Our rivals' summers

[Chinaspur]

Looking past our transfer activity what do we expect to see from our rivals, and what do we hope to see:

Man City: FFP will force them to sell quite a few decent, but not starting eleven players. They will probably buy one or two big names. Don't care too much about what they do. If anything more activity is better, would like to see them destabilised by more change.

Man Utd: Need a midfield. Will undoubtedly look at Luka. Not sure who else they will try to get. Berbs on his way out, so maybe another player up front?

Arsenal: Think RVP will go. Will the settle for just Podolski as a replacement? Doubt Whinger will spend much more. Hope he doesn't as unless Podolski is really special next season they will be weaker.

Chelsea: Getting older. Hope they don't get Hazard - much rather he went to City. Drogba will be gone, Torres may never be back. If they struggle with getting targets in (particularly as they still haven't confirmed manager for next season) then they will be there for the taking next season.

Newcastle: Would like to see Man City pillage a couple from them, their incredible run of scouting must come to an end soon.

Liverpool: Not really rivals any more. Glad Rodgers has turned them down, hope Martinez also stays away.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Man City: Don't seem to be overly concerned by the FFP. Want to add RVP, rumours of Cavani and Ibrahmovic rumbling too with massive wages to back it up. They probably need a centre back more than adding a striker because they already have 5 top class strikers on their books but if Kompany goes down they are left with Lescott and ...an aging Toure? a dodgy Savic?

Man Utd: Need a midfield. Modric, Dembele, Kagawa, Hazard, Asamoah etc. all on the radar. They won't get all but they will upgrade significantly. I expect them to still be weaker than City on paper but be right up there come the end of next season.

Arsenal: Also think RVP will go. Not sure that Podolski will be the replacement and I can see them going for someone else up top as well. Although not sure who. The rest of Arsenal's plan will likely be to maintain what they have, maybe solidify (or try to) again at the back and hope that Wilshere can get back to fitness to give them a Wilshere-Song-Arteta midfield which will dominate a lot of games.

Chelsea: I think Chelsea are going to spend big. Cavani, Falcao and Hazard are on their list and they could end up with a pretty scary looking attack. They won the CL but Abramovich is obsessed by them playing attractive football. If they end up with a Mata-Falcao-Hazard front line he might finally get his wish and they will be formidible again. Some work to do at the back though.

Newcastle: Everybody will know all about them next season so it will be harder unless they add some more. I don't think their run of scouting will come to an end, I think they'll find another couple of gems again this summer and be good.

Liverpool: Funnily I wouldn't write them off. OK they have been terrible but the signings they made were necessary because of the homegrown player rule and so the new DOF/coach will have a lot more freedom on signings. I think they will be backed financially as well. Of course the coach is probably going to be the biggest signing but I imagine they will be a significant updgrade on Dalglish.

 

[Chinaspur]

Man City: Don't seem to be overly concerned by the FFP. Want to add RVP, rumours of Cavani and Ibrahmovic rumbling too with massive wages to back it up. They probably need a centre back more than adding a striker because they already have 5 top class strikers on their books but if Kompany goes down they are left with Lescott and ...an aging Toure? a dodgy Savic?

Man Utd: Need a midfield. Modric, Dembele, Kagawa, Hazard, Asamoah etc. all on the radar. They won't get all but they will upgrade significantly. I expect them to still be weaker than City on paper but be right up there come the end of next season.

Arsenal: Also think RVP will go. Not sure that Podolski will be the replacement and I can see them going for someone else up top as well. Although not sure who. The rest of Arsenal's plan will likely be to maintain what they have, maybe solidify (or try to) again at the back and hope that Wilshere can get back to fitness to give them a Wilshere-Song-Arteta midfield which will dominate a lot of games.

Chelsea: I think Chelsea are going to spend big. Cavani, Falcao and Hazard are on their list and they could end up with a pretty scary looking attack. They won the CL but Abramovich is obsessed by them playing attractive football. If they end up with a Mata-Falcao-Hazard front line he might finally get his wish and they will be formidible again. Some work to do at the back though.

Newcastle: Everybody will know all about them next season so it will be harder unless they add some more. I don't think their run of scouting will come to an end, I think they'll find another couple of gems again this summer and be good.

Liverpool: Funnily I wouldn't write them off. OK they have been terrible but the signings they made were necessary because of the homegrown player rule and so the new DOF/coach will have a lot more freedom on signings. I think they will be backed financially as well. Of course the coach is probably going to be the biggest signing but I imagine they will be a significant updgrade on Dalglish.

Thanks IOMLS, do you think MU are likely to be sniffing round the Newcastle midfield?

To me it looks like Chelsea's summer is probably just as important to our top 4 chances as ours - if they fail to get the likes of hazard etc. then we can go toe-to-toe with them again.

I disagree on Liverpool - I don't think there will be much more money to spend. If there is it will be debt financed, which would be hugely dangerous.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Thanks IOMLS, do you think MU are likely to be sniffing round the Newcastle midfield?

To me it looks like Chelsea's summer is probably just as important to our top 4 chances as ours - if they fail to get the likes of hazard etc. then we can go toe-to-toe with them again.

I disagree on Liverpool - I don't think there will be much more money to spend. If there is it will be debt financed, which would be hugely dangerous.

I don't think Newcastle will be in any rush to sell any of their players and I don't really think any of them will be desperate to leave unless it was really serious interest. Cabaye has only been there a year and they had a pretty good go at it first time round. He might just look at it and think with a whole season of Cisse they will be a lot stronger where as others might get weaker.

To be honest I'm not worried about any of the teams, what they do isn't going to affect us all that much, I don't see us in direct competition with any really in terms of signings. Next season we need to concentrate more on doing our own thing and less on what is happening with the others as it seemed to get to everyone involved with the club. If we make some good signings and work hard preseason then we will be back in the top 4 again next season.

Even if Liverpool don't make signings they won't be as bad as this year. A new coach will figure out how to get more out of Carroll and Suarez and they won't hit the woodwork 100 times (or whatever Liverpool fans claim the number was). I don't see them attracting any decent coach without any money to spend at all, there will be some.

 

[Hoddle_Ledge]

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has given the green light for a spending spree that could include Lille's Eden Hazard, 21, Porto forward Hulk, 25, and Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao, 26.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Meh

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has given the green light for a spending spree that could include Lille's Eden Hazard, 21, Porto forward Hulk, 25, and Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao, 26.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Meh

It'll be fine if they keep Di Matteo. Again, not bothered what other teams do, we'll only have to play Chelsea twice and we'll have a damn good side next year with a chance of beating everyone we play if we find some balance that we missed this season.

 

[SugarRay]

Hazard £35m Hulk £35m Falcao £40m ( at the very least )

Chelsea really going to spend £110m on 3 players given their financial situation? If they do it's the clearest indicator yet that they have no intention of meeting the FFP rules and that in turn is the clearest indicator yet that FFP rules won't actually do anything!
Add wages for these three, probably totalling 450k a week for 5 years then this little trio will be costing Roman a quarter of a billion! And some Chelsea fans will have you think it's not all about the money!!!

Newcastle's scouting isn't that amazing. Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba were all well known to clubs and had performed well to a certain level. The difference is the toon obviously thought they cold do it in the prem and took the chance.

 

[Dinpomp]

French media reporting that Liverpool are after Dejan Lovren (Lyon).

Comolli did a lot of the leg work and Liverpool are supposedly still pursuing a deal (even though they are yet to name a manager).

 

[spursandbarca]

city in Hazzard, Kaka, Pato out Kolo Toure, Adebayor, Dzeko, A Johnson.

Utd in a cm out Berbatov Owen kluczak

arsenil out rvp(Barcelona) diaby in podolski, m'villa, giroud,

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Newcastle's scouting isn't that amazing. Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba were all well known to clubs and had performed well to a certain level. The difference is the toon obviously thought they cold do it in the prem and took the chance.

That is what scouting is though. It is assessing a players ability and whether they would be a good fit for your side. Our chief scout has been over in Brasil looking at Leandro but he is a Brasilian international striker.

It seems as though Chelsea are looking to make a splash. The Mail have them bidding £32m for Lucas Moura.

 

[SugarRay]

Leandro seems one of these Brasilian internationals that only picks up caps in meaningless games.

For his reported price and lack of experience at the top level I would want a bloody good look at him too!

 

[mpickard2087]

Leandro seems one of these Brasilian internationals that only picks up caps in meaningless games.

For his reported price and lack of experience at the top level I would want a bloody good look at him too!

Yeh all this. I'm not convinced at all by him and definately not at the prices I have seen quoted.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/footba...uane-chamakh-for-olivier-giroud#ixzz1vnu0vSdO

Surely Arsenal are taking the piss with this one? £6.401m is way on the cheap side and I was being generous with the £0.001m for Chamakh. Does Giroud really have a £12.8m clause? Would have thought teams would be all over that if it was true.