Summer signings analysis.

[tim cahill]

£18m? I'd question the wisdom of blowing a huge chunk of our summer income on one player when we have one of the smallest, oldest squads in the league.

As for the original post.... it's not often I disagree with the Bleacher Report, but this time they've made some mistakes. They have completely ignored the fact that Duffy is ready to step in the moment Heitinga leaves; We don't need Lescott unless Distin retires this summer, and even then I'd prefer a younger option along the lines of Winston Reid.

Secondly, we don't need a new striker as much as we need starter-quality reinforcements for midfield. Velios, Jelavic and Anichebe all fightng for one space is a lot of depth and money at one position. We need a RM/RW alternative to Mirallas (currently no depth there at all) and a medium-term replacement for Pienaar (Ovideo has clearly been earmarked as cover for Baines). If Felli leaves we need a ball-playing midfielder, ideally quite tall. Times two. Fer, Belhanda, Defour types. I'd also suggest that the no.10 spot could be looked at, but I hope Barkley is the future there.

£18m on one player my ass.

Disagree. I think a centre forward should be our biggest priority followed by another winger.

 

[FTY]

Bayern might offload Mario Gomez if they sign Lewandowski (thought to fit better under a Guardiola style)

I'm deciding which Ijjy-ism to go with here... I'll go with both.

Ok Christ x

Gomez!?

 

[Carlito]

A new striker has to be the priority. I'm not sure if there'll be any money to spend without selling Fellaini though.

 

[Tree13]

Disagree. I think a centre forward should be our biggest priority followed by another winger.

Ok, what's your take on this choice then?

£18m on Edin Dzeko, as suggested above; or

£5m on Diame, £6m on Weimann and £6m on Honda?

I'd go for the second option in order to strengthen three positions rather than one and to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. The first option is, in my mind, too much like going to a roulette table and betting my house on a single specific number.

 

[marsh]

Ok, what's your take on this choice then?

£18m on Edin Dzeko, as suggested above; or

£5m on Diame, £6m on Weimann and £6m on Honda?

I'd go for the second option in order to strengthen three positions rather than one and to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. The first option is, in my mind, too much like going to a roulette table and betting my house on a single specific number.

or just get Lukaku who is better than all of them.

 

[billycopper]

£18m? I'd question the wisdom of blowing a huge chunk of our summer income on one player when we have one of the smallest, oldest squads in the league.

As for the original post.... it's not often I disagree with the Bleacher Report, but this time they've made some mistakes. They have completely ignored the fact that Duffy is ready to step in the moment Heitinga leaves; We don't need Lescott unless Distin retires this summer, and even then I'd prefer a younger option along the lines of Winston Reid.

Secondly, we don't need a new striker as much as we need starter-quality reinforcements for midfield. Velios, Jelavic and Anichebe all fightng for one space is a lot of depth and money at one position. We need a RM/RW alternative to Mirallas (currently no depth there at all) and a medium-term replacement for Pienaar (Ovideo has clearly been earmarked as cover for Baines). If Felli leaves we need a ball-playing midfielder, ideally quite tall. Times two. Fer, Belhanda, Defour types. I'd also suggest that the no.10 spot could be looked at, but I hope Barkley is the future there.

£18m on one player my ass.

Debatable. At 37 Neville pushed our average age up a lot. Distin does too and he can't have more than about another year left in him. We're pretty much average without them and Hibbert could be the next in line to retire (through injury).

Duffy only has a handful of senior appearances to his name. Moyes probably was over-cautious in his use of him but we still need some sort of senior back up at centre back.

If Mirallas is out we could play Barkley, Naismith, Osman, Pienaar or Coleman on the right. If Fellaini leaves then it's reasonably likely that reinforcements will understudy Gibson and Osman and that, if we continue to play a no. 10, it will come from Mirallas, Naismith or Barkley.

Just look at leading scorers and you'll see that we were massively outgunned. Our top scorer was Fellaini with 11 and he only scored in 2 matches after Christmas. Our priority has to be someone who can find the back of the net on a regular basis and proven scorers cost money. Negredo is rated at £13m. Is that acceptable? If we sell Fella then his fee could be used on top of the tv money to really kick on.

 

[billycopper]

Ok, what's your take on this choice then?

£18m on Edin Dzeko, as suggested above; or

£5m on Diame, £6m on Weimann and £6m on Honda?

I'd go for the second option in order to strengthen three positions rather than one and to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. The first option is, in my mind, too much like going to a roulette table and betting my house on a single specific number.

Diame supposedly has a £3m release clause. Weimann only has a year left on his deal and might be available for £2m. And Honda's contract runs out in December. Something in the region of the £1.5m that Spurs paid Schalke for Holtby could be enough to release him early.

I like all three players. We can't carry on with a striker and a no. 10 who go for months without scoring though, as we have done with Jelavic/Fellaini and Saha/Cahill. We should have money available this summer and we need to fix it.

 

[Tree13]

Diame supposedly has a £3m release clause. Weimann only has a year left on his deal and might be available for £2m. And Honda's contract runs out in December. Something in the region of the £1.5m that Spurs paid Schalke for Holtby could be enough to release him early.

I like all three players. We can't carry on with a striker and a no. 10 who go for months without scoring though, as we have done with Jelavic/Fellaini and Saha/Cahill. We should have money available this summer and we need to fix it.

Ok,IF we could get Diame, Wiemann and Honda for a combined £6.5m as you suggest, and Negredo at £13m, do you agree that it would be wiser to do that than to spend £18m on one player?

Debatable. At 37 Neville pushed our average age up a lot. Distin does too and he can't have more than about another year left in him. We're pretty much average without them and Hibbert could be the next in line to retire (through injury).

I'm not worried about the abstract (the average age of the squad), I'm worried about key starters reaching the end of their careers with no quality replacements in line to take over. Howard is 34, Pienaar is 31, Osman is 32, Jags is 31 in August. Of those four, do you think any of them bar Jags is REALLY good enough? Age isn't going to make them better.

Duffy only has a handful of senior appearances to his name. Moyes probably was over-cautious in his use of him but we still need some sort of senior back up at centre back.

If he isn't loaned out to a decent club in a competitive league, he needs to be playing for us regularly. He proved last season that he was more than adequate to fill in, he needs more exposure to solidify that promise. So I'll concede that signing a CB, combined with loaning Duffy out, would be a good move.

If Mirallas is out we could play Barkley, Naismith, Osman, Pienaar or Coleman on the right. If Fellaini leaves then it's reasonably likely that reinforcements will understudy Gibson and Osman and that, if we continue to play a no. 10, it will come from Mirallas, Naismith or Barkley.

Barkley, Naismith and Osman suck when they play wide right. Pienaar is nearing the end of his career and if Coleman plays right midfield then Stones is starting at RB in the prem. Ergo, we need a right midfielder/winger urgently.

If Fellaini leaves and we bring in a replacement CM who isn't good enough to displace Osman, we've bought the wrong replacement. Ossie is at the stage where he can only contribute as an ACM/10, because he offers very little defensively.

On the subject of a 10, Mirallas can't play there AND at RM at the same time. Osman is in the twilight of hi career, Naismith and Barkley may or may not do the business there; with Honda available on the cheap, why don't we go for him and loan out Barkley?

Just look at leading scorers and you'll see that we were massively outgunned. Our top scorer was Fellaini with 11 and he only scored in 2 matches after Christmas. Our priority has to be someone who can find the back of the net on a regular basis and proven scorers cost money. Negredo is rated at £13m. Is that acceptable? If we sell Fella then his fee could be used on top of the tv money to really kick on.

Negredo at £13m is less of a gamble than Dzeko at £18m. My reluctance to spend big on a striker is based in part on the belief that Jelavic will improve under a new manager (and the fact that we'll get very little if we sell him now) and partly on the fear of one injury sidelining £13 - 18m of our transfer budget.

I also think that four or five new arrivals, two at least who are improvements on existing starters, would perhaps sway Felli towards staying until January at least.

 

[jackyboy]

Does anyone else feel like selling Fellaini might be the best thing? I like him and all, but I have felt we have become terribly over reliant on him this season. Also the playing a big man in the "10" role is not something I want to see anymore. Him leaving coupled with the t.v money and losing Phil, Mucha's and Moyes' wages should see the new manager inherit a pretty good team with some excellent footballers just in need of the squad padding out a bit.

In my opinion we are going to need to sign 5 or 6 players this summer in order to stay competitive let alone top 4 as all the teams around us will undoubted throw more money at it. Will do a quick run down of the back 5 now and do the midfield and strikers later on.

GK-Tim Howard, Mucha (Leaving?), Springthorpe-One of the most important positions on the pitch but also one of the most difficult to strengthen as you have to either pay over the odds for a teams first choice keeper or hope a team has a second choice who is as competent or more so as your first choice. I think we should keep Howard and look to bring in somebody of a similar quality but with the potential to improve. Smithies, Gordon or possibly Hennessey would be my personal picks. None of these would cost the earth and are all of an age to see off Howard.

LB - Leighton Baines, Bryan Oviedo, Luke Garbutt/Jake Bidwell - It seems incredible that left back is probably our most stocked up area considered how much Baines played this season, however with being our best player it should be expected. I don't feel we can afford to have three so it wouldn't surprise me to see one of Bidwell or Garbutt depart this summer (probably Bidwell given the trouble we went through with Bates to get LG). No additions needed.

CB - Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Johnny Heitinga, Shane Duffy - With the enigma that comes in the form of our continental centre half Heitinga more than likely leaving this summer, that will leave three. Therefore Duffy needs to either become 3rd choice and we sign a back-up/bring another one through. Or we bring in someone to rotate with Distin and partner Jags. I would have suggested Amorebieta but he has signed for Fulham. Maybe Grant Hanley at Blackburn? Given his age and our susceptibility to headed goals this season, alternatively if we go abroad the dream would be Ogbonna but he would be expensive so possibly Kjaer, don't think he is getting a look in at Wolfsburg and has looked promising whenever I have seen him.

RB - Coleman, Hibbert, Stones, Browning. Again with Coleman now first choice and with three deputies what was once our problem position seems pretty well stocked. No additions needed.

 

[Christiffa25]

Ok on the basis of Mucha Heitinga Neville Hitz and fellaini moving on...

Bring in Back up Gk Lescott Fer Rooney (sorry) Donovan Sinclair
I'd also want another CM, either cheap/loan or expiring contract.

I'd also let Naismith and jelavic go, bringing in another striker. Young and promising type.

Howard Back up Gk

Coleman Hibbert Stones Jags Duffy Lescott Distin Baines Oveido

Gibson Osman Fer CM Barkley Donovan Mirallas Sinclair Pienaar

Rooney Anichebe Young striker

 

[dholliday]

I'm deciding which Ijjy-ism to go with here... I'll go with both.

Ok Christ x

Gomez!?

say again, kidda?

I admire your optimism that we could sign Mario Gomez.

we've got to stop thinking small-time and go for players of this calibre.

 

[billycopper]

Ok,IF we could get Diame, Wiemann and Honda for a combined £6.5m as you suggest, and Negredo at £13m, do you agree that it would be wiser to do that than to spend £18m on one player?

I'm all for being prudent. Morale is going to be low after Moyes' departure though and a big money signing could really lift the place, especially if Fellaini is leaving too.

I'm not worried about the abstract (the average age of the squad), I'm worried about key starters reaching the end of their careers with no quality replacements in line to take over. Howard is 34, Pienaar is 31, Osman is 32, Jags is 31 in August. Of those four, do you think any of them bar Jags is REALLY good enough? Age isn't going to make them better.

Friedel and Schwarzer have shown that 'keepers can still perform well into their fourties. A lot of the players that we've seen retire this season (Neville, Carragher, Beckham, Scholes etc) are about 37. Weir, Gough, Distin and Stubbs all played centreback for us in their late thirties too, so we could get 5 more years each out of the players that you mentioned.

If he isn't loaned out to a decent club in a competitive league, he needs to be playing for us regularly. He proved last season that he was more than adequate to fill in, he needs more exposure to solidify that promise. So I'll concede that signing a CB, combined with loaning Duffy out, would be a good move.

I don't think Moyes has handled Duffy well. He did look good when he came in and he's been captaining the U21s well. I guess that Moyes was worried about us getting an injury or two at CB. Personally I'd bring Lescott back and loan Duffy out for the season. In another year's time Distin will probably have retired and Shane will be ready to step up as our third-choice centreback.

Barkley, Naismith and Osman suck when they play wide right. Pienaar is nearing the end of his career and if Coleman plays right midfield then Stones is starting at RB in the prem. Ergo, we need a right midfielder/winger urgently.

We may need a right midfielder if Mirallas gets injured but we definitely need a striker whether Anichebe and Jelavic are fit or not. Along with West Ham, we're the only two teams in the top half without a striker in double figures.

If Fellaini leaves and we bring in a replacement CM who isn't good enough to displace Osman, we've bought the wrong replacement. Ossie is at the stage where he can only contribute as an ACM/10, because he offers very little defensively.

I'm not overly fond of Osman there either but it's difficult to drop him and he's not good enough to command a position anywhere else. I'd love to see Honda, Barrada or Diame in there but they're probably not going to come to us.

On the subject of a 10, Mirallas can't play there AND at RM at the same time. Osman is in the twilight of hi career, Naismith and Barkley may or may not do the business there; with Honda available on the cheap, why don't we go for him and loan out Barkley?

I'd like to see Donovan come back and interchange with Mirallas. But I think that Naismith could get goals from no. 10 and that Barkley should be getting games with us. It would be a good problem to have but a difficult balancing act.

Negredo at £13m is less of a gamble than Dzeko at £18m. My reluctance to spend big on a striker is based in part on the belief that Jelavic will improve under a new manager (and the fact that we'll get very little if we sell him now) and partly on the fear of one injury sidelining £13 - 18m of our transfer budget.

Jelavic is difficult to figure. Maybe if we played him off somebody else it would take the pressure off him and he could get back to his natural game of poaching goals. I think we need another striker in anyway to give us the option of playing 4-4-2 and so that we have somebody to throw on to change a match.

I also think that four or five new arrivals, two at least who are improvements on existing starters, would perhaps sway Felli towards staying until January at least.

We're going to be losing 5 or 6 players, who we need to replace to keep up squad numbers, but we need to be careful not to bring too many new faces in at once because it could disrupt the group. So I would probably look to promote players like McAleny and Kennedy to make up the difference.

I don't think it's really a case of persuading Felli to stay. He's going to leave at some point anyway, we just need to time it so that it works to our best advantage.

 

[EFC NY]

We need to upgrade the striker position. Period. We almost never got bossed off the pitch. Just need to score some more goals against mid-level clubs and convert more draws to wins. Sell Fellaini and Heitinga, and replace with a great striker and Fer, plus whatever quality depth we can get. This, plus bleed in more youth (Duffy, Barkley) and we can make a jump up.

 

[Netromelo]

To be honest, the only thing we really need is a 20 goals a season striker.

 

[Skeleton Crew]

I hear Higuain fella is available this summer.