Knowing January needs to inform our window in the summer, here's where I think we're looking for upgrades:
St: Havertz/???
LW: Martinelli/Trossard
RW: Saka/???
Left 8: Merino/???
Right 8: Odegaard/Nwaneri
CDM: Rice/Parety
LB: Caliafiori/MLS
LCB: Gabriel/Kiwior
RCB: Saliba/???
RB: White/Timber
GK: Raya/Setford/???
That means we're in the market for a striker, RW, left 8, a CB, and a Neto profile GK.
It also means we're going to need to sell or release Tierney, Zinchenko, Jesus, Jorginho, Tomiyasu + deal with the likes of Nelson, Viera, Marquinhos, and possible Tavares and Lokonga.
There is plenty of salaries tied up in there for us to go big, and I'm hopeful we'll go after the likes of Williams/Wirtz and Gyokeres/Sesko up front, and invest in youth for the left 8 and CB - and maybe knick an old bugger out of contract on a free....
That kind of upgrade surely would put the squad into title and CL winning space - but would also increase pressure on Arteta to deliver.
The million dollar question is how do we do any of this in January? If we can get one of the forwards we can move on from Jesus, and I'd argue we can let Zinchenko and Tierney move on without any major risk for the squad.
St: Havertz/???
LW: Martinelli/Trossard
RW: Saka/???
Left 8: Merino/???
Right 8: Odegaard/Nwaneri
CDM: Rice/Parety
LB: Caliafiori/MLS
LCB: Gabriel/Kiwior
RCB: Saliba/???
RB: White/Timber
GK: Raya/Setford/???
That means we're in the market for a striker, RW, left 8, a CB, and a Neto profile GK.
It also means we're going to need to sell or release Tierney, Zinchenko, Jesus, Jorginho, Tomiyasu + deal with the likes of Nelson, Viera, Marquinhos, and possible Tavares and Lokonga.
There is plenty of salaries tied up in there for us to go big, and I'm hopeful we'll go after the likes of Williams/Wirtz and Gyokeres/Sesko up front, and invest in youth for the left 8 and CB - and maybe knick an old bugger out of contract on a free....
That kind of upgrade surely would put the squad into title and CL winning space - but would also increase pressure on Arteta to deliver.
The million dollar question is how do we do any of this in January? If we can get one of the forwards we can move on from Jesus, and I'd argue we can let Zinchenko and Tierney move on without any major risk for the squad.