I think he’s well worth £30m. Haven’t seen much of Vitesse this season, but when I have, that kid always stands out.
It’s rumoured Ajax has some interest and could get him for €20 million.
That’s a bargain.
If Ajax want him, he must be good.
We should go after any player that they are interested in and use them to get our scouting information.
Out:
Cech
Martinez
Ospina
Mustafi
Mavro(loan)
Stephan
Rambo
Elneny
Kolasinac
Wele
In:
Hennessey/Heaton
Jenkinson(if he accepts low wages, keep and give him proper minutes)
Chambers(back from loan)
Nacho Fernandez
Grimaldo
Cyprien
Nandez
Lemar/Fraser(could do both if we cash in on Xhaka)
Objectives;
Top 4(get as close as possible to Liverpool and City)
Gun for both domestic cups
Give priority to European competition to gain traction. Does wonders for worldwide rep.
In a perfect world we’d get some clarity from Stan before the summer. He’d release a statement saying either
- That we have to blow everything up and go into a weird austerity period full of promoting youth, probably leading to five to ten years of mid-table obscurity with the hopes that we bounce back towards the end of the 2020s once the entire academy system has turned over. There’s no guarantee it would work but it would be exciting to field teams of 8 or 9 academy graduates, play exciting soccer and it would give the entire club a direction in the post Arsene era. or
- That we have to blow everything up and go into an accelerated process of spending to compensate for poor recruitment over the last few years (the summer of only buying a GK comes to mind). This would result in big time investment over the summer and while spending money is no guarantee of success it would certainly be exciting to see new names come in and it would give the club a direction in the post Arsene era.
In reality we’ll probably get radio silence while the club fart around trying to appoint a DoF or Technical Director to take charge of the January window which is already a lousy market. What’s unclear is whether Raul is going to have to take time out of his summer recruitment to also try to recruit a DoF or Technical Director which would be ridiculous.
For me a successful summer is as much about getting rid of players as it is bringing them in.
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Mustafi really should be sold at any price. If this were the NBA we’d amnesty Mustafi’s contract just to get rid of him. I know we’ve kicked around the idea of him ending up staying because of the age profile/loan requirements of the other CBs at the club however I truly believe that getting rid of him represents more than just selling a player. He’s a player who has directly cost us points over the last two seasons, makes everyone around him worse and has shown no signs of improvement. At any other top 6 club he’d be out the door. So it’s a test for Raul and co. IMO.
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Do we have any assets to raise transfer funds? If we don’t make Top 4 and can’t get into the UCL through the back door, how can we raise money to buy players? I don’t believe for a second that Stan will sign off on a big spending summer. I think we should listen to offers for Lacazette. I love him as a player and a leader but I can’t really think of any other player in the team who would allow us to raise a decent amount of money. Xhaka might allow us to raise some money and I’d certainly rather sell him than Lacazette but I’m trying to be realistic.
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What do we do with Ozil? Chelsea have managed to salary dump their unwanted players to China in what will (probably) be revealed as a complex money laundering scheme. Why can’t we do the same?
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Can Raul and co. close any deals? It’s not a World Cup summer but it’s a Copa America summer. I like the idea that we’re going to South America to look at prospects before they get huge playing for teams like Benfica or Ajax but we can’t fuck around.
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How much do we value or overvalue our own players? Hector and Holding are both coming back from serious injuries. How much do we bank on them being available, being fit and being first choice? Hopefully we don’t make the old Arsene mistake of counting on guys being available too soon. I remember rolling my eyes one summer when Arsene included Diaby in a list of midfielders in one of his patented “We have so much quality” speeches. Everyone knew Diaby couldn’t be counted on, Arsene knew Diaby couldn’t be counted on, but he counted on him anyway. Hopefully Unai and Raul don’t make that mistake.
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Good analysis but I would argue Laca is near the last one we should be selling. I get the rationale, but disagree on selling him now.
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The center of the park is where we are absolutely woeful imo. Would love Ndombele but I think at this point he’s out of reach and price range. Rumors are pointing to Tottenham signing him.
Just had a gander at Seri’s stats against Xhaka and Torreira and it’s shameful. The dood is playing for a gash team and creating more chances while being on par defensively, with better passing stats. Couldn’t imagine he’d be expensive either as Fulham are going down. Imo this should be priority #1.
Also just looking at some stats, but ppl are raving about Gueye from Everton. He had a monster season defensively, and Everton couldn’t win without him on the pitch. He’s 29 but maybe could be an Arteta type, probably wouldn’t cost us more than 25m or so.
Out:
Xhaka - 25m (being optimistic he’s actually still rated highly despite his well known defensive issues)
Elneny - 5m
Ospina - 4m
Mustafi - 15m
Miki - 20m
Chambers - 5m
In:
Seri - 15m
Gueye - 20m
Herrera - free
Umtiti - 50m
Carrasco - 20m
Giroud - free
I think this would massively upgrade our team tbh.
-----------------------Leno------------------
Bellerin—Umtiti—Holding—Kola
--------------Gueye--------Seri-----------
-------------------------Özil------------------
Auba-----------Lacazette------Carrasco
Bench: Macey, AMN, Jenkinson, Kosh, Nacho, Sokratis, Torreira, Guendouzi, Herrera, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Nelson, Saka, Giroud
Bin 4-2-3-1
I want 4-3-3 surely if we play Özil in a midfield 3 with two runners doing all his dirty work that would work?
Stats don’t tell the full story. A Fulham fan I know thinks Serri has been a near total disaster for them and reading through the Fulham boards on him the general consensus didn’t appear positive when I did some checking around February time.
Gueye - Seri looks depressing as well as Guendouzi - Elneny.
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Van den Beek machine needed.
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One can dream, right?
If we can’t get Pepe, get Havertz
If we can’t get Jota, get Lozano
If we can’t get Tielemans, get Neves
Lots of other options too, especially for the wide positions.
Alaba is probably unattainable but we really need to address LB.
Get rid of Iwobi, Ghaka, Elneny, Ozil, Nacho, Mkhitaryan
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I’d love it.
But probably a dream. I’m expecting only 2 or 3 signings max. All of them underwhelming.
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Weren’t it said that Monreal had his contract extension clause activated?
Yeah I suppose. But I think he is shit and Kolasinac is not a left-back, so we are vulnerable there.
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Aye, I agree on both counts but unfortunately this is a poverty club. 
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I have nothing against your proposed players (although I’m not sure how we’d afford Pepe give the price tag banded about in the media), but it doesn’t address our biggest problem (imo) which is centre back.
You cant rely on Koscielny to be fit for a whole season, and you can’t rely on Holding starting the season in the first team after coming back from injury and not having that much experience in the first place. Sokratis will do okay but we need a good partner for him so that Koscielny can be back up and not injure himself again, and Holding can gradually get back into first team football. Plus it then gives the option of playing a back three.
Sokratis’ partner in this scenario is Mustafi who is worse than all of them…