I think Raphinha and Olise are both a cut above Eze. Wharton only has 4 months of PL football to show for, in a Palace side on a massive purple patch. Don’t think he’s good enough yet.Raphina and Olise to Barca and Bayern from Leeds and Palace are quite similar to what you're describing. Real Madrid, and every club make these types of signings and sometimes they work out better than others.
I recall Madrid paying around 60m for that Serbian striker a few years back. Jovic. He scored something like 3 goals for them over 3 seasons and got sold for 500k to Milan recently. Every club makes errors. Eze and Wharton could do bits for us. If Musiala and Bruno G aren't available, these lads are in the next tier of qaulity.
We can't just summon generational players when they don't exist. We can try to be ruthless with crazy offers to players like Saka, Leao, Palmer, Vini, Mbappe, Rice, Jude, Yamal, Wirtz, Musiala, Valverde, Pedri etc. but only so many of these S/A+ tier footballers exist, and most are untouchable.
We've got our work cut out for us if we want to reach the standards we have set, but I strongly believe we are only one or two large windows away from being back as the pick of the litter.
We have Haaland, Gvardiol, Rodri, Foden, and Dias locked down as a core. 5 world beaters that on there day all have Balon D'or / Prem POTS capabilities. We have young rotational options such as Doku, Savio, Bobb, Rico, Nunes, McAtee, and a couple other lads in the academy to fight for minutes and push each other. Would not shock me if two or three of these lads take the step up to being integral.
Then we inject four or five 100m players into this squad over the next couple windows and we will be the top dogs again. We got too complacent, it isn't the end of the world. We've won 5 titles in 6 years, this was inevitable without massive squad overhauls. Liverpool were shite that season after winning the Covid Cup. They had a 30 point drop off. Its amazing the mindset Pep has been able to drive into our players to perform how they have year over year after consistently winning.
Are you Ezzy?1. Yes
2. Walker, Ederson, Gundogan, Grealish, Silva, Stones, Akanji, Ake, Nunes, De bruyne
3. Good question, Rodri.
4. I'd assume Viana
5. No time to wait unless we wanna finish 10th.
6. Alot it should seem considering that we made most profit on player sales in the whole world, after Benfica.
7. Hold out until january (hopefully)
Ezzy is?Are you Ezzy?
I think that's a good analysis. I legislated for seven in over the two windows but most of us seem to be thinking along the same lines.Ederson
Akanji, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol
Rodri
De Bruyne, Foden
Bernardo, Haaland, Grealish
Ortega
Walker, Stones, Simpson-Pusey, Lewis
Kovacic
Nunes, Gundogan
Savinho, McAtee, Doku (Bobb)
Players in bold (should be sold this summer): Ederson, Bernardo, Walker, Gundogan, McAtee
Players in italics (might be sold this summer): De Bruyne, Grealish, Stones, Simpson-Pusey, Nunes
If I was a betting man I'd say De Bruyne, Grealish, and Stones all stay while Nunes and Simpson-Pusey leave. De Bruyne, Grealish, Stones will all leave in the summer of 2026.
That leaves us with the following situation in August 2025:
Ortega
Akanji, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol
Rodri
[new CM?], Foden
Bobb, Haaland, Grealish
[new GK]
[new RB], Stones, [new CB], Lewis
Kovacic
De Bruyne, [new CM]
Savinho, [new ST], Doku
So that's six new players over January and the summer. Then another handful of players in the summer of 2026, as De Bruyne, Grealish, and Stones bid farewell. Time to get spending. The next few years are going to be the most unpredictable time we've had since the takeover. Might as well embrace ourselves for the excitement and uncertainty.
Of course you know what I mean ;)Ezzy is?
Nah im serious mate, i am not him/her lol i just found out about this forum recently.Of course you know what I mean ;)