There is a real danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater taking that approach. Any potential signing is a risk.
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Crap. Much better to regularly add more hot water to the bath and let a little out than end up in a cold bath, baby or not.
Maybe switch between both Bradley and Ramsey during next season and see how they develop without overusing either one of them.Would be good then to be able to move Trent into midfield making up for Thiago moving on.Matip should be allowed to leave as well and we should look to bring in another CB with the knowledge that VvD will be moving on as well in the next couple of years.
That’s turnover for the sake of turnover, and not considering what the profile of the squad is like. No point adding players if they’re just going to be roadblocks for promising kids.
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I wouldn’t even answer the phone for a £40m bid for Harvey. Have you seen the market thesedays? Double it.
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Why are we selling Harvey 
. What did I miss?
Exequiel Palacios is an interesting name if the new Manager rumours are true.
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To make the summer more interesting I think.
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The only need I can see is a central defender to replace Matip. Ideally they are good enough to have a good chance at replacing VVD in time, but will be part of a quartet - VVD, Konate, New man, Quansah - that will see plenty of action.
Joe Gomez could be another back up central defender in a pinch, but he is more of a back up full back these days. Both sides too. Credit to that man.
Beyond that we don’t really need anything, even if Thiago leaves. We have some excellent kids and hopefully Bajcetic overcomes his injury/growing problems to take up a place in the squad.
If Mo Salah decides to leave then obviously we will need to add another forward. My best guess is he will see out his current deal and then assess his options. He is playing at a very high level and will surely want another tilt at the biggest prizes, playing for Liverpool under the new man. There’s an outside chance that he might decide to leave, given the managerial changes at the club, so we will watch and see.
Beyond that, I really can’t see anything happening, apart from the usual smattering of talented kids to come and be schooled in our ways, to be ready to burst into the team when needed, like Bradley or Quansah.
Caveat:
New manager. It’s unlikely they will make wholesale changes, and it’s unlikely we would recruit a manager if that’s what they wanted to do. We have a great squad that is adaptable too. With that said, it is quite normal for the new man to want one or two players of his own to start the journey with, so I’m watching to see what happens there.
Edit
If it is Alonso, maybe he does want to implement three at the back? (I know it doesn’t necessarily follow that a manager will set up the same way at different clubs). Still, let’s imagine Xabi wanted a back three. He might want Hincapie or someone like that, and it could make Robertson’s position vulnerable. Just speculating.
That made a good number of changes last year with primarily young players who are still getting better. Yes this squad is 5 points clear right now, but it is also far from its natural peak. Replacements for Mo and Virgil have to be on our mind, but it isnt necessarily the case that the best solution is to bring those in now.
Sometimes you move forward by getting the fuck out of the way of the thing that is already growing
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Figure of speech, say we were to get a ludicrous offer for any of our squad players…we’d considerate it like we always have and then the money could be used to strengthen elsewhere in the squad. I don’t see us being too busy in the market otherwise, we keep what we have and go again. Whoever the new manager is would be silly to make wholesale changes given how the current seasons shaping up.
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We don’t want to lose the transfer window again.
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Don’t get it twisted.
That trophy is only eligible for clubs like Everton and Spurs who can’t win real trophies.
[Transfermarkt] Al-Nassr activated Hiroki Ito’s 30-million buy out clause and offered a salary increase from €2.5m to €9m - Ito refused
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A carpenter - just to take a few mm off the woodwork…
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Rarely venture into here, but Ross Barkley is maturing into a quality midfielder.
I can see Alonso liking what Barkley could offer us, and at 30 he could give us a good 3 year return.
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He’s doing really well, also saw some of his stats yesterday which back it up. But nah, that’s not for us. Neither the style, quality, age, consistency. We have enough of these #8’s. But he’s doing well to stay in the PL, either with Luton or someone else. Can’t find his contract situation, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s free in the summer.
There was some noise somewhere about 2013 when Stevie supposedly wanted Barkley to sign for Liverpool. But that’s 10 years too late now.
He might have made a decent signing then (even if he was at Everton then) but not now
He’s an example of another player, who’s career stagnated at Chelsea.
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It was already a bit up and down at Everton to be fair. When he made his move to Chelsea, a lot of people, me included, thought like, do they really need him. Think Luton’s formation also suits him, having bodies around him, as one of his best attributes is combining skills in small spaces and then breaking lines going forward.
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