Fantasy game - woulda, coulda, shoulda

[Pirate55]

To lighten the mood, I am suggesting a retrospective fantasy game on who you woulda bought during the Poch years.

The starting squad on his arrival included

Lloris, Walker, Rose, Verts, Dembele, Siggurdson, Eriksen, Lennon, Lamela and Kane

@Bedfordspurs has calculated a gross £408 million was spent on players under Poch.

Assuming we would all agree to the purchases of Dele (5m) Dier (5m) Son (26m) Trippier (4m) and Toby (14m), we are left with a budget of £364m.

Who would you have bought to supplement that squad ?

To make matters more realistic, you can only select players that were transferred during that period and at their transfer fee ( no Bosmans allowed!). Finally, you may not select any player bought by Emirates Marketing Project, Man United, Liverpoo, Chelsea or Arsenal on the grounds that they would always outbid us and/or pay more wages.

I would be interested in people's views

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Can we have players who went to those teams via another team in that time like Maguire?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

And the transfer fee is from Tranfermarket?

And can we sign players from those other big 6 teams?

 

[Pirate55]

Can we have players who went to those teams via another team in that time like Maguire?

Yes - he would be one I would select!

 

[Pirate55]

And the transfer fee is from Tranfermarket?

And can we sign players from those other big 6 teams?

Yes, transfer fee from Transfermarket

No, let's be realistic and assume our direct rivals will not sell to us.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Some players I wanted

Maddison at Norwich to replace Eriksen
Maguire when he was at Hull
bowen too recently...
Mitrovic was one I wanted
Also Brandt to replace Lamela who I would have sold a pong time ago

I thought Aurier would be class - how wrong was I
I’d have down for Richarlson but not for £45m
is have done more to keep Pau Lopez here although I always thought Vorm was solid as a sweeper helper but age has killed him now

 

[mjc23]

Mahrez and Kante. We would have won the league instead of Leicester.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Mahrez and Kante. We would have won the league instead of Leicester.

seeni said we should have gone for Mahrez in his first season at Leicester (is never heard of Kante of course)
Mahrez came on as sub vs us and was excellent and a lot changed the game
Next season they win the league

 

[Lemonade Money]

I would have paid more for Sissoko.

 

[Pirate55]

Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (free) or Martyn Dubrovka (Sparta Prague to Saudi Sportswashing Machine). Either would be adequate back up to Lloris

Full Backs: Ricardo Pereira (Porto to Leicester) and Digne (Barca to Everton). Adam Webster ( Bristol C to Brighton) Maybe buy Davies as well.

Centre Halves: Maguire (? Hull to Leicester) , Caglar Soyancu (Freiburg to Leicester) or Issa Diop (Toulouse to West Ham) £22m

Defensive Midfielders Ngolo Kante ( Caen to Leicester) Hojbjerg ( ?Baryern M to Soton) £12.8m

Creative Midfielders: James Maddison (Norwich to Leicester) or Dustan Tadic (Soton to Ajax ) or Buendia (Getafe to Norwich) plus KEEP Sigurdsson!!

Wide Forwards: Adama Traore (Barca to Villa) £7m, David Brooks (Sheff Utd to AFC Bournemouth) Nathan Redmond ( Norwich to Soton) £11m

Centre forwards: Mitrovitch (Anderlect to Saudi Sportswashing Machine) £15m Mousa Dembele (Fulham to Celtic)

If I could only have one in each position, it would be the first mentioned in every case - and I would have masses of money to spare!!

 

[Pirate55]

I would have paid more for Sissoko.

You and @scaramanga !

 

[billyiddo]

I'd sign all the players that proved to be successful elsewhere and not sign the ones that flopped.

 

[milo]

I'd sign all the players that proved to be successful elsewhere and not sign the ones that flopped.

I'd kill Hitler when he was a baby

 

[spurspinter1]

I'd sign all the players that proved to be successful elsewhere and not sign the ones that flopped.

Even that's not a 100% as so much of it is about a player settling in to the squad / manager's style / club ethos / area they live in...

I'd be super interested to see if Berahino would have kicked on with us. Feels like blaming a wasted career on one transfer falling through is a bit of an excuse, wasted season sure thing but if the mentality and talent is there then it'd shine through surely.*Just read that this is about Poch's era so apologies as it's totally off topic......

Brooks is a clear one for me but that's mentioned before.

So that's the irrelevant + already mentioned boxes ticked for this thread, my work here is done!

 

[Finney Is Back]

Some players I wanted

Maddison at Norwich to replace Eriksen
Maguire when he was at Hull
bowen too recently...
Mitrovic was one I wanted
Also Brandt to replace Lamela who I would have sold a pong time ago

I thought Aurier would be class - how wrong was I
I’d have down for Richarlson but not for £45m
is have done more to keep Pau Lopez here although I always thought Vorm was solid as a sweeper helper but age has killed him now

Similar to Bedford, I won't just list players who have proven to be good bargains with hindsight and state a few players that I wanted at the time.

LM/AM: Grealish from Villa £20 million cash right at the start of the 2019 summer window).

Striker: Dembele from Fulham £6 million (and a six month loan back to them). I know we wanted a striker for the second half of the season, but seeing as we brought in nobody else as a striker that January we should've done the deal ready for the next summer.

Centre Half: De Ligt from Ajax. £70 million. Expensive but I think massively worth it.

RM/AM: Ziyech from Ajax. £35 million last summer. Was clear in the games against us just how good he was and I was encouraged by the way that he didn't mind kicking a few of ours.

Defensive midfield. Witzel when he wanted out of China. £18 million.

Keeper: Alexander Nubel from Schalke. £20 million last summer.

Right Back: Henrichs from Leverkusen at the point when Monaco signed him (£17 million). Note that Leipzig wanted him in January and couldn't quite agree a fee for him..... Rumoured that Monaco are only(!) looking for £25 million for him. We should be all over that! I would also take Wendell from Leverkusen as left back, probably gettable for under £20 million and Leverkusen would be likely to sell as they signed another left back in Daley Sinkgraven last summer.

I'll ignore all of the players I mentioned that I wanted us to sign who have since flopped (Haller from Utrect for example back when Frankfurt got him for £12 million)

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Similar to Bedford, I won't just list players who have proven to be good bargains with hindsight and state a few players that I wanted at the time.

LM/AM: Grealish from Villa £20 million cash right at the start of the 2019 summer window).

Striker: Dembele from Fulham £6 million (and a six month loan back to them). I know we wanted a striker for the second half of the season, but seeing as we bought in nobody else as a striker that January we should've done the deal ready for the next summer.

Centre Half: De Ligt from Ajax. £70 million. Expensive but I think massively worth it.

RM/AM: Ziyech from Ajax. £35 million last summer. Was clear in the games against us just how good he was and I was encouraged by the way that he didn't mind kicking a few of ours.

Defensive midfield. Witzel when he wanted out of China. £18 million.

Keeper: Alexander Nubel from Schalke. £20 million last summer.

Right Back: Henrichs from Leverkusen at the point when Monaco signed him (£17 million). Note that we Leipzig wanted him in January and couldn't quite agree a fee for him..... Rumoured that Monaco are only(!) looking for £25 million for him. We should be all over that! I would also take Wendell from Leverkusen as left back, probably gettable for under £20 million and Leverkusen would be likely to sell as they signed another left back in Daley Sinkgraven last summer.

I'll ignore all of the players I mentioned that I wanted us to sign who have since flopped (Haller from Utrect for example back when Frankfurt got him for £12 million)

We gave Dembele a medical which he failed due to his knee problem
He also had issues at Celtic with his heart

 

[Pirate55]

We gave Dembele a medical which he failed due to his knee problem
He also had issues at Celtic with his heart

Two Words - ASA HARTFORD. Or closer to home GARY MABBUT. Ie his condition never prevented him performing elsewhere - and at £6m would have been a great back up to Kane at relatively low risk money.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Two Words - ASA HARTFORD. Or closer to home GARY MABBUT. Ie his condition never prevented him performing elsewhere - and at £6m would have been a great back up to Kane at relatively low risk money.

another word
Insurance... club couldn’t get him insured so if we signed him and played him knowing he had an issue he could sue us for long term loss for earnings

 

[glasgowspur]

Ineista.
We should have signed him when he left barca.
Was everything we needed, old head, been there done it, won it, leader, amazing player.
Davids and vdv rolled into one and then some.
On a free to boot, although the wages would probably haven given Levy a few sleepless nights.

 

[Pirate55]

another word
Insurance... club couldn’t get him insured so if we signed him and played him knowing he had an issue he could sue us for long term loss for earnings

The issue didn't seem to bother his subsequent clubs.

I am not sure that clubs insure players any longer. I have been advised they now prefer to self insure as the premiums had become outrageously expensive. I really don't know if this is correct, but that is what I have been told. If it is the case, we could presumably have asked for an indemnity from the player himself to protect against any further liability.