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Budget £50m. Which three would you buy?

Pirate55

The Last Man Standing 17/18
assuming a budget of £50m, which three players would you buy to improve out first team ( in order of priority)? My three would be:

1. Benteke £ 30m
2. Song £ 10m
3. Arnautovic £10m

My alternate to Song would be Cabaye.
 
1. Camacho £13m
2. Berahino £17m
3. Yarmolenko £20m

The prices on all three of those isn't easy to nail down as all of them could be worth a little more/little less.
 
1. Schneiderlin. £22 million
2. Austin. £15 million
3. Ayew. Free transfer

An alternative to Austin would be Icardi from Inter Milan - but he would probably cost upwards of £20 million and be something of a gamble compared to Austin (although I think the potential upside is also higher)
 
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1. Christoph Kramer, 20-25 (first class holding midfielder)
2. Viktor Fischer, 15 (forward that can can both left and up top) (I wanted Jay Rodriguez untill he signed on)
3. Miroslav Klose, sign on fee (back up striker and Kane mentor)

Those positions and roles are also what I'd look for with alternative targets.
A 50m budget would definitely not be net by the way, just to point that out :)

Some say we need a right back, i'd prefer to have faith in Yedlin. Some say central defence, and they aren't wrong if we could sell Fazio, but also think Fazio could do a Mertesacker for us.
 
1) Ings - £12m

2) Ayew - free

3) Cambiasso - free

(with £38m towards the stadium fund).


I genuinely think team spirit, organic growth and players who complement our ethos and system are much more important than exotic shiny new toys.
 
The way I see it our current record is GF 58, GA 53, 12 Losses, 7 draws
Everyone in table above us has more GF, everyone below us has less

based on that, We need to do a few things

- GA needs to go down significantly
- We need to convert losses to draws, draws to wins
- We need to create/score more

On that, my view

1. Ball playing holding midfielder (bring down that GA number)
2. Striker that can provide 10-15 goals for season (assuming Kane/Eriksen/Chadli main contributors again)
3. RW option that can provide pace/goals (very concerned we start next season with same Lamela/Townsend, no real first choice RW)
 
would be interesting to see first XI's with these signings - for example where do you plan on playing Kane, Pirate, if we're spending 30m on Benteke? is it safe to assume you'd be playing him behind/off of Benteke - in that instance how does that effect the rest of the attacking positions?

if i had 50m to spend it wouldn't be on 3 first XI players as i think, bar one or two positions, we're ok - once we sorted the first XI around November time we started to look a lot better and had a good 20 or so league game run up until the cup final, from which we tailed off and our defensive frailties were exposed and our lack of squad options became a hindrance as we overplayed the clearly flagging young first team players. so with that in mind i think 50m would be best spent fixes those problems - by signing a partner for Bentaleb (Schneiderlin) two new forwards to back up Kane (Austin and Lambert or Ings and Berahino?) some competition for the wing forward positions - (Ayew/Konoplyanka?) and quite possibly this Trippier fella as in light of Walker missing 60% of the season im not sure Yedlin is ready to be relied upon that much

which would leave us looking like this :

Lloris (Vorm)
Walker (Trippier) Vertonghen (Dier) Fazio (Wimmer) Rose (Davies)
Bentaleb (Carroll) Schneiderlin (Mason)
Ayew (Lamela) Eriksen (Alli) Chadli (Pritchard)
Kane (Austin/Lambert)

and would hopefully address the defensive problems and give the manager much better options to rotate/replace throughout the season and juggle the various competitions
 
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Most of us are looking toward the same positions to be fair. The exception as you point out is those who want a top striker like Benteke.
We're not likely to play with two strikers, and it's a bit rich to think one of them is going to ride the bench (Benteke and Kane).
In worse case it could actually ruin Kane, if he's not ready to go untill September due to his summer activities.
I've also have issues with Austin due to Kane, I can't see them being on the pitch at the same time. People want one of the name of the season, the 17 goal striker.
But I reckon after a while warming our bench he'd turn into a turd we can't even get rid of. I feel we have to look at forward options that compliment Kane.
Players that can play with him, and/or that can be a support role for him.

If we can't get that top holding midfielder, then I agree with the suggestion of Cambiasso. Think he'd improve the game of guys like Bentaleb, Mason, Amos and Winks
 
IMO we need to sign a number 9 who can also play LF, RF or number 10. This way we can buy a quality first teamer that doesn't inhibit Kane's development, be that as a number 9 or 10, and can step in if Kane is injured/rested. Any forward who spends time on the bench is likely to suffer with confidence/match sharpness, or is not good enough in the first place.
 
would be interesting to see first XI's with these signings - for example where do you plan on playing Kane, Pirate, if we're spending 30m on Benteke? is it safe to assume you'd be playing him behind/off of Benteke - in that instance how does that effect the rest of the attacking positions?

if i had 50m to spend it wouldn't be on 3 first XI players as i think, bar one or two positions, we're ok - once we sorted the first XI around November time we started to look a lot better and had a good 20 or so league game run up until the cup final, from which we tailed off and our defensive frailties were exposed and our lack of squad options became a hindrance as we overplayed the clearly flagging young first team players. so with that in mind i think 50m would be best spent fixes those problems - by signing a partner for Bentaleb (Schneiderlin) two new forwards to back up Kane (Austin and Lambert or Ings and Berahino?) some competition for the wing forward positions - (Ayew/Konoplyanka?) and quite possibly this Trippier fella as in light of Walker missing 60% of the season im not sure Yedlin is ready to be relied upon that much

which would leave us looking like this :

Lloris (Vorm)
Walker (Trippier) Vertonghen (Dier) Fazio (Wimmer) Rose (Davies)
Bentaleb (Carroll) Schneiderlin (Mason)
Ayew (Lamela) Eriksen (Alli) Chadli (Pritchard)
Kane (Austin/Lambert)

and would hopefully address the defensive problems and give the manager much better options to rotate/replace throughout the season and juggle the various competitions

Billy, you really haven't taken on board the point I've now made several times, in several different ways. A top new striker does not necessarily preclude playing Kane. What it does is give us much needed OPTIONS up front, whereas currently we have one and only one. I really hope Kane has the same sort of season, but I think we need to plan for all striking scenarios. With Benteke, this gives us the same way of playing if Kane is injured, tired or off- form. Further, it gives us the option to play two up top ( my prefered option for lesser opponents) either from the start or if plan A isn't working, or indeed go 42311 with Kane playing off Benteke. Remember Poch used Lambert like this at Soton. He is just what we need to offer these varying options.
 
Billy, you really haven't taken on board the point I've now made several times, in several different ways. A top new striker does not necessarily preclude playing Kane. What it does is give us much needed OPTIONS up front, whereas currently we have one and only one. I really hope Kane has the same sort of season, but I think we need to plan for all striking scenarios. With Benteke, this gives us the same way of playing if Kane is injured, tired or off- form. Further, it gives us the option to play two up top ( my prefered option for lesser opponents) either from the start or if plan A isn't working, or indeed go 42311 with Kane playing off Benteke. Remember Poch used Lambert like this at Soton. He is just what we need to offer these varying options.
Spotted a slight flaw.
 
Billy, you really haven't taken on board the point I've now made several times, in several different ways. A top new striker does not necessarily preclude playing Kane. What it does is give us much needed OPTIONS up front, whereas currently we have one and only one. I really hope Kane has the same sort of season, but I think we need to plan for all striking scenarios. With Benteke, this gives us the same way of playing if Kane is injured, tired or off- form. Further, it gives us the option to play two up top ( my prefered option for lesser opponents) either from the start or if plan A isn't working, or indeed go 42311 with Kane playing off Benteke. Remember Poch used Lambert like this at Soton. He is just what we need to offer these varying options.

frankly i think you're making the mistake of putting all your eggs in the Benteke basket - signing a good back up forward is obviously high on everyone's list exactly for the reasons you mention, but most people seem to realize that he isn't the only forward in world football and we aren't in a position to be spending 30 million on a player not guaranteed to be an automatic starter for us if everyone is fit. not to mention the fact Benteke himself will want to be first choice for any club he signs for (unless it's United/City/Chelsea etc)
 
Benteke, schneiderlin, konoplakya (I should have picked shorter named players)
Flog a few of our fringe players to make up the difference.
 
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would be interesting to see first XI's with these signings

-------------------------------------Lloris/Vorm
Walker/Yedlin----Fazio/Wimmer--Vertonghen/Dier--Rose/Davies
---------------------Bentaleb/Cambiasso-------Mason/Alli
--------------------------------------Eriksen/Pritchard
-----------Lamela/Townsend----------------------Chadli/Ayew
-------------------------------------Kane/Ings
 
Ha ha! Quite right. Make that 41311. We don't need two DMs against park the bus types.

Still means moving a goal scoring midfielder like Eriksen or Chadli deeper, most likely resulting in them scoring less. Or restricting how much our full backs can attack, giving us less width.

Scoring more goals against bottom half teams is about a lot more than just adding another striker imo.

This season we were 4th in the "against bottom half" table. Picking up 2.25 ppg, Emirates Marketing Project (2.3 ppg), Chelsea (2.5 ppg) and Arsenal (2.6 ppg) the only teams ahead of us. Not a bad return, not sure changing the formation and style is warranted based on those numbers.

I would rather see us bring in competition/cover in multiple positions and continue developing what seems to be Pochettino's favoured formation and system.

-------------------------------------Lloris/Vorm
Walker/Yedlin----Fazio/Wimmer--Vertonghen/Dier--Rose/Davies
---------------------Bentaleb/Cambiasso-------Mason/Alli
--------------------------------------Eriksen/Pritchard
-----------Lamela/Townsend----------------------Chadli/Ayew
-------------------------------------Kane/Ings

I'm as big a fan of our younger players as just about everyone. But I think we're leaving something on the table if we only spend another £12-15m this season if we do bring in more than than double that in sales (not unreasonable at all considering the suggest line-ups you have there).
 
Some very good suggestions in this thread so far

If Cambiasso is available I'd take him in a heartbeat

I see that Liverpool are going in for Clyne at the 10 mill level. At that price id want us to be fighting for him

Berahino is the one naughty temptation. I know there are question marks about him off the pitch, but on it he has that class and unpredictability that could be very useful to us. I like Austin too and I think Gignac on a free is an option for us.

Anyway, this is how is blow the 50 mill

Clyne 10 mill
Cambiasso free
Sergi Roberto 10 mill
Ayew free
Berahino 18 mill

So 12 mill left for any interesting late in the window deal
 
would be interesting to see first XI's with these signings - for example where do you plan on playing Kane, Pirate, if we're spending 30m on Benteke? is it safe to assume you'd be playing him behind/off of Benteke - in that instance how does that effect the rest of the attacking positions?

if i had 50m to spend it wouldn't be on 3 first XI players as i think, bar one or two positions, we're ok - once we sorted the first XI around November time we started to look a lot better and had a good 20 or so league game run up until the cup final, from which we tailed off and our defensive frailties were exposed and our lack of squad options became a hindrance as we overplayed the clearly flagging young first team players. so with that in mind i think 50m would be best spent fixes those problems - by signing a partner for Bentaleb (Schneiderlin) two new forwards to back up Kane (Austin and Lambert or Ings and Berahino?) some competition for the wing forward positions - (Ayew/Konoplyanka?) and quite possibly this Trippier fella as in light of Walker missing 60% of the season im not sure Yedlin is ready to be relied upon that much

which would leave us looking like this :

Lloris (Vorm)
Walker (Trippier) Vertonghen (Dier) Fazio (Wimmer) Rose (Davies)
Bentaleb (Carroll) Schneiderlin (Mason)
Ayew (Lamela) Eriksen (Alli) Chadli (Pritchard)
Kane (Austin/Lambert)

and would hopefully address the defensive problems and give the manager much better options to rotate/replace throughout the season and juggle the various competitions
Looks like you and I have similar wants for our squad next year. I too would be (very) happy with Trippier as a back right back option. The reason that I went for Austin as the CF choice is because of all the strikers I've seen he looks to have the game that is most similar to Kane's. I think we will play enough games next year to allow both of them to get enough games (and I think in certain games we could play Kane as number 10 behind Austin).
 
IMO we need to sign a number 9 who can also play LF, RF or number 10. This way we can buy a quality first teamer that doesn't inhibit Kane's development, be that as a number 9 or 10, and can step in if Kane is injured/rested. Any forward who spends time on the bench is likely to suffer with confidence/match sharpness, or is not good enough in the first place.
I think the problem is that there aren't too many of those out there.... I think Berahino would be a possibility here though.
 
-------------------------------------Lloris/Vorm
Walker/Yedlin----Fazio/Wimmer--Vertonghen/Dier--Rose/Davies
---------------------Bentaleb/Cambiasso-------Mason/Alli
--------------------------------------Eriksen/Pritchard
-----------Lamela/Townsend----------------------Chadli/Ayew
-------------------------------------Kane/Ings
I wouldn't like our chances at all if Kane was out injured.... Ings looks to be more of a 4-4-2 type second forward to me so would be a partner for Kane, instead of a replacement for him?.... Or do you think that Poch is going to change to 4-4-2?... In which case surely we need at least one true wide player?
 
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