I dont fully know those players, but I like the idea of buying abroad.It’s pretty obvious that having PL experience is a HUGE plus to the recruitment team. I think there’s no way we would sign Grealish, Nunes or Phillips if they were playing in Serie A, Ligue 1 etc. Been linked with a lot of subpar PL players lately as well, like Ait-Nouri, Robinson, Guehi, Eze and Wharton. I really hope Viana brings some new ideas in terms of recruitment. Looking at out most successful signings in the last 12 years most of them came from abroad. Aguero, Kompany, Yaya, Silva, Fernandinho, Sane, De Bruyne, Haaland, Dias, Bernardo, Gundogan etc
For me personally, I would like to see:
GK - Chevalier. One of the best ball playing goalkeepers in the world and a great shot stopper. Best of both worlds, just turned 23
CB - Diomande or Schlotterbeck. The latter is world class already, Diomande would probably be an easier deal to do with the Sporting-Viana link. Both are far better players than Branthwaite, and less risk in terms of injuries. Wouldn’t surprise me if they would be cheaper as well
CM/DM - Lamine Camara. African young POTY two years in a row. Shades of Caicedo/Lavia. Quick, good in tight spaces, defensively strong, good passer and can play both DM and CM
CF - Cucho Hernandez or Jonathan David for an outright striker. 37 G&A in 35 and 22 in 26 respectively. Proven goalscorers, although in clearly inferior leagues. Jonathan David is leaving on a free in the summer as well
For a CF/LW hybrid: Omar Marmoush. Only 25 yo, and would reportedly cost €50-60m. Has 30 G&A in 18 apps already this season (Bundesliga and Europa League). I can’t really see us selling a winger in the summer, it would therefore make sense to sign a more versatile attacker that can cover multiple positions
I can totally see why we’re linked with Bruno G. For the RB position I would also prefer Livramento. Unless we can’t get the top drawer from the PL we should look abroad IMO
Also, 1 defender will not be enough, I think we will need 4 defenders.
Walker and Lewis arent good enough.
Stones and Ake are injury prone and at best backups we cant rely on.
We really only havr Gvardiol, Dias and Akanji as reliable defenders, and Gvardiol only as an attacking LB.