I've been slow to criticize them regarding the striker situation since they had made moves for Adeyemi and Gordon relatively early and quickly, but come on now fellas. You've known Lewa was leaving since the spring, you've known you were open to letting Torres leave and that he only had 1 year left on his contract. How have you only chased Alvarez all summer long when AM have been very clear from the start that they have no intention of selling him to us. Now that Torres is gone, teams know we are desperate and it will be very, very difficult to negotiate any kind of decent deal for a striker.
The Rodri signing will be great, but a world class striker is essential to us competing amongst the best in Europe and for trophies in general. None of our wingers are prolific goalscorers either. Good players, but none of them truly have an eye for goal, including Yamal. Raphinha is likely the best, but he is nowhere remotely close to being what we need at the CF/9 position. A false 9 of some sort COULD work, but we went through all this trouble signing fast, pacey wingers to counter and beat their man..... for what? To not have a monster in front of net to feed?
I hope they know something we don't know, because we are so close to have a really strong, well-rounded squad. It's not perfect, especially the defense, but losing 2 strikers and replacing neither of them with a top-quality player is a step in the wrong direction.