Ornstein also said he heard from one source inside the club that a deal with Monchi has already been sealed.

Best possible Sven replacement out there.

I've only seen people say on here that Ornstein has claimed that. Is there a tweet or article?

It was on some podcast

perfect.

I know relatively little about Monchi, but isn't he more about organisational side of dealings (players in, players out, contracts) rather than player ability/potential evaluation which was Sven's primary forte? So it doesn't seem like-for-like replacement.

Let's say we get Monchi, who is going to find us hot talents for Monchi to get? Would Monchi bring his own scouts? Or "contacts-based" scouting?

To be fair I wouldn’t mind Overmars either - so many good players have come through at Ajax recently

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

I've only seen people say on here that Ornstein has claimed that. Is there a tweet or article?

He was on Arseblog arsecast a while back. Worth a listen, was pretty interesting.

Incidentally Arseblog said as recently as Monday that he’s heard from his own sources that this has legs, and he’s generally reliable.

ornstein has name-dropped him a few times, so there's clearly something afoot. would be great to plug that gap so swiftly. maybe we've been warming him up for a while, knowing that sven was on the way out

He knows the gaffer well and has achieved success with him. Score. He’s pulled together some interesting pieces at Roma. Score. He has a cool name, sounds like a refreshing cocktail. Score.

His record in Rome isn't nearly as impressive as the resume of names he managed in Seville. Anyway, great news if true

Monchi has had hits and misses, but he has shown a consistent eye for talent.

The only issue I have is with CB purchases. For me they have been underwhelming from him, but everywhere else he has had great success.

This is the best replacement we could have lined up after Sven.

Overmars would have been interesting too.

Notable Roma signings-

Cengiz Under
Justin Kluivert
Nicolo Zaniolo
Steven N'zonzi
Javier Pastore
Lorenzo Pellegrini
Robin Olsen

Notable cheap sales-

Mo Salah
Paredes

Olsen absolutely bang average goalie, Nzonzi/Pastore misses. The rest are okay

Can see why Pastore was signed too

N'Zonzi was highly regarded for his work at Sevilla & wasn't he part of the French squad for the WC?

He was great at Sevilla, but in this case he meant miss as in that he shouldn't have brought him to Roma.

Old interview with Monchi if anyone like me that want's a bit of insight into him.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/17/sevilla-monchi-liverpool-europa-league-final

It seems, like Mislintat, he has a methodological approach to identifying players, i.e. making heavy use of stats, which is comforting. He also strikes me as perhaps being more suited to a technical director role? He certainly seems more willing to work within his given remit rather than Mislintat who strikes me as very single minded. On the downside, and this is only a feeling, I don't get the impression he's as good as Mislintat in spotting rough diamonds.

Personally I would never trade Guendouzi for Pellegrini.

Klaus wrote:

A look at the list above should calm your worries a little bit. We rave about Sven finding Guendouzi, but in Zaniolo, Ünder and Pellegrini, Roma have brought in three better or equal talents during the same time frame, despite Monchi working under financial restrictions.

Fair enough. Admittedly aside from Ünder I know very little about the other two. 

goon wrote:

Klaus wrote:

A look at the list above should calm your worries a little bit. We rave about Sven finding Guendouzi, but in Zaniolo, Ünder and Pellegrini, Roma have brought in three better or equal talents during the same time frame, despite Monchi working under financial restrictions.

Fair enough. Admittedly aside from Ünder I know very little about the other two. 

Watch a few Serie A games when you get a chance. That league is criminally underrated. Roma is especially a good watch. Those 3 players Klaus mentioned a gems. The team also has Dzeko who I think was under-appreciated in his time in England. A thoroughly talented 9. And then there's also Kluivert who's an interesting left wing option at 19, though currently not as exciting as Zaniolo and Under. 

Kluivert been able to kick on?

Seemed many thought the jump to Roma was too much too soon.

Monchi already getting to work...

Claudius wrote:

goon wrote:

Fair enough. Admittedly aside from Ünder I know very little about the other two. 

Watch a few Serie A games when you get a chance. That league is criminally underrated. Roma is especially a good watch. Those 3 players Klaus mentioned a gems. The team also has Dzeko who I think was under-appreciated in his time in England. A thoroughly talented 9. And then there's also Kluivert who's an interesting left wing option at 19, though currently not as exciting as Zaniolo and Under. 

Dzeko was a bargain signing for them at an overall cost of 15m euros having just turned 29.

Gunner89 wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Watch a few Serie A games when you get a chance. That league is criminally underrated. Roma is especially a good watch. Those 3 players Klaus mentioned a gems. The team also has Dzeko who I think was under-appreciated in his time in England. A thoroughly talented 9. And then there's also Kluivert who's an interesting left wing option at 19, though currently not as exciting as Zaniolo and Under. 

Dzeko was a bargain signing for them at an overall cost of 15m euros having just turned 29.

IIRC Dzeko was highly regarded here when he signed for MC, and still so when they sold him.

Ünder would be incredible.

He along with another winger, would be just what we need. The problem is money, to get the wingers, CB, LB and midfielder we need, it is going to take quite a bit money.

We are going to have to sacrifice somewhere along the line.

Also, is it worth going really big on a position or two, and deal with the other positions later?

I would not sacrifice anything in the CB department to get two wingers. One will do.

we don't need to buy two wingers. one is more than enough plus reiss. and we need an elite CB (or one that will be viewed as such after a season with us), not two "good" CBs, we already have two good ones.

Plus Saka is coming through and he’ll look like a new signing!

In all seriousness it's something to consider. If you have top young prospects coming through you need to factor it in. These kids are becoming more and more in demand from a younger age, so if they see their pathway blocked they'll have no issues leaving on the cheap. Talk of Sancho moving for £100m odd to United/PSG, City lost him for peanuts and then spent £70m on Mahrez.

out of sight out of mind ... actually we have 3 good CBs with holding.

goon wrote:

In all seriousness it's something to consider. If you have top young prospects coming through you need to factor it in. These kids are becoming more and more in demand from a younger age, so if they see their pathway blocked they'll have no issues leaving on the cheap. Talk of Sancho moving for £100m odd to United/PSG, City lost him for peanuts and then spent £70m on Mahrez.

great example. they can afford to do nonsense like that, we can't. chelsea thought they were that kind of club too (de bruyne, lukaku, etc) until roman's money spigot turned off.

goon wrote:

In all seriousness it's something to consider. If you have top young prospects coming through you need to factor it in. These kids are becoming more and more in demand from a younger age, so if they see their pathway blocked they'll have no issues leaving on the cheap. Talk of Sancho moving for £100m odd to United/PSG, City lost him for peanuts and then spent £70m on Mahrez.

Great point. I actually made the statement only slightly tongue in cheek. Although I like his skill set, I really don’t know how close Saka is to the first team, and more importantly, with how fickle many of our fans are nowadays, and how desperate we are for instant success we are more likely to destroy the boy’s confidence than develop him properly if things aren’t properly managed.

Even Sancho good as he is shows his immaturity sometimes, and showed it quite a bit earlier this season with Dortmund. Our fans just don’t have the patience for anyone that’s not a Guendouzi level talent from day 1, and we need to realize that those are the exceptions rather than the norm

Meatwad wrote:

we don't need to buy two wingers. one is more than enough plus reiss. and we need an elite CB (or one that will be viewed as such after a season with us), not two "good" CBs, we already have two good ones.

For me one incredible CB, plus a winger and if possible a full back, preferably LB

Let us see how much money we will have in the summer.

Doubt we'll sign a LB when we have Kola and Monreal.

Ship Mustafi, get a proper CB in, and then let one of Sokratis/Holding lead us forward as we let Koscielny fade out.

My prioritized signings: CB > LWF (to compete with Iwobi) > RB (to compete with Bellerin)

Yeah those 3 are really priorities. CM is okay for now, we can let Niles play there.

Wan Bissaka, Bailey and De Ligt is the dream.