Summer Transfer Thread 2018

[antijoke]

So considering the window opens on May 17th this year (and closes August 9th at 5pm) we should have a thread.

Will be nice to kick off silly season early ahead of the World Cup.

Looks like Liverpool are rumoured to have a deal in place for Nabil Fekir.

 

[MM-Seat]

It's starting so early! Will be good not to have that crazy two week period where the season has started and everyone scrambles for extra players.

 

[BaZ87]

We almost made it to the end of the season without a transfer thread!!! Normally talk of summer transfers start in the 2nd week of February.

This Fekir lad looks the dogs but spending such a large amount on a player in his position seems a little odd. I've got a friend who's a big Lyon fan and he says he either plays in a midfield 3 or as a number 10 and specifically hates playing wide in attack. That means we're still going to need to sign another forward this summer and with Can likely leaving, we surely have to sign somebody to play in the holding midfield role, unless of course Gini is going to play there and or Keita will play there more than in the advanced midfield role.

 

[MissChief]

Apparently Liverpool are signing 10 players from European teams.

 

[dannyjo22]

Shaw will end up at Everton. Probably a direct replacement for Lukaku under fat ****. I can see us going after Toure too as surely no one in the top 6 will want to touch him and we would be thick enough to pay him over 100k per week.

 

[Converge]

Looking more likely Martial is going to be off by the sounds of it. Doesn’t seemingly fit with Mourinho football. Rashford likely will stay due to the effort of bringing him through the ranks I expect.

Shame as I much prefer Martial to Rashford. He’s much more interesting to watch.

 

[omnomnom]

We almost made it to the end of the season without a transfer thread!!! Normally talk of summer transfers start in the 2nd week of February.

This Fekir lad looks the dogs but spending such a large amount on a player in his position seems a little odd. I've got a friend who's a big Lyon fan and he says he either plays in a midfield 3 or as a number 10 and specifically hates playing wide in attack. That means we're still going to need to sign another forward this summer and with Can likely leaving, we surely have to sign somebody to play in the holding midfield role, unless of course Gini is going to play there and or Keita will play there more than in the advanced midfield role.

I think it will be Neves coming in aswell. He can play the holding role right?

That would make our midfield options:

Fekir
Chamberlain
Henderson
Milner
Neves
Lallana
Keita


Providing they stay fit thats pretty good.

Would like a cb aswell...oh and if Ings and co are leaving we badly need a striker.

 

[BaZ87]

I think it will be Neves coming in aswell. He can play the holding role right?

That would make our midfield options:

Fekir
Chamberlain
Henderson
Milner
Neves
Lallana
Keita


Providing they stay fit thats pretty good.

Would like a cb aswell...oh and if Ings and co are leaving we badly need a striker.

I'm not convinced Neves definitely will be coming but yes he can/does play the holding role and that's something we need if Can is off. My only concern with the Fekir links is the cost considering the other positions we need to address too. Assuming Fekir isn't going to be seen as a front 3 option (speaking to my friend again last night he seemed to think he'd be more willing to play in attack for us than he is at Lyon), we still need another top quality attacker which won't come cheap, Neves or another decent holding midfielder again won't come cheap and then other areas like CB and goalkeeper.

Using Fekir and Neves as examples, you're looking at the best part of £100m there alone. Assuming we're in for somebody like Pulisic also, that's another £50m+. Unlike previous summers we don't have many players we can sell this time that will raise much money - we won't be able to give Sturridge away, Origi's hardly set the world alight on loan, leaving just Mignolet and possibly Ings.

As above, if we do go for Fekir and he isn't moved into an attacking position then I've got a sneaking suspicion that we may see Keita and or Gini playing the holding role more next season instead of signing one.

 

[Steedie]

My only concern is us getting rid of Martial he's consistently the only player who shows any kind of attacking intent, and I still believe he'll become an absolutely brilliant player.

But Mourinho seems to have made his mind up, we'll no doubt keep Fellaini as well and make him the highest paid player in the PL or something ridiculous

 

[wildman]

Kane to city as Aguero is going to hit 30 soon and pep needs a decent forward, Jesus doesn't cut it

 

[omnomnom]

Im not sure Kane suits City.... He'd cost an absolute fortune as well. Jesus has a one in two record for City so he's doing alright lol.

 

[BaZ87]

No chance Pep would go for Kane. You only have to rewind 12 months to see that Pep favoured Jesus to Aguero because of Jesus' greater willingness to work for the team and not just be a penalty box striker. Kane offers even less than Aguero on that front.

 

[Tombstone]

Not a huge european superstar name, but I'm very interested to see where Butland ends up

 

[BaZ87]

Not a huge european superstar name, but I'm very interested to see where Butland ends up

A couple of years back I'd have hoped Liverpool but not so much now.

 

[Tombstone]

A couple of years back I'd have hoped Liverpool but not so much now.

I'd still take him, if the price was reasonable, hes still only young for a keeper and (as we've found out ourselves) a keeper can look good or bad depending greatly on the defenders around him. Funnily enough I was hoping for Allison but I've cooled on him a lot after seeing him against us.

 

[BaZ87]

I'd still take him, if the price was reasonable, hes still only young for a keeper and (as we've found out ourselves) a keeper can look good or bad depending greatly on the defenders around him. Funnily enough I was hoping for Allison but I've cooled on him a lot after seeing him against us.

Butland's older and made more mistakes than Karius this season. He's also not suited to our style of play. Butland is your typical old fashioned keeper, hangs back on his line - we need a keeper that sweeps up behind our back 4 and is comfortable playing out from the back. I don't think it's any coincidence that we brought Karius into the side the second we signed VVD - signing VVD meant we could play a higher line which meant we needed a keeper that could cover the space behind the back 4. Karius done that, Mignolet didn't and Butland won't. If we're choosing between Butland and Karius then I'd stick with Karius.

Not sure what Allison done wrong in the games against us. I can think of a fumble from 1 corner in the first leg but other than that I can't remember too many mistakes - he certainly couldn't be held responsible for any of the goals. I think Roma have priced him out of a move after we had their pants down for Salah though.

 

[Tombstone]

Butland's older and made more mistakes than Karius this season. He's also not suited to our style of play. Butland is your typical old fashioned keeper, hangs back on his line - we need a keeper that sweeps up behind our back 4 and is comfortable playing out from the back. I don't think it's any coincidence that we brought Karius into the side the second we signed VVD - signing VVD meant we could play a higher line which meant we needed a keeper that could cover the space behind the back 4. Karius done that, Mignolet didn't and Butland won't. If we're choosing between Butland and Karius then I'd stick with Karius.

Not sure what Allison done wrong in the games against us. I can think of a fumble from 1 corner in the first leg but other than that I can't remember too many mistakes - he certainly couldn't be held responsible for any of the goals. I think Roma have priced him out of a move after we had their pants down for Salah though.

Yeah its the price really, for the amount being touted I wanted to see a stunning goalkeeping performance by Allison, but what I saw didnt blow me away for the price being bandied.

 

[BaZ87]

Yeah its the price really, for the amount being touted I wanted to see a stunning goalkeeping performance by Allison, but what I saw didnt blow me away for the price being bandied.

By all accounts he's been phenomenal this season and to be fair to him, there wasn't a great deal more he could have done for any of our goals. Even the lower end figures of £50m is a lot for any keeper though and by the sounds of things he's likely to cost significantly more than that too.

 

[MissChief]

By all accounts he's been phenomenal this season and to be fair to him, there wasn't a great deal more he could have done for any of our goals. Even the lower end figures of £50m is a lot for any keeper though and by the sounds of things he's likely to cost significantly more than that too.

If he's going to cost that much I'd rather stick with Karius and spend on some cover. We're very thin up front (Solanke and Ings aren't enough IMO) and if Origi comes back we have at least one too many up front. Keita is coming obviously but Milner isn't getting any younger and Can is likely off (and good riddance, we want players who want to play for the club) so we need one or two more IMO.

 

[explicit4u]

First transfer window I'm genuinely excited for!

Attacking wise I think we're pretty well stocked, maybe a wide midfielder for cover but I'm not too fussed about our ability going forward.

As for the defence, we need a new 1st choice CB urgently, and a commanding Goalkeeper. Kos looks set to miss the start of next season and he isn't getting any younger, I wouldn't be surprised to see him spend most of next season on the bench if we can get someone decent in. Although we'd have to make sure Mavropanos gets a decent amount of games as he already looks like the best CB we have. (wrote this out before our game tonight )

I'd like to see us sign a keeper too, but another season in the Europa might make it difficult to get a top class keeper without spending a fortune.

Obviously our most important and difficult signing is going to be a first team coach. There were rumblings that we're looking to get them sorted before the World Cup, ideally I'd like us to have it sorted long before then.