It looks to me like Luiz is one of several candidates for next season when Yaya and Fernandinho will have to be replaced. We have Luiz and Aleix Garcia with Girona and Yangel Herrera with New York FC. If just one of them comes through we will have saved a lot of money.Questions over whether Fernandinho can do the holding job plus Toure is on his last legs, surprised we didnt keep that douglas luiz as he looks a top player already.
Yeah. Not sure that Sagna/Nacho were the answer or that keeping them would've made a big difference. But overall we've potentially left ourselves a little too light.
But. Like someone else has just said. The fact that we for the first time have a small squad with 99% of the 'deadwood' gone is huge. As Pep keeps saying he's building for the next five/ten years so bringing the average age down whilst losing old players isn't a bad thing.
Will be interesting to see if he continues with the "buying players is nothing to do with me" or whether he'll break from that routine and comment on what happened with Alexis.
After a long day/night last night mostly i'm delighted that we can go back to just talking about football for a few months.
+1 !I'm personally chuffed to bits with the window. Sanchez would of been a cherry on top but I'm quietly confident that once the likes of Bernardo and Mendy settle in completely we'll be near unstoppable.
There's clearly a nervousness up front on the scoring front, but just one big win were the ball and the ref go right for us, will break that hoodoo.
I think Ederson looks great, love his long precise kicks and last game how he commanded his area with a couple of catches was very encouraging.
All the worry over Vinny staying fit all season i understand but maybe he doesn't need to be fit all season, just long enough to actually instil some well needed confidence in Stones and Otti who can both do what Pep wants if given time and support.
Mendy, Walker and Dani all have obvious quality that will shine through once they learn their team mates better.
The two strikers are both top quality and we are very lucky to have them both and with the options of Silva, Bernardo, KDB, Gun, Sane, Sterling and then Yaya, Dino and the young lads Foden and Diaz, there's so many goals and possession in our team, can't believe people would be worried.
This!I seriously don't understand the flapping on BM - this window has been one of if not the best ever. The side is younger, hungrier and full of pace. In fact you could argue that having a slightly smaller squad means that players like Foden and Diaz will get game time in the domestic cups - something that rarely happened last year. Pep will now have time to show his coaching abilities to get the new players integrated into the system he wants. Forget all this Utd nonsense I would much rather be in our shoes. Also an added benefit is that he will be able to keep those on the bench happier as they will all get plenty of games. The Jan window will allow us to add a player if injuries dictate or if fatigue sets in - which is how a mid-season window should be used. I wouldn't be surprised if Sanchez joins then. Bernardo, a top keeper and the three fullbacks have improved us no end and we have got rid of 30+ fringe or older players = fantastic job by all concerned.
It certainly wasn't in the plan, but everyone celebrated him leaving, which I don't get. We now only have 1 left back who is injury prone and no left footed centre backs that can pass, useful for playing 3 at the back. We need to hope our injuries are in other areas this season. It's a huge risk and could see us win nothing again if we get a serious injury in the wrong position.It's a shame Kolarov chose to leave really. He'd have been useful.