You are a joke. Quite clearly too busy jerking off over transfers and spending when he was a key part of midfield the season we won the league.
Out of 6 actually, up there with Carroll, Benteke & Naby as the worst value for money signings in our history. On top of that we paid him 25m to be injured or play like crap for 4 years.
To put him in the same sentence as Milner is an insult.
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Correct
Yep, when we decided to shift our focus to “ready made” stars like Thiago we went backwards.
We have the worlds best coach, give him something to coach!
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Except for a fit Livaramento 
And my actual point is that when Gini and Robbo signed it was a lot of eye rolling and disappointment. Dont recall anyone pushing for those two.
Maybe im wrong and youd decided those two were good enough for Liverpool at tge time, in which case you are right about Saints now…but i doubt it.
The difference might be that we’ve gone up a few levels since then.
Albeit we had a weak season, but our standards on paper are higher.
Still, doesn’t mean there won’t be certain players to take from relegated teams from time to time.
And then, absolute bingos like a Robbo are pretty rare, no matter how shrewd our recruitment is.
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When we were on an upward trajectory, each and every fan seeing the gradual improvements, knew it was only a matter of time before we were winning and challenging for titles… Now we are at the successful stage of challenging, almost, every season, which means the initial timeline for training, coaching and integrating new players has gone out of the window… With our relentless drive for continued success, we require ‘plug and play’ footballers that can step straight into the side… hence the extra money they command
You can’t sell what nobody wants to buy.
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I’d love to take credit and say I was all for Robbo and Gini being signed, but I don’t recall having much of an opinion either way.
I tend to ignore most of the rumours stuff and who would you buy nonsense, at the end of the day if Jurgen told us he was signing Mason Holgate and Alex Iwobi I’d be ok with it.
Obviously not 
Aren’t those two more of ball carrying midfielders though? The most frustration I have had with us this season is without the ball. Who’d you pick in that case?
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I’d say Barella is pretty good in pressing and counter-pressing phases. I do still want to see how Mac would cope when we have to win it back or when he has to defend. First things first, it’s the attack that needs to go return (or learn, because we have new members) to proper defending from the front. Then, the midfield needs a new injection of quality and fresh legs. I don’t expect that duo to arrive, but in my opinion I’d go for two new dynamic players, one more box-to-box and another one who can help us keep the ball better. It’s all connected.
Realistically, I could see us going for Mac and then another more athletic one.
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One thing to consider is that the buys look quite different depending on how we want to play… TAA coming into the midfield to quarterback vs a standard 443 (meant 433…)? The former has less emphasis on buys being creative and the later more.
Who would be a manager?
You can in fantasy transfer world.
Standard 443 would solve a lot of problems
False 9
Hybrid position
Off season
Overtime
And now, fucking quarterback 
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My biggest concern when he signed was that we as a club never made a successful purchase of a proven, top class player. It’s like a curse that won’t lift, like signing Italian players! I swear we’d have ruined the likes of Maldini, Totti or Del Piero…
On the whole, I’m impressed even with our recent “big” signings because they have plenty of potential, they are of the right age and mentality. I hope that Nunez comes good but on the whole, we can regret mostly the signings we didn’t make, rather than those we did.
If we are looking at Southampton, I would definitely have Lavia, but as a third midfield signing - two for the team now, Lavia to be in a bracket with the likes of Bajcetic, seeing some action, but also biding their time until the old guard ages out.
Bella-Kotchap is a maybe, depending on what other central defenders we are looking at.
Cherry picking some of the best players from relegated teams is a solid part of the overall recruitment strategy. It doesn’t mean that’s all we do, but we should leave no stone unturned in our quest to keep improving.
Anyway, who would I buy (realistically):
Ugarte
MacAllister
Lavia/Gravenberch
Inacio/Bella-Kotchap/Colwill
Plus a seasoned goalkeeper to be a back up to Alisson, assuming there’s a bit of movement in that department. Then it’s up to the likes of Pitaluga, as third choice, to work their way up to second choice. (This assumes Kelleher is sold).
Lavia is in the category of players who needs to play to stay on his trajectory though. It would be one thing to buy him this summer without the need for him to be ready from day 1. It would be another, and worse for all sides, to buy a player we dont think is ready to earn the shirt at some point in the first season.
I wonder if someone like West Ham to replace Rice is the right sort of step up. Maybe even Brighton assuming Caicedo leaves.
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I think Lavia would play a lot - similar to how Elliott plays a lot despite his age.
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Would there be minutes for both Lavia and Elliot though?