What annoys me most is how much we've spent on strikers. We all love a striker but the excessive amounts we've spent on them has cost us strengthening other positions. This obsession with "four top strikers" has baffled me for a long time. Now that we've had a rare, once-in-an-era crisis with all of them injured at once, it seems to have made the club feel they are justified and they went and spent £26m on Bony. Who could and probably will be a good signing, but it continues year after year and next it'll be Jovetic and even maybe Dzeko going and being replaced. The papers link us with Danny Ings for the HG quota and it has been confirmed we're scouting Icardi. At least Ings would be free if we signed him but we just never seem to stop with the strikers!
Meanwhile our central midfield has been a disaster area with the over reliance on Yaya continuing yet again and we've had periods where we've been creatively stagnant because we lack variety and extra quality among our attacking midfielders. These are the areas we should have been working hard on after, even in our successful seasons, it was clear we struggled against energetic opposition midfields (especially in Europe). Fernandinho was a good addition but not enough - if we have 4 top strikers, why do we not have 4 top central midfielders? Especially as you're more likely to play 3 central midfielders than 3 strikers. It's a disgrace that a club with our resources relies so much on a near 32 year old Yaya Toure (and Silva in the more advanced midfield positions) after all the money we've allocated to buying strikers.
Players like Koke, Gundogan, Verratti - tenacious players who are very good with the ball - would do wonders for our side and help us compete better in Europe. So what do we do, try for a bargain in Fernando, a purely defensive midfield with limited technique, and it appears to have backfired. We should remake our midfield whether Yaya stays or goes. Even if we miss our main targets, players like Khedira (free but big wages) and Song (1 year left on his contract and homegrown so ideal for Lampard's spot at least) would add a bit of energy and depth we're missing there. But ideally we can land a couple of big ones like Koke or Pogba.
And the pace/winger argument has been done to death... another area neglected. Signing Navas was a good step but he is a squad player type while our rivals boast the likes of Robben, Bale, Sanchez and Hazard. Meanwhile, we buy yet another number 9!
