Realistic prices and realistic targets only please.
I'll start off:
Out:
Toure 8m
Adebayor 20m
Silvestre 0m
Bischoff 0.5m
Senderos 5m
Traore 5m
Simpson 1.5m
Diaby 7m
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47 million
In:
CB 14m
CB 8m
CM 17m
FW 18m
+ 10m for the odd young player
------------
67 million
Looks like a lot of first team players out at first glance, but in reality it's just Toure, Adebayor and Diaby. Kolo going will hurt because I love the guy, but I think the time has come. Gallas is a better player and has more about him so I personally think he should stay. Diaby leaving is a difficult one, since he has lots of potential. However, at some point a decision has to be made and to be honest he's not done enough. Out of Song, Denilson and himself, he's shown the least improvement this season and if I had to choose 2 of the 3 to stay I'd choose Song and Denilson. I'd never have thought I'd say that. I'm sure Diaby could make us regret selling him, but such is life.
Adebayor's time has well and truly come. His effort this season has been embarrassing at times and his recent interviews are difficult to take. Not that I regard myself as a big defender of him, but I wanted him to come back and succeed at this club after last summers debacle (when many people were less than happy that he stayed). The way he's handled himself on and off the pitch since is a slap in the face to be honest. So good riddance.
On the buying side it's quite simple: a first class centre back and a back up centre back. An experienced central midfielder and a replacement for Adebayor.
Names? Not easy at all.
- at CB I could think of Chiellini, though how likely that is remains to be seen. The backup is easier, Sakho from PSG comes to mind. I've admittedly not seen too much of him (apart from the French league highlights on Setanta every now and then), but he's very highly rated and looks to be an excellent player. He seems like a Wenger type of signing, too. Bassong from Newcastle would be another good option and available for very little money with Newcastle going down.
- in midfield Alonso would be an obvious choice. Will he still be available this summer though? Difficult to say, though I think the answer is yes, since Benitez seems to have a love affair with Barry. Other than that, who knows.
- up front I could imagine us going for Huntelaar. Real will probably buy about 15 players this summer in a desperate attempt to close the gap to Barca. Huntelaar may well be surplus to requirements despite having done very well there so far. We could probably even do swap deal plus 5 or 10 million for Adebayor. There's no chance in hell we'd go for Villa or Ibrahimovic imo.
Those signings would give us a squad full of quality and the right mix of experience and youth I believe:
A first team squad of 28 players that imo is strong enough to challenge for 3 trophies next season.GK
Almunia
Fabianski
CB
Gallas
NEW (Chiellini?)
Djourou
NEW (Sakho?)
RB
Sagna
Hoyte
LB
Clichy
Gibbs
CM
Fabregas
NEW (Alonso?)
Song
Denilson
Ramsey
RM
Rosicky
Walcott
Wilshere
Eboue
LM
Arshavin
Nasri
Merida
Barazite
FW
Van Persie
NEW (Huntelaar?)
Bendtner
Eduardo
Vela
