Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

what about ousamane dembele, any chance of him coming, i perfer him over dybala all the time.

This idea of replacing an experience veteran at cb like Pepe with vallejo will bite us in the arse big time

Marca mentions that at the end of season there should be decisions around whether Benzema renews (expires 2019). About time this guy is shipped out, hope peeps come knocking on our door and Perez and Zizou realize the situation. His best days are through and the fanbase doesn't click all that well with him, never has.

The lolz if we renew his contract and he retires with us

halamadrid2 wrote:The lolz if we renew his contract and he retires with us

That would be like spitting in the face of several club legends. We didn't have freaking ultimate club legend Raul retire but this lazy sob

do you guys think aguero is an upgrade to benzema?

I'm really unsure. i would like to see how aguero does at real though.

A resounding no.

Aguero is more selfish, more lazy, more injury prone and also goes through streaks of not scoring. But what Kun has over Benz is the amount of goals but that's only because he scores most of his in 2/3 games by putting 4/5 goals against one team to inflate his numbers.

There are only 2 big name CF that would be an improvement and they are Higuain and Suarez. One we sold against our better judgements and the other plays for Barca.

What we need is one that works hard both on/off the ball. I would count on Morata/Mariano for at least a season. They deserve that at the very least. If at the end of next season they didn't work out I'd look elsewhere or just move Ronaldo up top permanently

Higuain only functions well if he's the primary scorer.  He has no idea what to do if he's in a support role...  has neither the secondary skillset nor the mentality to handle it.   It's been proven over and over again at club and NT.  If we needed a scoring focal point?  I don't even know about that.  His track record in big moments is dismal. We're going nowhere fast if Higuain is to become our scoring focal point.

Ronaldo is aging but won't let go of his status on the team.  That's the issue.  If Bale were healthy, it would be a natural handoff... but he's always injured.  So IMO you need to get that whole front line revamped.  Hazard, Bernardo Silva and Aubameyang.  You have a natural scorer with speed in the middle and two wing creators who can also score.  Makes for a very balanced attack.

Will never happen though.  Bale is staying.  Ronaldo also imo.  I think the most that will happen is Aubameyang.

futbol_bill wrote:This is not a rumour but it is my hope.

Ronaldo and Bale will for sure be with the club next season, so my wish that both Benz and Morata disappear. Zidane seems to have little use for Morata, Morata not happy, wants more playing time and there are decent offers for him. Benz, we all except two feel the time to replace him is now.

In return, insist on pushing Ronaldo to 9 spot and bring in Aubameyang as well as a Hazard or a Dybala. With Bale's injuries, playing time should not be an issue. And continue with Asensio and Lucas as bench strength.

I still want Coentrao gone with both a backup LB and a DM coming in.

Expect Mariano and James to go, leaving backup MF of Marcis Llorente, Isco and Kovacic. Really hope, they can convince Isco to stay.

Also I hope Pepe does stay one more year and delay Vallejo a year.

I fully expect DeGea to replace Navas.

Only thing left on my wish list is replacing Danilo with a more competent RB.

Bill, from a Madrid perspective getting rid of CR is best. He is not a good #9. When I say #9 I am talking about CFs like Lewandowski and Suarez. CR can't hold up the ball, can't turn defenders and cant take on players from a stand still position. His movement is also subpar as he usually only does it for himself and doesn't move for the team. I would flog him off and get someone like Hazard and perhaps try again for Lewandowski. Aubameyang and CR wont work well, he's not a great player outside the box and CR will cannibalise his chances. Aubameyang should only come if CR leaves for him to be fully effective.


Yea, I expect DDG to leave as well

I am all for throwing a monkey wrench in that attack. But we are not signing galacticos that are 28-29 years old now, that's why i dont believe in Aubameyang. He is too old. Since Perez came back, the signing strategy has focused on young stars with high market value that will expand our brand and play for us for years. Aubameyang fits none of that.

@JIbers, we all know CR isnt a traditional CF but it does not matter, he will still get goals. And i feel that we reached a point where even he is starting to realize that when he plays outwide he is not able to influence the game as much as before on 1v1. He spends most of his time playing as a n9 nowadays anyway.

@Bill, Hazard and Dybala are not comparable though, Hazard is way better and way more skilled as well. Thinking about it, there is no one better from the left side.

Mr Nick09 wrote:I am all for throwing a monkey wrench in that attack. But we are not signing galacticos that are 28-29 years old now, that's why i dont believe in Aubameyang. He is too old. Since Perez came back, the signing strategy has focused on young stars with high market value that will expand our brand and play for us for years. Aubameyang fits none of that.

@JIbers, we all know CR isnt a traiditional CF but it does not matter, he will still get goals. And i feel that we reached a point where even he is starting to realize that when he plays outwide he is not able to influence the game as much as before on 1v1. He spends most of his time playing as a n9 nowadays anyway.

Fair enough Nick. I just don't think he is a very good one tbh. Who would you sign as Madrid's #9 if you could sign someone now? I can't see any galacticos cf off the top off my head. None really fits the profile atm.

jibers wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:I am all for throwing a monkey wrench in that attack. But we are not signing galacticos that are 28-29 years old now, that's why i dont believe in Aubameyang. He is too old. Since Perez came back, the signing strategy has focused on young stars with high market value that will expand our brand and play for us for years. Aubameyang fits none of that.

@JIbers, we all know CR isnt a traiditional CF but it does not matter, he will still get goals. And i feel that we reached a point where even he is starting to realize that when he plays outwide he is not able to influence the game as much as before on 1v1. He spends most of his time playing as a n9 nowadays anyway.

Fair enough Nick. I just don't think he is a very good one tbh. Who would you sign as Madrid's #9 if you could sign someone now? I can't see any galacticos cf off the top off my head. None really fits the profile atm.

There are none, that's why i think we are better of keeping Benzema another year, and CR of course signed an extension. I mean like Aubameyang but we are not talking about Thierry Henry here lol.

I have been thinking about this for a little bit, and this is all theoretical:

1) you can go after let say Auba, play him instead of benzema, he will go wide a lot to give space to CR down he middle. But who is creating up top for you? just Bale on the right when he is fit, because the other two would suck ass with the ball for long period of time.

I think you are to design a scheme to take the ball away from CR and just put him in situation to finish, exactly like what happened vs Osasuna, he is still a monster off the ball making runs.

So in the absence of a young enough world class CF that can be a game changer, you go for talent. next up

2) someone like Dybala, who is not a CF but that play SS and will give us a shape of a 41212. the advantage of someone like Dybala is play in between the lines, he is a good dribbler, nothing special but he will give CR the space he needs. Only problem in this scenario is 1) Dybala isnt that good yet, people overhype him a lot but the talent is there so it's a ok bet, 2) he is a leftie so you are abandoning the left side of the pitch to Marcelo because Dybala aint going there and CR aint playing there anyway.

3) So next would be to then play CR down the middle and get an actual left winger. an inside left forward like Neymar would actually fit that role perfectly, or even Sanchez although now he is too old. But it might be the most balanced option. Having a left sided player that can dribble and drive down the left is something we dont have. So who is up on the market for that? Hazard. you still keep Benzema off the bench for another season until he goes, you dont renew him.

There are no galacticos CF so you have to find another way until the young guys step up. My personal favorites are Andre Silva and Dembele. We missed the boat with Gabriel Jesus.

We could buy Pele, fat Ronaldo, Maradona but none of them would start over Benz. His position is so comfortable he could go a whole season without scoring and yet keep his starting berth the next season

Ronaldo isn't the problem. Sure he has some forgetful games every once in a while but rest assured he is the only one we can rely on from the attack. One of his partner is worse than Heskey and the other available for 2 games at a time every 2 months

Look ww had the best striker in the world in our team and gave him the bench role. Then you can argue that maybe it was justified because of his CL record so we brought back a CL specialist and the only thing changed is the position on the bench

Until we sell this liability it won't matter who we buy, how we set up to play. We will always have this useless guy up top dragging us all down and who will we blame? Ronaldo the guy who has been scoring all our goals for the last 4 seasons

We need to sell benzema and james and get dembele. Thats all i am going to say. lets give morata one more year and try CR7 in CF that year too. Also replace pepe with lorente *give vallajo one more year* and also replace danilo and coentrao with next best young fullbacks.

i think we need a proper attacking mid, who can create in the final third. so leaning towards what mrnick said. problem with that is, it changes to 4 2 3 1, and someone in midfield might have to sit out. guys up front need service, someone who can pass the ball, dribble, create and score when the chance arises....as far as auba, i've hardly seen him play so i know very little about him as a cf. but if we still don't have any creativity, regardless of who we play upfront they'll struggle.

i'll give my verdict on the front 3 as we know it when the season ends. who knows, there's still room for surprises

@tito, but a n10 does not fit with the Kroos and Modric of this world, and i dread seeing CR, Benzema/CF and that n10 clogging up the same zone, which is kinda what ruined Benitez attempt of playing 4231.

Then you have to consider that you need that do it all, dribble, create, pass, score etc... N10 are specialist nowadays, it's hard to find an all around playerr doing all of that. The talents at n10 today require a different type of double pivot supporting them, a very defensive oriented one.

It would have been nice to have Pogba who can play a more conservative role in a double pivot as he's showing in Man U in a 4231... but also play the more attacking role when you do play a 433. That ship sailed though.

N'Zonzi would be a good get to play that role. I'd even think of getting Dembele of the Spurs.

As far as our forwards. We need dribbling and speed... there's a phenom at Monaco in Mbappe. You also have Bernardo Silva on that same team, although I think Mbappe is going to be a superstar.

that's the thing about playing 433, you wing overwhelming 1v1 players outwide. When you look at our team, only Bale makes a difference outwide, he is the one that consistently does it.

Silva is a good young AM, but that profile we have seen in madrid in different shape and forms and it hasnt been that successful: Ozil, James, Isco, and now Asensio... i will pass

Mbappe is legit he is more of an inside forward as i described above, closer to a Martial in that 1v1 approach to the last third.

But Dembele is more of a phenom to me, he is more talented than Mbappe because he has that 1% speed that will make defense double team him though.

Anyway, young players are nice and all but we need a sure thing, a confirmed player.

Benzema has been losing speed every season with his injuries; they're all to the hip and thigh. Benz was never fast but he put in a shift as a SS while scoring a lot of goals, now he's so slow his whole game is shit.

Ronaldo still has his stamina and is an aerial threat as a 9. Also has quick feet to make space for a shot although his dribbling is pretty average w/o the speed. And I disagree, he holds up the ball decently, keep in mind he gets fouled a lot with his back to the goal and that lets us gain yards

Mbappe is more of a natural scorer though Nick and is also good in the air. Dembele doesn't have the box presence that Mbappe also brings... but yeah, that 1% speed is hard to find. Depends what you're looking for.

We need some youthful enthusiasm and the hunger to reach elite status. There's a mix we need to find. Too many super ego stars doesn't work well imo.