The New Era of Financial Frugality - The Transfer Thread

If Mbappe wanted to come next season or the following season, would Perez still buy him?

 

People making market availability as an excuse for our failure to secure a signing should know that no one exactly knows who is in the market and can still secure a signing if you push your interest with a player's agent.

(Casemiro was not on the market still Manu got him, or he was in the market, and no one knows it exactly, in some way they can be so many players on the market that we would not really be aware of it and sometimes our intent to sign would break his comfort zone.)

 

We need a player at least as capable as Tchou to replace Casemiro otherwise it was better to retain Casemiro,

if we retain Casimiro then it would give us so many options in midfield and an upgrade sort of thing and then transfer window was a successful

 

Fool me once...

 

Not the mention Mbapay doesn't have any say until 2025. And Al K in 2024 will start open threats again like Mbapay won't leave for free. [emoji23]

 

He's a bird in a golden cage now. I hope his mother is happy for her son

 

I think he's already fooled the club twice.

 

He isn't a child. It's as much his decision as it is hers.

 

People were whining in 2018 when we lost Ronaldo, but in actuality we also brought in VJ, TC and Fede. Hey, the three players who played the best in the past CL final.... I just noticed that myself. In 2012, we only signed one player. His name was Luka Modric. Perez also promoted Nachos. For me, that was a good summer with just two great additions.

I cannot predict the future, but Tchou is looking good after 4 games. We probably have a world class DM for a few seasons.

 

Not a failure by any stretch, a solid 7/10 for me. I think the team is better than a year ago. Would’ve been a 9-10 had we managed to move 2 out of Mariano, Hazard and Asensio and replaced them with better players but that’s easier said than done. Couldn’t care less about Mbappe/Haaland, one was out of our control and the latter wasn’t realistic to begin with.

You have to partially blame the likes of Marca/AS/El Chiringuito and all the twitter ITKs for selling fans an unrealistic dream with all the tic tac BS, the photoshopped Haaland/Mbappe pics etc. The way it actually turned out would’ve naturally left some disappointed considering the hype/level of expectation.

 

It's not a failure but it isn't perfect either. The purpose of a transfer window is to address the needs of the squad and while we some very good long term replacements, we didn't address the glaring concern with our attack.

 

If the Athletic report is correct in claiming that Casemiro asked Perez to leave after the UCL Final, Tchouameni was a must-buy and while I'm very pleased that we snatched him, it means we only bolstered 1 area of concern with a free transfer.

At the same time, we were unable to offload Mariano, Ordiozola and Asensio (Jovic left for free), and didn't buy a backup striker + RW — we can argue that Fede and Rodrygo are RW, I just don't see it.

I'm assuming here that we don't enter the winter transfer market because we rarely do and reports suggests it's "unlikely but not impossible". With Mariano and Asensio leaving next summer, Modric and Carvajal ageing further + the lingering CF/RW needs resurfacing, we might have to buy 4 players next summer.

 

Huh? You don’t consider Fede or Rodrygo a RW even though both have played and shown themselves more than capable?!? What??

I want Fede to eventually be in midfield but seems strange to see his performance and discard him at RW or Rodrygo who continues to get better and this might be his breakout year aka Vini.

I wanted Gnabry especially for the reported price or Jesus with his flexibility to backup Benz but both fell due to one renewing meaning Bayern had no need to sell and the other with the EU situation. Even then I’m not discarding the options we have at RW.

 

In different circumstances, we could've easily had Rudiger, Tchouameni and Jesus as our transfers this summer. Romano is often late to the party, but not usually wrong, so I do think we were genuinely after Jesus.

 

To start for RM, you need to be top quality. Rodrygo is a good bet to gain that starting spot once Fede moves to midfield. Saying we need starting RW over and over just because Rodrygo is right footed doesn't mean we will sign this maybe left footed guy with less ceiling than Rodrygo.

Vini is our LW for a decade and Rodrygo is delivering consistently in recent months. Call him wing forward if RW fits into one mould only. He scores and assists and is very good technically. That's all I care. Very good talent at 21 and a starter soon for me.

We will need young Lucas Vasquez, Asensio type players to be Rodrygo's back ups in coming seasons so can look for that from Castilla or elsewhere.

 

Both are not true RWs though they've done well in that position when called upon (and fit in Rodrygo's case). Fede is much better at CM while Rodyrgo performs great centrally.

Gnarby was a good choice though we were never interested in him; we had a good 2-3 weeks to sign him before he renewed.

 

Ancelotti said last week that we were out of the transfer market after securing Tchouameni and didn't look at anyone, iirc the GJ rumors started 3-4 days after we signed the Frenchman, I could be wrong.

 

https://www.elfutbolero.us/news/Karim-Benzema-does-not-forgive-Mbappe-and-now-he-betrays-him-20220902-0058.htm

Apparently Benzema repayed Mbappe's betrayal by "liking" something about Haaland.

 

On the RW issue, there is a lot of talk about how Rodrygo drifts in centrally or overloads the left with Vini even when he starts on the right. Some are suggesting that this is a problem somehow, that we lack symmetry as a result or that we don’t put enough pressure on the right space.

I don’t think it matters nor do I think it’s proof Rodrygo needs to start from the center or left. Allowing him to start from the right and then go and create triangles and combinations with Benzema and Vinicius in their spaces can be a difficult thing for opposing defenses. Our wingers don’t need to be the same profiles. If you start him as the 9 or on the left, then those triangles won’t come to fruition because you’ll be missing one of the other players.

 

Ancelloti isn’t likely to come out and say we failed to sign Jesus due his non-EU status. He’s always been the type of manager to downplay any failed attempts and has historically always said our squad is “complete”.
I honestly wouldn’t put stock in what he says retrospectively about our transfer activity and perceived targets.

 

I personally think the Gabriel Jesus story was pure hogwash, that's just me.

Meanwhile...

🚨🚨| OFFICIAL: Vinícius Jr has got his Spanish citizenship. #rmalive

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) September 5, 2022

 

Never interested? You have a source for that since the talk was of preparing a bid should he actually reject but it seems Ike Gnabry was just holding out for Bayern to improve the contract offer. Do you think every player wants to drop everything for Madrid or something? First Haaland and now Gnabry that the club didn’t do enough in signing when it’s probably as simple both had their own plans and executed it.