The College Dropout

In some ways his profile is perfect for us to evolve our style. Otherwise we need a Tonali/Joelinton regen like a Ederson which gives us the same problems against a low block. It also means we don’t necessarily need a playmaker at RW. The more I think about it the more I like it.

Julian Alvarez last season at City. Primarily playing with Haaland but also playing in Haaland’s place when needed. If we plan to primarily play JP as a 10 and then 9 or wide due to injury he’s worth £60m to us. As a backup 9 or RW? Nope not a good fit.

Aye. He’s plenty mobile. He’s just slow. He also plays a crazy amount of minutes in a high running side in a high running position. JP as a 10 also gives us another player capable of breaking a low block with a bit of skill, pass or whatever. Our best players between a defensive ans midfield line are Isak who should be on the last line of defence which he usually is and Bruno who is our primary playmaker that is wlso a combative CM. Sandro, Gordon, Barnes, Joelinton etc. all try but that’s not their game. I think that’s JPs game. Half turn between the lines ready to commit a defender. And as you say, if you have him, Tonali and Bruno in midfield. You’ll do less running and have the ball a lot more. Sometimes we play low percentage ballls and I think it’s to move up the pitch and try to engage a turnover in the opposition area. That’s a physically intensive way of playing. With JP we should play some more ball. Been discussing this idea with @Lotus It’s the only way buying a 10 makes sense to me. That would make JP worth £60m to us covering two positions. Not the one as backup to Isak. I guess that’s largely how Guardiola used that Argentine striker. He often played him as a 10 with Haaland. That was his primary position I believe. But he would also play him at 9 when Haaland was injured and on more rare occasions wide or as an 8.

What we are talking about is taking Joelinton out the side and replacing him with Joao Pedro. That means taking out a player capable of running up and down for 90 minutes, chasing opposition down and physically dominating them offensively and defensively. In his place you would have a more attack minded player, with greater technique, vision and eye for goal, more comfortable on the ball in tight spaces. For that to work - you can’t play with the same intense level of vertical football. Less reliant on Joelinton winning the ball high up on the press (and we score a lot of goals like this) and more reliant on build up play. Less reliant on Joelinton tracking back runners with 2 players responsible for tracking runs at all times. Botman is great on the ball and we plan to bring in another ball playing defender. We also seem to want to sign a ball playing GK. If we want to continue to primarily play a flat 433 - this JP signing doesn’t make much sense. He could only lay the Isak role and that’s not his best position imo. If we want to change formation that uses 1 less CM - it makes a lot more sense. It also means that JP technically covers 2 positions for the cost of 1. He replaces a CM should we play with a double pivot. And he can fill in for Isak if we want to play 433. So he’s the new Wilson and essentially a new CM all in one.

Aye moreso than CB, CM, RW and ST.

It’s a quality window.

We got the same amount of points and Villa played 9 more games than us - the vast majority of those being in the CL and latter rounds of FA Cup. Im not sure what your point is. Villa found a way to play that reduced the running requirement of their least athletic CM who ended up being their best performer in the season. My point is we may plan to adopt a slower style that allows us to compete on multiple fronts and to do so we’ll need a number 10. That shift to a slower style made it possible for Tielemans to extra shine. The learnings from our last CL campaign should be we need a bigger squad and a less physically intensive style. To succeed we need to address both. There’s various clips going viral of Tielemans being burnt for athleticism - one from our very own Willock - no such thing exists for Bruno. I love Bruno but if he can’t play in a double pivot we should sell him. I don’t think that’s true though.

Villa manage it with Tielemans playing every minute in the PL and CL damn near. If we keep more of the ball we need less running.

He’s not that good.

Should be good for another 5-6 years and a decent candidate for a Saudi holiday once his main ability goes. If we want to replace Pope it’s his ability not his age imo

We need 4 quality additions excluding a goalkeeper. Players capable of coming in and contributing greatly to another CL qualification and a good run in that comp. And apart from a CM or 2 and Wilson/Osula - that doesn’t include anyone leaving. CB CM RM Attacker

They do have a gang of 10s. If I was them I would still want double what they paid though. Or close. Sell JP - Rutter main 10. Gruda as backup. March and Minteh on the right. The lad at Leicester still doesn’t have a squad number with that.

I know they ended up worth crazy depth. But Villa’s 4231 reduced the running on a lot of their players. Maybe we move to a style more like that. That requires at least 1 genuine 10 if not 2.

Unless we plan to change formation

Agreed. Or there are big drawbacks. Emery used Rashford as a 9 and it seemed to work well. But I think that was to mitigate his poor work rate on the flanks. I can’t think of manny attacking players that are genuinely great across the front line. Raphinha was great at RW for Leeds but found his groove at LW for Barca. But that’s a Lamine Yamal thing.

Aye seems like a no brainer to me. Unless he’s not as good as his reputation suggests it’s an easy €30m for us or a lot of clubs.

Chelsea have no problem hoarding players and maximising their value. At a short glance I don’t think this kid is levels.

Doesn't he essentially play for Chelsea? I would be more excited if he was a couple years younger or had a flashier compilation like that other French lad

It's also about trying to secure a sure thing that can be great straight away. But there are players that can be got for cheap. Raphinha went to Rennes for £20m and didn't light it up by the looks of it. Went to Leeds for a similar fee. We got Minteh for £8m, qaudrupled his value in 12 months. Morgan Rogers has 8x his fee in 18 months. There is talent out there but the risk is high. And there's going to be Isak's & Bruno's that are highl touted that other teams don't end up going for and that's our chance.

Agreed - he should be looking to leave with a bang. Not joined Newcastle for a year - got into a public spat with their now legendary manager and left after doing nothing of note.

First concrete link will be someone left field. I hope not Mason Greenwood type left field but someone not previously linked

10 from what I’ve seen of him. Played a lot at striker due to injuries to Welbeck and Ferguson falling off a cliff. But he’s a 10.

Aye we don't even have to be creative - we just won't get first dibs. The biggest issue is Chelsea hoarding players. That should be stopped. They are stockpiling talent. Everyone else has to pass on good players.

According to Whoscored, in his last 10 matches for Bournemouth Semenyo had 5 G/A, 4 goals and 1 assist and 2 man of the match performances. This was a Bournemouth side that went off the boil too. His worst run for Bournemouth was a run of 8 games without a goal or an assist. In the preceding 11 games he had 9 G/A and a 2 MOTM performances. So, in total, it was 19 games, 9 goals and assists. But he was terrible for 6 months. I'm not even big on Semenyo but let's be measured.

The most proven players we've signed outside of the first window are Barnes & Livramento coming off an ACL. In the main we have to sign players other top clubs aren't 100% convinced on.