Klippybo
Premium
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Messages
- 5,935
- Reaction score
- 2,486
- Points
- 113
PRE-SEASON POST
Last summer we laid down a marker for the future with the incomings of Sancho, Fati, Godfrey etc and that left me going into this summer knowing that I didn't really need to sign anyone - just search for regens and see what was out there however forget about that I have absolutely went nuts and possibly even blew last summer out of the window.
Transfer wise the summer can be split into 2 parts. Me being sensible and just bringing in bargains (remember I had 2 pre-arranged transfers) and also bringing in 2 main signings for money and the 2nd part being the crazy bit of the summer!!!
So here it goes...……..
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PLAYERS OUT
Lets start at the top. Federico Chiesa was let go to Arsenal for £71m. He was signed on a free transfer last summer and did OK but with the progress of Dembele I felt it was a good move to let him go. Another RW, Ulariaga, was sold to Lazio for £40m which is some profit considering I signed him for a pittance a few years ago and have taken in some decent loan fees for him too in that time.
Gabriel Jesus left to join Leicester for £39m which is just shy of double of what I paid for him. With my pre-contract agreements for 2 strikers it was always on my mind to sell Gabriel Jesus so off he went. Tammy Abraham was in the same boat and he joined Torino for £20.5m which again is a decent profit.
A sad farewell goes to Andre Onana who left for £39m (£15m profit). I was offered £15m more in January but I had my eye on another keeper so let Onana go. I am also sad to see Matty Longstaff leaving as he joined Arsenal for £24.5m. With the emergence of Mejbri and with Bellingham, Tonali, Palacios and his brother Sean ahead of him I felt it was time to cash in.
Radovan Pankov was also sold for over a £30m profit to PSV. He was my 4th choice CB and did well when played but his time had come to an end.
Other than that I sold Dirk Proper for £11m and a few backups while I loaned out several players including many signings that I made which I will go into in the next section................
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PLAYERS IN
The first name on the list was one of my top 3 targets and I am delighted to bring him in. Gianluigi Donnarumma was brought in for £70m and was the only keeper I would have sold Onana for. At 24y/o he still has room to improve but he is a world class keeper already. Regarding signings for the first team I can only bring in players that are better than I already have which is tough but Donnarumma is definitely one!
Now for my 2 pre-arranged transfers and they were for Andrea Pinamonti and Erling Haaland. To get those 2 on free transfers is great business and they will make me a huge profit in the future. I have decided to loan out Haaland for a fee but Pinamonti will compete with Fabio Silva for the strikers position and considering he is valued at £73m he is a world class player.
Federico Valverde was also signed on a free from Real Madrid and he was just brought in to be loaned out and sold on for a huge profit. He is currently on loan at PSG.
One other long term target was brought in the shape and form of Ibraimo Varela. The 19y/o CB was on my shortlist for a long time and with Pankov leaving and Lascelles ageing I felt it was time to bring in another CB since I was loaning out my wonderkid Ljubicic. My DoF actually made the bid and I went along with it and I hope the Portuguese international will go on to develop into a world class player.
Remember Fabio Telles? I brought the Brazilian in on loan a couple of seasons back and now he has returned to be our 3rd choice striker - again on loan. Although I signed several decent looking forwards I have loaned them all out for experience and I thought it would be nice for Telles to come back lol.
Now for the bargains. Bella-Kotchap was brought in for my U23s but his value rocketed up to £28m so he was loaned out. Morgan coming in for £400,000 is a joke and out he went on loan. The same gores for Brian McGrath while I am ecstatic about the signing of the Spanish wonderkid Manolo Hernandez. These were some great signings and with the loan fees I have taken in they have pretty much been repaid already lol.
The other signings arent really worthy of a screenshot lol.
AND
THEN
CAME
THE
TRANSFER
THAT
SHOOK
THE
WORLD
Kylian Mbappe was signed from PSG for £195m!!!!!!!!
He was my fanciful target. Never going to happen. And it wasnt! I jokingly put in a £195m bid and they accepted it but I couldnt afford it so that was when I made the moves to sell Matty Longstaff and Chiesa. Even then when I staggered the deal (£145m up front, £50m over 3 years) the board cancelled it as they didnt feel it was value for money. I always protested and they always said no. I didnt give up however and after a couple of weeks they finally relented.
I then had to agree terms and Kylian will almost bankrupt us lol as he is on £475,000 a week and has some serious bonuses. Now I always play my players in their favoured position and role but not here - Mbappe will be my right winger. To bring in a ready made world class player is one thing but this guy could be the best player in the game for years to come and I cant wait to see how he fares for us.
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HOPES FOR THE SEASON
We are one of the big boys now and the league is my minimum requirement. To get back to winning domestic cups would be nice while I am looking forward to the Club World Cup.