Trouble is the market is at a very silly stage at the moment

Let City waste their money on Sterling (and or Pogba) first.

We start looking at someone and City or Utd will more then likely be looking at them and then we start getting into bidding battles.

Let others show their hands first

Reports everywhere that we are on the verge of signing Charles Aranguiz from Internacional of Brazil. Chelsea are reported to have agreed a fee of around £16m for the Chilean midfielder. That's expensive compared with figures being quoted after the World Cup, but his appearances in the Copa America appear to have doubled his value. He's only 26, so should be in his prime..the new Vidal perhaps ?

If true, it could be an excellent signing, Aranguiz can play DM, CM, or AM. He's not very big, 5ft-7/8, but he looks to be a tough little guy who would add some "bite" around the midfield while also being technically sound. Another player who can run all day (sorry Dixon) but with a touch of class as well. Might be an upgrade from Ramires for those games where you want someone more physical than Fabregas to help Matic ?

An upgrade on mikkel?

I can't see Aranguiz covering for Matic (Mikel is probably still our safest option) to be honest. Schneiderlin might have been a good option there, but he now looks to be heading for a big money move. He was probably always too good to buy just for cover purposes anyway.
That's the problem, we haven't got many glaring gaps to fill. It's either finding upgrades to the players we've got (not easy unless it's for really big money) or finding more reasonably priced squad players for back-up ( not easy either)

We need more steel and more goals.

I'd be lying if I said I was happy with our AM options, but we'll only make a change there if Oscar or Cuadardo leave.

I'm certainly not against players who can run all day! What I'm against is those players who's best attribute is running around all day.
I want us to go for specialists who are great at doing something important that directly effects games. Makalele was a very limited footballer, but he was truly great at what he did.

Signing Begovic for £8m with van Ginkel going to Stoke on loan.

That's what was suggested in the press speculation today.

Would be good for everyone.

I see van Ginkel's loan move to Stoke has been confirmed, but no news on Begovic yet.

Pretty much confirms it then

Will be good to see by in the pl this season

Pedro to Chelsea ?

"Arsenal and Liverpool are believed to have made approaches for the 27-year-old, but according to Sport he has agreed to join Chelsea after Mourinho and Fabregas convinced him to do so. Having agreed a deal with the player, Chelsea will now be able to secure the move by meeting his £21.6million release clause."

If true, it looks a shrewd move. We've seen plenty of Pedro in big games, and he appears to be very consistent. I can't remember ever seeing him play a really poor game. He may not be the flashy crowd-pleaser that we associate with Barca, but he gets on with his job, links up well and weighs in with some important goals and assists.

I'd be happy with Pedro, but not sure I can see them selling this summer.

Good to have the Begovic deal wrapped up at last. Let's hope for more signings soon.

Excellent replacement for Cech.

Yep, 5 years younger and cost us a couple of million less than what Arsenal paid us for Cech. Good business.

Agreed. Begovic is a good signing. Plenty of PL experience. He must be happy to play as backup or maybe Mourinho has promised him more?

22yo Kalas back to the championship for another season.

So disappointing

He's still not in the same class as Petr Cech though, but who is ? Personally, I doubt that even Courtois will ever quite reach those heights, Cech was one of the finest keepers I've ever seen.
But Bergovic is a very good signing, just about the best we could hope for.

He's a very good keeper. Surprised he signed for us when there's a chance De Gea could leave United. He'd be first choice there......

Trouble is you have to take a chance when a bigger club comes knocking.

He turns down Chelsea and De Gea stays or they go for someone else and that's his chance playing for a big club gone.

Imo, Sterling was worth every penny City paid, and he was the outstanding player when we played Liverpool at home. For me, he's more of a game changer than Willian. Anyway, moving on, KDB? He plays well in Germany so he's worth £40 million?! Imo, we were shrewd to get the £17 to £20 million we got for him. Let Man city waste their money there.

Pogba? He is a class player, and worth the £60 million + fee reports suggest.

Having said all that, over the last 20 + years, Man Utd were by far the most successful team, and they rarely paid huge sums for players. If they did (e.g. Veron), they wasted their money. Their best players were often brought through the ranks, or signed for a reasonable amount (e.g. Ronaldo). Paying huge sums doesn't necessarily pay dividend in the pl, and Mourhino and the board need to tweak the squad. Pedro looks a good bet.

Signings take time to adjust, and Man Utd, Man city and Liverpool will have a lot of adjusting to do next season, while we should be up and running from day one.

Not sure why you are lumping Liverpool with City and Utd. They will be challenging for the title while Liverpool will not be.

Not a fan of Sterling, He a typical English "flair" player all flash and nothing to back it up, Hyped to the sun and back again based on nothing more then one season, They will be further away from the top 4 then they was this season but he is right to leave Liverpool and Rogers. His fee is about 20m to high and if you look at what we pay (for example Matic 70k per week rumoured) our current players about 40k per week over the top.

Sterling brings nothing to the current squad that makes his fee or wages a value for money signing. A players talent cannot be the only thing we take into consideration nowadays.

I don't see Sterling as value for money at nearly £50m. The same with Pogba at the suggested price of £70m. Clubs paying that sort of money are taking a calculated risk that they will be worth that sort of money in a year or two.
We paid £32m for Hazard. He was highly sought-after around Europe at the time, but even that was a gamble. The £50m for Sterling includes the ridiculous £15-£20m "homegrown surcharge".

None of us should be giving a toss about the price of a Sterling, or the equally overrated Pogba!

My concern is, all the players we are being linked with will do nothing but keep us at the level we are already at.
The first 11 was pushed to it's max and was running on empty a long way from home. We will be playing with fire if we go into next season hoping Hazard stays fit and the other teams continue to be as mediocre as they were last season.

Having said that, real talent at a decent price is very thin on the ground, so i do appreciate
the difficulties in finding the right players at the right price.

Well that's the key, right player at the right price. Really not sure who these players are but you can bet that an English team will pay a premium for them, it's where all the money is.
Who knows perhaps we are finally going to trust a few young players to supplement the squad.