Since posting this, we’ve seen these players leave:
Delph
Tosun
Sigurdsson
Kenny
Donny
El Ghazi
And I still think we’ll see Rondon, Gomes and Mina leave permanently. Davies and Branthwaite both need games and loans.
Richarlison is also about to go. The Chelsea interest is real and he has enough interest to get the £60-70m offer it’ll take for us to sell. Great player and we’ll miss him, but it’s needs must with his contract/our financial situation.
With that the two nailed on signings for me are Tarkowski and Zinchenko. Tarkowski signing brings a very good defender who isn’t injury prone, hopefully he does for us what Mina does when fit.
Zinchenko is a really smart signing for a few reasons. I think he’s a unknown quality to most, and will show why he’s been in and around the City squad for so long. He’ll bring relentless energy, some technical ability, and also (maybe essentially, he’s a great option for LB if Myko has a knock). This saves us having to buy another LB which is key this summer. Only 25 too.
I’m hoping that Zinchenko and Tarkowski will cost max £30m between them in total fees, and £100k each max in wages.
I’ve added them to the lineup as I think both are nailed on.
This leaves us needing a deep sitting 6, a winger and a striker to challenge DCL.
View attachment 170773
For the 6..
I’d be looking in France. There’s a constant stream of good midfielders that come from that league for reasonable fees. Best case for me, but almost completely unrealistic would be Danilo Pereira. He’d be perfect for the role and, although he’s a bit older, would be brilliant in our midfield.
More realistic options I’d like to see would be Doucoure from Lens and Lucien Agoume from Inter (he was on loan at Brest). Both are young but possible stars in the future and the type of signing we should make.
For the wing..
I’d be really surprised if we don’t throw the kitchen sink at bringing in Pulisic. If Chelsea sign Richarlison and Sterling it pushes him further down the pecking order, but in his first season (when Lampard was Chelsea manager) he had 11 goals and 9 assists in 33 games.
He’d cost a lot, but his stock isn’t as high as when Chelsea paid the £55m to buy him. I think £40m may be enough at a wild guess, if he’d even remotely be interested. Lampard is key if there’s any chance, and I think Pulisic’s potential is overlooked with all of Chelsea’s other star quality. Again it’s unlikely and we’ll probably have to look elsewhere for cheaper.
Two other options I’d look at are Martin Terrier and Diaby from Leverkusen. Both maybe ambitious targets with the seasons they’ve had but there’s no way we’re selling Richarlison without a significant signing coming in.
To challenge DCL..
I doubt we’d spend big money on a back up but I really think we need to plan for life after DCL and hope he has a great season, attracting big offers. Unfortunately we aren’t Man City and sales like Richarlison / DCL are a must for us for us to improve as a whole.
Broja seems like a logical purchase/loan with potential and some experience in the league already. Rutter is a cheaper and arguably better alternative who’s done well for Hoffenheim and would probably jump at the opportunity.
In summary I think the players who have already left balance the books and don’t add anything to the budget. With these players leaving next though..
Richarlison £65m / £120k pw
Mina £10m / £120k pw
Gomes £5m / £120k pw
Rondon free / £50k pw
Kean £27m / £70k pw
(£97m / £480k pw)
This opens the door for..
Tarkowski £5m (signing fee) / £100k pw
Zinchenko £25m / £100k pw
Cheick Doucoure £20m / £50k pw
Rutter £15m / £60k pw
Diaby/Terrier £35m / £100k pw
(£100m / £410k pw)
And we end up with..
View attachment 170791
