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The Rebuild

We need a spine to stop us being spineless.

New keeper ( Lloris off to PSG)
New Dominant Left sided CH
New ball winning DCM ( plus Skipp)
New match dominating AM
New bully of a CF to play with/ rotate with Kane

If we sell Aurier or Doherty - a new RB
If Regi goes back to RM - a new LB

Cancel the Bale loan.

Sell as many as possible of Deli, Son, Bergwyn, Lucas, Lamela, Clarke, Sessegnon, Foyth and Sissoko and bring in real pace and trickery in wide positions.

Levy should follow this blueprint for success.
 
Think we should buy Georgios Giakoumakis as a back up striker, would probably only cost about £5 million, would be chuffed to be sat on our bench and he knows where the goal is. 26 years old and has scored 24 of the 39 goals for an absolutely shambolic Venlo side. Looks like he will be the top scorer in the dutch league and could well be the next Jaansen but for the money we would get him for it would not be much of a risk.
 
Get rid
  • Hart
  • Doherty
  • Sanchez
  • Winks
  • Bale
  • Sissoko
  • Lo Celso
  • Dele
  • Bergwijn
Get in
  • Keeper
  • Right back
  • Centre back
  • Attacking/creative midfielder
  • Pacy/tricky forward
  • Striker
..............................Lloris/New................................
New/Aurier.....Toby/New.......Rodon............Reguilon/Davies
.....................New/Skipp.....................Hojbjerg.............
New/Moura.................NDombele.........................Son...
.............................Kane/New..................................

We have absolutely zero creativity at the moment. Someone who can spot a pass quickly. NDombele holds on to the ball for too long for me and needs to be further up the pitch.
 
Priority 1: A new centre back.
Priority 2: Another new centre back.
Priority 3: A physical, imposing but skilful central midfield player.
Priority 4: A backup keeper (that could challenge to take over in 1 to 2 years).
Priority 5: A backup striker.
Priority 6: A right wing forward.
Priority 7: A number 10 creator.
Priority 8: A better rotation option for right back.

I think we need to work down the list and see where we get to.

My choices
1. Elvedi. 1 year left on contract, fantastic ball playing centre back similar to John Stones but without the calamaties.
2. Ginter. Elvedi's partner, also with 1 year left on his contract. An excellent leader and there is potential here to get a ready made partnership. If we can't afford the transfer fees for both then bring in Boateng as an experienced option instead.
3. Soumare. Another with a year left on his contract. A very imposing midfield player, who is also an excellent dribbler and good passer of the ball. A HUGE upgrade on Winks/Sissoko and frees up Ndombele to play further forward where he can hurt the opposition.
4. Maignan. Lloris' challenger for France's goalkeeper spot. A very good all round keeper with his best years to come. Another with 1 year left. If he still proves too expensive even with a year left then I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on Dinamo Zagreb's keeper - Likakovic, he has been Croatia's number one for a few years now and really impressed me with his all round game in our Jose inspired Europa League embarrassment this season. Likakovic may also be more likely to come as an initial number 2 for a year or so whereas I doubt Maignan would.
5. Pick one of the free transfer options. Marega from Porto is probably the best one out there.
6. Thuavin is on a bosman this summer and has lots of quality. Though his year in England at Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5 years or so ago wasn't a good one.
7. I'd love us to get Buendia but think he'll be too expensive. Otavio on a bosman from Porto was a brilliant option until a few weeks ago when he signed a new deal there. The smart buy here IMO would be Olise from Reading, I think he'd need bedding in and it might be a year or two before he is ready but in a year or two's time he will no longer be in our price range.
8. Jaden Bogle from Sheffield United. I wanted us to sign him from Derby a year ago and he'll now probably be more than twice as expensive. I think he'll end up as England's first choice right back.
.
A guess on the prices for each of this lot: Elvedi (£25m), Boateng (free), Soumare (£30m), Likakovic (£15m), Marega (free), Thuavin (free), Olise (£12m), Bogle (£12m)

~£95m is a lot of money in the current climate but we have quite a few substandard players to sacrifice and I'm sure we can get fees for those players if the chairman was prepared to be realistic and perhaps even sweeten some deals....
Sanchez (£10m?) , Dier (£12m?), Doherty (£7m?), Sissoko (£5m?), Winks (£20m?), Lamela (£8m?), Davies (£10m?) Foyth (£7m?), Rose (out of contract), Bale (loan terminated) CCV (£2m?)
After agent fees and pay offs maybe we'd need about £40m of transfer budget. The wage bill after these sorts of ins and outs shouldn't be too different.

The other interesting freebie out there is Deepay. He can play as a striker or a left wing forward and if Son were to go then going all out and putting a big contract in front of Deepay on a free transfer could be a good move.

......................................Lloris/Likakovic............................................
Aurier/Bogle.....Elvedi/Toby..............Boateng/Rodon.......Reguilon/Sessegnon
.................Hojbjerg/Skipp..............Soumare/Lo Celso.............................
.......Moura/Thuavin........NDombele/Dele................Son/Bergwijn..............
.......................................Kane/Marega................................................

With Olise also covering the number 10 and wide right midfield roles.

Of course if we were to sell a high value player like Dele, Son or (especially) Kane then the transfer budget would be considerably boosted and we could then look outside the free transfer market for more of the players.

Doing this many transfers in only one window however is pretty much impossible, in which case we need to concentrate on just the top 4 or 5 and accept we'll need another to do the same again in Jan/Summer 2022 and perhaps even the same in 2023. We may then be able to get to a place where we can be just looking to improve on 2 or 3 a year from then on.
 
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Priority 1: A new centre back.
Priority 2: Another new centre back.
Priority 3: A physical, imposing but skilful central midfield player.
Priority 4: A backup keeper (that could challenge to take over in 1 to 2 years).
Priority 5: A backup striker.
Priority 6: A right wing forward.
Priority 7: A number 10 creator.
Priority 8: A better rotation option for right back.

I think we need to work down the list and see where we get to.

My choices
1. Elvedi. 1 year left on contract, fantastic ball playing centre back similar to John Stones but without the calamaties.
2. Ginter. Elvedi's partner, also with 1 year left on his contract. An excellent leader and there is potential here to get a ready made partnership. If we can't afford the transfer fees for both then bring in Boateng as an experienced option instead.
3. Soumare. Another with a year left on his contract. A very imposing midfield player, who is also an excellent dribbler and good passer of the ball. A HUGE upgrade on Winks/Sissoko and frees up Ndombele to play further forward where he can hurt the opposition.
4. Maignan. Lloris' challenger for France's goalkeeper spot. A very good all round keeper with his best years to come. Another with 1 year left. If he still proves too expensive even with a year left then I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on Dinamo Zagreb's keeper - Likakovic, he has been Croatia's number one for a few years now and really impressed me with his all round game in our Jose inspired Europa League embarrassment this season. Likakovic may also be more likely to come as an initial number 2 for a year or so whereas I doubt Maignan would.
5. Pick one of the free transfer options. Marega from Porto is probably the best one out there.
6. Thuavin is on a bosman this summer and has lots of quality. Though his year in England at Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5 years or so ago wasn't a good one.
7. I'd love us to get Buendia but think he'll be too expensive. Otavio on a bosman from Porto was a brilliant option until a few weeks ago when he signed a new deal there. The smart buy here IMO would be Olise from Reading, I think he'd need bedding in and it might be a year or two before he is ready but in a year or two's time he will no longer be in our price range.
8. Jaden Bogle from Sheffield United. I wanted us to sign him from Derby a year ago and he'll now probably be more than twice as expensive. I think he'll end up as England's first choice right back.
.
A guess on the prices for each of this lot: Elvedi (£25m), Boateng (free), Soumare (£30m), Likakovic (£15m), Marega (free), Thuavin (free), Olise (£12m), Bogle (£12m)

~£95m is a lot of money in the current climate but we have quite a few substandard players to sacrifice and I'm sure we can get fees for those players if the chairman was prepared to be realistic and perhaps even sweeten some deals....
Sanchez (£10m?) , Dier (£12m?), Doherty (£7m?), Sissoko (£5m?), Winks (£20m?), Lamela (£8m?), Davies (£10m?) Foyth (£7m?), Rose (out of contract), Bale (loan terminated) CCV (£2m?)
After agent fees and pay offs maybe we'd need about £40m of transfer budget. The wage bill after these sorts of ins and outs shouldn't be too different.

The other interesting freebie out there is Deepay. He can play as a striker or a left wing forward and if Son were to go then going all out and putting a big contract in front of Deepay on a free transfer could be a good move.

......................................Lloris/Likakovic............................................
Aurier/Bogle.....Elvedi/Toby..............Boateng/Rodon.......Reguilon/Sessegnon
.................Hojbjerg/Skipp..............Soumare/Lo Celso.............................
.......Moura/Thuavin........NDombele/Dele................Son/Bergwijn..............
.......................................Kane/Marega................................................

With Olise also covering the number 10 and wide right midfield roles.

Of course if we were to sell a high value player like Dele, Son or (especially) Kane then the transfer budget would be considerably boosted and we could then look outside the free transfer market for more of the players.

Doing this many transfers in only one window however is pretty much impossible, in which case we need to concentrate on just the top 4 or 5 and accept we'll need another to do the same again in Jan/Summer 2022 and perhaps even the same in 2023. We may then be able to get to a place where we can be just looking to improve on 2 or 3 a year from then on.
Olise was talked about a few weeks ago along with a few lads from Boro
 
So for next season the 1st team in a 4231 is;

-------------------------Lloris----------------------
*new rb------Toby----*new lcb---Reguillon
----------------Hojbjerg---*new dm-----------
*new rw----------Ndombele-------------Son
----------------------------Kane----------------------

Assuming Kane, Son, Ndombele stay who do we get to fill the gaps?
Much bigger rebuild than I ever thought...

Funnily enough, the above line-up suggest we may well be a little closer than I thought. Looking back at how Poch worked in 2014-15, he began to promote youth consistently after the game at Stoke. We also have to think about HG-percentage. So for argument's sake, let's say that Skipp gets to fill the 'new DM' role, and we try Tanganga at RB or even try to get KWP back to Spurs. Sessegnon can be back up to Reguilon and/or Son. We really need one or, better, two CB's who will cost some money and who ideally have some PL experience (like Toby when we signed him). Joachim Andersen appears to be the obvious candidate. We could then stick with Moura/Lo Celso for another year (who knows), and complete the initial stage of the rebuild fairly quickly. That would mean that next season, we would play something like this:

(4-2-3-1): Lloris; KWP, Toby, Andersen, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Skipp; Moura, Ndombele, Son; Kane.

... with a bench of Hart, Dier, Lo Celso, Rodon, Sessegnon, Alli, Parrott

That, to me, is a team with two additional players who are eager to come to us, realistically speaking, and that perhaps could challenge for the top-4 (especially if we could get one marquee singing on top of Andersen). Much depends on the manager of course. Now that Nagelsmann has gone to Bayern, I am beginning to think that maybe we should consider giving Parker a go. The two additional players would want to play for him too.

For 2022-23, you would then look at finding young, promising upgrades on Toby, Moura, and Lloris.
 
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Funnily enough, the above line-up suggest we may well be a little closer than I thought. Looking back at how Poch worked in 2014-15, he began to promote youth consistently after the game at Stoke. We also have to think about HG-percentage. So for argument's sake, let's say that Skipp gets to fill the 'new DM' role, and we try Tanganga at RB or even try to get KWP back to Spurs. Sessegnon can be back up to Reguilon and/or Son. We really need one or, better, two CB's who will cost some money and who ideally have some PL experience (like Toby when we signed him). Joachim Andersen appears to be the obvious candidate. We could then stick with Moura/Lo Celso for another year (who knows), and complete the initial stage of the rebuild fairly quickly. That would mean that next season, we would play something like this:

(4-2-3-1): Lloris; KWP, Toby, Andersen, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Skipp; Moura, Ndombele, Son; Kane.

... with a bench of Hart, Dier, Lo Celso, Rodon, Sessegnon, Alli, Parrott

That, to me, is a team with two additional players who are eager to come to us, realistically speaking, and that perhaps could challenge for the top-4 (especially if we could get one marquee singing on top of Andersen). Much depends on the manager of course. Now that Nagelsmann has gone to Bayern, I am beginning to think that maybe we should consider giving Parker a go. The two additional players would want to play for him too.

I agree re how much of the core team stays (if not all), to me a big part of the refresh is the squad (bit of a repeat)

- Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Sanchez, Dele, Aurier, Davies, Doherty, Rose, Foyth, CCV is almost half the squad with only two first team changes

Refresh without disruption?
 
Poaching a pic from Reddit (Poch's CL team, I didn't do the squiggles)

3zim1rgvrqd71.jpg


Gone
- Toby, Jan, Lamela, Llorente, Trippier, Vorm, Gazza, Eriksen, Rose, Wanyama, KWP, Foyth (12)

In the sale window
- Winks, Sissoko, Dier, Sanchez (4)

Remaining
- Lloris, Skipp, Davies, Dele, Lucas, Son, Kane (7)

Added since then
- Lo Celso, Ndombele, Reguilon, PEH, Bergwijn, Rodon, Sessegnon, Gil, Gollini, Doherty (10)

So has the great "painful rebuild" started, is in progress or done by end of this window?
 
Poaching a pic from Reddit (Poch's CL team, I didn't do the squiggles)

3zim1rgvrqd71.jpg


Gone
- Toby, Jan, Lamela, Llorente, Trippier, Vorm, Gazza, Eriksen, Rose, Wanyama, KWP, Foyth (12)

In the sale window
- Winks, Sissoko, Dier, Sanchez (4)

Remaining
- Lloris, Skipp, Davies, Dele, Lucas, Son, Kane (7)

Added since then
- Lo Celso, Ndombele, Reguilon, PEH, Bergwijn, Rodon, Sessegnon, Gil, Gollini, Doherty (10)

So has the great "painful rebuild" started, is in progress or done by end of this window?
Who is in between Skipp and Vorm?!
 
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