Jas10

Not seen any of Edouard, is he really that good?

Can never really tell with SPL players, some of them do well there but it doesn’t often seem to translate when they move to superior leagues. 

Van Dijk being the huge exception of course!

Larsson was quality back in the day too.

Haven’t forgotten this...

Nasty piece of work.

10 minutes ago, Villa94 said:

got the feeling grealish to utd is still on solskjaer really wants him think there is a deal to be done at £80m depending if we will accept maybe 40 or 50 initially then the rest in installments 

Looking forward to seeing him back to his best next season, linking with Jack & hopefully the pair of them will be surrounded by better players too!

I think, when he plays, he needs to be closer to the CF so that we can use his attacking/shooting ability. He’s a good player for the squad but not good enough for the first team. Maybe he can improve as he seemed “at it” for our last few games...

I just think it’s a shame that we rarely take advantage of all the fouls we (well, Grealish ) wins and rarely look dangerous from set pieces. Conor is all we have for that atm and it certainly isn’t one of Jacks strengths. 

A bit too lightweight. Can’t really pass or shoot.

Decent at the defensive side, breaking up play but he is very limited and I wouldn’t miss him at all but also wouldn’t be upset at him remaining.

Seems easily overpowered at times.

I’d like us to have a much better quality of player throughout the squad in all honesty so that we have decent options from the bench too. 

Tbh, he’s not my first choice but one of the things to consider with Tammy is just how young he is (so probably doesn’t deserve too much criticism?).
 

He will keep improving with regular football and his value will continually increase over time. 

It may be unlikely, but he doesn’t seem to be in favour or first choice for Chelsea (Giroud has been preferred, more recently at least) and with their new signings he’s only going to find it harder and is likely to be further down the pecking order...

Saw something where Lampard apparently called him a “Championship striker” and reduced him to tears...

Maybe it was just motivational and nothing worth reading into or maybe that relationship has turned sour? As in, he’s gone down in Lampard’s estimation... 

If they have undervalued him and we could snatch him, it may be one that Chelsea regret?

I don’t know but maybe it’s not impossible...

All I do know is that we desperately need goalscorers and need a major improvement in attack.

Also, Batshuayi isn’t getting a look in at all is he? Don’t really know how good he is tbh but he has been prolific in the past?

I’d be delighted if we get 2 CFs (offload Samatta - not the required quality & send Davis out on loan) but absolutely need one top striker who can be relied on for goals...

I wonder whether we could wrap up the Buendia signing soon/first? Seems attainable and we need wingers.

19 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

I do agree with this need to bring the big guns of football in and not the players that would make us a mid table team, need to aim higher.

I were hoping youd carry on a little while longer though, so carry on going on and on.

I’d be quite happy with us progressing to a mid table team! We barely survived this season & cant overlook that.

But some of the suggested signings (as I listed at the end) would not help us in that sense, they’d also keep us right at the bottom end of the table or in relegation trouble.

We need to identify genuine quality (not fill gaps as we did last season).

Again, there’s many examples. I wasn’t saying go for the “big guns” but scour the top leagues for excellent players with recognisable quality and high potential.

Arsenal did it with the likes of Petit & Vieira (who had heard of them beforehand? They ended up dominating the league and overpowering other teams/players).

Leicester got Mahrez & Kante.

There’s so many (much more recent) examples too. We have to sign players (no matter where they come from) that are going to make a major difference and transform us into a team that can compete and not ever be at risk of relegation for a start. Over time, we can continue to improve and add to the team and progress further up the table and maybe, in the not too distant future, challenge for European football.

Will all depend on the kind of signings we make.

7 hours ago, VillaHatesMe said:

Hudderfield turned down a £15 million bid for Grant in January so I couldn't see them parting with him for £10 now.

Yeah I can see them rejecting that tbh...
 

7 hours ago, sne said:

We need players who will help us keep possession higher up the pitch for longer periods and who will able to win back the ball higher up the pitch.

We need more pace and better mobility. We defended too deep for most of the season and a lot of that was down to us not being able to maintain pressure or the ball in the opponents half. We lost the ball while half of the team where in transition and it made us too easy to break against. 1 or 2 passes and they were through on goal. Or we gave the ball back even before that happened. Looked better during the restart when the average tempo was much lower and we had more to play for than our opponents but we really need at least 1 much higher quality wide player, 2 if Grealish moves or goes back into central midfield (hope he doesn't) ideally a talent upgrade in attack and a different type of CM to what we have.

A more experienced CB and at least competition at the wide back positions. And then there is all the other areas where we might need cover. 

Exiting couple of weeks coming up. Hope we manage to get some "too good for us" level players in.

Omitting the players I think we should offload, I’d like us to strengthen as follows:

GK: Heaton, NEW GK, Steer 

LB: Targett, NEW LB

CB: Mings, Hause (not a fan tbh, so poor on the ball)

CB: Konsa, Engels

A new, top quality CB would really help.

RB: Guilbert (would like to see him get a sustained run in the side and I’m sure the coaching team will have worked on the tactical side of the game with him as they have with others like Doug)

Elmo is ok as backup but wouldn’t mind letting him go and getting a quality RB to fight for the position with Fred. Not a priority but I am happy with us adding as much quality as possible.

DM - Luiz, NEW DM/CM, Nakamba (3rd choice or farewell, too limited)

CM - McGinn, Hourihane, NEW CM

CM/AM - Grealish, NEW AM/FW (maybe one of the new wingers to alternate)

LW - NEW LW 

RW - NEW RW

suggestions - Rashica, Sarr, Deulofeu, Buendia, Benrahma

Trez & El Ghazi either subs or bye bye (more signings needed in that case)

CF - NEW ST (Belotti?!), Wesley, NEW ST/Samatta (really don’t mind if he goes but, again, replacement required)

Davis, Vassilev & others out on loan

6 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

What do you think we need to bring in then?

We need genuine quality more than anything, PL experience isn’t a must for me.

Get some proper players from decent/competitive leagues (Bundesliga, Série A, La Liga, Ligue 1) and some gems from elsewhere. South America is always worth a look.

I personally won’t be happy if we just target players from much weaker leagues (we’ve already done that) like Belgium, Turkey, Scandinavia etc unless we’re looking at young talent with high potential to fill out the squad to complement the higher/proven quality players we would be spending most on. As long as they are to add to the “bigger”’or better players we would be mainly targeting I would have no issue but if we are only signing that kind of player then that would concern me greatly.

We need starters who will greatly enhance the strength of our first team. Only players who are better than what we have already got. I don’t really see the point otherwise tbh.

Happy with the links (or rumours & speculation) to highly rated players like Rashica & Belotti. Would love us to sign players who are used to competing at a higher level and with proven or recognisable talent & ability. 

Benrahma would be great too, players with obvious talent and potential need to be pursued.

No objection to bringing Tammy back if possible (he will continue to go down the pecking order with the signings that Chelsea are making).

There is talent (and that much vaunted PL experience) in the teams that have been relegated. Watford must be looked at (Sarr & Deulofeu in particular).

I want us to demonstrate our ambition and intent this time, for all the money we spent I would say our previous transfer activity was fairly “meek” and below expectations.

This season has proved that we don’t have what it takes to be competitive and become a mainstay in this division. We desperately and heavily need to strengthen.

The main thing we lacked is quality...

Dunno if it’s legit but...

we really must learn our lesson from the Drinkwater move.

What a complete & utter disaster.

Prem experience is not always all it’s cracked up to be...

Very limited player but not bad as a squad player, for closing out games etc.

Just shows how weak our squad is though when we practically have to bring him on for another midfielder simply because we have no other (decent) options.

Desperately hoping that we are going to be super active and make major moves in this transfer window. We really need to kick on and enhance the quality of our team, otherwise it’s going to be another season of struggle.

Crucial time for the club.

45 minutes ago, Cliffy Biro said:

Suppose it depends how much we plan to spend, i can't see it being another 100m+ though personally so i think theres areas that are in far more need of upgrades than LB. Targett is a decent lower half left back and Taylors got 1 year left for backup.

20 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

I'd take Iheanacho as one of 2 new strikers if the price was right. Not as a main striker or more than 15m. Also, as he couldnt play against Villa, half his goal tally would be wiped out.

Yeah but I just doubt he would move from Leicester to continue as 2nd or 3rd choice elsewhere...

3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

If he can't leave his house, he can't sign for anyone else.

Quality certainly seems to have improved...