27 Jul 2014 22:09:07
Well from what we are seeing in the press and from all the whispers and rumours it would appear we have three targets.

Vidal, Hummels and Vermaelen. So that a couple of centre backs and a box to box midfielder. So my question is say all three were unavailable for one reason or another who would you like to see signed instead of those three?

For me I would go with Verratti, De Vrij and Inigo Martinez.

They may not have the experience of Vidal, Hummels and Vermaelen but in a couple of years they have the potential to be just as good. And imo in our current state much easier to attain than the afformentioned trio.

So who would you go for?

1.) 27 Jul 2014
27 Jul 2014 22:55:55
Good question Shappy. Personally I would target Khedira, as I think we need some steel and experience in midfield, Benatia, however unlikely, and De Vrij. Failing that, Matuidi, Lars or Sven Bender, Strootman, or even another raid on Southampton for Schneiderlin would be very good options for the midfield role. For centre back I feel there are far fewer really safe options other than Hummels, Benatia, Inigo Martinez, or Subotic. Vermaelen would be a risk since he has barely played, and Van Dijk and De Vrij are very inexperienced.

2.) 27 Jul 2014
I would go all out for Vidal and hummels if I'm honest. Would be more than happy to pay about 45 for Vidal and 35 for hummels. Then if I'm honest I would like to see someone like vermaelen, maybe rojo or even howedes, a left sided play to play left centre back. Veratti is far to lightweight. If we were to look for a Vidal alternative for me it would be carvalho, mascherano, schweinsteger or matuidi.

3.) 27 Jul 2014
Carvalho javi martinez and De Vrij.

8ut if we go for Verrati I am sure the club will also a buy a strong player such as Strootman

4.) 27 Jul 2014
But What if Vidal doesn't want to leave Juve or if he does he only wants to go to Bayern? What if Hummels is only willing to leave Dortmund for Barcelona?
We can offer them the world but if they don't want to come then there's nothing we can do but look elsewhere. Occasionally we have benefited from this, one of the Italian teams basically sent us a signed blank cheque for Paul Scholes, be he didn't want to leave for anyone.

Gilly, there are some other options. I like you think Schneiderlin could be a shrewed move. Benatia would also be high on my list but he could be just as tricky to get as Hummels. I wouldn't move for either of the Bender brothers to be honest, I feel they are a little too limited for the role that LvG seemingly wants. Granit Xhaka could be worth a look too or Axel Witsel. But I wouldn't move for Strootman until next summer at the earliest. Even if he could pass a medical, having missed so much football and having no pre-season he is at least 6 months away from being fully match fit and match sharp, rehabilitating a player form such a bad injury while also trying to get him to adapt to a new team and a new league is just asking for trouble.

Brad I think some of your midfield choices are too defensive and offer very little to nothing going forward. If we were playing 433 then that would be fine, but the plan seems to be to play 343 which needs two players in midfield who can get from box to box defend and create.

5.) 28 Jul 2014
CB wise the only top players who might be available aside from Hummels (who looks Barca bound) are Benatia, Marquinhos and Varane.

If we can't sign Vidal we should go for Javi Martinez, Carvalho, Pogba, Strootman or Verratti.

I think we'll sign Vermaelen.

I think it's important though that we sign one top drawer player to make a statement - and on that basis we should go all out for Vidal.

6.) 28 Jul 2014
28 Jul 2014 00:37:48
I agree on Benatia, but the I think of the three players, two ofthem, preferably the centre mid and one of the centre backs need to be reasonably experienced. Witsel would also be a very good option, completely forgot about him, but I haven't really seen enough of Xhaka to comment. About Lars and Sven Bender, I agree, but they would do a job in our midfield very well.

7.) 28 Jul 2014
Benatia, vlaar and maybe hector Herrera, was very impressed with how he played for Mexico, I'm just wondering if him and Ander would compliment each other though. Ron vlaar would purely be for defensive stability and that he is used to our league, and benatia to be the quality centerback if the pursuit for hummels doesn't go to plan. There are better options of course but I've saved time and just picked 3 reasonable players.

8.) 28 Jul 2014
Good point about some being too defensive shappy, I was thinking of it that we need a physical player in the middle to go along with the more lightweight Herrera and mata. In an ideal(dream) world it would be Vidal or schweinsteiger so we can have the physical attributes and the creative edge as well. However if we were to sign one of the others I mentioned before I'm sure van gaal would have them working hard on their creativity and their game going forward

9.) 28 Jul 2014
If we don't get Vidal then we need to target experience. We need a captain desperately and somebody to take hold of the midfield. I think this is another time we need to spend big on somebody that isn't going to bring any sell on value (like RVP) and just do a great job for a couple of years and allow players to excel around them.

Schweinsteiger for me and I think he would be gettable for £30mil.

10.) 28 Jul 2014
Schweinsteiger for me too, his performance in the World Cup Final was immense. The energy and passion he is is something we sorely miss, since Keane and Gaz Nev.

Defensively i'd opt for De Vrij, and i'd even look at Gary Medel, he was a rock for Chile through the World Cup. i'd only go for these if we got a Hummels or Vermaelen though.

11.) 28 Jul 2014
28 Jul 2014 13:58:29
I have to agree with Sambo and the Beast about Schweinsteiger. As I said above, we need some experience with Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand leaving. In the event that we don't sign Vidal, he would be a perfect alternative, and with such an important position the resale value is almost irrelevant.