FDJ or Guimaraes
Back-up goalie if Rambo leaves
That's it.

5 days later

Segway Just throw everything we got at Joao Neves? Looking forward to watching more of him tonight.

€120m is what they're asking for, that is a hell of a lot even if he is a great talent.

    I would be very intrigued if we could somehow end up the summer with:
    Joao Neves
    Amadou Onana
    Nico Williams

    Neves to be the technical complement to Rice and develop into a world class partnership. Onana to provide duel winning in tough away games as a partner for Rice and deputize for him when he needs rest. Nico to provide much needed transition threat in behind and competition for Martinelli/rotation for Saka. It certainly wouldn't be cheap but probably could get all three in for 210m (120m RC Neves, 50m Onana, 40m RC Nico).

    Feeling pretty justified in my love of Nico Williams now. Get him in Arteta!

      ————————Raya
      White—-Saliba——Gabriel—-Timber
      ————-———-Rice
      ————Odegaard——Eze
      Saka———-Havertz———Williams

      We like?

      No. Midfield isn't passy enough.

      Yeah we need someone with a bit more metronomic passing ability sitting at the base of that midfield than Rice.

      Personally I think Rice can be that metronomic passer in the base of midfield and I believe his best role will always be the 6. I’d rather have a more attacking player at the 8. Eze is the closest thing to Musiala out there to me and would help us unlock the stingiest of low blocks and mid blocks that gave us trouble last year. I also think he would give us another top individual talent to win later stages of the Champs League. Would’ve loved to have him against Bayern last year. I love that we can nitpick huge potential signings these days instead of begging for scraps. These debates truly prove that we are back in the elites.

        I think the season made clear that Rice is best when paired with a DLP, allowing him to get forward without the ball and join in the press. This is the Partey/Jorginho role and in the long term it is IMO our most important need. (Much more than a CF for example.) It's also the rarest of beasts and we may need to be planning 2 years ahead on a recruit. But we need to budget in a way that doesn't mean we end up with a left 8/10 who we need much less and not the DLP we need.

          Rice as a 6 makes us very predictable and hard to build up play. I think we already know how limited his passing is at West Ham. It wasn't something unexpected.

          Unless we can find an 8 that can open up defences, we definitely need a DLP