Midfield revamp for 08/09

[DannyMan2006]

Without putting to much thought into it, Let's say that some of the rumours are true with Lucas and Momo leaving and that Xabi doesn't regain his top form back. Would things really be that bad if we lost all three at reasonable fees?

Now at present I don't want rid of either Lucas or Xabi, but if they left at reasonable prices I wouldn't have to much a problem.

Current central midfield players owned:

Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, Lucas.

Now lets look at who could leave:

Sissoko - £8m, Alonso - £18, Lucas - £11m. Reasonable prices and I wouldn't think we would receive any less than that should our hand be forced for what ever reason.

That leaves £37m

We could then bring in:

Mascherano - £17m, bit of an obvious one.
Sulley Muntari - £11m, been really impressed with him, offers a goal threat and is tidy on the ball, as well as being physically srong and mobile.
Danny Guthrie - £0m (loan recall). Doing really well on loan at Bolton, no world beater but very capable of doing a job as 4th choice. Has shown at Bolton he can mix it and we already knew that he was tidy on the ball with good passing range.

That leaves us with a total of £9m spare change, with our midfield no better or worse really. If you look at it as Mascher for Xabi, Muntari for Momo and Guthrie for Lucas.

So even if the worst come to the worst and we lost some of "the best midfield in the world" , I wouldn't say that I would be worrying too much.

[andyinswinton]

I wouldn't even dream of selling Lucas without giving him a chance to see what he could do.

Alonso is somebody who I wouldn't want to sell but he does need to pull his socks up at times.

Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas is plenty for me in the center of midfield.

[Paddy]

I wouldn't mind a bit of a change either...

[Milan_Milan]

So essentially you're suggesting that we reduce the strength of our midfield, for a 9m profit (most of which would go on signing on fees and fees to pay off players contracts).

I'd rather keep Alonso, Lucas, Masher and Gerrard with Guthrie 5th choice / sold for a small profit, for 9m spend by your figures (17m masher - 8m momo and possibly - guthrie fee).

Alonso Lucas Masher Gerrard is 18m better than Masher Gerrard Guthrie Muntari IMO. Lets face it, no matter what happens with the owners, we shouldnt be struggling for 9m to complete our cm for years to come.

[JohnDoe]

Agree. Our CM is too good and it's not balanced with some other areas of the pitch in which we're ****. We need to make our CM more ****ty in order to prevent it from standing out.

[DannyMan2006]

So essentially you're suggesting that we reduce the strength of our midfield, for a 9m profit (most of which would go on signing on fees and fees to pay off players contracts).

I'd rather keep Alonso, Lucas, Masher and Gerrard with Guthrie 5th choice / sold for a small profit, for 9m spend by your figures (17m masher - 8m momo and possibly - guthrie fee).

Alonso Lucas Masher Gerrard is 18m better than Masher Gerrard Guthrie Muntari IMO. Lets face it, no matter what happens with the owners, we shouldnt be struggling for 9m to complete our cm for years to come.

I'm not saying that other options wouldn't be better, I'm only saying if worst come to the worst and Xabi and Lucas left, I don't think we would be weekened to much in that area.

It's all up in the air anyway, I couldn't see Rafa selling either Xabi or Lucas. And if both are happy and can progress to levels we know they are capable of, I wouldn't want rid of them either.

As I've said in other threads, I think Alonso WAS on form at the start of the season. I've also commented that I've been impressed with the progress of Lucas.

[JPK]

A midfield revamp for me would involve getting rid of Pennant,Yossi,Kewell,Riise and Leto if he does not make it.Getting in two top wingers and also using Gerrard on the right from time to time.Our 4central players are top drawer.Our 4wide players are the worst of all the top teams in Europe.

[Tee]

Lucas is one player I am hoping is around for a very long time. I have been really impresed with him and he will become a world class talent (if he already isn't).

I would retain Gerrard, Mascher and Lucas.

[dww]

I wouldn't even dream of selling Lucas without giving him a chance to see what he could do.

Alonso is somebody who I wouldn't want to sell but he does need to pull his socks up at times.

Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas is plenty for me in the center of midfield.

It's a very balanced quartet if you ask me. I really think if we are to revamp midfield it has to be on the wings.

[Marky]

I wouldn't mind a bit of a change either...

Thinking of going down the old gay route Paddy?

[rage]

A midfield revamp for me would involve getting rid of Pennant,Yossi,Kewell,Riise and Leto if he does not make it.Getting in two top wingers and also using Gerrard on the right from time to time.Our 4central players are top drawer.Our 4wide players are the worst of all the top teams in Europe.

add momo if he's still here and voronin, kuyt and even crouch. Bring in one quality winger, one second striker, a few kids like hammil and nemeth promoted and we're a far stronger team

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Babel..........Stevie.......Masher........Silva

[paulcooper4]

Without putting to much thought into it,

We could bring in:


Sulley Muntari - £11m, been really impressed with him, offers a goal threat and is tidy on the ball, as well as being physically srong and mobile.
Danny Guthrie - £0m (loan recall). Doing really well on loan at Bolton, no world beater but very capable of doing a job as 4th choice. Has shown at Bolton he can mix it and we already knew that he was tidy on the ball with good passing range.

[Paddy]

Thinking of going down the old gay route Paddy?

No thanks Marky

[Fiddy]

who said we're gettin rid of Lucas??