Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

I find recruitment news lately is really difficult to follow. It had been pretty obvious that the plan was to sign a CF, either Mbappe, Haaland or Alvarez, to sign Davies and to acquire a competent RW. Likely departures being Mendy, Lucas, Modric and Kroos. Plus incoming will be Endick and possibly an eventual replacement for Nacho.

Now there is a report that They may give up the pursuit of Mbappe (although that maybe just to put off talk about it until later next spring), Endick has been on fire lately including with Brasil NT, and Rodrygo has improved and club has confidence with him.

Rumors are Haaland may be attainable but cost will be high and seems as if talk of Alvarez have died.

Then there is the issue of formation, should they go with 4 midfielders or three forwards! If they go with 3 forwards, who goes to the bench: Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga or Valverde?

Rodrygo staying likely kills any chance of a Kubo return.


And lately Bayern have indicated acquiring Davies will be met with resistance.

So what do think should be the plan for next summer?

Am I crazy for wanting Alvarez over mbappe??? For me its honestly haaland>alvarez>mbappe in terms who I want on this team.

From what I’m hearing about Endick, they may not try to buy any of the 3 top favorites. This team is really together. I feel Mbappe and his ego will cause problems with the existing team togetherness. a year ago or maybe two, we needed a consistent top scorer, a player that his addition would instantly make us winners. That is no longer the case. We have several scorers now including backups, Brahim, Joselu and probably Güler. And there are scorers at Castilla.

I find it wrong to pin our hopes on every young signing we make to be a phenom that can make us a La Liga/CL winning team, which is the yearly expectation. I don't see guaranteed "scorers" in Castilla and Brahim, Joselu, and Guler are pretty much non-factors as scorers, we need guarantees of a different stratosphere.

Mbappe and Haaland are the necessary type of Galactico concerning image and play factors. We are blessed to have such players already in Bellingham and Vinicius pretty much (at their best, anyways).

If the club is going to continue this thing where we are missing natural strikers and natural width then we'll definitely need top class LB and RB signings as well.

And Endrick...

I have to watch more of him definitely but I haven't been too impressed with the fact that he's short and from some match footage I've seen he kinda looks like he has an awkward player profile. Kinda wished he was a right sided Vinicius that could cut in with his left foot and also make runs on the flanks behind the defense considering his physicality and goal prowess but he doesn't seem to have that disposition of really playing in the flank as a wide forward/winger to him, and maybe it's his size, his left footedness, and the way he moves his body and treats the ball but considering how much he seems to also need to "float" he also seems awkward to imagine as a lone forward.

Kinda looks like he'd be awkward/sup optimal as anything other than a second striker, which is what he seems to play as in 3-4-1-2 Palmeiras scheme as per whoscored.

Ignoring the Mbappe possibility for a moment, the other pursuits are for laterals. We have known for months that they are chasing Davies for LB, with the likely sale of Mendy if they are successful. Davies is already recognized as one of the best LB in world right now and is viewed as an offense great. His speed is phenomenal.

The new news is they are chasing Couto, currently playing for Girona. He is owned by Man City. Like Davies, he has not renewed and current contract expires  in June. I don’t know much about him other than he is only 21 and has been impressive in la liga this year. If successful, he would be backup to Carvajal replacing Lucas whose contract expires in June.

I don’t think there will be any other signings, other than if successful Mbappe, Davies and Couto plus the arrival of Endick.

It does sound like both Brahim and Joselu have done well enough to be retained, plus it looks like Kroos will be back for another, likely final season while Modric will be gone. The other expiring contract with Nacho is likely to be extended for another year.

I believe Lunin has earned the backup role and that Kepa will return to Chelsea.

That leaves only the question of what to do with Güler (keep or loan him out to play) and whether it is best to promote Nico Paz or leave him at Castilla.

If this is the lineup, then the biggest question will be where will Mbappe play. If it is as CF, the question will be who has to go to the bench in midfield, as they will only be playing 3!

If Mbappe is playing RW, what happens to Vinicius and maybe Rodrygo and what formation will they play?

I believe all of Brahim, Joselu and Endick will be reserves, but all look as if they will provide quality when called upon.

I also believe the club has plans, if any of the pursuits fail.

In the case of Mbappe, they have been in touch with Haaland’s camp and apparently there is interest.

With Davies, they would continue with Mendy / Fran. And with Couto, they would extend Lucas for another season.

Mbape playing RW

sportsczy wrote:Mbape playing RW

That was a typo lol

As to your comments about Carlo, take a look at recent Capello interview with Marca!

futbol_bill wrote:As to your comments about Carlo, take a look at recent Capello interview with Marca!

He's not providing context:
- His AC Milan time was considered a failure because he should have won a LOT more with that team. Really underachieved despite winning CL. Could not win Serie A more than once with the best team. A crime actually.
- Chelsea... again ok, not great. Mourinho built that team and Carlo didn't improve anything. In fact, it had stalled under Carlo.
- PSG... superior talent. He actually inherited a first place team from Kombouare and ended up second to Montpellier in his first year. Didn't win CL so it can't be considered a success. In fact, didn't make semis of CL.
- Madrid... this is where he truly had success by taking a ready-made team over the hump. This was the beginning of Carlo establishing himself as a truly generational manager.
- Failed at Napoli and Everton.
- Second Madrid stint has been the best because he's actually had to build a team and has done it successfully. This is where I give him full credit for being a transcendent manager, not before.

Always loved him because of his class. Glad to see how he's ending his career on such a high note.

I think its unfair to call his ac milan side a failure. looking at it in hindsight, yeah one league title in that many years is a sorry return. i didn't even realize that until you mentioned it, in my head i was like no they have to have won more than one. At the time it felt like kaka and all those boys had multiple league titles. I would still not call it a failure, I remember how scary some of those sides were in real time especially when they won the champions league the first time.

I would say his juve and bayern years could be considered failures. Everton was a team that just didn't match with him. Like a lot of so called great managers he works well with the elite teams not mid teams. Didn't watch Napoli when he was coaching. Didn't watch psg much when he was there either, but I remember they tried to prevent him from joining us, so he couldn't have been that bad

sportsczy wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:As to your comments about Carlo, take a look at recent Capello interview with Marca!

He's not providing context:
- His AC Milan time was considered a failure because he should have won a LOT more with that team. Really underachieved despite winning CL. Could not win Serie A more than once with the best team. A crime actually.
- Chelsea... again ok, not great. Mourinho built that team and Carlo didn't improve anything. In fact, it had stalled under Carlo.
- PSG... superior talent. He actually inherited a first place team from Kombouare and ended up second to Montpellier in his first year. Didn't win CL so it can't be considered a success. In fact, didn't make semis of CL.
- Madrid... this is where he truly had success by taking a ready-made team over the hump. This was the beginning of Carlo establishing himself as a truly generational manager.
- Failed at Napoli and Everton.
- Second Madrid stint has been the best because he's actually had to build a team and has done it successfully. This is where I give him full credit for being a transcendent manager, not before.

Always loved him because of his class. Glad to see how he's ending his career on such a high note.

I was referring to what he said about a fixed formation, that how his teams lined up dependent on who was in the lineup. Carlo himself said, he had made mistakes before, esp. with Zidane in being too rigid. Again if you bothered to watch our games, you will see that the formation being played changes during the games, again dependent on who is playing. That comment of yours saying Carlo needs to be more flexible is way out of date!

I mentioned in the general thread that Carlo is no longer rigid if you bothered to read my entire post...

sportsczy wrote:Fred Hermel came on RMC... said that Madrid "feel very confident" of Mbappe signing.  But before they say anything, they're waiting for Mbappe to tell PSG and to make the public announcement.

Big thing is that Hermel said that Mbappe will play inside forward from the left side.  Carlo is not expected to change formations... 442.  So one of Vini or Rodrygo will be sacrificed and will play inside forward from the right.  To note that it doesn't really mean much in a 442.  They will roam all over the pitch and change sides depending on the flow anyhow.  It's more rigid with 3 strikers.  With Bellingham pushing forward, it will be fine.

RM feel that it's more important to keep all their young midfielders happy (Jude, Tchou, Cama and Valverde) while building the entire scheme around Mbappe on the attack and Jude in the midfield.  Other big news is that RM is looking for an anchor in central defense...  with Ibrahima Konate as the target this summer.

I also don't feel that Carlo is that rigid anymore.  If a 433 is better, so it will be.  But the current squad works with a 442. Mbappe and Vini are also not that rigid... they will get a feel for each other and, IMO, will find out the best dynamic between the two of them. They're both very mobile. Rodrygo is that big question mark IMO. 3 strikers is more rigid as I explained and you'd sacrifice a midfielder. You can't have everything of course. You bring in Mbappe and someone will need to leave the starting lineup and the attacking dynamic of course changes.

Now that the Mbappe acquisition is suposedly done, here’s a summary of decision that have to be made.

Forwards - returning Vinicius, Rodrygo, Brahim; incoming Mbappe, Endick decisions; Joselu (if Espanyol makes it back to 1st division, which is doubtful at this stage, he would return to them, otherwise I believe he stays), Güler (not sure to call him forward or midfielder! Club needs to decide to keep him on squad and slowly develop him, like they will with Endick or do they loan him out to get more playing time).

Midfield - returning Bellingham, Valverde, Camavinga, Tchouameni; decisions Modric (will he leave? I believe so), Kroos (will he leave?, I think he stays for one more year), Ceballos (Atletico wants to buy him and he wants more playing time to have a chance to rejoin Seleccion (NT), I think he goes), Nico Paz (will he be promoted, depends on who is returning)

defense returning Militao, Rudiger, Alaba, Carvajal; incoming looking for LB, CM, RB. Candidates are Davies for LB and possibility of return of Gutierrez, CM is rumored to be Yoro from Lille and RB was rumored to be Couto (however that was before he was destroyed by Vinicius in last game against Girona). Decisions - Nacho (contract is expiring, his extension depends upon a CB acquisition or if they want him around another year for depth as an extra defender), Lucas (contract is expiring, his extension depends a RB acquisition), Mendy (likely sold), Fran Garcia (possible sale if Gutierrez returns)

Portero - Courtois, with Lunin likely to be resigned on new contract and likely Kepa returned to Chelsea.

Report out today saying Flo has agreement with both Bayern and Davies for him to join Madrid this summer.

Also confirmed is both Gūler and Endick will be with first team next season, but likely with only few minutes as late game substitutes. There is also potential of same arrangement next season for Nico Paz, depending upon who remains in midfield.

Report out today that they have reached agreement with Yoro (CM with Lille). As with situation with Davies, Flo will refuse to pay what Bayern and Lille will ask for, rather with both players he will wait until 2025 to get them for free if current clubs don’t negotiate a lower price.

So this means new arrivals are Mbappe, Endick plus maybe Davies and Yoro and I guess we can assume Güler, given how little we have seen of him. He’s on a program with Pintus to gain weight and muscle. Judging by the pictures, it looks like it is working.

That’s every position covered except RB.

I’m expecting Modric to leave and likely sales at LB if Davies does come and Nacho not to be renewed if Yoro does come. Looks like they will continue for another year with Carvajal and Lucas at RB.

I don’t expect any other departures, other than possibly Ceballos, but in a year or two we can expect some departures as there just isn’t enough playing time for all the talent with both forwards and midfielders. Pleasant problem for Carlo. Challenge will be getting competent backups once the departures happen.

I know I have said early that Güler would remain. However a report is out today saying he might be loaned out to get playing time. The contenders are Leverkusen, Dortmund and Milan.

Now that he is fully recovered and putting on muscle, he still isn’t getting playing time, mainly due to Brahim’s performances. And it won’t get any better with the arrivals of Mbappe and Endick. So I think he will go to Xabi and Leverkusen and then hopefully come back with Xabi in a year or two.

Also looks like Ceballos will go to Atleti. There is interest in England, but apparently he doesn’t want to leave Spain, plus Betis (the other interested team) can’t afford him.

That leaves the number of midfielders returning at 5 (forwards with Mbappe and Endick at 6), which will be manageable with some rotations. I suspect they will promote Nico Paz to add some midfield bench reserve.

The only doubts, I believe are whether Davies and Yoro come this year or next.