Bellingham lol. We got no one to sell off.
This lad in Sociedad is attracting a lot of interest. He recently got his first Spanish cap and is seen as a likely long term replacement for Busquets at both Barca and Spain. From what little I’ve seen of him he plays more like Alonso than Busquets.
With Xabi’s Sociedad connection we should definiely have him and thiago in his ear
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I’d have loved us to sign Bellingham but a single midfielder isn’t going to solve the problems we have… We need 3 new first teamers.
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Midfield needs sorting. Outside Thiago there’s a lack of quality. Fabinho nowhere near his best this season. Henderson has some good games but not consistent enough at the top level. The rest by and large are either not good enough, injury prone or young and still developing.
Likely need two midfielders before the start of next season. Ideally two of them first choice.
Bellingham must be high up on the list but not sure he’d fix all our problems. Certainly one for the future. However not sure there are too many excuses for not landing him, given his family support Liverpool?
Aside from that, we’re still missing that De Bruyne/Silva type player. We need more creativity on the ball. Outside midfield, if Firmino goes then surely another forward as well. Wouldn’t look too much outside these positions first.
I think one of the things we were probably conscious of was the danger of losing part of our attitude by having too much turnover in the middle of the pitch. Like we needed to bring in one or two max, acclimate them to the way we do things and what we expect of them before we bring in the next guy the year after. The irony of that is that with the way our season is playing we have likely forced ourselves into needing to do exactly that.
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Aye, why we didn’t bring in one midfielder in the summer was in hindsight a huge mistake. It’s not as though we couldn’t foresee Keita, Oxlade, Thiago all getting injured, nor the decline of Fabinho and Henderson.
Another brace for Bellingham. His star is really rising.
Hopefully Henry Winter, and others, are right, and we’ve got this one in the bag.
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Pretty sure Bobby is leaving on a free and the club knows this already.
Why wait until the summer to replace him.
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Erm…
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So he’s replacing Mane Origi Minamino and Bobby?
No pressure then.
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This is the Darwin we want, need and hope for…will the real Dar please stand up…(might be in the wrong thread…but this reaction is what we want now)
I think we could be eyeing 2 midfielders, but at most, not more than that I don’t think.
Possibly one cheaper one like Laimer (will attract interest from other clubs on a free) and then another, more “serious” one.
If Bobby leaves we definitely need another forward as well.
So it could be about 3 players.
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Think we need the whole spine to get reinforcements. CB, CM (at least two) and a forward. They dont have to be world class players but guys with potential to get there - like the signings of Nunez and Konate.
Someone to sit behind van Dijk for a couple of seasons. Someone to displace Fabinho - who I would be tempted to sell. An ‘8’ to displace Henderson or cover for Thiago and a young forward.
Probably expensive but I’m not asking for 4 starters. 2 starters in midfield and a couple of 20/21 year old developmental prospects in defence and attack.
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Not convinced we’ll pursue a centre back. Matip’s contract doesn’t end until 2024. Not sure there’ll be the funds either with priorities in midfield and surely another forward.
Bellingham will be expensive and surely he’ll be one player to look at. Whether it happens is another question.
Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Firmino and Adrian contracts set to end this season.
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van den Berg?
How much do you think Bajcetic is factoring into their thoughts though?
Bellingham has probably long been earmarked for that. Wouldn’t be surprised if we were indeed looking for a young forward though. Think the idea behind offering Keïta a new contract was that it wouldn’t be on very much improved terms…
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Cody Gakpo is having a great season.
I would like a starting quality CM next summer. In addition, I would like a CB, a CM/DM, and an attacker/RW. The last three should be like Carvalho, not a starting quality but good enough for cover & competition for the starters/regulars.
Bajcetic and Morton can fill that CM/DM slot if their progression is satisfactory. However, if we sell Fabinho we will need another starting quality signing.
Fairly certain Morton is not targeted to be a DM long-term.
Blackburn have used him as a CB on a couple of occasions.
Yeah. But if his progression is good then he can play CM while Henderson can play DM.