Next Season..

Will be very tough, but I can't deny I'm looking forward to it.

Man City look bound for the title, United will be thereabouts with the players they have despite Fergie going upstairs and with Jose back, Chelsea will only get stronger, leaving, in my opinion, Arsenal as the only realistic team we can aim to finally finish above if we want to reach the top 4 next season. Time will tell if they spend as much as its being reported that they can.

Keeping Bale is of utmost importance towards this, if we cash in then no matter how much we get and how much of it we use to reinforce the team, we won't get top 4, it's as simple as that. However, I'm confident that we will keep him, his relationship with AVB is clear and he's only recently became a father. I think he can do even better next season, playing on the right of a 4-3-3 formation which AVB is clearly trying to implement, switching to the left/middle when necessary.

The potential signing of Paulinho is only good in my eyes. I don't know too much about him but what's opening my eyes is the amount of rival fans on this board that have come over and said what a great signing he will hopefully be. One of the key things you must get right in a 4-3-3 is solidity because the wingers are allowed to push up further leaving you potentially exposed, meaning solid, energetic central midfielders are needed. (No, not Scott Parker). A trio of Sandro, Paulinho (who you would think have a good understanding) and Dembele pushed further forward looks excellent. Hopefully Dembele can improve on his goals and assists return, and we also have quite a bit of back up here (Holtby, Sigurdsson, Dempsey).

We obviously need reinforcements both up front and in defence as well as this, but at least we do seem to have a clear plan on how we want to tackle the upcoming season. Baldini I hope will prove to be an astute signing, especially if he can help bring along a couple of Romas players.