches worries me on the injury front, Tielemans is too expensive for the player he is and Inter aren’t selling Barella.
Bisouma would be the second choice but some way behind Neuhaus and given the fee that they extracted out of Arsenal for Ben White I think they’ll want a silly fee for him as there’s no pressure to sell him now.
Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson would be ahead of anyone we buy for CM. We will also have Jones, Milner and possibly Keita and/or Ox.
And Camavinga and Gravenberch are kids in the same way Alexander-Arnold was when he started playing as our first choice RB week in week out. They’re already very good and could be relied on. Not that they’ll be “starters” straight away.
In theory yes. But from the second the season ended and we knew Gini was going everyone has been panicking about the fitness issues in CM and needing to bring the average age down. So I’d want someone capable of being a 40 game a season player should Henderson go down in week one or Ox and Keita continue with their current fitness issues. I think that’s too much to expect from teenagers.
They might be the same age but they aren’t the same in that Trent was on our books and those two would cost a lot of money. If Trent’s development had stalled, you sell him for a decent fee and no harm or foul. You buy a teenager for a big fee and their development stalls, you lose a ton of cash when you move them on.
We have a young development prospect already in Jones so adding another in that bracket isn’t the way I’d go. Someone in our usual 23-24 type range makes more sense to me. More experienced, still not in need of playing every week but also not going to have their development stunted as badly should that be the case and then they’re prime age as we phase out the old boys.
There’s experience and then there’s experience. Some players play week in week out but never getting the type of experience we need.
Camavinga already has caps for an extremely good France side, experience in CL and EL as well as 67 League appearances. He’s also got a winners medal for a trophy winning the French Cup.
Bissouma in comparison despite being 5 years older, walks into a not very impressive/successful Mali side, only has 66 more league appearances, never been involved in winning any trophies and has never played in the proper EL or CL at all.
Even Gravenberch only 6 months older than Camavinga has decent experience with 2 Dutch cups and 2 Eredivisie titles, 7 caps for the Netherlands already, CL and EL experience and 42 League appearances for a team competing for titles.
I prefer experience that’s the right type of experience.
(extra body required).