NeilR

That would be an excellent summers work!

How about Simao as an alternative to Silva? Cheaper option, does get goals and assists and can cover both wings. If we are to believe Barry is coming in, his costs could be covered by the sales of Lucas and Dossena (dont need Alonso, Masch and Lucas + Barry and although I have nothing against Lucas I'd chose him to be sold from the 3). Simao would cost about £12m (possibly less if he is the position to buy out the remainder of his contract although I dont know how long he has left), which could be covered by sales of Babel and Voronin. Glen Johnson (who many tip to be brought in) will cost about £9m and could be covered by money from the Keane sale and/or selling a few of the reserves or less potential youths (Anderson, Plessis, El Zhar, etc). Do Pompey still owe us Crouch money as well as that might be a factor. Which would leave us the entire summer budget which could be blown on that world class attacking player we've been wanting added to the ranks.

Ah yes, the same ineffictive Kuyt who Rafa himself said makes it all possible. The same inneffective Kuyt who has the league stats of 12 goals & 7 assists (incidently identical stats to the world class, tireless working Wayne Rooney)!!! Once again comments from brainless pundits who havent a clue making statements there is no "fact" to (like our defensive negative team scoring more goals than any other in the Premier league this year). Ignore the numpties!!!

I would go for Silva, Johnson, Kerrison/Negredo, and Barry in that order of preference. Roughly speaking we could do that by:- Silva covers right and left (mostly left as Dirk or Yossi will normally play on right) and basically costs us our normal £20m transfer budget. Johnson = £8m (sell Dossena & El Zahr) Kerrison / Negredo = max £10m (sell Babel & Leto) Barry (least priority but is versatile, English, Rafa obviously rates him, and could be a good addition) = £8m (sell Lucas - not needed if we brought in Barry - and Voronin)

Why? It was his original position before O'Neill began to play him as a traditional winger. Although I'd only use him as a back up forward if needed and concentrate on playing him on the wings the majority of the time anyway.

Thats where someone like Ahsley Young could tick a few boxes for us. He has and can play as the striker, right or left wing, has experience of the premier league, is young and has potential to improve, and is English so helps with the possible new rules.

which is where the link to Johnson woudl fit in. 3 signings and a hell of an improvement to our team. Not forgetting we can still revert to the current system as well.

Playing devils advocate, what if we played with 4-3-1-2, that would still mean Gerrard was playing behind Torres and ahead of the 2 midfielders. But would also mean and Eto'o/Villa type player could be accommodated. That sort of system worked well with Gerrard, Torres and Keane on occassions like Everton near the start of the season. But with a more intelligent and higher quality other striker, I'd think we would see more success longer term than Robbie let us achieve (i.e. the intelligence would allow Stevie, Torres and AN Other roam freely and swap and would be a major handful for any defence). I wouldn't take this comment from Rafa meaning we wouldnt sign another striker to use this sysytem.

Ribery has 2 years left of his contract I think this summer. Would that bring his transfer value into our range as he can buy out his contract and move to a foreign club? Would he even want to do that and move? Otherwise, I dont think we'll be able to get him.

I have a feeling Rafa wanted to bring Barry in and move Alonso on to line up something like this... -------------PR----------- AA------JC------MS----FA -------------XM----------- ----SG------------GB------ DK----------FT---------RB But transfer plans went nothing like that, so we'll never know. Arguably that team has a better balance to it (with minimal expenditure if he is working with a limited budget), regardless of whether you think SG should play directly behing Torres. He's hardly constrained way out on the wing in that formation and can easily drift forward centrally on our attacks. Don't get me wrong, I think we are in desparate need of a right winger (also better quality RB and a FWD who can take the scoring load off FT and SG), but maybe due to money limitations this was Rafa's thinking.

Its the 2nd time in a few weeks (think the other one was West Ham) Ronaldo has lashed out at an opposing player, the ref hasn't seen it (or chose to ignore it for whatever reason), and the FA do FA about it!

The summer spend will largely depend on whether Waldorf and Stadtler are still owners or we are bought over by cash rich Arabs for example. So its very hard to say with all the uncertainty in the club at the moment. The former will mean I can only see a similar spend to this year, i.e. one £15-20m signing, two £5-7m signings and off loading some deadwood yet holding onto some "ok but not great" players as we wouldn't have the money for the upgrade on a lot of departments. If the latter happened, then I would see them wanting to make a statement signing or two, as well as a few more in the £8-10m bracket. Even Hicks and Gillett did something similar in their first summer (approx Torres £20m, Babel £12m, Benayoun £5m, Lucas £5m, stack of kids). Insua has done enough for me to be given a chance at LB along with probably Aurelio. CB is fine as long as Agger signs a new contract. Central midfield we are quite strong (SG, Masch & Xabi are world class, and Lucas although far from perfect is a good understudy and backup). For LM we have Riera who has given us good balance, and Youssi or Babel can play there (although maybe one could leave us). So, if we do get taken over then I'd like to see significant signings - Fwd, RM & RB (not essential but opportunity exists to improve on Arbeloa, and Carra can always cover and Darby is coming through too). So something like:- - INS Aguero, Young (bonus can cover right or left), and Maicon would be great (maybe a cheaper right back could be found or just blow the majority on 2 really top class signings up front and on the right mid) - Possible OUTS Dossena, Degen, Babel, Plessis, Voronin, Itandje, Leto, Hobbs, Hammil or any other youth not likely to make the grade. - Promote or give more orrpotunities to the likes of San Jose, Nemeth, Pacheco, Darby - Coupled with the money already from Keane's sale, should balance the books and squad size.

If we sold Keane for £15m and brought in Saviola and Quaresma (ok it was Spurs that were linked) on loan for 6 months, I think it's be a good piece of business. No risk if they failed, if they turned out well we could try and secure a first option and agreed fee now, and if they didn't do the business we'd still have the cash for a right winger or forward come the summer.

I see Drogba is rumoured to be wanting to return to Marseille. I think he'd be a great partner for Fernando and give a different proposition (i.e. his strength and aerial ability coupled with Nando's pace ans skill). Probably unlikely Chavski would want to sell to us, and he has the recent injury problems/form. But surely we'd be a more attractive team than Marseille and his value wouldn't be as high as it was 18 months ago. He is devastating when in form (which I don't believe he's lost permanently).

I would say we are ok for LM at the moment with Riera and Babel as backup. But would add right back to the right mid need (RM being the biggest need). As for realistic options:- RM: Valencia Simao Maxi Walcott Joe Cole Srna Quaresma Navas Silva Santi Cazorla Blaszczykowski Renato Augusto Young RB: Srna Johnson Maicon (ok - I can dream) Some are better options that others, but all definately would be an improvement on the options we currently have.

I dont get it. Why would we only sell Agger (if we were going to and I'd hope we wouldnt and can a gree a new contract with him) for £7.5-8.5m? Surely he is worth a lot more than that!!!

Even before last nights game I'd have thought a right back would be our priority for the next transfer window, but now I think it is essential. Arbeloa isn't a world class player, but at least he is generally solid and consistant and it showed how much we miss him when he isn't playing. Our alternatives to him are scarce though. Darby may come good as he is young. I know Degen hasn't played too many games to adjust to the new team and league, but the 2 he has and pre-season don't inspire me with confidence that he'll come good. Carra can cover RB, but I'd prefer him left in the centre. So I'd hope if we had a £5m kitty and can off load a few (eg Pennant), we could put in a bid for a better quality RB. That sort of cash won't get us a world class one, but could still be significant and could push and hopefully improve on Avaro. Rafinha ro Glen Johnson could be options. The likes of Maicon or Lahm would be great but probably highly unlikely. In the summer we can look at right midfield as a priority.

Personally although I think we've moved on from Owen, and didnt like how he ran his contract down, maybe we could use a cheap purchse of him for our advantage. For example, if we brought him in for £4m, and sold say Kuyt for £9m and Pennant for £5m, there is £14m we could put towards a proper right winger and not leave ourselves short upfront. MO would have to oust Torres or Keane on merrit and hard work, he is also looking to win back his beloved place on the England team which is an incentive for him, and as Rafa rotates anyway his injuries might not be as big an issue and he'd be rested more anyway and not relied on 100% of the time. I'm not desparate to see him back, but wouldn't mind if his transfer could be used in a beneficial way, and he showed a bit of desire to play for us again, not just for cash, and pay back a little hurt he caused us by running his contract down originally by taking a pay cut.

Now either of those would be very interesting (although probably not likely and I havent heard any credible links, just speculation):- --------------------------Reina----------------------------- Arbeloa----Carra/Skirtel------Agger/Hyypia-----Dossena -------------Gerrard-----------Masch---------------------- Maxi/Quaresma--------Keane----------------------Babel --------------------------Torres--------------------------- Would prefer the Barry money to be put towards either of these two.

The way I see it is probably the normal roughly £20m, then whatever we get on sales. Initially thought this would not be enough for our rebuilding, but with some possible clever swaps (or at least deals covering the costs of the players we bring in), we might be able ot do something significant... Degen = no fee Dossena = Riise + Pennent / Guthrie / Finnan (roughly) Barry = Crouch + Carson Alonso = £15m which can be put on top of the £15 - 20m I'd expect the clowns in charge to give us (maybe thats the problem). Now if we can use that to attract the likes of at least one of say Villa / Quaresma / Aguero etc and maybe pick up a cheap sub goalie (Taylor or Rame) I'd say Rafa could make the push he needs in the league. 1st Team: --------------Pepe--------- Arbeloa--Carra---Agger--Dossena ----Gerrard--Masch---Barry V/Q/A-------Torres---Babel Back up: Taylor/Rame Degen, Skirtel, Hyypia, Aurelio, Insua Benayoun, Plessis, Lucas, Spearing, Leto Kuyt, Voronin, Nemeth

I know it saying 20 million without sales but 30 million with the transfer of Mancini, so indicating he is valued at 10 million euros. But I thought he was in a position to buy out his crontact and move abroad and the fee would be lower. Is this correct and how much is he likely to cost if anyone has a clue? Wouldn't mind him being signed as long as we'd splash out on a top forward if he is to be the wing signing. How reliable is Tuttosport as well?

I'd be well happy with that or: Gerrard-------Masch-------Alonso/Barry Villa----------Torres------------Babel--- ...would need the fullbacks to overlap though.

----------------Reina--------------- ? ----Carra/Skirtel ----Agger ----? Babel----Gerrard----Masch ---- ? -----------? -----Torres or -------------------Reina ?--------Carra/Skirtel ----Agger---- ? -----------Masch----Alonso/Lucas Babel --------Gerrard---------------? ----------------Torres Or ----------------Reina -------Carra ----Skirtel-----Agger ---Gerrard-----Masch -----Alonso/Lucas Babel ------------------------------------- ? -----------Torres -------- ? Lets be honest, Rafa will tinker with his formation from time to time. So, to give us the most flexibility (even to switch during matches), I think we need a LB, RB, LW (or someone who can swap wings with Babel), and a striker. For the system we play at the moment it'd look like we'd be ok with the full backs and a winger, but I have a worry if we lose Torres through injury where a constant flow of goals can come from. Crouch doesnt suit the current system due to lack of pace, Bable may do a job but we dont know that yet, and Kuyt is a workhorse but not clinical enough. Dont know if we can afford all four though, so if not I would hold back on the left back purchase and go with Aurelio and Insua for cover, and concentrate on getting top class (not squad players) for the other three, while trimming a lot of fat off other areas of the squad.

Only seen him a handful of times, so does anybody who knows a bit more of him think he'd be able to effectively play in a midfield 3 (like below) or are his defensive skills not up to much (I know he is quite creative)? Gerrard Masch Modric ???? Torres Babel

I think we could expect the same sort of spend as normal (every year we talk about spending £50m , £60m , £70m, but we generally spend around the same) and try to bring in 3 quality players. We could balance that with sales of... Carson -- 6 Riise -- 6 Finnan -- 2 Guthrie -- 3 Pennant -- 4 Kuyt -- 6 Vornonin -- 2 Kewell -- off the wage list Total= £29 And although I'd love the likes of Messi, Kaka, Villa, Aguero, Silva, Eto'o, Alves etc this might be pushing it a little (unless our saviours DIC come good and hand us the blank cheque), I'd be looking to maximise the potential our current formation has, while allowing for Rafa to revert back to 4-4-2 or rest Torres on the occassion. So I'd go for something like this... RB = Lahm £10m (might go to Madrid or ManU though), or Rafinha £8m LB = Cashly Cole £12m (can be a bit of a prick off field but would be great for us in playing terms. Can he buy his contract out yet?). Striker / wing forward = Henry £10m (3 good years left in him at least, would suit our current system, could go up front if Torres rested, unhappy in Spain, likes Liverpool, and knows the premier league). For a guy struggling apparently and not starting always, 19 games, 7 goals, 5 assists in the league isn't too bad. ------------------Reina Lahm Carra/Skirtel Agger Cole -------------Masch Alonso ---------------Gerrard --------Babel Torres Henry Subs = Itandje, Skirtel/Carra, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Insua, Aurelio, Lucas, Benayon, Leto, Crouch, Nemeth So with a total spend of around £32-35m, and recouping £29m of this, I wouldnt think that was a bad summers business, and gives one hell of a team with balance. Cole and Lahm do the jobs they do for their current clubs, or like Evra does for utd, while still being solid at the back, makes it less improtant for us to purchase 2 new wingers, and in the end I'd saythat formation gives us something similar to what utd have now but to me looks far more formidable, and has enough flexibility and cover to revert back to 4-4-2 or rest without too much detriment in my opinion.