Not seen a thread on this yet but we spent over £100m last year and regressed and we are likely to have a similar "war chest" this year.
Aspas & Assaidi for £10m is already in the kitty and we will likely sell Sterling (£45m) ; Coates (£5m) ; Borini (£8m) ; Balotelli (£12m) ; Lambert (£3m). Plus we will have about £25m irrespective of sales. There are a few others who might go such as Enrique, maybe Lucas, Illori.
We have also taken some big wage earners off the payroll with Gerrard & Johnson leaving.
So where would you invest these funds in order to improve the team and our league position?
It's fundamental to me to build a side that has far greater control of games, we were outplayed by average sides way too much last year because we were too laboured in our build-up, coughed up possession cheaply and were not physical enough to hold up the play. Plus we barely tackled in midfield.
We lacked goals because we didn't create enough but also our strikers were shocking.
We have a great chance to address these weaknesses and it's not a bad start to be honest with Milner, Ings & Bogdan in the squad for very little outlay.
To me, we need 2 new starting full backs and a strong, athletic pivot in front of the back four to add some steel to the defence.
Next, we want better passing options in midfield and more goalscorers in this department.
Finally, we need one more guaranteed goalscoring striker who can also be involved in the link play.
Nominations?
On players we have been connected with, I like : Clyne (RB : £15m) ; Lucas Digne (LB : £10m) ; Nainggolan (DM : £20m) ; Illaramendi (CM : £18m) ; Kovacic (CM : £20m) ; Benteke (S : £30m).
I'm likely be accused of CM 2015 but that's the ambition I think we should have, we don't need a straight replacement for Sterling because we are well stocked with good wide players, we should use the cash to strengthen our weakest areas.
Aspas & Assaidi for £10m is already in the kitty and we will likely sell Sterling (£45m) ; Coates (£5m) ; Borini (£8m) ; Balotelli (£12m) ; Lambert (£3m). Plus we will have about £25m irrespective of sales. There are a few others who might go such as Enrique, maybe Lucas, Illori.
We have also taken some big wage earners off the payroll with Gerrard & Johnson leaving.
So where would you invest these funds in order to improve the team and our league position?
It's fundamental to me to build a side that has far greater control of games, we were outplayed by average sides way too much last year because we were too laboured in our build-up, coughed up possession cheaply and were not physical enough to hold up the play. Plus we barely tackled in midfield.
We lacked goals because we didn't create enough but also our strikers were shocking.
We have a great chance to address these weaknesses and it's not a bad start to be honest with Milner, Ings & Bogdan in the squad for very little outlay.
To me, we need 2 new starting full backs and a strong, athletic pivot in front of the back four to add some steel to the defence.
Next, we want better passing options in midfield and more goalscorers in this department.
Finally, we need one more guaranteed goalscoring striker who can also be involved in the link play.
Nominations?
On players we have been connected with, I like : Clyne (RB : £15m) ; Lucas Digne (LB : £10m) ; Nainggolan (DM : £20m) ; Illaramendi (CM : £18m) ; Kovacic (CM : £20m) ; Benteke (S : £30m).
I'm likely be accused of CM 2015 but that's the ambition I think we should have, we don't need a straight replacement for Sterling because we are well stocked with good wide players, we should use the cash to strengthen our weakest areas.
