The College Dropout

Signed a new contract a few months ago. I think going after young Spanish talent with relatively low release clauses is a good idea. Players with release clauses in general if they are goood enough.

No? Happy to be proven wrong. I’ve not historically been very bothered by FFP but I have disliked Liverpool habitually. And in any case, things have changed. I can admit bias. But I don’t think I’ve genuinely cared about FFP.

Largely they were talking about him needing a partner, not being replaced. They finished 2nd? Most of their starting players had solid seasons at the worst.

He was canny for Man U last season. He’s been bad for 2 years for Man U is a lie.

FFP is a joke. Let Everton spend whatever they want if their owner is willing to pay for it.

Will take him on loan and pay half his wages. they’ll want massive fee and wages for a transfer. £10m loan fee, £20m option + 50% of wages I would do. Prime Craig Bellamy > Werner.

I think all midfielders should be mobile and if they are not, they must be excellent on the ball. That’s one thing the great PL teams always have - extremely mobile CMs. With the exception of Carrick/Scholes. I think Rodri adapting the physicality of the league has been huge as Fernandinho’s mobility has been central to City’s success. I hate seeing us being run out of game. I think the best Newcastle teams have dynamic midfields too.

Dubs is not good enough and needs replacing. Those choices are uninspiring but so was Ramsdale and he’s proven to be fantastic this season.

I think it’s rather the fees are so large it makes big moves difficult. if a player wants to move it’s best to run down the contract and secure a massive wage. Alaba & Courtois got a big payday joining Real. Rudiger will get a big payday and so will Mbappe. Mbappe’s impossible to sell with 2+ years on his contract. Salah is doing the right thing for himself. Liverpool will be offering to make him the highest paid player at the club but he rightfully wants to be one of the highest paid players in the league. Dybala is not a consistent performer. Neither is Pogba. It’s easier to let them run down their contracts. As you say because of the wages they become unsellable because they’ll take a step down and the buying club won’t be able to afford the wages nor a fee.

The Chelsea boys are a different level but the others are squad fillers and short term measures. That shouldn’t be the bulk of our business. Butlike Origiw and Nketia - unless we would look to pedal Wilson or Wood I wouldn’t want them. You would want a more solid calibre of attacker like a Tammy Abraham. That’s £60m.

I Yes and there’s young English players available in that €15-30m range. But to really push us up the league you’ll want at least a couple big jumps in quality and that’s €40m+ a pop. 20m-30m is landing Mwepu, Bailey, Ings, Guehi, Mykolenko, Digne, Dan James, Daka, Soumare, Willock, Buendia, Gil, Emerson Royal, Vlasic. A real mixed bag. 40m+ you get your Diaz, Konate, Torres, Lukaku, Bruno. Odegaard & Zouma about 35. You get more pedigree at a younger age at that price point typically.

While I want us to spend big, I expect it will be big in either wages (Pogba just an example) or fee (Raphinha just an example). But not both (Sterling for example)

Trippier turns 32 this year. The Bruno deal is worth up to £40m and he signed when relegation was a huge possibility. It’s reasonable to expect bigger transfers which will come with bigger wages. I use Raphinha as an example - he’s a £60m player easily. He’ll also look to earn 150k minimum just based on the fee we spent. Even Ismailia Sarr, 40m+ 120k+ wages. We are building towards a top 4/6 team. What should stop us getting there next season is a lack of depth but we should sign players we think can play at that level. We have with Bruno and Trippier so far.

My point is about his general ability. I agree when he’s played for England he’s been disappointing. Legitimately Lingard has been better for England. But Mounts ability is often under rated.

Raheem Sterling is 27 and his hit 10+ goals in 9 consecutive seasons. He’s closer to Steven Gerrard than Aaron Lennon in terms of expectations for England.

I’ve already said this but the likes of Joe Cole and Gary Neville don’t make this squad. I can’t think of a Michael Owen contemporary in this era. David Beckham is never a winger in this era, it’s fullback or central midfield. Ben Chilwell is a much better player than Wayne Bridge ever was. Someone like Mason Mount is way better than he’s given credit for. Some of the stuff J. Cole was rightly lauded for in his day, Mason Mount does and it’s just standard.

I think 50m+ is a possibility. Phillips, Rice, Raphinha, Nunez would cost that much or more.

Aye. 50m is a promoted club type spending. Manchester United are 6th, Spurs 5th and spent £190m this year and already have at least 1 world class player. I agree though. 150m in the summer is a good number. Arsenal's first choice back 5 must cost £120m. Wages are massive across the squad. Losing money this year. And have at least 3 great wonderkids on the books via the academy. I look at West Ham. It's a long way to catch up.

Maguire has had one bad season at Manchester United. He cost them £75m because he was excellent for Leicester & England for 2 years and he's been good for a couple seasons at Manchester United. Robinson would be behind Pickford & Ramsdale. Dyer's not playing central midfield for England. 2004 Nicky Butt is done. Butt, Sinclair, Mills, past-it Seaman, Heskey up-top, 2002 squad was comparatively weak. Bridge doesn't get in ahead of Chilwell. Bridge was a good 4-4-2 fullback, he's not seeing Chilwell or capable of reaching the fat lads peak. From 2004 pick 2 CB's & 2CM's + Rooney & Cole. The rest don't start. In the squad I take most of the CB's, CM's, maybe Robinson as #3, Owen off the bench. The rest don't make the squad. If he can avoid injuries and such. Declan Rice is going to be an excellent player.

All of these have played well for England though. Giroud, Podolski and Klose got picked for winning national teams due to national form when their club performances were poor. Sterling will likely play 40+ games for City this season. Hardly ever plays is simply not true.

By the same token - Maguire has been better for England than any of those fantastic centrebacks. Maguire has also managed to score the same amount of goals as Heskey did for England in less caps. With the other exception of Hargreaves and the central defenders, none of the others you listed make the squad. As great as Owen was for his era - you don’t get top class forwards as limited as him anymore. He would come off the bench now. and even for their era - Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Germany & Spain had teams equally or more talented squads. where as today talent and performance wise these lot are right up there.

What makes this squad so great is the depth of attacking talent. Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell went to Euros 2004. Vassell came off the bench in the first half when Rooney got injured. While Hargreaves replaced Gerrard, PHILLIP NEVILLE replaces Scholes. Around that time Crouch, Mills and Sinclair play frequently for England. at Euros 2020 Saka, Sancho, Rashford, Grealish and Henderson come off the bench for England. The step up in depth is crazy.

A lot of the lads that seem to do well abroad recently tend to come from families that have some experience of different cultures. Including Trips.

Aston Villa didn’t think so. I don’t think he starts for West Ham over Cresswell. I like Targett and think he’s still improving as a footballer but the point stands. Only Trippier walks straight into the wham first team. Bruno with the potential to be a star man in time too.

I think we need to sign players we think can play in a top 4/6 side. Bruno and Trips fall into that category and Botman was in that same ilk. Targett, Burn and Wood were signings to keep us up but we need to sign players with the potential to step it up.