11 Dec 2025 22:13:02
Here's my 2026 wish list:
1. Onana will be on the books for just £20m at the end of the season. Hopefully he can be sold and a small profit made. If so, we will also save £10m a year in amortization costs.
2. Vitek, who is doing very well at Bristol City, returns and Bayandir is sold. Not a big salary, so not much saving there. Should be easy to move on.
3. Casemiro stays another year at a reduced salary. He'll be out of contract so the amortization savings will be £15m and maybe a £5m reduction in salary. No one else is going to pay him more than £200k a week.
4. Ugarte. I think he's going to be hard to sell, but probably worth taking a loss to get his £8-9m in amortization and £6m wages off our books.
5. With the end of the current PSR system at the end of the season we should be able to spend around £250m a year going forward and stay within the 70% UEFA spending limits. I've no idea what our accounts are looking like for 2025/6 but spending £100m on a top class midfield in January would probably cost us £17-18m this year. If it can be done without falling afoul of PSR, then it should be done. If that one purchase gets us into Europe it will be more than worth it.
6. We do make it into Europe because between the loss of European mid week games in causing me serious withdrawal symptoms.
7. Amorim - with a decent midfield (which we haven't had since the departures of the like of Scholes, Keane, Carrick etc) - actually proves himself to be a great manager and justifies the patience and faith placed in him by the Ineos team.
8. The Republicans get trounced in the midterms.
9. Gianni In"fawn"tino is awarded the best arse licker cup for most embarrassing moment in sport.
12 Dec 2025 00:03:22
On the last point, at least Blatter tried to pretend FIFA wasn’t corrupt.
12 Dec 2025 10:06:04
3. Casemiro - No way he stays, he's going to Saudi. I believe he already has the offer and is just running his ridiculous contract down.
The fact we are linked to Baleba, Stiller and Wharton who all play on the left of central midfield tells you the club are planning for his exit.
He's been decent since he arrived and at times has look brilliant. We should never have signed him though especially on those wages.
4. Ugarte - Linked to Turkey in Jan, we are so light in midfield i can't see it happening.
Don't be surprised to see both Casemiro and Bruno leave in the summer. I personally think its best for all to part ways. We need to completely overhaul this midfield, we've lost a couple of games and drawn a couple this season by not tracking midfield runners. Improving tactical discipline and brining in higher intensity players will give us more control. in an ideal world you bring in Wharton and Anderson, with those two you have a super high intensity 8 in Anderson and a scanning regista passing type 6 in Wharton. Getting both is highly unlikely though.
12 Dec 2025 10:39:12
Point 3 - I'd let Casemeiro go. Get his wages off the books and invest in a younger, better player who has the legs to last 90 plus minutes 3 times a week.
Additionally, I'd let Maguire leave aswell. High wages, and has started to become injury prone over the past couple of seasons. I've never rated him either. I find him rather ponderous.
12 Dec 2025 12:27:54
I would also let Bruno go.
Square pegs in round holes comes to mind, whilst Amorin is in charge he will never be played further forward.
We should get some money in for him and invest in two top central midfielders in the summer.
12 Dec 2025 14:59:58
Great investing in two midfielders but still not got a striker or wing backs……. Easier just to send RA on his way, because even with the extra players I don’t see him winning much, in game management is diabolical and the stubbornness is utter ridiculous other than that he is nice guy, but always got an excuse, I don’t see that changing.
12 Dec 2025 15:50:39
Amorim, won’t be a great manager.
Shown nothing to indicate he will be.
12 Dec 2025 16:11:24
Je suis unite - get used to it because he's going to be here at least until the end of the season.
By the looks of it we are going to finish a lot higher than we did last season and you never know he may win a cup so the likes of SJR and Wilcox will probably see that as a positive and if that's the case he will be backed again in the summer.
12 Dec 2025 17:02:35
I don't necessarily think bruno should be sold. He has a release clause for 57m for European teams. So i'd rather keep him. If he wants to go to Saudi and they want to pay 100m then its a very different conversation.
He is playing well at the moment generally imo and has improved as the season has gone on. With the right partner we could see better and more from him in that deeper role.
I agree we need 2 signings for that deeper role is love to see Anderson belaba and bruno fighting it out for the 2 starting spots. Bruno can also play higher up of course so as long as he is contributing positively I wouldn't sell him unless its a move he asks for.
12 Dec 2025 21:27:17
Bruno has to go, I know that upsets some people but we've got to turn the page and move forward.
Bruno, Dalot, Casemiro, Harry, Shaw all part of our past. Not our future. I don't believe we will ever be back until these guys are all gone.
13 Dec 2025 06:54:33
I be very surprised Sim he makes the end of the season, even if he does he is gone then without doubt, they took a gamble and it clearly ain’t worked…. nice guy talks a good game but far too stubborn and is very naive, even we are a year in and let’s be honest we look mid table, we still not got a decent striker we got no wing backs no midfield, but even if we magic these all in, I just don’t see RA being good enough, is that all of a sudden going to make his in game management any good, is that going to stop him subbing defenders for defenders or falling out with people who don’t want to be robots in his rigid system….
Be honest if you were a top player would you want to play for RA? The honest answer would have to be NO.