by Niall Quinns Discopants » Sun May 09, 2010 7:35 am
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.
