by ethanr » Tue May 29, 2018 6:13 pm
I've got to say, I love the way we've been doing our transfer business lately.
Keita- deal was dead. Ok, we'll buy him now for next season.
VVD- Knew we wanted him, but so did City and others-announced before the transfer window even opened.
Fabinho- announced out of the blue before the window even opens.
I suspect we want to do all of our business before the WC starts. I can see what happened last season with Neymar happening again after the world cup. You have a break out star that's already known that goes for stupid money again, maybe not Neymar numbers, but up there. It's going to cause the huge increase in prices again. Even players not going to the WC (Fabinho) now double in value for no reason (like Salah would have last summer had we bought him later in the window). If Allison is somebody we want to buy, there's certainly a risk that he wins the world cup for Brazil, and his value skyrockets. If I'm Roma- especially after last summer, I'm probably waiting for the World Cup before I consider selling.
If I'm a player looking to get on the best team for the best money, I'm probably waiting for the WC as well. Higher transfer fees mean you can demand more salary, probably a higher sign-on bonus and more performance-based bonuses. I'm hoping there's players we're going after that see what we're building and believe in it. Otherwise they'll likely all be gone within 3 years.
Fekir looks a decent player, and our midfield would be significantly stronger if we got him. If we got him, I'd love to see us sign another top CB like Alderweild. Matip and Lovren would be great back ups, and we could have the best CB pairing in the league. Robertson is more than capable, and TAA is only improving. That'd essentially shore up our Defense, sign the GK we want and we should be good to go. We still wouldn't have the depth, so as others have said I'd like to see us go after a CF type that we really don't have. Firmino played as an Attacking CM for Hoffenheim, so he could always slot back if we had a striker playing well. Ultimately our bench is what killed us this year, so being able to shift players like Gini, Hendo, Ox, Lovren and Karius onto the bench will really benefit us.
DESPITE THE FACT I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA...