The Squad planning thread

[Blue Bogey]

If we can’t get any player signings in January can we at least sign up some plasters, bandages and walking frames and bring in some therapists.

 

[Semper aggressus]

This isn’t a video game. I’d bet good money we don’t sign any of those players.

The problem we’ve had over the past 2 years is that the top class players that we were prepared to pay the big money for have either chosen to go elsewhere (Bellingham, Rice) or are unobtainable (Musiala, Wirtz).

Then the tier of players who we’d hope to develop into top class players by playing under pep (Bruno G, Paqueta) we are being quoted over £100mil for and won’t pay it.

I don’t see us doing any meaningful business in Jan, it’ll be work towards hopefully having an active summer, but even that will require us unearthing some gems as it’s hard to see who we can buy that will be good enough.

And therein lies the problem. To stay at the level we were at, we needed to spend. Any of those players could have been obtainable if we’d paid enough, in transfer fees, signing on fees and wages.

It really pisses me off this reluctance to spend at the big boys table, and now it’s likely to cost us a lot more by missing out on the title and next year’s CL, and all the income those things generate.

Everyone has a price. We need to start paying what it takes to be Centurions level again. This net spend bullshit is fucking killing the team and Pep’s last years in charge here.

 

[Blue Maverick]

And therein lies the problem. To stay at the level we were at, we needed to spend. Any of those players could have been obtainable if we’d paid enough, in transfer fees, signing on fees and wages.

It really pisses me off this reluctance to spend at the big boys table, and now it’s likely to cost us a lot more by missing out on the title and next year’s CL, and all the income those things generate.

Everyone has a price. We need to start paying what it takes to be Centurions level again. This net spend bullshit is fucking killing the team and Pep’s last years in charge here.

Yep arguing over £5 million when the potential benefits of winning something out weighs it massively, Tixi is leaving us in the shit. We aren’t signing anyone if significance in January and we need about 5 new faces in summer that’s around £400 million in todays prices. We have a war chest it’s about time we flexed our buying power, I’ve written this season off, hoping for sone exciting games to see me through until next august.

 

[Dazzle84]

Let's be honest, we're looking at a near total rebuild in the next two years. Absolutely certainties to keep would be Dias, Gvardiol, Rodri, Foden & Haaland - nobody else is untouchable. That's a hell of a lot of turnover, which will cost a fortune and will need a lot of luck. Considering the lack of faith in academy players, we're going to be reliant on some pretty spectacular scouting and negotiations from Viana & team

 

[Kinkladze 1]

What squad planning?? This has been coming for 3 seasons and no one at the club seems to have realised.

 

[Blue Bogey]

What squad planning?? This has been coming for 3 seasons and no one at the club seems to have realised.

Kind of agree, feels like rather than building a team we have been watching a dismantling of the team.

 

[RayCTID]

We did try for the likes of Bellingham and Rice and they decided Real Madrid and Arsenal were more to their liking. We decided to add the likes of Gvardiol, Savinho, Doku. I would call that planning ahead but I wouldn't them top quality either. And going off our recent form I would say the first two wouldn't have totally improved it either and Bellingham's petulance wouldn't be the best solution.

 

[brian the blue]

Kind of agree, feels like rather than building a team we have been watching a dismantling of the team.

When that team has just won the treble and 4 titles in a row, it’s hard to look at the market to see who we can replace those players with, when we clearly already have the best.

Easy to sit here now when it’s all unravelling at once, and look in hindsight and say we should have been replacing Ederson, Walker, De Bruyne and Bernardo 2 years ago. When 2 years ago they were still the absolute best in their positions.

You only have to look at our poor run of results this time last season, when there were a lot of complaints about us not offering Gundogan a renewal as we were missing his control in midfield while drawing games 3-3 and 4-4. Only now we have brought him back, do we realise it was probably the right call the let him go when we did. (Although he hasn’t been helped this year by playing without Rodri next to him, in a massively exposed midfield)

I just think it’s inevitable that you’re only going to know when it’s time to move a world class player on once you’ve kept them on for one too many seasons. We’re just unfortunate that it applies to 5 members of our squad at the same time this year.

 

[Gumzy97]

Let's be honest, we're looking at a near total rebuild in the next two years. Absolutely certainties to keep would be Dias, Gvardiol, Rodri, Foden & Haaland - nobody else is untouchable. That's a hell of a lot of turnover, which will cost a fortune and will need a lot of luck. Considering the lack of faith in academy players, we're going to be reliant on some pretty spectacular scouting and negotiations from Viana & team

It’ll take longer if we don’t show intent. January now we should go and get a midfielder at least, maybe two.

Then get the other priorities in the summer. We don’t need to spend loads, for quality.

 

[Dazzle84]

It’ll take longer if we don’t show intent. January now we should go and get a midfielder at least, maybe two.

Then get the other priorities in the summer. We don’t need to spend loads, for quality.

Agreed, we need two signings in January & then need to be around the mid-20s range. The type of age we bought people like Kev and Walker when they came in as immediate first choice players