I do think that we will make an statement signing ie Sancho not necessarily him but like him.
As for the rest of the business all I want is for us to have already identified the players and have started contacting the agents and the clubs, and we get the deals done early.

I do think that we will make an statement signing ie Sancho not necessarily him but like him.
As for the rest of the business all I want is for us to have already identified the players and have started contacting the agents and the clubs, and we get the deals done early.
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So do I. This is working under the assumption we try & fail to do that.

And absolutely, map out the targets now & pounce on them early before pre-season

I don't watch bundesliga, but Timo Werner's stats are very impressive, he's young, and release clause of £30-50m depending on which reports are to be believed.

Anyone watch him regularly and can comment if a good fit?

I like Abraham but I'm still not completely sold that he's going to get us back competing at the top again.

As for Sancho, I'd love him. But also understand that would be a fair whack of our transfer kitty so migtt come at a cost to strengthening other areas e.g. defence

Three strikers of the similar type of qualities is excessive. Overkill. Especially with the amount of wide players that we have.

Two strikers competing for one spot (+ one that can play makeshift or academy striker), pushing each other to the limits is sufficient.
Kind of what City have with Jesus & Aguero (+ Sterling), in-line with most top European clubs.

"The stand out choice here is Koulibaly who despite Napoli's dodgy season still has all the complete VVD like qualities to boss the PL"

No he does not have the 'complete qualities':

- He does not organize the defense and
- is not a proper, vocal leader on the pitch.
- In the air he's also not thát great (just a fact)
- and his positional sense needs work. You can find him pressure on wrong occasions leaving gaps in the defense, much like Ramos does.
- Commits fouls often
- Football IQ is not as high (stupid fouls, questionable positional awareness, prefers to tackle instead of preventing the danger: passive defending) He's more pro-active which is a style, not a minus.

Attributes he shares with the Liverpool man: Physically as strong, similar pace, winning mentality, fear factor, good with the ball in general. He can perform throughballs better and has more urge to go forward. His composure is good when under pressure.

This is his profile.

Three strikers of the similar type of qualities is excessive. Overkill. Especially with the amount of wide players that we have.

Two strikers competing for one spot (+ one that can play makeshift or academy striker), pushing each other to the limits is sufficient.
Kind of what City have with Jesus & Aguero (+ Sterling), in-line with most top European clubs.
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It's a tough one. One option would be to sign a winger who can double up as a CF or vice versa (like Son), but there's not many around who'd fit our profile or be competent enough in either position to be worth pursuing, that I've seen that is.

Diallo would be the key to that being workable IMO. He's the type of striker you can see being flooded with offers from mid/lower level PL teams this summer (got young Benteke vibes) but not many top club offers. Coming in as 3rd choice but with competition not too far off his ability, like Abraham & Dembele, playing for a manager whose shown he's not afraid to rotate might appeal to him depending how he thinks.

Sancho - £120m
Upamecano or similar - £50m
Alaba - £40m
Edouard - £20m

Sell or let go Pedro, Willian, Giroud, Alonso/Emerson, Zouma, Barkley, Batshuayi. We would get at least £50m for that lot, and with the Hazard and Morata money kicking in this year, should be relatively comfortable.

Alaba's a good shout. My reservation there would be his wages, imagine he's probably on 200k/w+ at Bayern & at his age combined with the fact he'd want a long term deal that's risky. Top player though.

Not watched Edouard. Seen a lot of Cetic fans online rating him higher than Dembele?

Alaba’s wages could be a bit high but there would be a lot of room to manoeuvre with several big earners out the door.

Fee shouldn’t be too high as his contract is up next summer. I think his age is fine, we need a bit of experience here and there, plus he can fill multiple positions pretty well.

Edouard seems very highly rated and yeah lots of people think he’s better than Dembele, so given he’d cost a lot less he’s probably worth a crack.

Just checked and most sites report Alaba’s wages around £170k/w.

Willian £120k
Giroud £110k
Bakayoko £110k
Alonso £100k
Barkley £100k
Pedro £100k
Drinkwater £100k
Batshuayi £90k
Zouma £40k

Get rid of these wastemen along with several others like Moses/Zappacosta etc and we’ll have about an extra £1m per week in wages to disperse. Enough to cover those 4 signings with plenty to spare.

"It's a tough one. One option would be to sign a winger who can double up as a CF or vice versa (like Son), but there's not many around who'd fit our profile or be competent enough in either position to be worth pursuing, that I've seen that is."



Tammy
+
One of Jonathan David or Odsonne Edouard (preferably the latter as he can cover/double up as a wide player)
+
Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi being molded into makeshift third choice frontman, further along development.


Works for me.

Should revisit the Belgium market...

Mass pool of (untapped) talent emerging in Jupiler again, could unearth a bargain gem and maybe not dispose of them this time round...like we did with De Bruyne (who had standout qualities).

Blame lies with the manager at the time for De Bruyne's permanent departure, certainly wont happen under current management.

Two rando players but Mariano and Ben Yedder would be decent choices for a new striker who would compete with Tammy.

Two rando players but Mariano and Ben Yedder would be decent choices for a new striker who would compete with Tammy.
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Good shouts. Both should be reasonably priced too

Should revisit the Belgium market...

Mass pool of (untapped) talent emerging in Jupiler again, could unearth a bargain gem and maybe not dispose of them this time round...like we did with De Bruyne (who had standout qualities).
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I checked out that Johnathan David on YouTube. Not too shabby

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