Remember, if you have an idea for a question you would like to see, PM it to me, and each week one question will be selected based on the quality of the question and it's subject. I will not choose the questions on my own, but this is the best way to ensure that we don't keep discussing the same things.

This week's comes courtesy of no one:

Your billionaire friend who knows everyone in the football world has given you 50m euros for you to use in the transfer market. You can use as much of that money as you'd like to improve any club in the world. How would you spend those 50m?

Past Questions:
13/9 - What will football be like in 50 years? (http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170662)
19/9 - What are some rule changes that would improve the game? (http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170795)
3/10 - The European Super-League Discussion (http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171051)

So, how should your club invest 50m in the transfer market? Or any club for that matter?

I'll post about some clubs later, but one thing that came to mind yesterday when testing FM2012 is that Barcelona should buy David Silva. Now, they don't need him, but he'd fit right in, and since these 50m (not sure if he'd come for 50) are additional to the club's transfer budget.

Imagine Barca with Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Pedro, Messi and on the bench: Sanchez, Cesc, Silva. Total fantasy.

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone supporting a bottom club (and who'd be realistic about who his team can sign, even with 50m), would contribute.

To buy Andy Carroll, Benayoun and Bellamy like Liverpool.

50 mil just ain't that much these days ... at Milan, Berlusconi would pocket 18 mil (one mil for each Scudetto Milan have won), and instruct Galliani to sign 2 players on Bosmans, each on a 4 year deal of 4 mil p.a. including bonuses ... sad :(

Frankly I think Thiago Silva would be a better use of 50m for Barcelona. Or Phillip Lahm who they were linked with a few years back. But yes, David Silva is a Golden God.

I think this is a great question, although I think it's better if you gave a baseline team, like a Stoke or Newcastle, 50m to spend (Newcastle actually did get this).

As for Bayern, to be honest there's not that much we need. Marco Reus would probably run 20m, and he would be a great winger backup to the oft injured Robbery. I think we need someone better behind Gomez than Peterson, and I'm having a hard time finding a realistic player for this spot, so I think it wouldn't be the worst move to throw a pile of money at Dortmund for Lucas Barrios who is proven in Germany; maybe 20m again would do. With the final 10 we need to replace Breno, so I'd go for Dante at Gladbach who's solid as a 3rd or 4th defender.

But honestly, all of those players would be backups, I really like our squad and wouldn't want to force anyone out of the first XI even if I had 50m to throw around. I don't mention Hummels because I think it's clear that he's just not going to come back :(

Frankly I think Thiago Silva would be a better use of 50m for Barcelona.he's absolutely perfect for Barça ... I hope it takes all of 50 mil to convince Milan to part with him, coz I expect a bid to made next summer ... secretly, I want Barça to get him -- it'd just make that historic team even more epic!

Question of the Week it's WTF happens with Belgian NT that they never qualify for a tournament having very good players mostly.

Considering that I had no question for this week and pulled this one out of my ass, thanks for posting that now.

Anyway, not being a fan, I had no intention to round the Barca squad out, although if I did, I'd say shell out 20m or so on a top LB like Cole, Evra, Lahm, etc. I'd say Baines, saw someone buy him with Barca in the demo, but he's such a good crosser, and he'd have no to cross to, although I rate his crossing range as much better than Alves' 'thump-it-to-the-far-post' style. And while he does offer much more, he just wouldn't thrive there, and Barca probably can't afford to play with two fullbacks-cum-wingers.

Get Thiago Silva, and if there's cash (not with 50m, but if the question was about limitless funds) get David too.

Oh, and about Belgium, I dunno about always, but I never expected them to do much right now, most of their best players are pretty young, and they have a lot of young talent: the Lukaku brothers (18 and 17), De Bruyne (20), Hazard (20), Fellaini (23), Verthongen (24), Kompany (25), Defour (23), Witsel (22), Vermalaen (25), Courtois (19), Dembele (24), Mignolet (23), Ogunjimi (23) and those are just the ones I'm really aware of, but their recent squad and call-ups is filled with young players.

Just so we're clear, that's 2 keepers I've mentioned, one of which is doing a fine job at midtable Prem club and the other is going to be a star and is already playing well for a Europa League club (and they both have at least 12-15 years in front of them). 3 great centrebacks, 3 very solid midfielders, 3 promising attacking midfielders and Dembele, who does flatter to deceive, but he's already quite solid and is one of Fulham's better players and with experience should be a very solid call-up, and 2 strikers, one of which has long been tipped to be one of the best strikers in the world.

And NONE of them are at their peak age, and they're all between 0-45 caps, meaning that they haven't played together THAT much.

I'd say 5-7 years from now, this generation should be around its peak.

It's a shame they're not in the Euro, since it'd be a HUGE learning opportunity for them, but it's not their time yet. Thing is, their World Cup group is pretty tough too. No big team, but a lot of teams that could cause a problem: Croatia, Serbia, Scotland, Wales, Macedonia. Not sure they're going to reach the play-offs, much less the WC.

Anyway, not being a fan, I had no intention to round the Barca squad out, although if I did, I'd say shell out 20m or so on a top LB like Cole, Evra, Lahm, etc. I'd say Baines, saw someone buy him with Barca in the demo, but he's such a good crosser, and he'd have no to cross to, although I rate his crossing range as much better than Alves' 'thump-it-to-the-far-post' style. And while he does offer much more, he just wouldn't thrive there, and Barca probably can't afford to play with two fullbacks-cum-wingers.

Get Thiago Silva, and if there's cash (not with 50m, but if the question was about limitless funds) get David too.

I always wished to have David Luiz in Barça. Suárez instead Villa would be an improvement too.

Villa is better than Suarez, just older. And I'm a big big Suarez fan, and not so much on Villa.

For Man Utd if I had the 50 millions I would be tempted to buy Hamsik whose value would probably be 30 millions and Arturo Vidal for say 15-20 millions. Both are from different leagues though and definitely represent a huge risk. This will enable us to play 4-3-3 perfectly:

----------Rooney----------
Young-----------------Nani
----------Hamsik----------
------Vidal---Cleverley-----
---------------------------
Evra-----------------Rafael
------Vidic---Ferdy--------
---------------------------
--------De Gea------------

I don't mention Hummels because I think it's clear that he's just not going to come back :(

Why???

I agree with Xilfio about 50m not being that big nowadays.

Arsenal-
#Baines for left back.
#A PLeague experienced CB like Cahill or Samba*
#A striker to play just infront of Robin- Fernando Llorente* or Huntelaar

I ain't sure 50m would get all those but IF there is still money and I could offer players in exchange......I would go for an experienced battling midfielder known for his professionalism and hard work. Maybe not the "zuper qaulidee" passer but one who can work his socks off and calm down the team in difficult moments or tell them when they are lazy.

Llorente is VERY expensive, around 35m.

Yeah, I was thinking of that but couldn't really remember too many names. Hunter won't cost that much I guess. Would be great if Azrael increased the budget ;).

If I was a midtable club with 50 million I would buy as many semi-proven young players in the 21-24 age range. Any younger than that and there is a higher risk of potential not being filled. Also you have a few seasons of history to check their consistency. I also chose this age group because they often come at a cheaper price compared to older players and you can resell them if necessary. Also the players would have to not be famous where big clubs want them because that inflates their price but just under that.

I think this policy would ensure longevity for the club with a chance at greatness. Its low risk - high reward I think.

And if I was Barca I would buy Bale for attacking wing back.

The 50m was just a random number to see what people would prefer when being limited, but feel free to do the same question with an unlimited budget.

And to add to Horatiu's theory, the good thing is that you get 2 contracts out of them with a lot of resale value.

Bolton Wanderers.

Where do I begin?

Samba to partner Cahill, Baines, Benayoun, Bellamy, Veloso, if 20 Mil is left, Sturridge.

What lineup?

Clone Messi.

Veloso.

Bad choice man, this isn't FM :(

Veloso was a tongue-in-cheek selection - every transfer window for the past three seasons we have been linked with a move for him, except for the last window. Pretty much an insider joke now. Zat Knight sucks, Wheater needs alcohol or sex to relax him before he plays as he will do great for 60 miniutes then do something totally nuts next as he did in his last game when he got himself red-carded. Our first problem is a goal-scorer. Sturridge would fit the bill nicely. Next we need three defenders to join Cahill - Baines, Samba and pretty much anybody who will stay put and actually tackle from time to time. Muamba works best just infront of the back 4 - that's where he played for the England U21's and looked pretty good. I'd play a 4-1-3-2 now with Petrov---Benayoun-----Kakuta in the midfield and Sturridge & Ngog up front.

-------------------Jussi--------------------
Boyata------Cahill--------Samba------Baines
------------------Muamba------------------
---Kakuta--------Benayoun--------Petrov---
------Sturridge---------------Bellamy-------

No Holden, no Davies, no Lee? And although not as shocking, no Reo Coker, no Eagles?

It's hard to say for Sevilla, since big money wouldn't necessarily bring big players. All of the exciting players in the world are at big clubs or are on the radar of big clubs. I would pay that whole sum of money to get Modric into a Sevilla jersey. That wouldn't have been too unrealistic a year or two ago, but now that Chelsea are keen to sign him, I don't think he'd settle for anything less.

More realistically, I would sign one or more of the following for Sevilla:
- Borja Valero (almost had him last summer)
- Javi Martinez
- David Villa in two years when he is no longer good enough for Barcelona

I'd use the leftover money to build a monument to Kanoute outside the stadium.

Borja Valero is a real chance but Javi Mtz a wet dream, he is very expensive (Athletic don't sell their players) and these basques are very loyal to his club. Sevilla need a classy forward as well, Manu del Moral is not a real competece to Negredo and Kanoute, Perotti had an impressive debut season but haven't improved (next Capel??) Muniain would be gold but he's from ******* Athletic. Fullbacks are average too, remember when you had Alves, David and Adriano? haha.

EDIT: Jurado would be a great signing for Sevilla, he is good and can play in diferent positions.

My favorite Sevilla player was Julio Baptista. I used to always buy him in FM/CM back then, and it would probably take someone only 10 seconds to convince me that he was still world class and one of the 10 best players in the world if they wanted to.

No Holden, no Davies, no Lee? And although not as shocking, no Reo Coker, no Eagles?

Holden and Lee when fit would be where Benayoun and Kakuta are now. I think Davies is somewhat past it - 35 is a bit much for a striker. He has not been his usual ebullient self this season. Reo Coker is a useful player but he wouldn't play ahead of a fit Holden and Eagles sucks, unfortunately. He's maybe had two good games since joining and one was in a pre-season friendly.

Well, he's just joined, Ramires sucked for us when he first arrived, and he was good for Coyle at Burnley, I don't think he'd have signed if he wasn't good enough. I dunno, Davies is certainly getting on with it, but he's still probably one of, if not the, best targetman in the Prem. He's acknowledged his poor form recently and I think we'll have to see if it was complacency, age, or other, in the next few matches. Kind of hoping it's the first one, since I like Davies.

Davies has admitted that he took his place in the team for granted. I would not downplay his importance to the team over the past 5-6 years and there were times where he has practically carried the team on his shoulders, but all season he has not created anything of note outside of the first game with QPR, he has actually gone games without getting off a shot at goal (which sucks for a striker) and has not given defenders much to do. Eagles got 11 goals in the Championship last season for Burnley but has so far failed to give a good account of himself. He seems unable to beat a player when on the flank and doesn't get crosses in, when in the center he doesn't tackle or shoot much. We are in the smelly stuff at the moment and we need all the players to pull their fingers out and show some industry. The key to players that I like is mobility - the only player in my fantasy team that doesn't really show that is Berbatov and we all know how that happened. I wouldn't have gone for Eagles if I were Coyle, but I bow to his superior knowledge of the player.

The name that instantly comes into my mind when I think of 50 M for Barça is Thiago Silva definitely. Other than that, I would bring a LB (Jordi Alba, Mathieu, or why not Stefan Radu :D).

Yeah, Radu is perfect for 3-4-3, Jordi Alba in a 4-3-3.

Borja Valero is a real chance but Javi Mtz a wet dream, he is very expensive (Athletic don't sell their players) and these basques are very loyal to his club. Sevilla need a classy forward as well, Manu del Moral is not a real competece to Negredo and Kanoute, Perotti had an impressive debut season but haven't improved (next Capel??) Muniain would be gold but he's from ******* Athletic. Fullbacks are average too, remember when you had Alves, David and Adriano? haha.

EDIT: Jurado would be a great signing for Sevilla, he is good and can play in diferent positions.
I still have faith in Perotti. He has looked better this season again. Manu has been decent as well with the ball at his feet, though he hasn't put any away yet. I think he might succeed with some more experience. We've been trying for years to replace Alves, but haven't found anyone decent. Coke has had a couple of great performances though, so maybe he will prove to be a good fit.

Frankly, the only positions that couldn't use improvement are RW and GK.
My favorite Sevilla player was Julio Baptista. I used to always buy him in FM/CM back then, and it would probably take someone only 10 seconds to convince me that he was still world class and one of the 10 best players in the world if they wanted to.
Baptista carried us for two seasons, but I can't say I rate him very highly. I'm glad we sold him and were able to get some great talent in return. He's had only fleeting success ever since.

Radu will be such a big disappointment for you guys. I like the guy cause he's Romanian but every time I see Lazio play he always makes small mistakes here and there. They did have a fast pace to the tempo so that might be why. I don't think he has the mental strength to play for Barca.

No Holden, no Davies, no Lee? And although not as shocking, no Reo Coker, no Eagles?

Entirely simplistic, but, Coker, Eagles with goals, Davies with assist today (missed a penalty though).

I don't really rate Reo Coker. Davies is good, and I love the poor unfortunate Stu Holden.

So, what would I spend 50m for Chelsea?

Option A: Spend a huge chunk of it on a creative right winger, although Sturridge seems to be doing alright recently, so I'd probably leave that. But yeah, get Gotze or Hazard. Hell, Mata-Gotze/Hazard-Sturridge looks pretty good too.

Option B: Spend 30-50m on Lahm. There's still doubts about Bosingwa, and Ivanovic doesn't offer the attacking drive we need against most sides. We don't have much in terms of youth prospects either.

Option C: Go for youth. First thing's first, get the De Bruyne done for 8m. Then get Jordan Lukaku, who I think could come for around 3m. Loan De Bruyne to Vitesse, have Jordan come and train with the u-18s, and then start loaning him. With 39m left, I'd say another 7-8m for Inkoom, or maybe spend big and get van der Wiel for 25m or wait on Santon's development and get him from Newcastle for 10-15m depending on performance. Sign Bannan for another 10-15m and loan him back to Villa.

So that's either 51m, 41m, or 33m, depending on which RB we get (VdW, Santon and Inkoom, respectively). Going with Inkoom, I'd use some of that to get Gary Cahill in January, maybe.

Option D: Spend it all on Modric or something.

Option C would be the one I'd go with.

EDIT: I have a soft spot for Coker because back at West Ham he had so much potential. He's a decent battler with lots of stamina and strength and acceptable passing. Midtable guy at best, but he's not a bad player. Davies is excellent, nearly got him in the draft.

The player known as "Gotze/Hazard" is at the top of a LOT of club wishlists. Tops Bayern's too.

Lahm won't leave Bayern. He's the captain. I honestly just don't see him leaving. Enough money and MAYBE Schweinsteiger can be had (although with the team being so good right now, maybe not), but no way for Lahm. He's also not the best crosser and seems to have put the final stamp on the question this season, answering that he is much better on the left than the right.

Porto:

Bring 10 south-americans for €5M and sell at least two of them for €30M+. Easy (H)

I would have thought

"Porto: Give all 50m to Hulk so he never leaves"

Seeing Dan's post has reminded me of something. Change 'Gotze/Hazard' to 'Gotze/Hazard/Muller'.

EDIT:

Seeing Fili's post has reminded me of something. Change 'Gotze/Hazard/Muller' to 'Gotze/Hazard/Muller/Hulk'.

Seeing Dan's post has reminded me of something. Change 'Gotze/Hazard' to 'Gotze/Hazard/Muller'.

:(

You can have Robben!

EDIT: As an aside (and this doesn't apply to Az since I know he was kidding), I've noticed that English fans don't seem to realize that FC Bayern is just as big of a club as their favorite club (City, Chelsea, United, whatever). Seeing City fans fantasize about Schweinsteiger is ridiculous to me because not only would he be going to a much worse place to live, possibly sitting on the bench more, having to gel with new teammates and staff, for a club who has just as good of a chance to do worse in the CL as Bayern (and certainly worse domestically), and... Bayern could match any wages City drop. Just because they don't doesn't mean they can't; Hoeness suggested we could drop 80m on a player if it was the right move. Rob the rest of the BuLi, we do too, look at how cheap Sahin, Ozil, and Vidal were, but Bayern is different. Typical English (H) arrogance.

You can have Rodriguez. Cristian.

There is this guy from Porto......something Rodriguez. Most probably is a left winger. Pretty impressive player. Another one is Strootman from PSV. He might have a great future ahead of him. Wanted him for Arsenal but is too much like little Jack.

Entirely simplistic, but, Coker, Eagles with goals, Davies with assist today (missed a penalty though).

Reo-Coker has probably been our most consistent player all season, but that's not saying a whole lot. Eagles pulled this performance completely out of his ar- ummm... hat. In one friendly game he showed glimpses of what he did against Wigan. Big Kev mugged the defender, which is what he does best. Wheater seems to gotten laid before the game - he finally got 90 decent minutes under his belt. It remains to be seen how they'll manage against Sunderland.
:facepalm:

even my FIFA 12 manager mode sim has something to say about the question of the week:

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/4741/xifiofifasilvabarca.png

he went for: [yup] 55 mil ... (H)

as good as he is (I think I saw "golden god" earlier in this thread), I don't think he's worth that much ...

I honestly don't know what players are worth anymore. Even 6 years ago it seemed like the market was fairly predictable and you knew roughly what clubs could spend. I have no idea now, it's so wildly inconsistent. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I doubt he's worth that much to Barca because they have so many great players who can play the same role (and are the same age or younger). He's amazing though. Clear top 20 player in the world. Just wish I realized it before this season started, because I would have tried everything to trade up to the top of the 2nd Round to get him... 29th in our Draft seems criminally low (behind: Thiago, Gotze, Bale, Falcao, Neymar, and those are just the ones you can't argue at all IMO; personally I'd also put him over Zlatan, Aguero, Villa, Hulk, Suarez, Tevez, and Alonso. Pique too, but that's harder to judge.). Too bad Theo boned his first pick with van Persie instead of Rooney (H)

This is an off topic question......What do you guys think of Yoann Gourcuff? Great talent but he has had only one good season. I ask this because there has been serious interest from Arsenal and talk of a January move.

overrated

Manu del Moral is not a real competece to Negredo and Kanoute

RsacBcwRo1s
:D Not that one goal proves anything.

There is this guy from Porto......something Rodriguez. Most probably is a left winger. Pretty impressive player.
you mean James. He plays in the left wing but tends to drift a lot into the middle, playing the role of a trequartista...he's gonna be ******* huge :read:

overrated

+1

This might be a bit OT, but how about spending $50 million to improve a NT?

How would you do that? Bribe players and immigration officers to switch nationalities?

Haha. (H)

The only thing you can improve is to build a larger stadium for the NT.

Qatar NT will found the way.

Probably, with millions of euros invested yearly in developping facilities and infrastructure and the likes, which, in 50 years, would allow for a good NT, but 50m for an immediate improvement is impossible. Maybe you can buy ouy Mourinho's contract or something.

They want Guardiola and apparently have offered a blank check.

Probably, with millions of euros invested yearly in developping facilities and infrastructure and the likes, which, in 50 years, would allow for a good NT, but 50m for an immediate improvement is impossible. Maybe you can buy ouy Mourinho's contract or something.

Germany did it in about 9 years.

Probably, with millions of euros invested yearly in developping facilities and infrastructure and the likes, which, in 50 years, would allow for a good NT, but 50m for an immediate improvement is impossible. Maybe you can buy ouy Mourinho's contract or something.Germany did it in about 9 years.Clairefontaine had a similar timeline of success in France ... but obviously Qatar does not have a large, pre-existing pool of talent that both Germany and France do ... so 25-50 years sounds about right for a "natural" solution ... but why wait for "natural" when there are all those funds waiting to be put to use?



They want Guardiola and apparently have offered a blank check.considering his history with Qatar, and fondness for them, I'm sure he'd be willing in a few years ...

Qatar should instead hire a few administrative and technical personnel overseeing La Masia and the Barcelona Youth programs as consultants, to plan the 'National Qatari Masia', and to detail the credentials necessary for all the necessary coaches, trainers, nutritionists, etc. ...

Germany did it in about 9 years.

What Xifio said, Qatar doesn't have the foundation, so investment and time is needed.

Oh, we're just talking about Qatar now? I thought it was just in general for any national team.

Yeah, but Germany's situation is completly different to Qatar's. If you wanted to make Germany the best footballing nation in the world, you'd have to invest less money than if you wanted to do the same with Uzbekistan.

I never considered that, I thought all nations were exactly the same!

That's sort of what i meant when I opened up that question. You can't exactly fap over a transfer sum with players from an NT; hence the reason to think about other ways of investing besides spending 50 mil on geting a single star player/coach.

EDIT: Pep would probably like to take over Johann Cruyff's current job than coach Qatar.

Watching Madrid now, I just thought, how would you spend 50m to make that squad even better? I think the main thing is getting a worldclass right-back. Beyond that, there's not much to do other than maybe get a targetman to work a plan B and a good keeper to cover Casillas.

For RB, I'd say throw money at Bayern and see how much they'd take for Lahm. If that doesn't work, I'm not too sure on who they could get. I suppose Maicon? Dani Alves is out of the running, and I'm not sure who would be willing to go who would be available too. I think Sagna wouldn't be too expensive, although I mention him simply because I can't think of anyone else right now.

For keeper, **** me, I dunno. Palop is sitting at Sevilla's bench, why not getting to sit on Madrid? They don't need anyone excellent, but just someone to be reliable like Dudek was.

For ST, Llorente would be the obvious choice. Soldado would be good too, and not as expensive since Valencia gots no moneys. Adebayor wouldn’t be too expensive either, although his wages would be high. But he does know Madrid already. I’d personally love to see Madrid sign Ibra, even though he isn’t a targetman, he could definitely play as one for them.

I suppose they could also offer that money for Drogs and Bosingwa.

Palop reliable? He's error-prone as hell!

Palop was a hero for us for many years, but the last few seasons he was a huge liability in high-pressure matches, trying to make plays when he should have stayed in goal. I think he would be a disaster playing for Madrid, even if it was just a handful of matches.

Madrid don't need any of those players. I think their biggest need is a Center Back, so I'd say blow it on Hummels, who could be had for far less than 50m. My favorite young Right Back right now is Micah Richards, but who knows what City's deal is with selling first choice players. Other than that, I just don't know of many right backs that are world class; as much as I don't like Ramos, I don't know who would realistically be an upgrade except perhaps Maicon.

^Seriously? Their best move would be to get a great RB and move Ramos in the center. Ramos may seem like a great right back as he makes a lot of runs and tries to contribute in the attack, but he loses the ball a lot in critical spots.

I don't like Ramos at all, but start listing off the top right backs and who are they and how much better than Ramos are they? There's just not that much out there IMO, while Hummels is doing his best Ronald Koeman impression this season. Hummels is amazzzzzing.

Pepe, Ramos and Carvalho and Varane as backup at CB is pretty stacked. Micah Richards has definitely improved this year, but I wouldn't call him a young talent, and he's definitely not what Madrid should be getting.

His whole game is to just motor forward and hope for the best, and for that you might as well get Ramos. Doubt Richards will improve much, anyway.

I also recall Palop being good the last time I saw him, but if he's not anymore, then just get someone else, there's no lack of keepers in their 30s who would do a job in unimportant matches and during the occasional injury.

Van der Wiel would be good signing for Madrid, but they will end up investing those 50m (or even more) in Neymar.

Chelsea......... sell Mikel and Kalou for £15-20m the pair, add it to the 50, spend it all on Modric and Alvaro Pereira. Great players, also perfect to replace the aging stars of Lampard and Cole. With some smart bargaining there may even be cash left over to sign one of the youngsters Azrael mentioned. Would love to bring in an English player as I dont want to be back to the old chelsea fielding two, one or no english players per game, but I honestly cant think of anyone who represents value.

The other option is Neymar. £50m should pull him and any club in the world would love to have him.

And for non English clubs - Tevez for £25m (plus probably another 10 just to get the mercenary bastard to sign up), absolutely world class striker and plenty of change.

Florentino is willing to pay around €66m for Neymar.

Thank God he reports directly to you, or else we wouldn't have this great, reliable inside information.

That's what Spanish (Madrid) media reports.

As for Bayern, to be honest there's not that much we need. Marco Reus would probably run 20m, and he would be a great winger backup to the oft injured Robbery. I think we need someone better behind Gomez than Peterson, and I'm having a hard time finding a realistic player for this spot, so I think it wouldn't be the worst move to throw a pile of money at Dortmund for Lucas Barrios who is proven in Germany; maybe 20m again would do. With the final 10 we need to replace Breno, so I'd go for Dante at Gladbach who's solid as a 3rd or 4th defender.

But honestly, all of those players would be backups, I really like our squad and wouldn't want to force anyone out of the first XI even if I had 50m to throw around. I don't mention Hummels because I think it's clear that he's just not going to come back :(

Instead of paying $20m or so for Barrios to sit on the bench at Bayern I would use $40m to buy Gotze. That's if I was Bayern anyway.

For Dortmund, I'd spend $8m on Brek Shea, $10m on Jefferson Farfan or Andre Schurrle, $12m on Axel Witsel, and another $10m on a defender.