so we supposedly have £50m to spend this summer, plus whatever we get from player sales.
here is my current wish.
sell:
szczesny (£7m)
flamini (whatever)
gibbs (£8m)
jenkinson (£6m)
podolski (£3m)
campbell (£7m)
total: £31m
buy:
jose luiz gaya (£13.5m)
petr cech (£8m)
mats hummels (£25m)
paulo dybala (£29m)
total: £75.5m
net = £44.5m
under budget!
we've been heavily linked to dybala, and the metro has quotes from palermo's chairman saying that a deal will be agreed with dybala's new club in the next 2 weeks, and that he wont go for less than 40m euros. i doubt we'd pay it all up front, we never do that.
we were also heavily linked to gaya in the january window and we've been linked to him in the last month as well. i think he has a release clause of about 13m pounds, and valencia were trying to get him to sign a new deal to raise that to 30m, but i havent seen that hes signed a deal.
mourinho said he would not block a move for cech this summer. and seemed to indicate even if that meant him staying in the league. i guess that might change, and given his age and lack of playing time, £8m is probably pushing it. i really hope we look to buy a class keeper and move sneezy, but thats the one move i could see not happening.
hummels is hummels. hes a leader and an organizer, and even if he has the occasional mental gaffe, he'd be a rock at the back for us and i think he'd perfectly compliment kos. hes amazing in the air and would allow kos to be more of a reader of the game and intercept and he could clear out the messes. plus, united want him, so if we can sign him, they cant.
so my team would be:
gk: cech, ospina, martinez*
lb: monreal, gaya
rb: debuchy, bellerin*
cb: kos, hummels, mert, gabriel
cdm: coq, chambers
cm: ramsey, wilshere
am: ozil, cazorla
lw: alexis, dybala
rw: ox, walcott
st: giroud, welbeck*
utility: rosicky, arteta
- = homegrown. we'd have 9 total in the above 25 man squad, and we need 8.
gnabry, bielik, akpom, zelalem, and hayden are all under 21 and don't count against our 25 man limit.
we'd probably win the treble with that squad!
(i hope i didnt make any glaring errors, its late, im not proofreading)
