SMS would be a dream. But yeah, your point is a good one. There will be a bidding war at the high rollers table we don't have a seat at currently. We can only watch at this point.
Can is a decent start but we need another great CM and we run into the problem of having to replace the players leaving plus whoever we actually decide to sell.
I think if Can failed that would have been a giant wrench in the clubs plans. Locking him down for free gives them more wiggle room. Beppe loves his wiggle room.
I'm really get the feeling Can is the only midfield reinforcement.
With that being said, we are being linked to the likes of Martial and Morata. While I am all for them, especially Morata, they would be luxury signings. Our midfield and even our defense need improvements.
If the only departures are Buffon, Licht, ASA, and Manduzkic, I feel like the management will see the midfield as not a big priority given they will be ADDING a player in Can. Also if there are no midfield departures, our midfield will look almost exactly the same, which is extremely underwhelming.
Now realistically, if we sign Can, we need to make another midfield signing. A more dynamic player, I personally do not like Pjanic so much as a regista and would rather he moved to the lcm/rcm spot. So if we are to sign Can, he is essentially a version 2 of Khedira and therefore I would have loved a player in the mold of Tolisso here. Everyone wants SMS but that is never happening. A player like Pogba would be perfect to occupy that left side .
Now on to the defense, Caldara and Spina are coming in. Two good additions. Spina brings some nice versality to our bench, while Caldara is a starter and I wouldn't be surprised if he split game time with Benatia and Chiellini. As far as our targets and rumored signings. Darmian, is an okay player; would be fine to start against the likes of sassoulo and Genoa but no way in hell in the Cl. Therefore I am completely against this signing given we will have both De sciglio and Spina who can play on both flanks. Now this Arias guy, I have no fucking clue but judging by people's reactions he sounds like another average signing, so I am also against it. (I am assuming Sandro will stay). So if Sandro is staying we need a quality rb unless we intend on using Cuadrado has our starting rb. If that is not the case, get a young player.
Lastly the attack, given mandzukic leaves and we bring back Pjaca that means we will have
Lw : Pjaca/Costa
Cf : Dybala/Higuain
Rw: Berna/Cuad/Costa
Costa is our mainstay, while Dybala and Higuain do not seem to thrive off each other. Given that we are playing a 4-3-3 Higuain and Dybala will probably still be the other two making up our front three.
If however Higuain or Dybala is sold, then both Martial and Morata are necessary.
Lw: Martial/Morata/Pjaca
Cf: Dybala OR Higuain, Morata, Martial
Rw: Costa, Berna, Cuad
Anyway I'm moving into my basement and so I wrote this while taking a break but I have no idea where my point is going anymore.
Anyway we need a cm other than Can, a new Rb IF BOTH, Sandro stays and we Don't intend on using Cuadrado as our main rb, and we should only bring both Morata and Martial in the event that either Higuain or Dybala is sold.
Also nothing against the management, I'm hoping they will clear this up but idk