Hurry up and sign some fucking players Edu you muppet.
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Beautiful summary and with that, letās fast forward to August.
Good summary and pleased to see the link to Nico Williams being confirmed.
Lots of work to do in this window now the Euros have finished. Really important we can get a settled squad as quickly as possible so we are ready to go at the start of the season.
With Neves looking bound for PSG, it feels like our midfield targets have dropped off one by one. If weāre really just going for a squad player like Merino, I hope weāre going big in the frontline. A summer of only Califiori and Merino would be deflating and probably mean a net spend of only like 20-30m even accounting for the Raya deal. That is hard to square with the ambitious talk at the beginning of the window about doing everything we can to improve.
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Iād be fine if we didnāt sign anybody tbh so anything we do is moreso a bonus in my eyes.
Think with the age of our team, coach and the trajectory of the club, we should do even better next season as is.
Btw, I wouldnāt underestimate Merino(not sure how likely a deal is). Heās no scrub. Heās been one of the best midfielders in La Liga at Sociedad.
If he were to come here as a squad player thatās an incredible option.
I do think thereās gonna be a couple incomings though. At least two if not all of Nketiah, Nelson and ESR are probably going. Thatās pure profit and 2-3 spots open in an already bare-bones squad.
I watched some Merino videos today and definitely warmed to him. I donāt see him as a 6 but he gives us cover for Rice in that all action 8 role and I think he could also come in for Odegaard in games weāre trying to close out. Heād be a third 8 in the squad that can really do the business off the ball, which is something we donāt really have and probably a necessity to avoid burnout from Rice and Ode.
If itās just him I assume we ride or die with Partey and Jorginho as our pivot midfielders and hope for the best.
My bigger gripe would be neither bringing in a creative midfielder nor a new forward in this situation. For me that leaves us too blunt up front and the issues that arose in certain matches last year (Bayern, Porto, Villa, Newcastle away) seem likely to rise again.
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Still a lot of players are available, not worry a bit.
We just need the right players.
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Iām not too worried just yet, the international torunaments always tend to disrupt the earlier dealings. I think the next couple of weeks will be a lot more important.
Like you though, I do have some concerns if we arenāt making at least one key midifield addition. On the flipside, the last couple of summer windows have seen us making plenty of moves so Iām willing to put my faith in the club to get some good deals over the line.
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With Saka and Rice playing till last weekend, they will definitely not be ready for the start of the season. Theyāll probably only return after the international break, so mid September. Will be interesting to see who plays in those positions for the first few weeks.
No chance Merino comes in to just be a squad player. Itās potentially big money investment on an experienced central midfielder in their prime. He becomes either our starting 8 or starting 6 but start he will.
If itās true that Fabian Ruiz is up for sale why not him? Heās creative and can play a " 6 or 8".
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I think heās the one that makes most sense currently with PSG being open to shift out players.
I can see a scenario where Barca end up with one and us the other between Merino and Ruiz.
Extremely impressed by Ruiz during the Euros. If he is available, we should get him.
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Ruiz is a really tidy and elegant player. Been too long since we had a top class Spanish midfielder in our squad.
Washing machines live longer with Ceballos definitely doesnāt count
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Arteta was the last player that fits that description. 
Santi
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The rumored fee is 20m and heāll likely be on modest wages given he makes so little now.
I think it would be very similar to the Trossard deal in terms of investment, player age, and intended role in the squad.
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No way was Arteta top quality haha.
I rated Arteta in Everton as a good AM. Wenger shoehorned him into some experimental DM. And he was āokā for a couple of seasons. Then his legs were done and he was frustrating at best.
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I think we really made a mistake not playing him in the Fabregas role because thatās where he really excelled for Everton.
35 goals and 36 assists in 209 games is a decent return at Everton, especially given it was under Moyes
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