Signing only Carrasco for forward options is not exactly a great idea. Especially when you have Denis and Rafinha who can do exactly the same. We need a classic no. 9 who can replace Suarez when needed. I don't want to see messi centrally again that too up front even less.
If Lucho really wants Carrasco, then sell Arda Vermalen and Adriano for 30M and sign Carrasco, a no. 9 and a full back.
Perfectly said. We need a real replacement for Luisito. Right now, there's only Munir, but even he is more comfortable on the wings. And i feel it would actually be better for him to go on loan for this season anyway, which will be acceptable if we buy a striker. As for Carrasco, i know they are saying Lucho would consider him for all three attacking positions, but the truth is, i just don't see Carrasco cutting it at ST, and i would hate to see Messi being moved back in the middle even more. Carrasco is exactly the same type of player as Denis, Rafinha and Arda for that matter, are. Even though Carrasco would be an upgrade, that doesn't change the fact that they can all play properly only as Iniesta's (more attacking CM) alternative or as a wing, but with Messi and Neymar there i don't exactly see a lot of minutes for them there anyway. Maybe for Denis, who i think can be at least a semi-adequate replacement for Iniesta and/or Neymar right now, while Rafinha is more a wild card with his fair share of injuries, he might find it difficult to become consistent, but he has also shown last season before the injury, that he can be a great asset to the team, when fit, especially since Lucho seems to like and trust him a lot.
Not to mention i just don't see Atletico selling Carrasco, since he seems to have Simeone's trust and is on course to eventually becoming a member of their starting 11. While for Vietto, it's a totally different story. Chokeizmann
is untouchable in their team right now, not to mention both him and Torres also just extended their contracts, plus Correa seems to be having a lot more of Simeone's trust than Vietto AND if the reports are true, they are also looking to buy Gameiro too, meaning they don't exactly count on Vietto, who didn't play much even last season. Anyway, i don't see Atletico selling us both Carrasco and Vietto, but out of the two, i think we have a better chance of going after Vietto than we have at Carrasco, plus we need Vietto's type of player more and he is cheaper as well.
As for the rest, I would love it even more if we put out trust in the youth and just sell Arda, accept our losses now that he's still worth something, get like 30M, plus 10M for Vermaelen and 3-4M for Adriano and Douglas. That way we would have over a 100M transfer kitty. We could easily get Vietto and a full back (De Sciglio my personal favourite, or Azpi wouldn't be bad too) this summer. As for Arda, i wouldn't buy an immediate replacement right away. We already have that in Denis and Rafinha. That would also get Samper to stay. We could see if he can cut it here. If he does, we get a proper new midfielder for free, if not we can always loan him out next summer and then buy a new CM. Also, we would have some balance in the CM positions, with Roberto (when he's not playing RB, which he wouldn't have to so often anymore with the acquisiton of a full back) and Samper being Raki's alternatives (RCM), while Denis and Rafinha being Iniesta's (LCM) and possibly Neymar's (Denis) and Messi's (Rafinha). While Samper can of course also play CDM versus easier opponents, where we don't need Busquets. So all four CM alternatives would also have their 2nd position to play, so they would surely get enough minutes either way. Being linked right to this whole point, with this exact moves, we would have a little extra transfer money left (let's say 50 or 60M, since 40M (20+20) would go for Vietto and a full back this summer) for next summer if and when needed.
Time to start thinking about the future. We started this summer promising with Denis and Umtiti, who can be, if we're lucky, considered as eventual heirs to ageing Iniesta and Mascherano, but with Vietto and Samper, plus removing some of the dead (old) weight in Adriano, Vermaelen, Arda and Douglas, i think we would make a killing in terms of rejuvenating the squad this summer. And we could actually start planning properly for the next 5 years, when Iniesta and Mascherano will be gone, while Messi, Suarez, Pique and Rakitič will also be in their twilight years. For that i would eventually love me some Verratti and Dybala of course, but that's debate (and dream
) for another day. Although that extra 50-60M that i mentioned earlier, could come in mighty handy in this case.
