Goalkeepers; Lloris, Gazzaniga, Vorm
Vorm will leave, and I think personally we need a reliable keeper, wouldn't be surprised if a team came in for Gazza either, would love us to get Ben Foster, solid reliable vocal keeper.
Fullbacks; Aurier, Davies, Walker-Peters, Rose
KWP & Rose will go, Davies is solid enough as a backup and Aurier attacking wise is good, but if we get a good offer I'd bite anyone's hands off. Would love us to get Dumfries, PSV captain, 6 foot 2 right back, fast, strong, great tackler and played with Bergwijn.
Aaron's too interests me but reports say he will cost 45 mil.
Centrebacks; Toby, Jan, Foyth, Sanchez, Tanganga
Think the only certainties are Toby & Tanganga, Toby is our only organiser, I think we will keep Sanchez but he won't get much playing time, when dominating a game he just isn't good enough, unfortunately Jan & Foyth will be gone. Milenkovic would be great, fantastic in the air but I'm sure Mourinho wants someone abit more experienced.
Midfield; Winks, Lo Celso, Dier, Sissoko, Wanyama, Ndombele
Really have no clue, Lo Celso and Winks we will keep, Wanyama is 100 gone, Maybe Jose thinks a pre season after being in and out of injury Dier could get back to his best, I could see him keeping Sissoko to shut games out & Ndombele is talented but I really don't know. People have mentioned Sangare who I haven't seen.
Forwards; Kane, Alli, Son, Lucas, Bergwijn, Lamela
We won't get rid of Dele, think he done alright up front today, he needs a rest. Mourinho loves Lucas he's a work horse. Lamela he seems to love too, but we clearly need a striker, and Mourinho would love a big fat lump. Would love Deeney, but supposedly he is done according to Watford fans, we have been linked to Muriqi who is in Turkey who's a lump.
This is a good post.
Like you I wouldn't be too adverse to Foster coming in if we're looking for a backup for Lloris. I would also be fine with somebody like Jordan Archer coming back to the club as third choice (bonus that he is club trained as well as association trained)
Good idea on Dumfries, I think he could appeal to Jose as well as he has previously liked tall, powerful fullbacks. Having big fullbacks also allows you to play more small midfield/attacking players and not be too worried on opponents set pieces. I think we missed the last boat on Aarons last Summer or even perhaps in January and he will now be too expensive for us. Another potential option could be Bogle from Derby, who I think has a bigger upside than Aarons.
At left back my first choice would be Jamal Lewis from Norwich. Somehow he seems to have slipped under a radar a bit compared to Aarons, but I think he is just as good a player. Anything under £25 million and that would be a great investment. Great alternative would be Kurzawa on a free transfer from PSG, yes the wages would be high but it would at least conserve our transfer pot.
If we sold KWP, Rose and Foyth then we could probably swap in Dumfries, Bogle and Kurzawa for no net spend outlay, sell Aurier and we could probably bring in Lewis as well for no net spend and be sorted at fullback for years.
Centre back is a difficult one. I wouldn't mind seeing Dier moving back to play that position and that position only, which would bolster our cover options a little. Tanganga still looks very raw and might benefit more from a loan move than sitting on the bench, depends if Jose thinks he is likely to be good enough to be first choice next season. Jan it seems will go on a free transfer and Foyth I think will be sold. I don't think Sanchez is good enough to play for a top 4 team, frustratingly I think we'll keep him anyway seeing as we paid so much money for him but I'm worried that he will always be a weak point for us in the team. I know that we were interested in another one of the Norwich players in Ben Godfrey, but I can't confess to having paid any attention to him to know whether or not he is any good. I have always been quite impressed with Lascalles at Saudi Sportswashing Machine, but I don't know whether he is a good enough passer of the ball or another like Sanchez who is physical but with no footballing ability.
In the centre of midfield, we desperately need a defensive player. We also need some cover for that defensive player. My top choice as I keep saying is Soumare, form whom I think we should throw at Lille whatever it takes to get him. He will become an absolute beast of a player, could do for us what Vieira did for Arsenal. If not him then Zakaria from Monchengladbach would be a good option, likely to be at least as expensive though. I would also love us to get Kalvin Phillips from Leeds as cover/competition, but I think that will only happen if Leeds don't gain promotion (which looks unlikely at the moment). If we don't sign two defensive midfielders this summer then we probably need to bring Amos back from QPR as cover. Skipp hopefully will get a good loan move.
Of our forward options I think we should sell Lamela. He is a good player when fit, but is fit even less than Darren Anderton was for us and we can't afford to be carrying such injury prone players. We can then use his squad position to find a capable back up for Kane. If we can't find/afford anyone really good then I would have no issues with us nabbing Pukki from Norwich if they go down as looks likely. Better options could be either of the main strikers at the Glasgow clubs. Mitrovic would probably be a reasonable fit for a Mourinho team if Fulham fail to win promotion, Sarr from Watford would be ultimate player for this position though, it looks like he has the build, physicality and pace to be able to play through the middle as well as being an option as a wide forward.
Dumfries (£18M?)
Bogle (£12M?)
Kurzawa (free)
Lewis (£25M)
Lascalles (£25M?)
Sangare/Zakaria (£45M?)
Philips (£25M?)
Sarr (£35M?)
That is 8 signings and 180+ odd million quid's though before even considering the keepers!... Which I can't see from either a cost or numbers perspective.
I guess if we prioritise just one full back on each side and use Amos as cover to add one instead of two defensive midfielders and then it's down to 5 signings (those in bold) which seems more doable?
Unfortunately we don't have too many options to help fund the new signings, unless we want to sell one of the crown jewels (if we do then I think Dele is the one that probably least fits some of our desired formations). However we should be moving on:
Rose (£10M?), KWP (£10M?), (sadly) Jan (free), Wanyama (free), Foyth (£10M?) and Lamela (£20M?). Probably makes sense to sell Dier too as he only has 1 year left on his contract and I'm not sure it's worth us giving him another one (guessing we might get £15M for him with 1 year left?) So £65 million in incomings, which would probably leave about £50 million after paying up player loyalty bonuses and the agents fees.
Of course if we could get decent fees for any of Davies, Aurier or Sissoko then we could try to use that money to sign direct replacements (i.e. Lewis/Bogle/Philips). I just can't see Levy completing that many deals in a single window (as it's impossible to complete that many deals all on transfer deadline day!
)
Of course the reality is more likely to be that we sign only 4 players with 3 of them coming in with less than a week before the season starts and all after we've moved an existing player out.
