06 Apr 2026 10:22:06
Hi everyone,
Have been thinking about Utopia where one trick pony Gakpo leaves at the end of the season and needs replacing. Obvious names like Barcola come to mind, but seems unlikely.
Was looking internally at PL and keen to hear thoughts around Kevin Schade?
Seems raw and pacey, would be good to have him rotate with Rio?
Keen to hear thoughts.
06 Apr 2026 10:34:45
Kev is not at Yan's level. I like Mitoma, but he seems made of crisps.
06 Apr 2026 10:42:04
Kevin Schade is terrible imo, seriously overrated, I would rather keep the Crappy Gakpo tbh.
06 Apr 2026 10:51:45
Anthony Gordon.
06 Apr 2026 10:52:17
Schade is as much of a one trick pony as Gakpo. Not sure how that's an improvement. As for Mitoma, he's 28, that should be enough.
06 Apr 2026 10:52:29
Barcola must be good because everyone raves about him, but the 3 or 4 times iv seen him play, he hasn't done anything where id say he's a top player.
06 Apr 2026 10:59:15
If not Schade, Barcola or Mitoma, then who?
06 Apr 2026 11:10:11
Malick Fofana.
06 Apr 2026 11:46:16
There are only a handful of good wingers in the Premier League on this season's form. Semenyo, Mbeumo, Bowen, Ndiaye and Saka are probably your lot. Bowen is probably the only one there who is a realistic option, though he turns 30 this year; I'd still take him at Liverpool on a 3-year contract if West Ham got relegated. Everton won't sell Ndiaye to us, and the other 3 are all at teams likely to finish in the top 3 this season who will have no reason to sell to us, nor would the players be willing to take a step down to what will probably be a lower tier of European football.
I think there are a few who could be good in the near future and will be attainable to us.
Minteh, Outtara, M.Mane, Kudus and Gordon all come to mind. I am keen for us to add raw pace to the side, so I'd be very interested in us signing one or two of them. Minteh and Mane, I think, have the highest ceiling of the young wingers in the Prem, but I fully expect us to go after Gordon as he's probably the closest to being ready to play for us week in, week out.
Ideally, we'll also go abroad and put in a serious offer for Yan Diomande. He's the one who can be a world class Premier League winger. Diomande and Gordon flanking Isak/Ekitike next season would be frightening for any defence.
06 Apr 2026 11:58:26
I reckon we are going to go three up top next season. Isak up top, Diomamde on the left, and I know we have been linked with Olise for the right (fingers crossed).
Looks great on paper at least. Then you have Ekitike, Rio and Frimpong as backups.
06 Apr 2026 12:19:07
Mikey, Diomande has 11 goals and 6 assists in 21 games this season as a RW. In 8 games as a LW, he has 0 goals and 2 assists. I don't think it makes sense to sign him and play him on the left. I think you're right about the 3 up top though. I hope that with 2 proper pacey wingers and a higher tempo, more direct approach to attacking, we'll finally see the best of Isak.
I really like Olise as a player, but in terms of what I think our team needs, Diomande is a better fit in my opinion.
Olise is a top player with more technical ability than Diomande, but he lacks raw pace and struggled with the intensity of the Premier League with a recurring hamstring injury, despite having a virtually free role at Palace where he didn't get asked to do any defending or pressing. I'd be pretty excited by either player though, to be honest. I'd rather an actual LW to play LW, though.
06 Apr 2026 12:35:04
Saka the man the Myth, don't rate him at all.
06 Apr 2026 12:44:59
Saka ain't been good this season, MK, just my opinion.
06 Apr 2026 12:50:56
In what universe is Schade a better player than Gakpo? Insane.
Olise isn't what we need, unless we want somebody to play the Mo inside right position the way Mo did, as virtually a number 10. Diomande could hit another level or three in the next few years, and he has everything we need in a wide player despite being raw and having only played one year of top level football. Knowing FSG, I think he would be the one we target.
Gordon isn't worth the money, but he is kind of the profile we need, a wide player that has serious pace and can supply ammo to the forwards. I'm not sure he has the one on one ability we require on the flanks, though.
The question is whether we play withdrawn wingers with Kerkez and Frimpong providing the width or inside wingers like Salah going forward.
06 Apr 2026 14:12:29
I wouldn't take Bowen, has maybe one good year left in him and the price West Ham would ask would be too much, plus he's settled there and not going to be interested in moving.
Gordon is too one dimensional, yes he has some pace, but he's not explosively quick, he has no physicality and his use of the ball is pretty poor. Stewart Downing vibes with that lad.
Barcola isn't going to be interested in joining us. Forget that. Same for Olise.
Minteh's end product is non existent, Outtara looks pretty ordinary and that's being generous, Kudus had a shocking injury history at Ajax and it looks like it's returned at Spurs, so hard pass.
Mane at Wolves would be a good long term investment because he would count as HG, which is useful. I think Diomande is the stand out because it's pretty clear his ceiling is pretty high and he offers the same qualities that Semenyo did, explosive pace, physically strong, hard working, good end product, and makes good decisions in attacking situations.
06 Apr 2026 15:31:54
Viktor, I believe that Minteh has the most Premier League goal involvements of all u21 players since the start of last season. 8 goals and 8 assists in approximately 3600 minutes across the 2 seasons. Is that really that bad for a player who is still only 21?
Bowen, I agree, will cost too much unless West Ham are relegated. Even then, he might not want to leave. Kudus I'd also put bottom of the list due to those injuries you mentioned, although he could still become a good player, it's just too risky for what Spurs will want. Ouattara can be hit and miss, but on his day he's a very hard player to stop because he's so quick and strong; I think he'd be complimentary to Ekitike, Isak and Wirtz, but he's not the best option.
Minteh, Mane and Gordon are the 3 best options in my opinion. Mane and Minteh as long term projects and investments who might not make the impact we want until a year or two down the line. Gordon would offer an instant impact because we know he dovetails well with Isak and is a huge Liverpool fan who will run through brick walls for us. He isn't as limited as you've implied either.
He can cross with both feet, and he's also a very disruptive player for opposition defences because he has that 'housery' about him where he'll get about them and make them rush with the ball. A useful trait in the modern era where everyone wants to play out from the back. We could do with a bit of chaos. Nunez, Jota and Diaz were the only forwards we had who brought that unbridled 'housery' to the frontline, and we lost them all last summer. Gakpo, Isak, Ekitike and Salah are all too nice. Gordon also knows where the goal is and has proved that this season, in the Champions League in particular.
Gordon has 17 goals in 2798 minutes this season. Ekitike is our top scorer with 17 goals in 2763 minutes this season. We could do a lot worse. Getting the best out of Isak (a £125m investment) has to be a consideration. If you spend that amount of money on a striker, it has to be with the intention of building a team around him. He made his name playing with fast and direct wingers, not Gakpo and Salah drifting inside because they lack the explosiveness to beat a full back, only to smash their shots into a wall of defenders.
06 Apr 2026 15:36:41
Gordon has spent a lot of time playing number 9 for Newcastle, though, MK, so he is essentially playing the same position as Ekitike. As a winger he scores a lot less. You're right that Isak thrived with Murphy and Gordon behind him, though, which is why we need to target wingers who will supply him with chances rather than goalscoring wingers.
06 Apr 2026 16:16:02
I agree, PB. He's played as a 9 a lot because Woltemade is so poor. That was my point though, Viktor called him one-dimensional but he's actually proven the complete opposite. When his team needed him to step up, he moved to a new position and worked his socks off leading the line whilst still scoring goals.
You're spot on, though, that targeting wingers who compliment Isak is the key to success going forward. We will never recoup £125m on Isak so we simply have to make it work, or we're essentially writing off close to a quarter of a billion pounds when you factor in wages and agent fees. Building the team around Isak and also Wirtz is paramount now. We've committed to that and they both thrived in their former teams when they had willing runners either side of them. Isak, so he got crosses and cut backs to attack, and Wirtz, so he could showcase his excellent vision. Isak has 3 goals this season for us, and it is no surprise to me that 2 of them were from cut backs to the space between the penalty spot and the 6-yard box (Hammers and Soton), and the other was when he made a run ahead of Wirtz (Spurs).
He will score 30+ goals a season if we play to his strengths. His only assist was a knock down for Gakpo against Chelsea, after he attacked an early cross into the 6-yard box. If you want him to be effective, put whipped or driven crosses into the box and play passes in behind for him. Salah and Gakpo always want to cut back and float a looping ball into the box. Isak will never thrive off that kind of service because he lacks the upper body strength to compete with a CB for a 50/50. This is exactly why I said last summer that Osimhen was the right striker for us. He is physically strong enough to deal with big CBs and he will get on the end of those looping crosses because he has an insane hang time.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I suppose.
06 Apr 2026 17:16:37
I don't think Woltemade is poor, really, it's just that Howe doesn't trust him up front/doesn't know how to use him, and bizarrely makes him play as an 8 or a sort of 10 sometimes.
Woltemade needs to play in a 2 where he's sort of a support striker (like he was at Stuttgart with Undav/Demirovic), not a lone 9, and Howe, for some reason, thought he could play like Isak running in behind or being a target in the box (which is what he had to do in the beginning, most of his goals were headed goals even though that was never his forte).
Howe doesn't know how to use a player who comes short and wants ball to feet most of the time, and wants somebody purely to stretch the defence in transition, which is what Gordon is.