If we’re looking for cover at CB then look no further than Dunk.
He’s PL experienced and, if we get Caiecedo, he’ll fit in nicely with the ex Brighton players we’re accumulating. 
Hate whenever anyone suggests dunk tbh, the guy will look like rob holding soon as he comes here.
We need athletes who can pass at CB. Playing high line risky football dominating the ball means CB’s having recovery pace and reading of long balls is crucial.
I’m sorry but our future cbs have to be foreign, British players are just nowhere near as comfortable on the ball under pressure either. May get better in future but right now Benny white looks like an anomaly to that.
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Quite rate Dunk, but doesn’t he play on the left?
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Seems to depend who he’s with.
Webster - Dunk = dunk left
Dunk - Colwill = dunk right
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I’m not sure but he might be too old for Arteta anyway although he’s probably on fairly low wages.
We need versatile defenders like White and as experienced as Dunk is, he’s unlikely to be on Arteta’s list.
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Somebody suggested Chris Smalling in the wishlist in a free before. Think he’s the lower end of what we should be looking for. Experienced, seasoned in different teams or leagues but still has the desire.
We probably aren’t going to pick up a Thiago Silva or Varane, but we’ve got a defence full of twenty somethings. I think Zinchenko is the oldest and he can’t even defend!
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Tbf Zinchenko is a defender in name only. We all know what he’s there to do.
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Someone pointed out to me that Mount got 29 G/As last season.
Madders got 30 but I presume he stat-padded a lot in the EL and ECL.
Still those are impressive numbers for both. I’m more of Madders fan myself but Mount does offer more off the ball and his injury record is much cleaner.
Very intrigued to add another goalscoring midfielder in the team on top of Odegaard.
In what is Xhaka’s best season so far, he’s got 12 G/As.
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I’d go for Maddison as well.
Scoring and assisting for Leicester regularly is far more impressive than doing it surrounded by world class players at Chelsea.
Either Rice or Maddison would be make us a better team but I’m not sure Mount would make much difference.
Would be happy with either tbh.
Rice and Mount or Rice and Maddison.
Going from:
Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Elneny, Jorginho/Lokonga, Vieira and Smith-Rowe
To:
Rice, Mount/Maddison, Odegaard, Partey, Xhaka, Smith-Rowe, Vieira
That’s a massive upgrade.
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A midfield of Mount Rice and Odegaard looks utter garbage.
Partey and Odegaard will still start anyway so not sure why he drops so far down the list but if we sign Rice we can’t also sign Mount ffs.
Technical quality in our depth is what we lack compare to city, no point adding the white mo farah, need somebody better on the ball.
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Does it?
You’re looking at about 30-40 goals from that midfield.
Lots of workrate which Arteta loves, and something we’ve missed the last couple games too.
Oh, and the average age is 24.
Btw, Partey doesn’t really fall down the pecking order much. Even if he loses his starting spot, he’s probably the first name off the bench. He’ll get plenty of game time with CL next season.
I assume you mean 30/40 combined goals and assists? Even so not sure where those numbers would come from given mount has 5 combined g/a in 24 this season, odegoat has 20 in 32, rice has 5 in 33.
So Odegaard would have to perform at the same level as this season and carry them (then what’s the point? He’s already doing that) or Mount has to step it up and prove this season was an anomaly.
Then you get a bunch of work rate at the expense of technical quality, that trio would be worse technically than our current one with Xhaka in it.
What are we trying to do, win the average age league?
You must’ve missed it, but as I pointed out, Mason Mount had 29 G/As last season.
He’ll have every chance to match that in Xhaka’s role in our team.
@GC-Maniac and @InvincibleDB10…I get that Maddison is a good player and that you both rate him, but as I’ve said before on here, he isn’t a No.8 and he would be competing directly with Odegaard for a starting position in our formation in the No.10 position. It would also effectively mean we would sell ESR. How does Maddison fit into our system and starting line up?
Mount seems to be a much more versatile option, but my recollection is that he plays predominately from the left-hand side, so where would he play in our team? Mount probably works in a 4-3-3 but we still tend to play 4-2-3-1. In possession Zinny inverts and Xhaka pushes up. If Mount comes in for Xhaka, I’m fine with that when we have the ball , but out of possession, I agree with @Starboy, I don’t like the sound of that at all - far too open, even if we sign Rice. If we play him in a more advanced winger role he is competing with Martinelli and Trossard.
In both cases, we need to make sure we don’t fall into the trap Wenger did, and buy good players and then play them out of position.
We need a No.6, No.8 and a right sided winger in the summer. We need transformational signings in those positions.
At the moment, I’m opting for Rice (No.6), either Caicedo or SMS (No.8) and Diaby (right wing).
It seems likely that we are going to sell Lokonga, and with Elneny on his last legs as well, if we did need another midfield option, not too expensive, I’m going to give a shout out to James Ward-Prowse. Solid midfielder, and excellent at free kicks. Could easily do a job for us, and with Southampton looking certain for relegation, would be likely to move this summer.
I think we play a very clear 4-3-3. In Arteta’s own words, he didn’t want Xhaka so deep and wanted him to instead offer more in the final third. He pretty much said that he gave Xhaka an ultimatum last year or he would take action(in that interview with Carragher).
To Xhaka’s credit, he stepped up big time this season, especially before the WC, however, he couldn’t maintain that.
The way I see it, we play with 2 #8s. There’s no free role #10 in the team. All 3 midfielders need to put a heavy shift in both off and on the ball. Both Xhaka and Odegaard have lots of involvement in our final third.
I think both Vieira and ESR(out of his hands tbf) missed an opportunity not displacing Xhaka in that role.
Anyway, even if we wanted to play a more conservative 4-3-3, we could with Rice and Partey.
I think in general though, the idea is for both #8s to be attacking minded.
Btw:
That’s pretty good catalogue of goals and assists.
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Rice and Mount.
That would be the two dream buys for me.
I don’t want any more Dutch, French or Portuguese league buys
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Our formation is fluid, and out of possession we may fall back to a 4-3-3, but IMO we predominately play 4-2-3-1. Zinny makes the extra midfielder in possession, allowing Xhaka to push forward.
However, whether we play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, we still have the same problem with the 3rd midfielder who takes on Xhaka’s role. If you have Mount and Odegaard alongside either Partey or Rice, I think the midfield is too open. If we hadn’t have signed Trossard, Mount would have made more sense. However, I personally feel we need a more traditional and solid No.8 that can both defend and attack. I don’t think Mount gives us that. As an attacking talent though, as you said above, his stats from last season are very good so from that perspective, he would make a very good addition.
I’d still be interested to hear how and where you would play Maddison?
Mount basically Ramsey 10 years younger, cba re-living that life.
And no GC I did see it, that’s why he would have to prove this season (his shit one) is the anomaly. Seems so far that last season was.
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