As recently posted, our speedy
and continued pursuit of Wilfried Bony somewhat
stole a march on my plans to release a January transfer window speculation Blog
posting.
As indicated in that very same posting on 7th
January – and hoping in my assumption
about us signing Bony won’t tempt fate / scupper the deal - I’ve decided to
press ahead and post a, ‘who might we sign next’ piece. Here goes…
First, the sums…
I was scratching my head at some recent articles that
claimed, due to our F(not so)FP sanction / spending
restrictions and our 2014 summer acquisitions, we only had £17M left to spend on players and, therefore,
would have to sell [for the sum of at least £8M] in order to buy the Ivorian
striker from Swansea City.
As there were numerous pieces both in newspapers as well as
on the WEB all stating the same thing, I did start to doubt myself for a time
as to whether we could include the promised £22.6M from Valencia for the sale of Alvaro Negredo which should, I understand
at least, pop into our bank account on 1st June 2015.
Thankfully I’ve since read supporting evidence that we CAN,
indeed, include the future incoming sale figure for ‘The Beast’ when balancing
the books for UEFA’s officials to comb through
at the end of 2014/2015. Good, and so…
…we know that we’ve agreed an initial fee with Swansea for
Wilfried of £25M
(with ‘add ons’ depending on performances and trophies won) and so by my
reckoning (tap-tap-tap-tap-TAP) that
leaves us with £14.6M
to spend in January and not break our sanction restrictions for the season.
Allowing myself some MORE assumptions; I’d like to
presuppose that in addition to off-loading Matija Nastasic to Schalke 04; Scott Sinclair (to
Aston Villa?) and John Guidetti (to Celtic?) will soon follow
before the end of the window. And although the German side appear to have
achieved the same for Nastasic as the Spaniards wanted for Negredo [in terms of
an initial loan for the rest of the season]; I’m going to assume that the
“option to buy” quoted in the press actually means a compulsory purchase clause
and that they too will have to cough up on 1st June [and it’ll count
as income for the season also].
Huhhhhh…so…
…£10M for Nastasic, £3.5M for Sinclair and £4.5M
for Guidetti added to the £14.6M left over following the purchase of Bony
and (tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…TAP) that leaves us with
another £32.6M to spend on players and still remain “safe” with UEFA should
Manuel Pellegrini wish to in January.
Maths done, where do we NEED to strengthen?
I can’t mention this transfer
window without first taking a quick look forward about what might happen transfer-wise
in the summer, regardless of how many new trophies may or may not be sitting in
our cabinets come June 2015.
-
Long term we’ve simply
GOT to address the left-back situation and although I think Gael Clichy will be
rewarded for a fine spell of form with a stay at the club beyond this season;
surely…SURELY we’ll finally see the back of Aleksandar Kolarov. A new left-back
in the summer for me.
-
With Nastasic all but
gone, little faith being shown in Boyata, ‘fingers still being crossed’ for the still-largely-struggling
Mangala, Demichelis another year
older (but likely to receive an additional 1-year contract) and Kompany continuing his
3-month-average-per-season treatment table act; the centre of defence is crying
out for an additional, TOP class signing. Just like the left-back situation, this is a
summer ‘must’ for me.
-
With the recently soured farce
coming to a conclusion at the end of May regarding Frank Lampard’s situation
and with another close season circus in the offing as long as Yaya keeps the same agent; I would say that
at least two incoming attacking / creative midfielders / wingers is on the menu
in 2015. One of these, in my opinion
however, could - and perhaps should
– happen in the coming 2-½ weeks or so.
-
There’s growing
speculation regarding the departure of Stevan Jovetic; even, it would seem, talk of him possibly
moving [to Italy
They’re all considerations for the
summer, as I say, and if it DOES play out like that we should have a very tasty
squad indeed.
As for THIS transfer window - and
with a possible £32.6M to spend - I want to look at the more sensible rumours
that have been floating around out there set against what we might need / what
Pellegrini has his engineering eye on.
The keeper situation is absolutely
fine and won’t be a consideration in January whatsoever. If Willy is happy with his role so far then it won’t even be on
the agenda in the summer either.
The defence is most definitely for
summer reflection – with a very good quality, free right-back purchased from Arsenal last
summer along with £32M spent with the AIM, at
least, of shoring up the middle of the defence; I doubt the club will
sanction any more spending in this area of the pitch just yet. Expect a stellar move for at least one ‘top
class’ defender in the summer though.
For me it’s all about the midfield
now and I’ve got a gut feeling that we are either going to pull off a surprise,
canny move for someone who is going to add more depth & quality but for a
relatively cheap price or a big, £25M+ move for a ‘big gun’…or both.
“Why would we possibly want to buy another defensive
midfielder?” might be the question
immediately thrown at this suggestion. Fernando was only brought in during the last window from Porto for £12M and although he
hasn’t exactly set the stage alight, he’s been quietly improving since his
early season injury; sticking his long legs into tackles at key times in games
and getting an okay 6.5 from me at
least in his first season in the Premier League. I’m sure he’ll get even better too.
However, it does no harm to have 2
quality defensive midfielders on your books and although Fernandinho has filled that
role very well on occasions, the slighter-framed Brazilian is clearly more
suited to a more advanced position.
I wouldn’t go ‘hell for leather’
to sign a deep-lying, tackling ‘middle man’ but can we really miss the
opportunity to sign Sami Khedira from Real Madrid? A soon-to-be 28-year old player with HUGE experience in
the both the Bundesliga & La Liga and with a whopping 53 German international cap AND, who, is out of contract
at the end of the season! Apparently a
mere £8M will secure his services…although his wages
would be sky high I’m sure.
A luxury in our situation?
Perhaps. But whoever gets him (and it
would be one HELL of a scrap for his signature) should he decide not to stay with The Whites will be
getting one HELL of a bargain!
Chances of signing him in January: 5/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 5/10
I’ve said this in the past and,
once again, in my opinion; Chelsea
Whether it’s a left winger or a ‘central
man’; for me we need another top inventive / offensive threat in our midfield
ranks. Indeed if this IS indeed the
season we finally say bye-bye to Yaya, we’ll need two before the start
of next if no-one is to ‘step up’ from the EDS (or Zuculini proves not quite
ready either).
First up is a player forever being
linked with his old manager and [following the Khedira link] another look
towards Real Madrid; this time for Isco. Chelsea – huh…like
they NEED another one – are now entering the fray by all accounts and I
think it would be a real missed opportunity not to reunite ‘The Engineer’ and
the soon-to-be 23-year old Spanish attacking midfielder.
This young’un creates and scores;
plays down the middle and is apparently fairly comfortable out-wide-left too.
With 3 years remaining on his current deal the ex-Malaga man would take up
most of our £32.6M (probably £30M of it) but we would
be steeling ANOTHER march on our rivals, following the purchase of Bony. THIS addition
in January (or indeed in the summer) would be making a real statement of
intent!
Chances of signing him in January: 6.5/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 8.5/10
Sticking with Madrid
However, this Spanish 23-year old
is even more tied up in his current contract [than Isco] and I doubt £32.6M
would cut it in the winter window.
Chances of signing him in January: 3/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 7/10
I have suggested today – and not
for the first time – that it’s not just the creative centre that could do with
an addition but, taking nothing away from Samir Nasri; I believe that we’ve been crying out
for a proper creative outlet on the left-hand-side for some time now; a real
specialist in that position. Besides, if we DID acquire one, I believe Samir
would find a lot more joy with more central role; albeit one he’d have to share from the bench more than he’d like I’m
sure.
In Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus we’d have an EXCELLENT player with bags
of pace, creative flare AND goals. Of the 3 mentioned so far – and I’d personally love us to get Isco –
this is the player we should go out ‘all guns’ for next.
All the signals are there for us
to go and get him – Borussia are having a TORRID time of it as they
currently lie 17th in a league of 18; he’s seen some of his
top-quality colleagues leave in the summer and will be in the last 24-months of
his current deal in the summer.
The Germans do have some time on their hands with regards to
cashing in on his contract length and might want to, therefore, hold onto the
exceptional left-winger in an attempt to keep themselves in the top flight. But
even though there’d be huge competition for his signature, this one is a possibility; this
is the type of player we should be competing for with real intent.
Chances of signing him in January: 6/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 8.5/10
Perhaps a little less likely but…
I’ll briefly chuck a few more into
the mix; ones who have, of course, been linked with us and didn’t seem TOO far
fetched to me.
The first of these might be seen
as one for the future should we swoop for him; but Belgium
and Anderlecht ’s Dennis Praet is ‘turning heads’ at the moment. At just 20, a lot would
question if we haven’t already got similar quality in the EDS. But that’s
unlikely to stop us should we want him. Plays mostly as a central attacking
midfielder but can operate on the left too and has 2-½ years remaining on his
contract and would, therefore, probably cost us in the region of £12M.
Chances of signing him in January: 2/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 5/10
Slightly older and more of a left
winger is a player who plays for a club with whom we’ve just done business with
(wink-wink). At just 21, Julian Draxler already has
15 full, German international caps to his name and when you consider that the
afore mentioned Marco Reus competes in the same position for his country; then
that alone tells you that this young fella can’t be all-to-bad either!
Julian has slightly longer on his
current deal with Schalke 04 and would, therefore, probably cost us in the
region of £25M (or £15M when you take the
sale of Nastasic into account…)
Chances of signing him in January: 4/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 6/10
The world and his wife seem to
want this next one and I doubt he’ll move anywhere until the summer. But seeing
as we’re being linked with him in almost every transfer window and is being
touted, specifically, as Yaya’s long-term replacement; I thought I’d chuck
him in there as at least a possibility.
Paul Pogba not only LOOKS a little like Mario Balotelli - often-hair-style-wise at least - but
rumours of a similar attitude sent alarm bells ringing in my head a long while
ago. However, he appears to be calming down considerably and is CERTAINLY
turning out to be a far more accomplished footballer than the ex-City forward.
A player who gets a lot of praise from
many pundits and, who, is a real box-to-box midfielder. With a whopping 4-½
years to run on his current Juventus contract we’d definitely have to sell Jovetic and / or
someone else to be able to afford the Frenchman in this transfer window and,
so…
Chances of signing him in January: 1/10
Chances of signing him in the summer: 7/10
So there you have it, my opinions
of this often-hard-to-keep-up-with transfer window. By the time I’ve combed through
what I’ve typed before 'release'; inserted the hyperlinks and the pictures etc. the scene may well have all changed
yet again – so I’d better 'crack on'…
Thank you as always for
taking the time…
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