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Who would you sign this summer if you was manager? I say lets get top talented young players who can play together for years. A bit like Barcelona but instead of them coming through our own acadamy just buy them off other people.

I would go for:

Torres (if not him, then Higuain) - Torres needs no explanation. If we can't get him then Higuain would be a fantastic second option. 60m for Torres or 30m for Higuain

Balotelli - Unbelievable young player who I think Mancini could get the best out of. Some question marks on his attitude though. A bit like sturridge, except attitude is worse and his talent is greater. - 30m

Eden Hazard - I really really rate this guy and mentioned it a few weeks back. Wenger is heavily linked with him and as we all know he's no dummy in the transfer market (buying franny jeffers for 10m aside) I think he'd be ours for 15m

Yoann Gourcuff - This guy is the closest to Zidane I've ever seen. Really top player. 27m

Stevan Jovetic - He tore Liverpool a new arsehole when he played against them in the Champions League. Reminds me a bit like Maradona. Wavy hair, stocky kind of build and low centre of gravity. Rags have been linked with him - 25m

Miralem Pjanic - I don't think he'd get in my team ahead of Gourcuff but another young top talent. We were linked with him under Hughes http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1218488/Manchester-City-eye-Lyons-5m-Bosnian-wonderkid-Miralem-Pjanic.html 10m

Giorgio Chiellini - Excellent centre half and still relatively young at 25 for a defender. 40m

Gael Clichy - Good left backs are quite rare these days. This guy is great for Arsenal and plenty of years ahead of him. 28m

Right back is really tricky. My number one choice would be Maicon but I highly doubt he'll come. I'd probably go for Cristian Zaccardo.10m


On a side note I really feel Zabaleta would be a fantastic player in midfield. So with that in mind:

----------------------------Hart-------------------------

Zaccardo-------Kompany-------Chiellini-------Clichy

-------------------------Zabaleta------------------------

Hazard------------------------------------------Jovetic

-------------------------Gourcuff------------------------

----------------Tevez----------Higuain------------------

Subs: Given, Lescott, Barry, A. Johnson, Pjanic, Adebayor, Balotelli

Even though it's early, I'll get it started. I'd go for another striker (Torres mould), Winger (De Maria) and Right Back (Maicon). And just for good measure I'd throw that Central Defender from Aston Villa, Richard Dunne I think he's called, had an 'eck of a season he has ;-)

Carlos Puyol- What a signing that would be but would take some serious £ and persuading as guy is Catalonian


Now for more realistic choices

Torress, Di Maria, Maicon and Lahm.

I'd try to pick up a couple of cast offs from the tip-top teams, for example...
Yaya from Barca
Benzema from Real

.. a couple of very promising young players from the Prem, for example...
McCarthy from Wigan
Henderson from Sunderland

.. a Mancini old boys, for example...
Maicon

.. and a Mancini Special (some unknown superkid).

I'm not good at these kind of threads as i don't follow much other than the Premier league or play football manager but we must hold some serious leverage with the kid Neymar at Santos with having robinho there and not wanting to come back?

We have got Boating apparently from Hamburg...nailed on.

Im sure Mancini said he will buy all the players he,s after before the World cup...could be a busy few weeks.

Cn't be exact on the players, its our managements job to find them but priority number 1 is a box to box midfielder who is equally a factor in his own box as well as the oppositions. Then we need 2 full-backs, and finally a decent striker to go with Tevez and Adebayor.

They are the primary needs, which are probably pretty obvious anyway. I'm assuming Boateng will arrive as noted by Carl and he's probably one for the future and will mean Richards or Onouha are on their way out as Kompany, Lescott and Toure will all be staying.

Although I like most of your signings I honestly wouldn't give 30p for Balotelli. Where you've got that he's a decent player from I don't know.

I'd just like to see us get some full backs and at least two midfielders who do a little more than 'protect our back four', make irrational challenges and pick up yellow cards.

From the prem, Milner would do a good job in midfield.
I like the what i've seen of Veloso from sporting lisbon.
I've given Adebayor all season the benifit of the doubt till now but he just doesn't do what a highly rated centre forward should do and he's a lazy cunt for me!
i'd fuck him off and contemplate replacing him with Edin Dzeco.

Better left and right full backs want signing! Lamn would improve us at LB as would spuds Assao Akotto.

RB ...dunno? Zabba, as much as I love is attitude lacks pace and hasn't acheived the consistancy we need.

Lahm would be a good buy.
Maicon might be out of reach but worth whatever amount inter wants.
Definitely Gourcuff. from what i've seen, he's top class.
Hamsik also would be a good buy. ive watched him play countless time this season and he could prove to be a key signing.
Either Torres or Benzema. preferably torres.

[youtube]FPuMzJcHSzg[/youtube]

Watch the sequence at 4:23 and tell me who this reminds you of.

That's dead easy mate...it's......BILLY MEREDITH.
Or was it the great Eli Fletcher?

200% right, you are the man, the old man, the very old man.

Slim wrote:200% right, you are the man, the old man, the very old man.

I find myself agreeing with you a lot these days...and so would my kids.

It has to be Mr Kinkladze....very Southampton that goal.

Offer everything and anything for De Rossi.
Due to the fact we have almost no chance getting De Rossi, I like the idea of Gourcuff.
Maicon and Clichy.
I honestly think Tevez is gunna be off, Torres would be a decent replacement I suppose, Higuain isn't a bad shout either. We should be aiming really high then dropping down a notch if we can't get our first target i.e

Torres -> Higuain -> Fabiano
De Rossi -> Yaya Toure
etc.

Let's make few things cler here, we will have NO chance of signing following players:
- Torres
- Maicon
- De Rossi

Unless something completely extraordinary happens. Most of them would NOT move to club with no Champions League football and most of them will have more than enough suitors with all that + almost guaranteed titles in offer should they leave their current clubs.

What we should be doing, and did well under Hughes, is to try and sign top players from "lesser" leagues like German Bundesleague and French League 1.

Gourcuff - Fits perfectly the profile we should be looking for. Hasn't been as good this season as previous year but still pretty much the kind of player we should be looking for. Available for right money (despite what their chairman says), hungry and willing to prove himself on enxt level after early failure in Italy, his style of play would suit England imo as he is quick thinking and despite being skillfull isn't afraid to take bit of hit, can play both as attacking midfielder behind striker(s) and central midfielder in more traditional 4-4-2

Dzeko - From what I've seen of him, must buy. Hybrid of a classic centerforward and targetman. Good in the air, great with his foot. Good finisher. Participates on overall play as well. Similar to Adebayor but I'd say even better. Roque Santa Cruz who CAN actually play if you will. 65 goals in 87 games over past two seasons. Need I say more?

Boateng - It seems he is coming. Far from finished article from what I've seen of him and honestly he seems to have potential to be one of the very best but I have my doubts how fast he'll adapt to English game. Seems like replacement to either Micah or Nedum as developemental project.

David Luiz - We've been linked to both Angel Di Maria and Luiz from Benfica but this is actually the better player of the two having watched some Portuguese league. Despite being Brazilian, his playing style of more of Northern Britain. He has played as left back as well for Brazilian national side on couple of games I'v seen so he'd provide great cover there or would release Lescott to play as leftback (where I think he'd be excellent).

Angel Di Maria - Seems like top top talent but also huge punt with admittedly great upside if it works out. Hasn't been tested regularily against tough defences (yeah, I saw the highlights on UEFA cup games but still) and there's question marks how he'd cope against them week in week out. For his talent he doesn't seem as productive as you'd expect. Could turn out to be next fake-Ronaldo or next Nani.

Those are the players I believe we'll be heavily after/sign. Added to those we need improvement on few positions.

Back up goalkeeper - Depends what happens with Hart. I believe Given will remain as number one and Hart would have to show in preseason that he is better. But doesn't strike me as someone willing to fight for the shirt. Taylor is nowhere near good enough to even serve as debuty.

Right back - 38 game starter on right back would be nice. This is actually relatively easy position to fill as there's loads of talent out there

box-to-box central midfielder - we need both quality AND quantity on this position. It's exhausting position to play and there's always lot of injuries so some amount of rotation is needed. Preferably this would be a starter but there's not many really really good players available.


That's it. If all those signings come through, it will be HUGE squad revamp again. I believe we are going to sign max five players though. In his previous Clubs Mancini rarely seems to have made huge changes during one summer and seems to prefer working with talented players he has got. Although it's Marwood who will do lot of the shopping (rightly or not). It's whole another question whether he really is qualified to do thatjob. We'll see.

Why not just throw 70 Million for C.Ronaldo? See what they say?

Realistic I couldn't say right now as I not been Europe competitions so don't know how well any players outside the prem are doing right now.

I owuld like to see us put in a massive bid for Ashley Cole don't think he would come though. The best left back in the world by an absolute mile. Gourcuff would be a welcome addition, and agree with the OP on most of the players he has listed, especially Gourcuff, Jovetic and Balotelli. However, I would not want to hand Liverpool £70m for a (very) rich man's RSC. Torres, although probably the best striker in the world, is a crock and you cannot justify paying that amount for him. Think we already have our own Torres with Carlitos and would would rather bring in someone who would compliment him better than Ade. Balotelli fits this bill for me.

colonel_muck wrote:I owuld like to see us put in a massive bid for Ashley Cole don't think he would come though. The best left back in the world by an absolute mile. Gourcuff would be a welcome addition, and agree with the OP on most of the players he has listed, especially Gourcuff, Jovetic and Balotelli. However, I would not want to hand Liverpool £70m for a (very) rich man's RSC. Torres, although probably the best striker in the world, is a crock and you cannot justify paying that amount for him. Think we already have our own Torres with Carlitos and would would rather bring in someone who would compliment him better than Ade. Balotelli fits this bill for me.

What you been smoking??

I like the list compiled by Mr Pants. Very good sir.