Hello and welcome to the total soccer show. My name is Darrell Grove and I'm joined by a man who's never short of answers. His name is Taylor Rockwell. Hello. Hello. I'll give them to you, whether you want them or not. I mean, yeah, luckily, luckily today, it's a listener question special. So I do actually want your answers. Okay. Yeah. Normally they're unsolicited. Hopefully the listeners do as well.

But we'll find out.

Hopefully.

Well, at least 10 listeners do. Yes. And I have their questions in front of me. Shall we get straight to it? Let's get straight to it with the first question coming from Raghav Gupta, who asks, who is one player each of you want your club to sign? And we've sort of taken the approach of like, let's say our clubs were each going to sign one player in January but then maybe this summer there's like a long term signing as well hopefully there will be for both of our teams. Yeah so like an immediate problem fix for January and then yeah like a long term realistic but dream signing. I'm guessing we can't both just say Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and so on.

If you've never heard the show before... That'd be fine, though. I would be okay with it. If you've never heard the show before, Taylor's team is Manchester United. My team is Wolverhampton Wondrous Football Club. So those are the teams that we'll be signing players for. All right, Taylor, who would you like Man United to sign in January? All right. I may need your help with this one, Drell, because it's kind of a confusing one for me. Because I think the biggest area of vulnerability right now with Manchester United, and there are many, is simply the center of midfield where there are already sort of a lack of options. And then due to injuries, I think right now it's like Andreas Pereira, Nomania Matich, and Fred. That is not really the strongest of midfields you could look for. I like Scott McTuminae, but when an injury to him constitutes some sort of midfield injury crisis, then you probably need some extra depth. A little bit, a little bit. His what you should have done is signed Anda Herrera to a long-time contract. Maybe. Maybe so. Although I think on Herrera himself was maybe not all in on that one at that point. But yes, I would have been okay with that.

But I do think you need a lot of depth in midfield if you're Manchester United. But I think number 10, especially, that is supposed to be where Pogpugba theoretically could operate for the team if, if like, Jesse Lindgaard continues to not perform and Juan Mata continues to be slightly older. And so I think... Every day he continues to be slightly older. So I think a creative number 10 is probably a very big thing they need. I would love for them to aggressively go after James Madison, but I don't really know why he would leave at this point in the season. Lester 2nd seemed like they're going to cruise into the Champions League spots. Seems like Brennan Rogers has got that team figured out, has got them home. And I don't know why you jump ship in January. There's still that thing, though, even though Lester are doing great, Manchester Knight is still the bigger team. There's still like a romance about playing at Old Trafford and all that sort of stuff. So I think James Madison is not a bad shout. So I would like that a lot, but I also think that if you're looking for a number 10 who very clearly wants a move, it's Christian Erickson. That's the one that makes probably the most sense. He does, but I think he very clearly wants a move, but not necessarily to Manchester United. That's the issue, right? He very clearly wants to move to around Madrid.

And especially...

He's not put a disguise on, like, get Olegona Salshire to, like, shave his head, bulk up a bit, pretend he's in the Dines are down? I mean, you could go that route. I don't think he's going to fool him. But it's also the case that, like, by his own admission,

Solshire wants players who kind of embody the men United that he grew up with

he experienced, which is hard work, a lot of determination, a lot of like sense of belief in team. That really isn't a thing we've seen from Christian Erickson this season because he has been so frustrated because he wanted to move. I'd say that's an outlier to the Christian Erickson experience though, right? Potentially, but an outlier is there. And that's where I kind of am like, I think that Erickson...

You don't want him to arrive as his second choice destination.

No, I do not.

And sort of being like, cool, I guess I'll stay here for a little while. We've had that experience before. It was unhealthy Maria. It did not work very well. So if Erickson is all bought in and it feels like that's the more attainable get in January, maybe I'd be okay with that.

But I would definitely prefer James Madison as the number 10.

I don't know Madison's contract situation. I do know Christian Erickson's contract expires in the summer so he can leave for free. Spurs would be very willing to take like 20 million off your hands right now, right? To get him gone right now. I think so. It would solve a problem for Marino as well, right? Because right now he's got a player that's definitely leaving.

And he's probably your best player, but he's not fully committed. So do you start him? Do you bring him off the bench? It's a weird, it really puts Marino in a can't win situation. So Erickson leaving really would suit everybody. but instead men united are supposedly in for har Winks, which is not quite the same level of talent.

I would say, no disrespect to Harry Wings, but also disrespect to Harry Wings. And then, like, longer term, I actually think he may be just as getable right now because Atletti are not having the strongest of seasons. But Thomas Partey is a midfielder. I've always, not always, but I have enjoyed for like the last two, three years, the more he's become kind of on our radar, especially with Champions League, watching him play, he's very good on the ball, he doesn't lose it a lot, he looks to play forward, he's like a tidy technical player. All of those things are things I think Manchester United could use, and he brings a bit more defensive steel as well, so he could be the kind of number eight, maybe maybe a number six if you wanted to try that but I'd be okay with him as the number eight and then you bring in James Madison as number 10 and I'm pretty happy do you also get totty if you get potty and partay yeah I've heard no totty no party there it is I was wondering what was happening I you could as a director. I can't remember if he's still

with Roma or if he's parted ways with them at this point. But yeah, why not? Bring in Tati just because.

All right, my January signing for Wolfhampton Wanderers. The immediate crisis is at centerback.

Wolves played three centerbacks. Willie Boli has been injured for a little while now, right? He's a left centre back. Jesus Viejo was on loan from Real Madrid. He had a few injury problems and he had some basically performance problems. He did not fit in at Wolverhampton. There seems to be some weird dissonance between living in Madrid and living in Wolverhampton that he couldn't quite overcome. He's been sent back, as I understand it. His loan has been cut short early and he's back in Madrid. They just thought he spoke Portuguese, just assumed he did, and then when he did, and it was an issue. He's like, everyone here speaking about this weird version of Spanish. Right now, Max Kilman, who's like, I believe come through the youth system, has been doing okay, but he's not necessarily a long-term solution. Fine. You can have Phil Jones. Fine. I would take for Jones. 40 million. That's all that will take. That's maybe a little steep. 39? What I would love, honestly, is to balance my love for Raoul Jimenez, who plays for the Mexican national team, we need an American at Wolves. All right. John Brooks. I was wondering if you were going to go Aaron Long here. John Brooks is the safer bet, I think, yeah. Or Aaron Long. That really is what I wrote down. Really? I've got him, well, not wrote down, typed on my iPad. Would love it to be John Brooks, but not sure we could get him, right? I mean, you could argue that playing for Wolves in the Premier League is a step above playing for Wolfsburg. No, it decidedly. I mean, and that isn't disrespectful at all. It's just, yeah, playing for a team that are sometimes near mid-top table, but oftentimes near the bottom of the table, and I think, like, not necessarily going to challenge for the title rules aren't either but I think playing in the primary league playing in Europe playing for a team that could conceivably challenge for the champions league very soon I think that that is a safe bet that yeah that would be a bit more appealing but it would take some money right I think Wolfberg paid around 20 million euros I can't even be the exact number for John Brooks so he he wouldn't come cheap. But I do think, like, injury problems aside,

assuming he stays fit,

I think it would suit him. Because the thing that John Brooks isn't great at is if he's left on an island and two ones running at him one-on-one in open space, wolves don't often let that happen, right? Wolves are very good at keeping numbers back. that's the reason they have a decent defensive record.

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