29 Sep 2022 15:05:11
Hi Ed002,

Looks like the l destination of Bellingham is the biggest news and will likely pick up more steam as the year goes on. Realistically who is in the running and do we have an interest and is the player himself leaning towards a specific team.

{Ed002's Note - Jude Bellingham (CM) Manchester United and Chelsea were keen before he moved to Germany and will be interested again when he is made available for sale – and expect serious interest from Manchester City, Real Madrid and Liverpool as well. Dortmund will not be forced in to selling him and will seek a huge fee when he is sold. Reasonably I would discount Manchester United as being an attractive option, but I do expect Real Madrid to press for him.}

1.) 29 Sep 2022
29 Sep 2022 16:25:18
It looks like it'll be an uphill battle to get Bellingham to United.

Even if we finish in the top four this season we will be competing with all the top clubs.

He has turned us down once before as well, which doesn't bode well. If he really wanted to wear a United shirt he could have chosen us when he left Birmingham. So be it doesn't seem like he has a burning desire to join us. Looks like he'll make a decision based on what is best for his career. Which might be Real Madrid.

A midfield of Tchouameni, Camavinga and Bellingham for the next decade looks very special. Could win another few UCL titles with them.

2.) 29 Sep 2022
29 Sep 2022 20:48:23
He opted for Dortmund over us when we had Ole in charge and were a mess. We could be a completely different proposition for him come the summer.
If we can keep steadily progressing under Ten Hag then we might have a chance of convincing him.

3.) 29 Sep 2022
29 Sep 2022 22:03:06
Thought it was Ole that couldn’t convince Glazers to pay the money involved for Bellingham rather than him turning us down?

4.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 08:53:46
Shappy

He turned down a slew of offers from PL clubs if I recall correctly so that would have no bearings into his decision going forward. Realistically he was never going to get the minutes he did/ does at Dortmund with pl teams and probably why he went overseas.

5.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 10:16:33
He may of turned down other offers, but he didn't get the special treatment United gave him from other EPL sides.

United invited him and his whole family to Carrington, gave him a tour, had Sir Alex and Cantona met with him and have conversations with him and his family.

United went all out on a charm offensive to sway the lad, even offering to bring his younger brother to the United academy.

He still turned us down. Judging by how he is doing at Dortmund it was probably the right decision.

But if that lad really WANTED to play for United, to wear the shirt and play at Old Trafford he'd have joined us when the opportunity was laid out to him on a silver platter.

6.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 10:17:28
He may of turned down other offers, but he didn't get the special treatment United gave him from other EPL sides.

United invited him and his whole family to Carrington, gave him a tour, had Sir Alex and Cantona met with him and have conversations with him and his family.

United went all out on a charm offensive to sway the lad, even offering to bring his younger brother to the United academy.

He still turned us down. Judging by how he is doing at Dortmund it was probably the right decision.

But if that lad really WANTED to play for United, to wear the shirt and play at Old Trafford he'd have joined us when the opportunity was laid out to him on a silver platter.

7.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 10:51:36
I should think his decision in spurning us and other clubs was based purely on guaranteed minutes with Dortmund, or his perception of it being easier to nail down a place in their midfield. At that time he would have been competing with any of Pogba, Fred, Mata, McTominay, even Fernandes or Matic depending on his position as the boy can play in all those positions. He must have felt the jump from Birmingham to competing with those guys was a jump too far and it looks like he made the right choice.

8.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 11:48:09
Unless we make significant sales - or have new ownership - we won’t be able to afford him.

We’re sorted in defence, unless Maguire or Lindelof leave, so maybe then bring in Pau Torres or cheaper CB/ free agent

Midfield set up for a few teas, though need cover for Eriksen. Can see Hannibal or Iqbal being promoted here.

Main need is striker. Have heard usual names mentioned in social media such as Kane, Osimenah, Toney etc

Also GK needs sorting out. Maybe keep DDG on lesser contract and bring in Henderson, though not doing well at Forest. Sell them. It’s and bring in too quality ball playing keeper? Will make such a huge difference.

9.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 13:18:57
Very good player but we have missed the boat. I think he will be off to Real Madrid, his family seem to have a good relationship with Dortmund so will drive where best for him rather than who pays most.
Bellingham to them next summer, potentially Haaland the year or 2 after.

10.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 13:47:06
Wallace, I tend to agree, it's not the midfield that is in need the most next summer, so it would be madness spending what looks like the bulk of our budget on a midfielder such as Bellingham.

For me the biggest need this team had now is a striker.

After that I think it's a goalkeeper who can play the style that EtH wants. We saw the massive jumps at both City and Liverpool when they signed a keeper that suited how they wanted to play.

After that it's improving the quality of the squad rather than the first 11.

We could do with a second progressive midfielder to rotate with Eriksen.

We could do with more quality in depth at RB as beyond Dalot the drop off in both quality and suitability for EtH's tactical set up is huge.

We could also do with maybe better cover at CB, Varane and Martinez look fantastic. But beyond them the drop off is large, with Varane suffering injuries fairly often.

11.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 15:17:34
I'm not sure where the need for invest in a brillant midfielder has disappeared to. Did I miss something? Ok, we picked up a top drawer defensive midfielder but we're still missing the conductor.
Admittedly a great CF will by season end be as crucial.

12.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 20:21:14
Spenno, so which of Casemiro, Eriksen or Bruno are you dropping for this 60-100m first choice creative midfielder?

Eriksen has been one of our best players this season. He needs back up, an understudy, but not replacing.

13.) 30 Sep 2022
30 Sep 2022 21:27:48
Bellingham is a big investment but is a massive talent. There will only be a few teams that can afford him and I hope if we have half a chance we go all out for him. Strength in depth is needed to challenge for trophies and you can't afford to miss out on a player like him and one of your rivals sign him.

14.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 07:47:26
So Shappy, Real was crazy buying Camavinga, Tchouanmeni, while still having Modric and Kross as starters? And even Casemiro until this summer.

15.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 08:53:56
Shappy, so we only need 3 midfielders in a typical 70 game season? You recently said similar regarding how many strikers we’d need, and I imagine you’d suggest as much regarding centrebacks.
He’d replace either of McT I suppose.

16.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 09:11:14
* McFred of course. Who have a lot of minutes between them this season.

17.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 10:39:43
Danny, making a huge investment in a player like Bellingham makes a ton of sense if you don't have multiple other areas that need investment or if you have an unlimited budget.

The reality I think is I highly doubt we'll see another 200m spend next summer unless the Glazers are no longer our owners.

If we spend 100-150m on Bellingham then he'll be our only singing next summer. No new striker, no new Keeper, no new RB, and no new cover at CB.

It probably means Marital or Rashford will be our first choice striker with the other as back up.

It'll probably mean keeping Williams as back up to Dalot or promoting Laird.

It'll probably mean giving either giving DDG a new long term contract or making Henderson our No.1.

It'll probably mean that an injury or suspension of any CB and Maguire is back in the team.

The rumours are we have splashed the cash this summer to "jump start" EtH's reign. But next summer we will have to be "smarter" in terms of transfers.

18.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 10:44:11
Trololo, Real Madrid got Camavinga at a sensible price. They paid big for Tchouameni but got most of that back by the sale of Casemiro.

Kroos is 32 and Modric 37. They'll need replacing sooner rather than later.

They also don't have to buy 2 new first choice defenders, or a new keeper, or a new striker, or a new wide player.

They are recruiting from a position of strength. Bringing in ready made replacements for key players who are aging/ declining.

We are trying to build a squad capable of challenging. We can't afford the luxury of spending all our budget on one player when we need 3 or 4 new first team players.

19.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 10:51:33
Well the latest rumour I just heard is that FdJ remains first choice target, potentially in January :D.

20.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 11:02:57
Spenno, first off, no team has ever played a 70 game season. 64 is the most games an EPL side has ever played in a season. We could play as few as 46 if we go out off all the cups at the first hurdle. We probably play 50-55 games on average.

I'm not saying we don't need more cover at CM. We do. I'm saying do we need Bellingham so much that we would be prepared to forgo strengthening the squad in other areas.

Yes we need a player of better quality, more suited to how EtH wants to play to rotate with Eriksen.

If you spend 100m+ on a player it is to be first choice and play 90%+ of all your games.

That's not what we need. We need someone to start maybe 20 games and make 10 sub appearances to rotate with Eriksen. Ideally a younger player who in a season or two will step up and take Eriksen's starting place with Eriksen being the back up.

As I see it we have roughly three roles in the midfield under EtH.

1. Ball winner/ defensive shield.

2. Ball progressor from deep/ tempo setter.

3. Goal scorer/ creator/ No.10.

For the first role we have Casemiro, McTominay, Fred and Savage coming through.

For the second role we have Eriksen, with Zidane Iqbal coming though.

For the final role we have Bruno, Donny and Hannibal coming through.

Ideally you want 2 players you can rely on in each role and a talented lad coming through to challenge/ cover for injuries.

We have a imbalance in that we have too many defensive midfielders (3 in the first team and 1 coming through) and not enough creative. The solution is to move Fred on and replace him with someone who can cover Eriksen in the deeper role.

If Bellingham was available for between 30-50m then I'd say snap him up. That still leaves enough budget to buy a new striker and keeper.

But at a 100-150m then it makes no sense for where we currently find ourselves as it would not significantly improve our starting 11. While also leaving several other areas short for a second season.

21.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 11:13:54
Seriously Shappy, does every thread on here need to be everybody vs Shappy lecturing them and taking the opposite viewpoint to everybody for no apparent reason?

22.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 15:21:11
Shappy you said same thing about the budget last summer.

Bellingham is a generational talent, we should be all over him.

23.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 16:21:25
Spenno, I'm not lecturing anyone. Just giving my point of view/ opinion.

My viewpoint is simple, I think Bellingham is a fantastic player.

But I doubt the club has the funds to bring him in AS WELL as the other signings we need to improve as a side.

Bellingham doesn't massively improve us until a few years down the line when he reaches his full potential and a few of our players have declined.

What would in my opinion massively improve us is a new top level striker, or a keeper that enables us to play a higher line and can play out from the back.

They probably immediately go into the first 11 and make us stronger than we are this season.

Does Bellingham do that? Does he replace any of Casemiro, Eriksen or Bruno in the first 11 and make it stronger?

Sure he makes the squad stronger, but not the starting 11.

24.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 16:34:33
TRD, I didn't think we would spend as much as we did due to the projected figures. With no UCL football, as well and still feeling the impacts of the C.V. our accounts were down.

As it is the owners have decided to spend money that isn't there. They are gambling on seeing an increase in revenue this year to pay for this summer's transfers.

They won't be able to do that next summer. There is already talk of tightening the belt and being more frugal next summer. Rumours of spending in January have swiftly been put to bed.

Next summer our budget will likely be coming from a combination of UCL income (if we get it) and/ or sales.

If we look at the players we could sell and how much we might be able to raise we have:

Henderson 20m
AWB 20-25m
Telles 10m
Donny 20m
Williams 10m

We could sell those 5 without it hitting us too much as they play a limited role for the team.

That's maybe 80m if we can achieve those figures and if we can sell all of them.

Other players we could sell are players like Maguire who we could get maybe 30m for at most. But if we sold him we would need to replace him. Which would likely cost as much as we would make so it doesn't really add to the budget.

We have 7 players out of contract (DDG, Jones, Shaw, Dalot, Rashford, Fred and Ronaldo) . Most have an option for a further year but that cannot be activated just to sell them. So the options for those 7 are either extend for a year and keep them, offer a new long term contract, or let them leave for free.

Bellingham is a top talent, and being English only adds to the hype around him. But seeing as he will likely cost somewhere between 100-150m that would likely be everything we have to spend next summer and more.

Unless we have new owners by then I just can't see us having the funds to bring him in. Let alone the competition we would have for his signature.

25.) 01 Oct 2022
01 Oct 2022 20:50:08
Dortmund look to have had two generational talents playing for them in Haaland and Bellingham. Both of which we have expressed an interest in previously and both turned us down. I don't understand discussing either as its just wasted energy. Both will be playing in Real Madrid by 24/ 25 season I think. Bellingham likely there next year.

26.) 03 Oct 2022
03 Oct 2022 04:11:43
Shappy so what you are saying essentially is not to go for the best players. Bellingham is generational he needs to be the main target. We have lost out on Haaland won't get mbappe etc these are the players who will be the best for the next 10/ 15 years. We need those players to compete, with your attitude towards it regardless of money invloved is very submissive we need these type of talents to become relevant again if we don't we won't win anything for the next 10/ 15 years. If you think Eriksen is the answer he isn't, he is decent but not world class, he should be the back up player to a truly talented player.

27.) 03 Oct 2022
03 Oct 2022 09:18:54
I don't doubt United could put the funds together to buy Bellingham. I rather doubt Bellingham would choose United at this moment in time from all the options he will have.

28.) 03 Oct 2022
03 Oct 2022 11:16:04
Dio, I'm suggesting signing big name players for massive fees isn't necessarily the best way to rebuild a squad.

Di Maria, Pogba, Lukaku, Maguire have all been flops signed as players who would "take us up a level" for huge fees and all have failed.

This summer we have signed Casemiro and Antony for massive fees, and as yet they haven't made a massive difference. In fact the less heralded players signed for more reasonable fees have been our best signings (Eriksen, Martinez and Malacia) .

We don't need one big name signing to be the cherry on the top, we need to build a squad capable of challenging. That requires 3-4 players to be signed each summer to actively improve the first 11, pushing the existing players into being our squad players. That way we improve as a team each season.

If you gave me a choice of signing 3 players who immediately go into the first 11 and make it stronger or signing just Bellingham then I'd take the 3 signings at this time.

I'm not even sure if Bellingham would be first choice if everyone was fit. Who does he replace our of Casemiro, Eriksen or Bruno?

{Ed001's Note - Shappy come on! Not sure if Bellingham would be first choice? He could walk into just about any team in world football and would certainly be a huge step up on any of those 3!}

29.) 03 Oct 2022
03 Oct 2022 15:15:52
Usually i enjoy reading your insights shappy but saying Bellingham wouldn't be first choice just might be the most bizarre thing i've read on this site lol.

30.) 03 Oct 2022
03 Oct 2022 20:25:09
Still no one is telling me who is being dropped for Bellingham ??‍♂️.

{Ed014's Note - anyone of the utter shite that litters your midfield mate. Simple.

31.) 04 Oct 2022
04 Oct 2022 23:06:00
Shappy the players you mentioned about taking us to the next level who exactly thought they would, I personally didn't, I pretty much watch most of the football around Europe none of those players are or were generational talents, Cas is a mistake he isn't that great same as varane imo and that opinion was formed from watching both players for a decade before joining us. comparing transfer fees and how well they do has absolutely no baring on another transfer just becuase A cost 90 million and B cost 40 million but B is better than A has no relivence on how good a player C is does it? .

Did you honestly say your not sure if he would make the side? Wow he would be our best player he is far ahead of Fred, Scott, eriksen, Cas if you can't see that then I can't take a single opinion of yours regarding players seriously ever again. Now I no you like to defend your opinion that changes faster than the Welsh weather but come on you gain far more respect on here if you expect that just sometime you talk nonsense. I'd rather buy the good players that suit the system than 3 mediocre players that have us in this mess since fergy left its like you want to repeat the same mistakes of instead of singing the very best players available to the system you rather buy 3 Ander Herreras.