by PrezIke » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:42 pm
Almost posted more on my view shift (somewhat) the other day, but I've relaxed a bit about him not coming, although I never have been THAT upset at Txiki and Pep's stance.
Reading Sam Lee's recent article/Twitter posts it definitely makes some sense, and may end up being helpful for us as his agent appears to have tried to exploit the situation, which may have been due to our assumption he was coming. However, I do think we are missing out on a tremendous player that can take us to the next level, again, which also helps our biggest rival and that is, simply put, frustrating.
Most of my concern has been about the potential mistake of resting on our laurels/missing an opportunity to really become the favourites for CL this season and possibly the quadruple, as well as put ourselves in pole position in the PL next season, even as other rivals improved. Our gap for the PL is so big I'm not so worried about that, but if it gets too small there will be more pressure and could affect CL performance.
What also came to mind, before hearing or reading anything further, was that perhaps one or two of those "dream" targets listed recently by CityWatch we have already made serious contact with, i.e. Griezmann, perhaps Lewandowski, someone like that, because no way would we back down even relating to money just to hinge our hopes on the futures of Raz, Jesus and Sane (still works in progress), especially whilst Kun may be going as well.
Then today, this:
Seems we will look to fill other holes in the squad this window if we can, as now with Otamendi doing so well this season we will not feel the need to spend big on a centre half like Alderweireld, as I expected, especially if we signed Sanchez. This is where JFE comes in, as he would be here to be a backup, and now I also see the reasons to be in for a LB this window as the other priority. Why? If we bring a LB in that could also mean Delph can spell Fernandinho -- as Yaya has declined faster than we might have hoped -- as well as still rotate at LB, especially if we don't sign a holding midfielder this window.
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