He is an absolute menace and has an eye for goal. He’ll go to a big team and bang goals in. I’d happily see us spend Declan Rice money on him.
He’ll probably go to PSG though.
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You’ve got to get those guys before they go to another club and the valuation hits £100m
He’s also a freak physically,.ceiling is sky high if he has the right mental
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Honestly, I think so as well. Not a lot of players in this market that excite you.
Probably a victim of our own success as well, we’ve reached a pretty high level now where it’s tough to find game changers. Not that there aren’t any, they do exist but they may not be available currently or will require a significant investment to bring.
And with FFP concerns around the world, I think the club will be careful not to burn themselves.
We desperately need a wide man. The club really can’t be so negligent as to ignore that. The defense is where we can probably get away with it.
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What would be wrong with something like this:
Out:
Ramsdale - 30m
Nketiah - 20m
Tierney - 10m
Cedric - free
Moneny - free
In:
Sesko/vlaho - 50m
Szczesny - free
Zubimendi - 40m
OK the names can change but generally something like that and I don’t see why anyone would be massively disappointed? You’re not getting a rice every summer unless you’re Man City but we need to add more in the front 6.
Vieira and ESR will have to support Odegaard more next year.
Oh and yes, we keep the chaos man Nuno Tavares as a backup winger 
Welcome to Set Piece FC, Benjamin 
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Forget about a Vlahovic type signing never happening. We arnt signing an experience CF to sit on the bench behind Havertz (or vice versa).
Any CF will be a young project signing like Sesko which personally dosnt excite me especially when you see how slow other young strikers (with good experience)are to settle in such as Jackson, Nunez, Hojland.
If I think our transfers ellevate our squad above City’s I’ll be excited, otherwise I’ll be disappointed. That’s the level we’re at.
Simply ticking some boxes isn’t really enough.
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Zubimendi is a no-go, he’s staying still.
Just going off rumours I think these are the names that are being reiterated the most:
- Hato
- Bruno Guimaraes
- Sesko
I think beyond that you’re looking at:
- Ramsdale’s potential replacement
- Perhaps another midfielder/forward in case there is movement with Nelson/ESR/Jesus. My personal is that ESR goes.
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Would be surprised if hato still comes given the new contract, means 40m or more when we could’ve had him on the cheap.
Not really bothered who the DM/CM signing is but we need one. Zubi was just an example but appreciate if not him it may cost more as well, Bruno at 80m if we have restrictions is ridiculous.
Tbh really depends where they wana use Rice going forward, I think we can find a decent player for the 8 slot better than we can a top quality 6.
If we keep Partey we can even sign a developmental player for the 8. We’ve gone close this season with Jorginho and Rice for the most part.
If you had a time machine maybe. Guy looks cooked.
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Rashford scores 25 plus here in all comps.
Extremely unlikely transfer though.
Profile wise, he’s absolutely perfect for our LW.
Mbappe, Leao and Isak are others.
The guy who plays there is the “real” striker of the team. If you’re hungry for goals you’re feasting there.
Trossard is showing it the last couple of months.
Shame Martinelli hasn’t capitalised on it.
The guy is inconsisent and streaky AF
Some of you never learn lol
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I’m not 100% sure you are right about Zubimendi…although reports are saying he is unlikely to leave.
But in terms of the transfer targets I think you could be bang on the money. I still think we will add a winger, but lots of noise about those players.
Question about Guimaraes - do you think we would be buying him mainly as a No.8 or No.6? His best position is supposed to be as a No.8 but seems to play deeper for Newcastle. I get that we want the flexibility and Rice has done well as a No.8, but Rice’s best position is as a No.6 so I would prefer us to buy a new No.8 really…very curious to know your thoughts on this.
The rumours about him have completely died and Imanol(Sociedad’s manager) has confidently said Zubimendi is not leaving in the summer and he’ll be at Sociedad next season.
That move is as good as dead.
On Guimaraes, he’s definitely coming in as a #6. He’ll essentially take the mantle from Jorginho and Partey.
I think with Jorginho’s renewal that would mean Partey is on the chopping block.
Is No.6 his best position though? I thought he was a No.8 at Lyon?
Yes, he’s a deep lying playmaker. He’s too shit of an athlete to play box-to-box.
Our midfield when everyone will be fit will be:
Rice-Bruno-Odegaard
On paper that works, my issue with that is we have no Rice alternative.
Knock on wood Rice gets injured we may be forced to field a midfield of:
Bruno-Jorginho-Odegaard
All can pass don’t get me wrong but they’re all are slow and two of them are below average athletes.
We will be eaten alive by any decent team that can run and carry the ball.
I think in that case you’d have to pull back Havertz and go with:
Havertz-Bruno-Odegaard
But that to me is confusing because then you’re potentially taking Havertz away from up top so you better have enough depth to cover for that.
Personally, I would rather a player that can play both as a #6 or an #8 with ease so that we don’t have that problem.
What I think may end up happening is that we may end up signing another midfielder in the end. I think ESR is going and his replacement will be closer to Rice than Odegaard/Vieira.
I think that’s where someone like Curtis Jones pops to mind. Another player I mentioned before that I wouldn’t be shocked if we’re interested in is Gallagher.
I agree, I think we’ll see a Ramsdale and Partey replacement and any big spending will be on an attacking player and possibly a back up for Saka.
So with Ramsdale, Partey, Nelson, ESR, Nketiah, etc, sold for around 80m, as well as others like Elneny and Cedric off the wage bill, it should be a net spend of just over 100m to get the players Arteta needs to strengthen the squad.
EPL level signings to bolster the squad: Hato, Nico Williams, Sesko and a goalkeeper, I’d love Restes because he’s going to be a worldie in a few years. Remember Ornstein said we were concentrating on “quality youth” players
The big money will go on a defensive midfielder, Ramsdale plus cash for Bruno seems most likely.
I’m starting to think that ESR and Vieira will stay. Partey will go (I said that last year didn’t I?) Nelson and Nketiah also leaving with Mo and Cedric.
I’m not sure exactly what we’ll do but broadly speaking I think the goal will be to make the squad slightly smaller but with more high quality players. From the squad that stayed with us this year I think we’re highly likely to lose (either via sales or loans): Ramsdale, Cedric, Elneny, Partey, Nketiah, and at least one of Smith-Rowe/Nelson. We’ll hopefully add a backup GK, a DM or 6/8 player, a LB/LCB type, and a forward, with some chance of adding one more. So that’s 6-7 players converted into 4-5.
I can see us ending up with a net spend on fees in the 100-120m range but actually saving on wages. Our new backup GK will be on less than Ramsdale. At DM, Bruno would probably be on about the same as Partey but other options like Neves or Zubimendi would surely be on substantially less. A young defender like Hato would probably make around the same as Cedric or a little more. And a young striker like Sesko would probably be in the 150k range which is probably about what Eddie and Elneny make together. Then you have ESR and/or Reiss’s wages dropping and both are on around 100k per week if I recall correctly.
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