Summer 2012.... Who Goes and Where Do We Need To Strengthen?

I like the look of David Alaba from Bayern. Think he has great potential. Can play left back/midfield.

£20M striker
£15M winger
£15M centre mid
£5M young striker

£55M.

That looks like Llorente, Muniain and Martinez written all over striker, winger and central midfielder!!

I like the look of David Alaba from Bayern. Think he has great potential. Can play left back/midfield.

alaba is brilliant but i have only seen him play at LB. i think we need to buy a specialist winger, who is first and for most a winger. no point in buying a jack of all trades and master of none.

I like the look of David Alaba from Bayern. Think he has great potential. Can play left back/midfield.

He's a huge talent, but why would he leave Bayern for us right now.

Honestly, I think we just need to make three additions in the off-season based on what we have right now:

1) Striker. Not necessarily an expensive one, but just a finisher.

2) A left winger. While I believe that Downing will get another season to prove himself (let's face it, we paid a £20mill fee for him, he's not gonna be offloaded after a single season), we need another option on the left side. Also, what confused me last season was that we played Downing on the right side on more than a few occasions when we probably would've been more effective with Maxi or Kuyt on the right side & Downing on the left. With Maxi & Kuyt probably being offloaded, we're probably gonna need to improve on both wings, but as of right now, we need to get another left winger not only to give ourselves a bit of insurance but also get the message across to Stewie that he's not been good enough (if he hasn't already figured it out himself).

3) A backup CDM. While Spearing has tried his best, it's clear that once Lucas went down, our season went downhill. Spearing was just not good enough and in some cases hindered our overall performances. In fact, our best performances after Lucas went down were when Spearing was not on the pitch & we played Carroll & Suarez alongside each other. Carroll would hold up the ball & we'd have a much more fluid attack than we had with Spearing in a five-man midfield & a lone striker up top. When we had two strikers up top, it proved that a CDM wasn't necessary for success, but it could if you had the right guy playing the role. Lucas fit the role. Spearing didn't. A new CDM would enable us to have insurance for Lucas getting injured AND would allow Lucas to rest more often, which would be vital this season with him coming off the ACL injury.

As far as departures, I'm gonna guess that it goes along these lines:

- Jones
- Aurelio (40k/week off wage bill)
- Kuyt (approximately 70k/week off wage bill)
- Maxi (he reportedly makes 90k/week, but I highly doubt that we pay all of that because he said that he'd take a pay cut upon joining us from Madrid)
- Joe Cole (there's just no way he stays. I cannot see it. on the decline with massive wages? bye bye.)
- Jay Spearing (Just not good enough unfortunately. He did his best, but we're probably gonna replace him)

I also think that we could see Aquilani sold to somebody, which would probably be best for him & us. I also believe that some young fringe players, such as Danny Wilson & Nathan Eccleston, could actively seek a move in order to further their careers (Eccleston especially after his comments about 9/11). I also have a feeling that we're gonna see one big name guy try to move (such as Glen Johnson or Martin Skrtel). It won't be because they're unhappy or unsettled, but because they wanna play Champions League and, when they moved here, they expected to play at that level regularly, but are now entering their third straight year without an appearance at that level. I know we don't wanna think about it like that, but I just have a feeling that we're gonna see it.

I don't wanna make any predictions who we're specifically gonna buy (let's face it, nobody knows & we'd just be getting our own hopes up) or how much the new manager is gonna have to spend, but hey, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to make a few upgrades & move forward. It's gonna be a long summer, but regardless of what happens, we'll come out of it stronger as a club & hopefully surprise a few people out there next season.

YNWA

Unless we're going to keep our more "creative" players in Joe Cole or Alberton Aquilani, we'd still need a central midfielder.

Gerrard is on the decline, sadly. While it is shown that the team's form dropped when Lucas got injured, the struggle is still scoring goals (hardly scored alot anyway while Lucas was in the side). Suarez creates so much but no one is there and him and Carroll alone aren't going to score almost 50 goals a season.

CDM is the least of our worries, IMO. It wouldn't really hurt to have no CDM to come in for Lucas (if he gets injured again or something) if we're scoring at the other end of the pitch but having a CDM won't really make us score more - which has been the main problem.

Also while there were lack of concentrations in our defence at times, especially in 2012, they have been pretty sold. For a disastrous below par campaign and the fact that Pepe Reina has conceded alot of soft goals, it's amazing we've still got the joint best third defence in the league.

And of course, a goalscorer (finisher) and two wingers.

Does anyone think we need another center half ?

With Carragher on  his last legs and we all know how injury prone Agger is, just not sure if we could rely on Coates if he was pushed in the deep end but we wont know until that happens!

That's why we have Martin Kelly 

I agree Kelly is a big big boy and his future is in the center (I believe). A new CB that wants to be starting would be great for the team and pressure on spots but it is not a huge need right now so I say let Coates and Kelly (and Wilson?) develop. Flano is our future at RB just needs to bulk up a bit so he can stay on the ball when pushing forward instead of being knocked off easily. That is all I can say about him really, the rest is class.

Chelsea are expected to release Bosingwa and Kalou in the summer. Wouldn't mind picking up Kalou on a free, can play all across the front line and would add some depth to our attack, played at the highest level. Although I don't think he's the best of players he could definitely do a job for us. In fact if I remember rightly, we were interested in him before Chelsea signed him. He's only 26 aswell, I thought he was a lot older than that.

i think we should try and sell of some of the squad players who are surplus. Therefore id expect the likes maxi to leave, wilson to leave as he has fallen right down the pecking order, joe cole and charlie adam. Adam is definetly dispensable if aquilani was to stay and i dont feel as though he excelled in his 1st season at anfield. if we got £6-7million for him id sell and invest elsewhere.
I think we need to bring in some real pace to are team. its something we have lacked on the wings for the past few years and downing hasnt lived up to the price tag although i feel he deserves another seasonI feel as though we need to add some creativity to the midfield to. We certainly lacked that creativity to break down the smaller sides at anfield last year as well as a problem of putting these chances away. obviously a clinical goalscorer or creative forward is the target this summer. A little more depth at left back is also needed following aureilo's departure. I think realistically we will end up with the likes of Moses(£8m) Sinclair(£7m) Gaston(£15m) Fucile(£3m) ,Nilmar(£11m) or Cardozo(£11.5m), Diame(free)
Ins: Moses, Sinclair, Gaston, Fucile, Nilmar, Diame
Outs: Wilson, J.Cole, Maxi, Adam, Shelvey(loan), Aureilo, Spearing.
Total income:£15m around
Total outflow:£44m
Deficit:£29m

Swansea City have agreed a fee of about £7.2m with Hoffenheim to sign loan midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, BBC Sport Wales understands.

Missing out here!

Swansea City have agreed a fee of about £7.2m with Hoffenheim to sign loan midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, BBC Sport Wales understands.

Missing out here!

Don't get emotional mate, I know you really wanted him.

It looks to be a very good buy for Swansea and might show that Rodgers is staying put. I agree he is a talented player with a good shot on him, but I did get the impression that he was slightly overrated. His overall play was lacking in my opinion.

In terms if priority

A manager? 

Don't get emotional mate, I know you really wanted him.

It looks to be a very good buy for Swansea and might show that Rodgers is staying put. I agree he is a talented player with a good shot on him, but I did get the impression that he was slightly overrated. His overall play was lacking in my opinion.

Tbh when you consider he's around the same age as Henderson the price Swansea have got for him is a steal. This is a midfielder who creates and scores goals and directly impacts the game in the final 3rd. The sort of player we need, especially considering Gerrard is winding down. We'll probably be interested in him in a few years time if he does well. Probably for a huge price too!

Speaking in general terms about any player, until the club appoints a manager and or DoF we're not going to be signing anybody. Other clubs are not going to wait for us to sort ourselves out either before they start approaching players and teams.

I'd have thought we'd want to get the European players in before they go to the Euros and inflate their prices with a couple of great games.

Apparently Clarence Seedorf is out of contract with Milan.

He's 36 so obviously he wouldn't be a key part of our starting XI. But even if we got him just for one season he could do wonders for the progression of Henderson and Shelvey to learn from him and Gerrard. He could play a part in matches just to tidy things up for the last 15 mins or so. Or even in cup games, play the kid with Carragher, Seedorf and Bellamy in there for a bit of experience to help them along.

I know the chances of this happening are slim to none. But if we could agree a reasonable wage deal that suited both parties I think it would be a good deal while the younger lads are progressing.

As realistic as possible, this is what I would do. 

In:  Luuk De Jong (10M); Nicolas Gaitan (15M); Ola John (10M); Etienne Capoue (10M); Jan Vertonghen (12M); Alberto Aquilani (return from loan) -  Total 57M

Out:  Maxi (1M); Bellamy (1M); Spearo (3M); Adam (4M); Cole (3M); Pacheco (1M); Aurelio (free); Carra (promoted to management) -  Total 13M recouped

Total outlay would be 44M and we would have quality depth in every position.  The only player that I think we would have a hard time signing would be Vertonghen, but I think we should be able to convince him to join us if we really tried. 

Ola John has signed for Benfica

And I agree Seedorf could be an inspired free transfer, even if only for a season. A short term solution while we're progressing to be able to attract the bigger names

Ola John has signed for Benfica

Damn!!  He is going to be sold in 2 years for 3x's what they paid for him.  Benfica are great about buying talented youngsters, improving them, and then turning a tidy profit in the transfer market!

Damn!!  He is going to be sold in 2 years for 3x's what they paid for him.  Benfica are great about buying talented youngsters, improving them, and then turning a tidy profit in the transfer market!

Very true. Nicolas Gaitan is a great example... they bought him for peanuts and no doubt he will end up being sold for a lot more

Seedorf. Wow. There's a suggestion. I've always liked him as a player. But surely his wages wouldn't be worth it for a short term solution?

Gonna bang the Sigurdsson drum one last time now that it seems Brendan Rodgers is about to join us!

Get in Seedorf. He could spend a year or two as a player and then be promoted into the coaching set up. Such a lovely man. I want him. At the club, I mean...