daredevil Isak and Wirtz brother, not or. And. We are operating under a hypothetical scenario where we've gotten "crazy" money for Gabriel, and somehow what I'm hearing is that we have no chance of reallocating these funds in a way that improves us? Will it be challenging to find a replacement to slot right in, yes. Impossible, of course not. This is not prime Maldini/Cannavaro. I wouldn't even say he's Sol Campbell level. He just barely started playing for his national team. At 27. He is good, very good within our system, same as Saliba. He is not untouchable. Same as Saliba.

Edit: we have just one untouchable in this team - that's the Starboi. The rest, we can have negotiations about.

Edit, edit: Also, if you could ask anyone associated with PSG, I'm pretty certain they would tell you that they have successfully replaced Mbappe. Already. So what are we talking about here?

      Funded by just the sale of Gabriel! Come on now!

        Sell/release Tierney, Nelson, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Vieira, Neto, and perhaps Kiwior though we’d need to replace him

        flobaba except we haven't replaced Gabi in Dules's list.

          I hear Benny Blanco used to be good at playing Center back..

            He's right footed though...

            There's also Calafiori, who isn't entirely convincing as a left back.

            flobaba I hear Benny Blanco used to be good at playing Center back.

            As a CB Gabriel is levels above White in almost everything needed for the role. White is for sure in my top 3 favourite players at the club, but he's not someone I would loathe to sell if a great offer came in. The only players I would not sell under any circumstances are Gabriel, Saliba, Saka.

            Might have added Rice to the list but didn't only because I feel we'll end up moving him to 6 where he'll be wasted. 'd also possibly Nwaneri/MLS (for now at least) because they still have several levels in them to go before they become one of the top 3-5 players in the world in their position.

            Everyone else has a price for sure. Even my other favourite Martinelli and our captain. Just depends on if the offer is large enough. Wouldn't sell any of them for anything but top dollar because they are certainly more than good enough for us and a title winning team.

            Everyone else (such as the likes of Zinchenko, Jesus, Vieira, Tomi etc) I'd be more than happy to get what we paid for them back.

                Gabriel probably has another 5 years at the top level so unless he's unsettled or our finances are a lot worse than let on, there's no real reason to sell at this point. It's coming up to the next renewal in 2 to 3 years that would be the more logical time

                  Pepe LeFrits there's no real reason to sell at this point

                  I'm not sure that's necessarily the case these days. If a players head is elsewhere and they don't really want to play here, I don't see the point in keeping them. I suppose it would come down to the manager having a good enough understanding of the player, his commitment and professionalism, and what influence retaining someone somewhat against their will would have on the dressing room. I think you might get a year out of that, but Gabriel's heart is set on Saudi I don't see it being a positive move to hold him too long.

                    Pepe LeFrits exactly. If he is happy to stay you keep him. As I said before you wont find anyone better.

                      flobaba

                      In that case - the best option would be Gabriel + Isak or Wirtz instead of Isak and Wirtz in place of Gabriel while bringing in Guehi or moving White/Calafiori inside which will be a significant downgrade.

                      We need our CB's to physically dominate all situations given how often they defend 1 vs 1 in large spaces. White and Calafiori will get cooked in those situations as neither are physically exceptional. A guy like Mateta will give these boys a nightmare, let alone someone like Haaland or Isak who will thrive against our defence without our man mountain.

                        I can't believe people would turn down Isak and Wirtz in place of Gabriel. The Brazilian has been immense for us over the years but he isn't crucial to our build up play (those sort of defenders are harder to replace IMO). I think everyone acknowledges having a striker like Havertz improves us defensively but I don't think enough credit is given to the importance of defenders to the attack. Liverpool are a better attacking team than us in part because they have defenders like Trent and Van Dijk who regularly ping passes that bypass the midfielders into the final 3rd. They generate a lot of high quality chances as a result.

                        Stylistically Tomiyasu is the closest to Gabriel in our squad and without the ball, he's probably as good as anyone we have got but he's always injured (maybe the surgery will now resolve the issues with his knee?). There are trade offs with the other options we have: Calafiori would improve us offensively but will leave us weaker defensively. Timber is better than Gabriel under pressure which is great against high pressing teams and is at least as good 1 v 1 but we'll be weaker in the air. I must add though we nearly won the league with Toure-Gallas, so Saliba-Timber could do just fine. And of course we can also go out and sign a new defender.

                        To be clear, I wouldn't sell Gabriel if we were just offered cash and there are no guarantees we'll get Wirtz and Isak. The money would look good on the balance sheet but trophies are won the pitch. However if I was Mikel, and was offered such a deal, I'd take it and set the team up differently. I'd go 3 at the back and play both saka and Wirtz as inside forwards. Atlanta and Leverkusen has shown you can still have an effective high press with 3 at the back.

                        -------------------Isak
                        -----------Wirtz-----------Saka--------
                        MLK---------Rice-------Ode-------White
                        ---------Cala-----Saliba----Timber------
                        ------------------Raya

                        I believe Saka could even be more productive in an inside forward role, closer to goal. He is not like Salah who starts out wide and makes frequent runs in behind. With his current role, he always has so much to do even after skinning 1 or 2 players, that wouldn't be the case if he playing closer to goal in an inside forward role. His numbers could explode IMO.

                        Havertz are Nwaneri are also probably best off the main striker and they would be high quality options off the bench.

                          Big Willie -- it only took fielding a rapist so Klaus would leave

                            USArsenal We will NEVER get back what we paid for any of these players.

                            Which is why I'd be more than happy if we got close to anything resembling it. Just pointing out there are levels to this. Mine are

                            Tier 1- Don't sell at any cost unless absolutely forced:

                            Saka, Gabriel, Saliba.

                            Tier 2 - Sell only for an absolutely monstrous offer:

                            Rice, Nwaneri, MLS (though these last two may soon be in tier 1) Odegaard, White, Raya, Timber, Martinelli

                            Tier 3- Sell for a decent offer:

                            Calafiori, Trossard, Havertz, Merino, Kiwior.

                            Tier 4 - Sell if we can break even or anything we'dbe able to get for them:

                            Zinchenko, Jesus, Tomi, Vieira, Tavares, Lokonga, Nelson

                            Tier 5 - Out of contract frees or get rid at any cost even if we have to pay them off:

                            Partey, Jorginho (though I'd like to extend one of the two if possible), Tierney, Marquinhos, Sterling (luckily he'll be gone in a few months).

                                Qwiss Big Willie to think people on here claimed he'd be usurped by Kiwior.

                                Lol it was so confusing at the time. Calling him a liability, making too many mistakes, not good on the ball and other weird claims. Maybe some just took longer to be won over by him than I did.

                                I think I've said it before that I wasn't sold on the signing after watching some of his videos in France. In them he was diving in constantly to win the ball in contrast to Saliba who at the time still on loan was winning his tackles without going to ground. I thought he'd be a red card magnet playing for us if he played the same way but he times everything he does so well that I was won over within a few months.

                                Can't remember him ever being sent off for us so I was completely wrong and he's ended up being one of my favourite players at the club.