Squad additions

[degreeinblue]

Martins-indi!!!

 

[BlueToff]

I doubt we were ever actually in for Suarez, and I can't see us going for him. He's a quality midfielder and would cost well over £10mil, plus he could very well be playing for the Spanish champions next season the way Atletico are going.

 

[Kiwi]

We need a young CB, and a striker. When we consider youth coming through CM for next season is covered, leaving just those two areas. Distin is possibly going to retire or take on less of a role and it would be good to bring in a long term replacement. We need a striker for obvious reasons, with us only having Kone at the club when Lukaku and Traores loans end. Be it one of those two or someone else we need to bring in that area. I would also argue we need a back up striker, someone who can be brought in on loan. We also could do with a creative 10 player, arteta or pienaar esq to provide a cutting edge to our possesion. Longer term i see Barkley dropping deeper to provide us impetus from deep, drawing players then laying it to that number 10 who can create from the spaces produced. This may not be immediate, as Barkley still would need to develop his positioning in the deeper role and work on breaking down attacks as well as creating them. Some of these players may come from the Youth (Tyias Browning, Green, Ledson etc) and certainly long term that is the strategy that Martinez is setting out. But when we have money, we should buy young quality players and we have money...

 

[quasi modo]

I can see the likes of Conor Grant and Tyias Browning getting more involved next season.

 

[Kiwi]

I can the likes of Conor Grant and Tyias Browning getting more involved next season.

Lundstram too. Massive Raps on Ledson coming through playing u21 games at 16, england youth captain etc.
Green is coming along too, apparently just needs to "make a position his own". Green is possibly the "pienaar or arteta" creative type as a number ten or playmaker. Kennedy's the out and out winger and We could possibly see Duffy coming back.

 

[quasi modo]

Lundstram too. Massive Raps on Ledson coming through playing u21 games at 16, england youth captain etc.
Green is coming along too, apparently just needs to "make a position his own". Green is possibly the "pienaar or arteta" creative type as a number ten or playmaker. Kennedy's the out and out winger and We could possibly see Duffy coming back.

I agree we have some talented players coming through and the future could be good for us, but with Duffy i just can't see him making it at the top level.

 

[Kiwi]

I agree we have some talented players coming through and the future could be good for us, but with Duffy i just can't see him making it at the top level.

If nothing else we'll make some money on him. He's been very impressive for Yeovil from everything i've heard, if we're selling there will be championship interest.

 

[dead_soft]

Reckon Altidore will be available in the Summer?

 

[Kiwi]

Reckon Altidore will be available in the Summer?

He's going to Madrid in the Summer for 20million pounds after a spectacular World Cup #USMNT
Interest also from Stockport and Kidderminster Harriers

 

[Christiffa25]

CB is a must for the summer IMO. Alcaraz can't be relied upon, distin is getting near the end of his career, stones is young and still learning and could well be needed as RB cover also.

If we make Europe, which I believe we will (Europe league) we would need more options than we have now.

GK - Nothing needs doing this summer. Eventually would love us to go out and break the bank for begovic.

Def - A young CB ideally left sided. Martins indi would be my choice. If we make Europe I would keep alcaraz, if not would let him move on.

Mid - Barry made perm is as good as done IMO. Gibson will add to the numbers but we need another option in CM. Barkley and less so osman can give another option there but ideally 1 more natural CM. Not sure who tho!

Wing - Our current 4 are very good options IMO as long as we can get Delefoe to stay another year. If not we will have to add another. Maybe Ince if he proves himself on his loan deal at palace.

ACM - Barkley is a delight in that role, Miralass is also proving a worthy debutant and off the bench osman can still do a job there. Don't think we have to buy a dedicated ACM, maybe getting a CM who can also play the role or a striker capable of dropping into that role would be best.

CF - Naismith is showing he's an option there. I think him and kone can be good 3/4th options. Based off that I'd say we need 2 strikers. Lukaku perm would be great, the another who could ideally play the No.10 role when needed.

That's my take anyway, a few key summer additions could see us really push on. Not massive amounts of work needs doing to this squad. Very exciting really.

 

[chriswho]

Lescott coming back is an interesting idea. My concern with him or any of the other ideas is how little pace we have on defense.

Distin is still one of the fastest players on the team and when he is out, our high defensive line gets exposed on counterattacks. Look at the liverpool game for many examples. Painful watching their players run with the ball from midfield and still be faster than our CB's who could straight line sprint and use an angle.

Jags has earned his spot, but he lacks sprinting speed, so ideally we are pairing him with someone who can cover with pace. Alacaraz and Lescott don't fit that bill. I don't know what kind of speed Duffy or Stones have.

Coleman has the pace, but is often too far up field. Baines is often upfield too, but he isn't likely to run anyone down either.

 

[MACCA75]

I mentioned in the other transfer thread, i'd like to see us bring Mulumbu in, would add significantly to the midfield options and should be affordable even after we bring a striker (Lukaku?) in. Another Martinez loan on top of that, and with the returning injured players, we'd be looking at a very strong squad.

 

[Estivage]

Other than Lukaku the main man I want to see us bring in is Will Hughes from Derby. I think he is exactly what we need, a young left footed player who could play alongside McCarthy in games where we need more attacking threat from those positions. He is used to playing a lot of games so would be fine playing regularly when needed both in Europe and the league. It would allow Barry to be rested and be fully fit for all the big games. On top of that with the right guidance there is no doubt in my mind he will be an England International. i have seen him play a lot of times now and he is pure quality on the ball. Going into next year with Gibson Barry McCarthy Hughes, would give us a lot of different options as well as four players who we could start in a league match. Its that sort of depth and upside we need in the squad.

 

[ijjysmith]

I want 3 new boss players.

Minimum 1 who can do incredible stepovers.

 

[Zatara]

Seriously?

I think he will be available, but only at 15 million.

Also, he'll have suitors at clubs in the champions league who have more money than us.

I think it's really unlikely.

He'll be available for more than 15mil. I think that Barry is openly an agreed deal and if the wages were the same at city and we'd offer then he'd have signed already.

The positivity and innuendos coming from Martinez as well as one or two factors just give me the impression that Lukaku would be signing with us. If no chance then why would Martinez mention about saving money for lukaku and very publicly state this-- managers would usually underplay this.

We now have the Chelsea camp today I think mention that (no names) lukaku would be leaving in summer as he wants game time.