The Summer Rebuild

buffybegood

Apparently both The Times and (yeah, I know) The Mail are running with a story on Twitter/X that Paqueta is all set to be cleared 🤞🤞🤞.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Win-win for us, either keep a good player or sell him for what you'd think was a fairly substantial fee for reinvest

Personally I'm on team sell, but I guess that's dependant on the fee, he was absolutely dire last year but the year before City weren't far off from getting him for over £80mil

Depsute Citys bid last year, I don't think hes shown he's worth more than the £51mil we bought him in for, his best season was still at Lyon

If we can Recoup most of that fee, £45mil or £50mil I think sell, because if its lower than £40mil it doesn't even get us a replacement

Lukerz

Personally, I think he’s been one of our most underwhelming signings in recent times.

He & his family would benefit from a fresh start, & we’d benefit from the money.

Fortuneseeker

Say we get £50 million how much does GP get of that & who do we buy to replace him with who is of the same stature?

EXETERHAMMER

I think he is a quality player. Next to Rodri he would be able to do what he wants. I think Man City will put a bid in quickly if he is cleared.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Fortuneseeker said:

Say we get £50 million how much does GP get of that & who do we buy to replace him with who is of the same stature?

Define "same stature"

The players were linked with £40mil gets Elliot and £25mil gets McAtee

Both play a little higher up the pitch, but they are also younger and maybe not of the "same stature" but both have their best form ahead of them

alderz

I still think he’s one of the best players we have. I’m surprised by how keen people seem to be let him go

buffybegood

If, as is being touted, he is cleared, then that's effectively a £20/30/40/50m boost to our coffers; either he stays and we don't need to replace him, or, if he goes, we get a fee for him which we obviously wouldn't get if he were to be found guilty. Either way we don't end up losing a valuable asset for nothing, which had seemed like a distinct possibility.

thornburyiron

Given that the club have stood by him and supported him during the entire 10 years this seems to have taken, maybe he’ll have some feelings of loyalty and not push for a move.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

alderz said:

I still think he’s one of the best players we have. I’m surprised by how keen people seem to be let him go

Because sometimes its ok to let players go instead of holding on and see their form/value depreciate

Anderson was linked with £70mil moves, Diop was a hot property again linked for £50m/£60m, we held onto Payet for too long that in 6 months we went from £50mil transfer to £25mil

He may be one of our better players, which I'm not really sure is true, but there may be a better option for us and him

Slacker

Hope he stays.
He can be frustrating I know, but he’s the kind of player that can be poor for 80 minutes and then produce magic. There’s not many around like that.

jay_in_cpt

His 1st season was IMO the true Paqueta, last season was dire for obvious reasons and IMO Kudus was even worse and he didn't have that huge weight on his shoulders.

If he is happy to stay, I'd keep him...

buffybegood

I hope he stays, as long as he wants to rather than a lack of an offer for enough to let him go. The problem will be, as it often was under Moyes, where to play him? If we go 3-4-2-1 (or, as employed by Potter, the "3-box-3"), then one of the middle 2 of the 4 (or one of the rear 2 of the box midfield) would be ideal, but he would have to cut down on the sloppy giveaways that unfortunately are a part of his game; can Potter coach him to be a bit more responsible without reducing his Brazilian flair?

If he could play there alongside an Alvarez plus (either Alvarez at his very best, or an upgrade on him) then it leaves space for 3 genuine attackers, say Bowen, Fullkrug and Summerville/Elliott should he come

Keeper (either new or Areola)
Todibo-Killman-Aguerd
AWB-Paqueta-Alvarez+/New-Diouf
Bowen-Summerville/Elliott
Fullkrug

Obviously if Aguerd goes we need to bring in a replacement, and likewise Alvarez, but those 2 are probably our most saleable players who will bring in reasonable sums, so it's not a ridiculous ask to get more suitable players in exchange at an affordable cost.

Dodger58

I would also hope to see the Paqueta of his first season back. You can't underestimate the effect all this must have taken on him last season.

If he wants to move on and we get a positive fee (more than we paid) and can then use it to buy Elliott to McAtee - but otherwise I'd like to see him stay next season.

ASLEFshrugged

WestHamWay website says a "reliable source" has confirmed he's been cleared

Also reckons if he goes he'll be going back to Brazil with a return to Flamengo as the most likely destination

steve

Thought I saw somewhere that he wanted to go back to his boyhood club 20-30 mil was mentioned if that's true can see why he would .But that's far to cheep

alderz

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

alderz said:

I still think he’s one of the best players we have. I’m surprised by how keen people seem to be let him go

Because sometimes its ok to let players go instead of holding on and see their form/value depreciate

If there were a £60m+ offer then maybe I’d feel differently, but I don’t see that coming in when the only club he’s linked with are Flamengo.

Fortuneseeker

Flamingo could offer us £30 million plus Pedro who is the striker GP is reported to have turned down but IF he is having Wilson signed against his wishes then there is nothing to say Sully might decide it’s in his, cough, our best interests to agree to such a deal for Paqueta.

ASLEFshrugged

Fortuneseeker said:

Flamingo could offer us £30 million plus Pedro who is the striker GP is reported to have turned down but IF he is having Wilson signed against his wishes then there is nothing to say Sully might decide it’s in his, cough, our best interests to agree to such a deal for Paqueta.

Where is the evidence that Wilson is being signed against Potter’s wishes?

Everything Im seeing suggests Potter is signing the players he wants

Sullivan and Kretinsky tried to control transfers by bringing in Steiden but that didn’t end well

chicagohammer

Assuming he is cleared, I would want him to stay with us for at least one more season, he is a quality player and the shadow over him has to have had an impact these past couple of seasons. I fully expect that he will be reinvigorated going forward and we will see and get to enjoy what he can really do.

Simply put, selling him will result in someone getting him for a relatively low price as they are “taking a chance” and we will probably miss out on what I expect be a noticeable improvement in performance

buffybegood

ASLEFshrugged said:

Where is the evidence that Wilson is being signed against Potter’s wishes?

Everything Im seeing suggests Potter is signing the players he wants

Sullivan and Kretinsky tried to control transfers by bringing in Steiden but that didn’t end well

Sullivan is known for signing "presents" for his managers, it's completely possible that Sullivan might allow Potter to sign some players he wants whilst topping up the squad with players that he (Sullivan) wants as well.

claretandbluesky

All teams need game changers and Paqueta is one of three we had last season, the other two being Bowen and Kudus, I do recognise that of those three only Bowen performed last season. With Kudus now gone, and if Paqueta goes, we will need another game changer and if the Grielish loan rumours have any substance that may be a good move, but losing both Kudus and Paqueta could leave a big hole in attacking the opposition from midfield.

I would accept a 50-60m but no less than 50m on account of not knowing which Paqueta will show up next season.

There could also be a surprise in the verdict in as much as they could sanction him for a lesser finding of not being transparent regard providing evidence?

Fortuneseeker

Regrettably ASLEF Stiedten didn’t have sole control over our signings because DM had to have his own ones as well.

steve

Will be interesting to see if Paqueta plays any part tonight .Risk of injure

Lukerz

I think we need to commit to a new keeper. Areola has made 3 errors in his last two games (Forest home & last night). I don’t think he 1) has shown he has adapted to playing out from the back & 2) his decision-making is poor. Most keepers are good shot stoppers, can catch crosses & can kick a ball, but decision-making is always the crucial area that makes the best & he consistently shows his decisions are not great.

Pengeman

I have only see highlights of last night's (this morning in the UK) game against MAN U https://www.whufc.com/news/extended-highlights-manchester-united-2-1-west-ham-united . Areola mistakes led to both MAN U goals. Bowen goal was an excellent team goal. Need a competent goali.

secrethammersfan

I just saw the highlights of the Man Utd match. That second Man Utd goal would make me consider investigating Areola for match fixing.

Lukerz

Little concerned by the lack of links to CM/DM players. Midfield has to be our most pressing area, followed by keeper, then an attacking player. It has been neglected for years now. Even when Rice was here he always had a sub-standard partner (Souček aside, even though Rice compensated for his lack of legs). Let’s get in somebody who can get about the pitch, make passes & isn’t shoved off of the ball.

thornburyiron

Secret if you watch the highlights again you’ll see that Areola passed the ball out to a team mate who stood there waiting for the ball to reach him. The Utd player just nipped in to get it. Too often our players stand static expecting the ball to just roll to them.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Lukerz said:

I think we need to commit to a new keeper. Areola has made 3 errors in his last two games (Forest home & last night). I don’t think he 1) has shown he has adapted to playing out from the back & 2) his decision-making is poor. Most keepers are good shot stoppers, can catch crosses & can kick a ball, but decision-making is always the crucial area that makes the best & he consistently shows his decisions are not great.

Shame Kelleher is already taken, would've been a good signing