19 Aug 2026 18:34:38
It looks like Baleba is going to be on his way soon, which will complete the midfield overhaul in just one window.
Going from a midfield selection of:
Casemiro, Mainoo, Ugarte, and Mount last season.
To:
Baleba, Tielemans, Santos, Mainoo, Ugarte and Mount this season.
That's a massive upgrade and with the ages of Santos, Baleba and Mainoo (21/22) that is a rebuild that should last for the next 5-10 years.
This is on the back of the rebuild in attack that we undertook last summer, signing Mbeumo, Cunha, and Sesko to add to the existing Amad, Bruno, Dorgu and Zirkzee.
It seems that each summer we are trying to focus the rebuild on one main part of the team.
Which means next summer will likely be a big focus on defence. Hopefully we sign a LB this summer, and Yoro and Heaven develop nicely this season.
But with both Martinez and Maguire out of contract next summer I would expect us to sign a couple of CB's and probably look to upgrade RB. With maybe another forward being signed as a fourth signing depending on how some of our younger forwards are developing.
While people can complain about the timings of transfers, it looks like the club have actually made serious steps forward last summer and this summer in the transfer market to rebuild this squad.
Personally, I really like the signings we are making under the INEOS regime. We look and act like a proper, professional club again. A club with a plan and a direction. I don't expect every transfer to work out, but if we can get 80% of them right then we will be back challenging again within a couple of years.
19 Aug 2026 23:36:08
You will please some of the people some of the time, shappy, but you won't please all the people all the time.
I also think we will sign a left back this window, and if space is created up top by a departure, a dedicated No 9 to support Sesko.
People are forgetting, I think, that Yoro and Heaven are 20 and 19 and high on the list of all time EPL teenage CBs. Yoro today v the scrawny kid of even 12 months ago are night and day. His physique has developed, and I think Heaven will be a monster in 12 months' time. I like the idea of de Ligt, Maguire and Martinez being the snr pros, allowing Carrick to bring the young guys in and out to look after their development.
With so many games, I can see 2 pairings rotating and dovetailing when required.
Same in midfield.
What fleet have done well is try to address it in a planned fashion with a pretty clear strategy, as you've outlined.
Some will never agree with the strategy no matter what it is.
Fans have put themselves in a really difficult position where they want the management to be hated and want them to fail because they oppose 90% of their decisions and ignore the 10% they do agree with.
But as fans, they do want the team to do well.
But because of the former, they will jump on any period of poor results because they want to blame the management. All reasonable rationale and any positivity is off the menu.
I can't imagine being in a position to want the team to win but have club management fail.
20 Aug 2026 11:38:25
Ken, I think some people have dug themselves into a position where they can't back out without having egg on their face. So, instead of moving on, they double down on that position, ignoring any and all evidence to the contrary.
I dislike the Glazers for the position they have put our club in, and I can see both the positives and the negatives from INEOS from their short stint so far. But, ultimately, I want the team to be successful, even if that means bigger dividends for the Glazers.
What I'm most impressed/happy with in this new ownership model is that we have made a lot of intelligent, data-driven, and just plain common-sense decisions around restructuring the club.
Woodward fell into the trap of believing his own hype, CEO of the "biggest club in the world". He was all about optics and how he and the club looked, rather than how we performed.
Whereas now, we have hired experts into key positions, we have a plan and contingencies, and we don't get distracted by fancy big names because signing them would look good.
We can see that the club have a clear profile of the kind of players they want to sign, a clear plan on how to address the squad overhaul, and they have committed to that plan and are seeing it through, not ripping it up and starting again at the first hurdle.
20 Aug 2026 12:25:58
We have people who claim to be fans but they are nothing short of anti-fans imo.