2023 Summer transfer window - hopes, needs, expectations and rumours.

[SamTheMouse]

Tielemans certainly likes a screamer, so that would be a nice thing to have in our locker. McGinn is capable of them but infrequently.

[eamonn]

He looked brilliant for a couple of seasons. I’m not sure what went wrong with him last season? However you only have to look at the form of some of our own players under the wrong manager. McGinn in particular went to shit for some time and many of us were gutted to say he didn’t look good enough anymore, now look at him under Emery.

Tielemans, like Rodgers up to recently, was effectively dialling it in at Leicester for the last 12-18 months. Contract running down and he provided little or no leadership during that time. Still...at 26 he still has plenty of years left at the top level, if he still has the application.

Very talented player but something tells me this is one to let slip. For one, he would be competing really with our best player, Luiz, for that deep lying playmaking role, two, free transfers are never free, fat contracts are the order of the day, three, are we really willing to give someone a fat contract on the hope they can flick a switch and start taking their career seriously again?

Hey, it worked with, er, Coutinho.

[Toronto Villa]

The whole Leicester thing was a disaster last year and even the best players played well below their ability. But in previous season he was very good. Reminded me a bit of Doug in these highlights with added long range screamers and penalties as a bonus.

[sid1964]

I would imagine that if he were to sign for us he would want to be a guaranteed starter

Read elsewhere that Arsenal also want Tielemans, if true then he will not be signing for us.

[Dogtanian]

I would imagine that if he were to sign for us he would want to be a guaranteed starter

Read elsewhere that Arsenal also want Tielemans, if true then he will not be signing for us.

Sick of them trying to get all the players we want. It takes the piss when they can just use their Mysteron powers to create a replica, like they did with Arteta.

[ozzjim]

This summer we are going to need quite an agile strategy to be 4-5 first team quality players stronger by the end of the window realistically, with 2-3 of those being starters over the current. A couple of free transfers even on decent wages will help with that. Tielemans makes sense from a squad perspective, but would need to seriously improve from last season to start regularly. Wouldn't be shocked to see us in for Zaha too given he was who Emery wanted when Arsenal bought Pepe.

[coreyfeldman]

I would imagine that if he were to sign for us he would want to be a guaranteed starter

Read elsewhere that Arsenal also want Tielemans, if true then he will not be signing for us.

From what Emery has said, any player coming in will improve the team and so willbe fighting for starting place. We'll be playing many more games next season and so there'll be more rotation - McGinn/Doug/JJ played a lot of minutes when Kam was injured.

Also comments on here about his performances this season - just reminds me of what we said about 80% of our squad under Gerrard. He's clearly very talented, who better to bring it out of him our Unai?

[chrisw1]

I had my heart set on Guendouzi, but Tielemans on a free does seem like incredible business to me. 

I would have liked a big bastard as we're a small team and at 5/8 he's another munchkin.  But there's no doubt he would add quality to the squad.

[Dogtanian]

I had my heart set on Guendouzi, but Tielemans on a free does seem like incredible business to me. 

I would have liked a big bastard as we're a small team and at 5/8 he's another munchkin.  But there's no doubt he would add quality to the squad.

Completely agree. If McGinn gets injured, we don't have anyone in there who throws their weight around and ruffles a few feathers. Guendouzi has that same aspect and I'd still like to see him in.

[Dave]

I had my heart set on Guendouzi, but Tielemans on a free does seem like incredible business to me. 

I would have liked a big bastard as we're a small team and at 5/8 he's another munchkin.  But there's no doubt he would add quality to the squad.

Completely agree. If McGinn gets injured, we don't have anyone in there who throws their weight around and ruffles a few feathers. Guendouzi has that same aspect and I'd still like to see him in.

If we did add Guendouzi and Tielemans to Kamara, Douglas Luiz and McGinn then that's probably a stronger central midfield than anyone in the league bar Man City.

[pablo_picasso]

It's not that long ago that Tielemans was considered pretty hot shit. Leicester might have imploded and he didn't have the greatest year, but hey, we remember when our relegation year made good players like Gueye and Veretout look like drunk amateurs. If Unai wants him, then I am up for it.

He apparently "downed tools" when a move he wanted didn't materialise.

Did the same thing to get the move to Leicester too apparently.

Which would be a concern if we signed him...

[chrisw1]

If we sign him for free and he plays well enough to demand a move in 2-3 years time for a decent fee, then even though it will piss us off at the time it will have been good business.

[pauliewalnuts]

He looked brilliant for a couple of seasons. I’m not sure what went wrong with him last season? However you only have to look at the form of some of our own players under the wrong manager. McGinn in particular went to shit for some time and many of us were gutted to say he didn’t look good enough anymore, now look at him under Emery.

Tielemans, like Rodgers up to recently, was effectively dialling it in at Leicester for the last 12-18 months. Contract running down and he provided little or no leadership during that time. Still...at 26 he still has plenty of years left at the top level, if he still has the application.

Very talented player but something tells me this is one to let slip. For one, he would be competing really with our best player, Luiz, for that deep lying playmaking role, two, free transfers are never free, fat contracts are the order of the day, three, are we really willing to give someone a fat contract on the hope they can flick a switch and start taking their career seriously again?

Free transfers might not be free as, as you say, they come with bigger wages for the player, but if you are signing the right players, you stand to make a fat profit when you eventually move them on, way more than their extra wages would represent.

[Monty]

It's not that long ago that Tielemans was considered pretty hot shit. Leicester might have imploded and he didn't have the greatest year, but hey, we remember when our relegation year made good players like Gueye and Veretout look like drunk amateurs. If Unai wants him, then I am up for it.

He apparently "downed tools" when a move he wanted didn't materialise.

Did the same thing to get the move to Leicester too apparently.

Which would be a concern if we signed him...

Sure, but i) hopefully we can fulfill his ambitions, and ii) he's not going to be an undisputed star in our team but rather will have to fight for his place and so will have less leverage - as will be the case with any 'top club' move he might have in mind. I'm relatively sanguine about this bit.

[LeeB]

If we sign him for free and he plays well enough to demand a move in 2-3 years time for a decent fee, then even though it will piss us off at the time it will have been good business.

Yep.

In two summers we'll have picked up two very talented midfielders with their best years ahead of them for about £5m less than we played for Aaron Tshibola