STM

Keep pushing your value up kidda. I like him but I'd take anything above 10m to reinvest, especially since we got Burn and Trips for 12m each.

Viera and Lampard to City, both went there and contributed.

Schar will be reassured by the fact that Howe has played him in so many games. Giving him a longer contract is no big deal either, as he's got plenty of years left in him. Howe isn't the sort of manager who would make a player stay against their will, if they weren't getting enough game time. He could sign a contract extension and still be sold next summer if he wasn't happy. If makes no sense for him leave now, when we are finally on the cusp of something.

Has he already said he's retiring? Fuck sake. Took me ages coming up with that shite.

Id like throw an arguement in for signing Bale, hear me out. We need to look like we mean business, that means signing known players/stars and although Bale is past his best you can see he still has massive quality. We also need a squad of players, we can't be relying on Almirons, Murphys etc, going forward. When building a squad, we need to look at short term and long term. Yes we need to prioritise spending our transfer budget on players for the future like Bruno/Botman/Nunez etc but we should also be looking to add players who can bolster the squad with quality for relatively little transfer fee. Let's be honest, Bale probably wants back to the PL, he understands he's no longer going to start every game, he also understands he can't demand the same wages he's on now. Presuming his contract would end at Madrid, I'd be well up for signing Bale for nothing and giving him a 2 year deal. People also forget one of Bales best qualities is his aerial ability, get Trippier delivering crosses for him and he might contribute 5-10 goals for us next year. The point being, aside from our main targets, which should absolutely be players who the club can look to in the long term, we shouldn't turn our noses up to ageing stars who could put us on the map again. It's about utilising every area of the transfer market. Imagine the shirt sales from signing Bale man.

Wilson up front instead of Lacazette, yes he would improve Arsenal. That's not saying I don't respect what a great player Lacazette was. You have also conveniently left out Man Utd, who would be improved by having someone like Wilson up front. Neither would have him, but that's more to do with Wilson not being a big name. Yes we need a striker but Wilson can have a big role to play for us. Also, who says top 6 is the target? 6th to 10th would be a fair target next year IMO.

Bare in mind, even with this squad Eddie Howe would have us close to a top 10 finish, which is confirmed if you look at the form guide since he took over and since we signed a few players in January. It makes perfect sense to me that we would look for quality over quantity. I suspect we will make most of our transfers from abroad, since we will get no value in this market.

Get Targett, then spend 90m on 4 quality players right through the spine: GK, CB, CM, ST. Once they are done we can wheel and deal with a few outgoings, see if we can get a decent RW. I'm convinced we will get at least 1 quality player on a free early doors.

We've got 3 home games in a row and then Norwich away, who I suspect will have lost all heart by then. We will get at least 4 points from them games, especially with Wilson and Trippier returning.

We've also got huge commercial deals coming our way and a DOF to make smart choice on where the money is spent.

I suspect a budget of 90/100m is about right. We will also recoup 15/20m from sales; Hendrick, Lascelles, Lewis, Ritchie, Almiron, Hayden, Gayle all hold SOME value. The other day I said we should get Lingard because it would help bolster our squad, without taking up transfer funds. We can easily add 5 quality players with that budget too. This ownership will get the job done in the summer. They are tuned in to what the fans want. We also loaned Targett in the last days of January, which shows we are prepared to utilise that market too.

I just don't see the debate with Wood. We signed exactly what we all knew we had signed, a bottom half PL striker who will put himself about physically. He was never a long term choice and if we stay up he will have done his job. The 25m fee is neither here nor there if we stay up. One thing that has surprised me is his pressing, he actually presses defenders at a higher tempo that I thought he could. He's also smart in how he presses, blocking passing routes and generally making life difficult for sides to play out from the back. The idea of playing Gayle or ASM up front for the last 10 games doesn't bare thinking about. The transfer was desperate, but it worked.

He doesn't work hard off the ball, he clearly dislikes that side of the game, he also takes the huff on the pitch, which is annoying. Those are my only two criticisms of him. He's still one of our best players, he still has a big future for us but he's not immune from criticism. I got called arrogant for suggesting that we might outgrow him the other day. My point was that if we have ambitions to challenge for league titles, we can't have ANYONE who doesn't work for the team. ASM wouldn't get a game for any of the current top four or Spurs because none of their managers would accept him only giving 90% when tracking back or pressing ball. He wants to be a ballon d'or winner, well he needs to have the correct attitude of one on the pitch. I love watching him play and he has the ability to do whatever he wants.

So we should stick with Murphy or Almiron? Or are you one of these people that thinks we will buy 10 new players, all of which will be class and cost a fair bit of money? You can't build a good side overnight. Every now and then you need pragmatic signings.

If we can't find a "star" striker from abroad, which I think is going to be our hardest task in the summer, I would be happy to see us go for Toney. Toney always looks an absolute nightmare to play against and has done really well goals wise in his first PL season. Edit: Hadn't realised he was 26, thought he was 24. He's still scored 11 in 24, which pretty decent going. Reckon he would get a few more with Trippiers crosses.

I really like this 433 and hope Eddie sticks with it. We just need better players. I suspect he will move to 4231 but for this to happen signing a quality CM to play alongside Bruno will be vital and a quality number 10 to create chances.

This guy can't keep his gob shut.

Yeah the idea of a "10" has changed. I always knew a 10 as Bergkamp/Gudjohnsen/Rooney type. A striker but a one who often played with his back to goal or saw their game as creative. At some point it changed to a midfielder who plays in an advanced creative player.

Fraser, ASM, Lingard and a potential signing like Raphinha from Leeds would make us look strong on the wings.

It annoys me far too much that people would turn their noses up at Lingard. I don't think anyone is suggesting that Lingard is going to fire us to the PL title but having extra quality in the squad might prevent us from having to look at Almiron or Murphy from the bench. OK, if we were having to pay a big fee we could probably look elsewhere for value for money but adding this guy for peanuts would be a no brainer for me. He's also incredibly versatile, he could play right, left or centre comfortably.

If someone is willing to offer us anything above 12m, we should cash in. Otherwise, he will be a reliable 3rd choice behind Wilson and someone new.

Viana was twice the player of Jermaine Jenas for example. He was a digital player in an analogue era. It was noticeable how he quickly resurrected his career in Portugal. He really should have moved to Spain, rather than England.

Reckon it will be more like 90, not including Targett, but bare in mind I expect we might get at least one free signing. If we get Lingard, that gives us more finance to spend on fewer players. We don't want to be held over a barrel for previous targets like Botman or Carlos.

I also want him here next season but I can see a scenario where we might out grow him.

Just checking but is it OK to be critical of ASM yet? I think he's a really good player, he just needs to work on certain aspects of his game. It's unfair for someone to label this as "turning on him".