Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I would probably sign Benteke ahead of Cavani too.

[AFC Leveller]

I would probably sign Benteke ahead of Cavani too.

Cavani is top drawer. He is the kind of striker that would get you the first goal in a big game. Benteke is decent and is mostly a form player but isn't at that level yet imo.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Ever since he left Italy I've been less and less impressed with him....honestly, I've seen him miss more chances than take them. Had he taken the sort of chances his price tag suggests he does, PSG may have stayed in the CL a little longer and Uruguay might have done better He has been shown up by Suarez countless times and shown up by Diego Forlan a couple of times. Benteke will get better. He had a goal drought as most strikers do from time to time, but under the right guidance he can be amongst the top 3 forwards in the league imo.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

...and Cavani would cost 20 million more and is far from certain to adapt to this league. Watch FatCow stumble about the place sends alarm bells ringing....

[Dein-machine]

Need to improve the spine of the team & be more ruthless in the market.
Cech in - sell Sir Ches.
Vidal in - get rid of Famini ( didn't need to give Arteta another contract either )
Benzema in - sell Giroud to help fund.
Sterling in - use Theo as swap deal.

We also need quality CB to partner Kos - with Gabriel as 3rd choice. If Merts can't play at Interntional level anymore, he shouldn't be playing Premier League.

People will say that we shouldn't sell Giroud or Theo but they have had more than enough time & opportunities to prove that they can consistently produce the quality required at the top level. Unfortunately, neither has. Giroud single-handedly knocked us out of the Champions League with a shocking display of finishing. This will happen time & time again with him.
Sterling is a younger version of Theo & we know Theo is built like a Chocolate teapot. He will spend large parts of most seasons injured. Sterling has already shown a degree of consistency at Liverpool & I believe with the players we have he could become an extra special player.

We have put up with players that lack actual quality for far too long. We will never win a title with Giroud as our main striker so why keep him. We won't win one with Welbeck either but he's got better physical attributes than Giroud, can play in a wider position & he helps fulfill our English quota.

Lets start having proper quality in all positions, not be happy to put up with mediocre players that Wenger hopes will one day turn into something good - he has lost his magic touch in that department. The signing of Alexis should prove that you get quicker & better results when you spend on quality. We are now in a position to do so.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Based on what? It's far easier for that kind of outcome with a forward than a midfielder. There are less examples of midfielders with the quality of Veron going to another league and failing to live up to expectation to that extent.

I think beyond the Pogba hype (which is mostly justified), Vidal has been the stand out player for Juventus the past few years and I'd include their strikers in that. As a midfielder he can do everything. He can provide the defensive cover we need under instruction and in games where the opposition are parking the bus he can provide the impetus going forward. He is a much better footballer than Morgan imo, should rightfully cost more and we should be willing to pay it, unless we simply want an 'understudy' to Coquelin rather than somebody to genuinely improve the team and squad. I would also say in Vidal's favour, he tends to move the ball pretty quickly and will be used to a quick tempo game with Chile.

I think Juventus tend to have a solid yet flexible midfield because Marchisio, Pogba, Vidal and to some extent Pirlo have excellent all round games....that will also mean they would probably be willing to lose one of them.

Mainly based on his age (28), his recent injury record and the type of player he is (high energy, box to box). In Italy where the league is a lot slower and also considerably less intense & competitive he's been able to get away with the latter, but I think it would punish him in England. Yes he has been impressive at Juventus, no doubt about that but Seria A is dog shit these days and a poor way to judge players. We'd steamroller that league every year if we were in it. He's been good in the CL this year but I disagree with Syn's assessment of him being outstanding against Madrid; it was more Madrid's incompetence and wastefulness that cost them.

Maybe saying he'd flop as bad as them is a bit harsh, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me if he deteriorated significantly after a few years. I think we'd get one or two years out of him which for me, considering the ridicolous money and resources we'd have to spunk on him just isn't worth it for a club like us. Maybe for a Man City and their infinite resources and short-termism but for us no.

In fact I'd generally avoid players 28 or over in midfield or up front. I think 22 - 25 is the age bracket we should be shopping for in those positions.

[Power n Glory]

It's unfair to judge a player based on the quality of the league. Sanchez earned his stripes in Serie A, Luis Saurez was killing it at Ajax before he moved to Liverpool. Sometimes you just have to judge on talent and buy based on what's required for your system. It's the teams that stock pile and buy players that have they have no business buying that have really good players looking suspect when coming over to a new league. When buying, you need to make sure you have a need for that player and you have a system for him to play in.

[fakeyank]

Benzema in - sell Giroud to help fund.

Benzema will not suit the PL. He is good because he plays for Madrid.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Mainly based on his age (28), his recent injury record and the type of player he is (high energy, box to box). In Italy where the league is a lot slower and also considerably less intense & competitive he's been able to get away with the latter, but I think it would punish him in England. Yes he has been impressive at Juventus, no doubt about that but Seria A is dog shit these days and a poor way to judge players. We'd steamroller that league every year if we were in it. He's been good in the CL this year but I disagree with Syn's assessment of him being outstanding against Madrid; it was more Madrid's incompetence and wastefulness that cost them.

Maybe saying he'd flop as bad as them is a bit harsh, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me if he deteriorated significantly after a few years. I think we'd get one or two years out of him which for me, considering the ridicolous money and resources we'd have to spunk on him just isn't worth it for a club like us. Maybe for a Man City and their infinite resources and short-termism but for us no.

In fact I'd generally avoid players 28 or over in midfield or up front. I think 22 - 25 is the age bracket we should be shopping for in those positions.

You have a point about the age thing....I'd not considered that too deeply. All I would say is that there comes a point when a player is so good he negates his slightly advanced years. After all, none of us would turn our nose up at somebody as good as Suarez because he was 28.

The Italian league is a lot slower, the Spanish league is less physical and every other league is plainly not as good (though I know it's fashionable these days to do the Prem down) so there's always going to be a reason not to buy abroad....so I'm not sure how much actual weight him coming from the Italian league carries. I would agree that of course it factors in any appraisal though.

Monaco have shown that we aren't at Juventus' level never mind Barca/Real's so why would we steamroller the Italian league? I think we would probably finish a very comfortable second. Juventus seldom lose a game in any competition.

Juventus and Italian clubs in general are far from flush and have been modest on their spending for some time now. I think Juventus would only dismiss an offer of less than 20 million. That's not to say we'd get him for that figure but it would certainly bring us to the table. People are talking around the 25-30 million mark for Morgan at Southampton so I don't see that Vidal must be attained for an astronomical fee.

If you want to sign an established certified ready made world class player of experience, but yet not, over the hill age who has won titles then 20-30 million is certainly not unreasonable.

They would win the league without Vidal and it would help keep them ahead of the pack in Italy at least. I wasn't overly aware he had a poor injury record and I don't know what the numbers are so you may well be perfectly correct there?

[Sanchez]

Would love Cech but think Jose will heavily influence him to go anywhere but us.