(07-03-2015, 02:25 AM)nefremo Wrote: Good move with Adriano. Surprised that we paid that much with only months on his contract....but I'm glad we are making moves.
Bertolacci, Bacca, Adriano, Mauri all in the bag. We have spent €58mil and we are not done. If we get a creative-ball playing midfielder and 1 or 2 CBs than this will turn out to be the best summer in years. We will need to start getting rid of some players soon.
We have a ton of players on the roster now and hopefully this will finally be the year where we actually see 25 players on the roster. We hear it every year but it never happens.
Aggazi, Alex, Albertazzi, Zaccardo, Nocerino, Verdi, Oduamadi, Matri, Petagna - We have to do everything possible to sell these 9. Hopefully sell, but even loans are fine for some of them. As long as they are no longer here I'm ok with it. Verdi is in direct competition for playing time with the likes of SES, Niang, Suso and I just don't think he can beat them to it. I watched him at Empoli a few times and he was ok. He would've been fine if we had no money, but the way these signings are going I think he might be a little out of his league. A loan may be good for him just to give him another crack.
Zapata, Menez, Honda, Cerci, Poli.......these are the question marks for me and it should depend on what use we can get for them AND CAN we get better players then them to serve our purpose. Obviously not all of the players in this group WILL/SHOULD leave and it all depends on what else happens in the market.
Zapata has been poor and should go. He also should be able to get us some cash. He should not be starting here, and I don't see why we should keep him on the bench when he still has value. If Mexes does renew (looks a formality now) than there is absolutely no need to keep Zapata.
Cerci is on a loan and he can be an option for a SS. But he is a big question mark and the past 6 months did not do his case a favor. We also have SES and Niang who can be SS and I would rather keep them over Cerci. I wouldn't mind keeping him for another year though. We can't get a transfer fee for him anyway and he might actually find form. He is the player I'm the most split on.
Poli is nothing more then a squad player, so I would sell him if possible. Maybe give those minutes to one of our youngsters to grow.
Menez, good year from him but I would move him along especially if the interest from France was real. His value is probably close to its all time high and I would rather see a different player do "his" job on the field.
Honda, I know I'll get some stick for....but honestly, he hasn't shown anything to suggest he should be a starter here. I understand he was played out of position, but I just don't see much there. He can stay of course to play behind the strikers, but I really want us splash the cash for that position. We also have Suso and if (I pray that we do) we end up getting a creative midfielder to play behind the strikers, then I can' see Honda as a back up.
Ely and Verghara can be loaned out. I don't see how they'll get a lot of playing time.
That is a total of 16 players that could stil potentially leave. I highly doubt that all of them will.
In the meantime.....like I said, I hope we get at least 2 world class players. 1 CM/AM and 1CB. Make them both big money signings if we really have close to 100mil left to spend. They need to be game changers. Another CB would be the icing on the cake...maybe a young player with tons of upside and potential....maybe Romagnolli? - Roma lost out on Bacca and Adriano because of us. It seems they really want Dzeko but he will be expensive. They need the money and we also paid them a good sum for Bertolacci. I didn't believe it at first, but at this point I think there is a good chance they can sell him to us.
Good post, I completely agree.
We will definitely sign a midfielder, because Galliani did say that Bertolacci is not our 'big midfield signing', despite the fact that he is a fantastic player and a big signing. With the names linked to us, I do worry a little though. Players like Kondogbia should not have been considered, we need a ball playing midfielder, not another De Jong. Witsel can potentially be that player, though I see him as more of a LCM who joins the attack. With the scarcity of creative midfielders (that are actually buyable) I'm very interested to see who our big midfield signing will be. New reports mentioned Hamsik as a name that could come back around. I dont know how I'd feel about that, but I still reiterate that my ideal signing is Gundogan, my dream remains Verratti although at the end of it all, I'd be happy with Witsel.
As far as defence goes, it would be fantastic to pair up Laporte and Romagnoli. We will have Paletta,Mexes & Zapata as backup, and two young yet ready CB's.
I'm very pleased with our signings so far, Jose Mauri is an absolute steal! He will be better than Bertolacci. I see Bertolacci as being our Marchisio, he will definitely play an important role, albeit not ala Ibrahimovic.. which leads me to my next topic.
We are still linked with Ibrahimovic, I'm all for his return, but I'm not sure what we would do with Ibra,Adriano and Bacca. Aren't we scheduled to meet with the agent of Jovetic and Nastasic? Let's just buy the pair for 40-50m and call it a day. Buy Laporte and Witsel as well, done. I wont hide the fact that I'd be quite jealous if Merda were to buy Jovetic. Injury prone or not, he's a fantastic player and Nastasic is also a very promising defender. While Ibra would make a much stronger initial impact, Jovetic is one for the future and we can actually build a team, both to win in the now and to win in the future with a solid core.
As far as quoting Nefremo's post, I completely agree on your player ratings. Perhaps give Cerci a chance, definitely keep ELS & Niang, I would sell Menez because we have better players now and we can recuperate some money off him to be spent elsewhere. Other than marketing purposes, I don't rate Honda; too slow, too predictable and frustrating to watch sometimes IMO. He'll probably need to give up the #10 anyways, whether for Ibra or someone else.
FINALLY, I am beyond excited and pleased particularly with the signings of Luiz Adriano and Bacca. Bacca scored over 30 goals last season, and put up similar numbers the season before. This is a proven (FINALLY) goal machine, and everyone knows this. He's an agile player and very clinical finisher, clean with his feet and fantastic to play the ball off of. It will be such a joy to watch a striker like him finally, someone who isn't frustrating and useless with the ball outside the box like we've had to deal with lately with Pazzini and Matri and the likes.
As far as Luiz Adriano, given the nature of his transfer, some seem to think he'll play a bench role. I'm not so sure, he has one of the best goal ratios in the entire world, he literally made scoring goals for Shakthar look completely effortless, and he also put up one of the best champions league goal tallies. He is a clinical finisher, and has a spot with the Brazilian NT. He is by no means a push over squad player. He will fight for a starting spot against both Ibra and Bacca if need be, I guarantee it, this is a steal of a transfer.