Now would be a good time to start this.
It is thought that West Ham will sell Rice to a CL club for 120m. :lol:
Probably a saga that will drag on but I would quite like him tbh.
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Now would be a good time to start this.
It is thought that West Ham will sell Rice to a CL club for 120m. :lol:
Probably a saga that will drag on but I would quite like him tbh.
Fuck that….don’t rate Rice…the 120 million is a passport tax for being English
Caicedo should be who we go for
A better player who clearly fits our style
I think Rice is a really good player and it would be a massive statement signing for us but.....the fees being banded about are crazy. I understand all the usual nonsense with buying English players from within PL, but i think Rice is a max 80m player given his current contract situation and his desire to leave.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
I want us to pursue him but not if it means we blow our budget on him and neglect other areas of the team.
Also, I think Rice may end up going to Man City. Talks that West Ham like Kalvin Phillips and City want rid, he could be used in the deal to bring Rice to City and Phillips to West Ham.
Buy:
Caicedo
Another CB
Another striker
Keep:
Balogun
Nelson
Tierney
Sell:
Holding
Vieira
Tavares
Nketiah
ESR
Zinchenko
I’d add Xhaka and Elneny to the sell list and bring in another midfielder (which don’t see happening) but largely I agreeQuote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I'd keep Xhaka but not have him as an automatic starter, he'd be useful in lesser cup games and against certain teamsQuote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Elneny ilkewise has hi uses adn tbh he's almost certainly on a pretty cheap contract
but i forgot to say i'd sell ESR - have added him now...
I think Smith Rowe is more valuable to us than Xhaka and Elneny. In that I don’t think anyone else could substitute for Odegaard in his position…Trossard possibly but he’s more of a naturally wide player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
For me ESR is a player who is a real question mark, due to injuries and consistency, but as he has talent and is English we could get a good price for him right now, before he gets too much of a reputation for being injury-proneQuote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
£120m for Rice is insane..makes no sense paying more than £80m for anyone doing his role IMO.
I mean £120m and adding a bit of change we could make teue statement signings like Osimehen, Kvaradona or even Bellingham.
The Hammers obviously don't want to sell and will lose him for change later.
I can see that argument, but I do think his valuation has dropped since his eye catching season last season, and I still feel that on the basis of this he has potential to improve and be an option in our team. It's sad that he was regarded as one of our top talents (and a fan favourite) just a year ago - and worrying that Arteta no longer seems to fancy him for whatever reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I think signing a striker from another league is always a bit of a risk. We got lucky with Auba but for every Auba there’s a Timo Werner. Even Haaland for City wasn’t no risk even considering the relatively low fee because there was no guarantee he’d adapt to the premier league the way he hasQuote:
Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE
Bellingham I would sign for silly money because he would be exceptional addition to our team
We’ve been linked with Cancelo. :lol:
Tierney to City has also been suggested.
If true, that tells you everything you need to know about how dumb we'd be to let him goQuote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Unfortunately, I don't think it will be the club's decision. It will be Tierney's. I think he is too good to be a bit part player with us, and will want to go where he can be a first team regular.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I’m not Tierney’s biggest fan, I think he’s injured far too often…and when he’s fit it takes far too long for his form to hit the peak of what we can expect from him.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
That he has been superseded by Zinchenko is utterly absurd. Zinchenko works only if you’re dominating on the ball and even then his tendency to take too many touches and give the ball away in dangerous areas is troublesome. And that’s before getting into the fact that he’s a horrendously big liability when we don’t have the ball…and doesn’t even seem to understand what the role of a left back is.
His purchase was made on the hubristic assumption that no matter who we play we would dominate possession, well we are not going to dominate possession away from home against city, Liverpool or arguably Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle. We simply do not have the central midfield for that…and against City we are never going to control possession whether home or away they are just too good for that…it’s like expecting to control possession against Guardiola’s Barcelona team or Guardiola’s Bayern team.
We didn’t need an inverted left back, we needed a player who would sit deeper when we didn’t have the ball and be able to tackle and put in a shift more consistently than Granit Xhaka appears willing or able to do.
almost completely correct and very well expressed - I love the 'hubristic assumption' pointQuote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Except you're wrong about Tierney, the Newcastle game shows exactly what he can bring to the party
I suspect the injuries are at least partly down his not being played enough. Currently he gets virtually no game time with us, then is suddenly made to play 180 minutes for Scotland over three days (which was the last time he got injured btw), or thrown into games where we're desperately defending a lead
It's been the club's decision in the sense if he'd been given more game time and Arteta had handled him better he wouldn't be wanting to goQuote:
Originally Posted by IBK
I know this is complete irrelevant to the subject but how have you commented or posted 30,127 times? I mean thats pretty crazy
Xhaka expected to leave for Leverkusen. :wave:
Rice or Caicedo in please.
I’m glad he’s leaving having somewhat redeemed his reputation.
I like him but he’s not really at the level we need if we’re going to push on
No thanks. £120m for Rice? What a joke. Not worth £50m tbf.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Hard to find value for money these days but if these are the guys we want then we’ve got to pay the going rate. Grealish wasn’t a 100m player either but in their system he looks like a beast now and no one remembers what he cost.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chippy
Got a lot more faith in the club’s recruitment now than I used to have. I reckon we’ll be going in hard this summer.
Was 100m, mate. You literally just said it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
:lol:
Meant more that no one is questioning it anymore.
:lol::lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by mandela8
I think the Transfers in the summer need to reflect that the club considers this season a bitter disappointment rather than one of success.
I’m glad Xhaka wants to leave because there seems to be no indication that Arteta would have got rid. Immediately replace him with Tielemans
Fuck bringing in Declan Rice, don’t rate him. Caicedo much the better player
Don’t need both of them, I’d bring back Charlie Patino for cover for Tielemans
Also being linked with a right sided centre half. I would sooner have a right fullback and rotate our defenders because I just think White is not a natural right back.
Depending on what Nelson does or doesn’t do, we may need an extra person on the wing…though I’d consider blooding Marquinhos
Then we need to bring in a striker. Like many people on here I absolutely agree that we need to bring in a tall striker that is more physical and a threat in the air.
So my priorities this summer would be midfield, Striker and right sided full back (plus left sided if we cannot persuade Tierney to stay)
If Toney didn’t have a lengthy ban hanging over him I would say break the bank to get him. He would be perfect for us.
He'd certainly be a good bet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
I'm sorry to say i think both Nelson and Tierney have been mishandled to the point where we've lost them and it sounds like we're also going to mess up with Balogun tooQuote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
I think Patino has said he's off also
so we're losing good players left right and centre at a time when we should be building up our squad further
I'd prefer Caicedo but instead i think we're going for the home-grown option - ofc it woud be just like us to get outbid for Rice by Man U or someone and then have lost the chance to sign Caicedo too
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65626690Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Speak of the Devil
He'd be like a new signing when he came back though :unsure:Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Absolutely fuckin incredible news about Xhaka. Getting actual real money for him anaw. Mental.
People talk about how this has been his best season and whilst id agree it has been his least bad, I'd also argue that it has exposed his weaknesses more than at any point. The fluidity of play not involving him compared to any action that goes through him is night and day. He's just so fuckin slow and cumbersome at everything, the number of opportunities that are missed because he can't transition quickly are staggering. I know most of you lack the insight to identify things like this but it's the single weakest point of the team.
Him leaving is as good as any signing for me.
Milner, Ox and Keita leaving along with Firminho in the summer
If Keita wasn’t so injury prone would say go for him, exactly the kind of midfielder we need
Cancelo and Rice top of the shopping list according a lot rags.
Not entirely sure if City would sell to us again but I thought Cancelo was an exceptional player until he fell out with Pep. Would be a really good addition to the back line.
Cancelo can't defend, he is great on the ball, great at playing that inverted full back role as an additional midfielder, but like Zinchenko, Cancelo is a very suspect defender. He would come at a cost too, I'd prefer we avoid him TBH.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Ornstein says we are pushing hard for both Rice and Mount and also have an interest in Gundogan.
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC/st...41250955792385
Quote:
Originally Posted by selassie
Rice and Mount?
Fucking hell
My thoughts too. I like Rice and think he would be a decent signing, but Mount??? He is a good player but I don't actually know what he excels in or what his favoured position is as he seems to play all over the place. I guess we are looking at him as a potential number 8 to replace the outbound Xhaka?Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Also, our wage bill will literally be through the roof if Rice and Mount come, they are both likely to command 250k per week
I don’t think Rice or Mount are good players. Overrated English playersQuote:
Originally Posted by selassie
If we want an upgrade on Xhaka it exists in Tielemans and should be signing Caicedo not Rice
We do need a full back but only because Tierney is going to be sold and because neither White or Tomoyasu are good enough at right back (Tomoyasu should be sold)
I hear you on Caicedo over Rice, though I think one of the attractions about Rice is his height.Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Tielemans??? Have you watched him recently? He is awful, rubbish. Slow, weak....and he is not even a guaranteed starter in that wretched Leicester side that are going down to the Championship.
Would 100% take Gundogan on a free. Not the profile we probably need at 32 and big wages but he’s an elite player and if we got a couple years out of him that would be ideal. I think we need at least 4-5 varied signings to ensure we have a respectable CL campaign and challenge again in the league.