I hoped that we would sign a veteran back-up to Benzema like Cavani on a short-term deal, but it is what it is. There was no value for money on the forward market and the first half of the season is not a long one. Very happy with Tchouameni and Rudiger.
O Palmeiras abre o placar com eleeeee, ENDRICCCCCK! Avanti, Palestra 🐷🎥 @sportv#CriasDaAcademia https://t.co/i2BmxauaQ5 pic.twitter.com/1Z3HG1OBtG— Crias da Academia (@CriasDaAcademia) September 1, 2022 Another Great goal by Endrick
We spend +€80M on a defensive midfielder and attempted to buy a forward for €200M last season but you're crying about frugality. Who is the "dolt"? Cry cry baby (dolt)
🎙| Ancelotti: "After Tchouameni we never thought about signing anyone else. Our squad was complete."— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) September 2, 2022
People wanted us to throw 60 and 50 mil. for Asensio with a fade and act like the team became better.
Whoever is 'Asensio with a fade' it would have been an improvement over Asensio without a fade. Thats all that matters, to keep improving the squad in every way possible. And Asensios with fades are in fact worth 50-60 million in the market today. Its you who said, thats what the market is today. So what are we going to do, boycott it because we don't like it? Even though we have the money, which everybody else is paying for these players? People who are fine with this level of passivity on the market and criticize others for wanting "shiny new toys" should watch the Figo documentary on Netflix. New signings have a symbolic power. They bring new energy at every level, generate money and maintain the club's reputation. Winning on the transfer market is part of winning in general. Imagine if Florentino still had the same vision and daring as he had in 2000, and signed Dembele (who is now lighting it up) on a free? Would have been a coup. Unfortunately, its a fact the management has become frugal, not only with money but also with player evaluation. It lacks courage and creativity. No amount of rationalizing or insulting is going to change that fact.
Next one should be about how the titles in the summer mean more than those won at the end of the season.
It’s kind of funny because I remember feeling in the 2000s like winning the transfer window was what mattered to Madridistas at the expense of actual success on the field lol Anyways I think the window was a mix of very good and bad for us. Overall the team is probably somewhat better than where it was at a year ago IMO, particularly if Tchouameni keeps up the level we’ve seen. I think a more aggressive approach was necessary given the age of our best players, but the overall strategy was defensible in light of the November World Cup. I’ve never liked buying players based on that tournament but I imagine the club is ready to pounce in January if the right option presents itself.
Lol, troll thread title. I just love how much effort we all have put in the previous thread discussing our opinions of squad strength, possible signings, departures etc etc. Honestly, aside from a few nervy posts, I was thinking "wow, what a great discussion". Some good approaches by both sides of the debate, a lot of passion etc. Both sides think in the ideal world we would have strengthened the squad, but one side maintains that's impossible due to the market being the way it is - while the other side is disappointed we haven't done more because we have the means to do so. We spend months debating our squad here, going back and forth... and Ancelotti just says "what reinforcements, the squad's perfect, what're u on about?" Lol Gotta love being a football fan
When we sell the other DM for 60m. To be fair, we're us just be sensible, not necessarily frugal. We could either end up in a Barcelona situation or spend £70m on mediocre defenders like the Premier League clubs.
Who would you have bought? I'm okay with the squad. As we won the double last season, we can afford to gamble on Rodrygo coming good as our striker, Tchouameni filling the boots of Casemiro and the likes of Asensio giving us something of the bench.
I think we went into this transfer window with the following priorities in order: 1. Address forward depth, particularly a quality RW and a back up ST. 2. Add a long term successor to Casemiro. 3. Add depth in defense. For our top priority, we absolutely fumbled that. We had all our eggs in the Mbappe basket, and once that was lost, we absolutely had no plan B or C. We addressed #2 with Tchouameni, albeit losing Casemiro in the process (to a deal that we could not turn down). But with Ceballos staying, I think we're in better shape there moving forward. We addressed #3 with a world class CB as well, and so I'm pretty happy about that. All in all though, looking back, you didn't achieve what you most needed to do in this window. We're threading a very thin line that gets thinner by the month.
Be ready to hear a host of Serie A players, lmao. Just adding more mediocre players to the squad, yawn.
Summer of 2023 following players expire Karin - gonna extend Modric - gonna extend Kroos - likely extend (depends if we sign Bellingham, then he’s gone) Nacho - likely extend, but may not Ceballos - likely extend but may not Asensio - Hopefully gone, but dark horse to extend Mariano - Plane ticket booked and limo arraigned for Barajas For those hoping for a big summer next year, I see spots open for 1 big midfield signing. 1 big attacking signing and maybe one more secondary one but not guaranteed. That’s it. Tielemans and Rashford are the two names expiring for 2023. Neither one sounds like a good option TBF. If we’re in the market for a LB, Gaya would be a good one to chase. But he’s likely to end up a Barca.
If you look at the context of that double, we very much needed strenghtening up front, due to Asensio and Mariano being bums, Hazard a walking injury risk and Rodrygo still developing. Doku, Diaby, Schick, Isaak, Sabitzer, Gnabry, Bernardo Silva, Zyiech, Mahrez, Maximin... Any one of them would have solved so much of our problems. They vary by age, price, reputation, and as you can see, by league, as none of them are from the Serie A. Since apparently we established that everyone that plays there is mediocre. Its amazing how posters here keep throwing the word "mediocre" around while we are relying on the likes of Asensio, Mariano, Lucas Vazquez, Hazard etc. as our rotational players on five fronts during what will be the most congested season in recent times.
I agree that we need a signing in attack, but Doku would have cost 80-100m and Isak went for 70m. Not sure if those are the transfers we need as they could not necessarily move the needle. Silva was the best option but City ain’t selling and the passport issue.