I cannot see us spending £75m on 3 players. And certainly not £45m on two defenders. There isn’t as much re-sale profit on defenders as there is in midfielders and strikers. And that is our recruitment MO. We might spend some money and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the transfer record broken. But it’s not realistic to believe the fees will be as high as that.
I can’t find the ‘controversial’ opinions? Holebas has had a great season but I think most fans will recognise he’s another year older and looking into a younger replacement is just sensible really. I don’t think we will sign a LB in the summer but I suspect we may see more opportunities for Masina.
I think Butland will become another Loach. I like the the idea of buying "experienced but yet past it" cheap GKs in the early/mid thirties as we've done recently. Lots of calming experience. Much better than blooding a young inexperienced keeper and then either seeing him lose confidence as we struggle vs relegation or losing him as soon as he becomes a dependable prospect. If we do spend any cash, spend it on a reliable CH and a young promising striker who is still below the general radar at a £10m ish cost.
If Cucho and/or Lukebakio aren’t coming in, I’d like to see us go for Tammy Abraham. Wouldn’t cost too much if Chelsea were willing to part with him and has plenty of potential which is unlikely to be realised at Stamford Bridge. their incoming transfer ban would likely be a hurdle though....
Not convinced he will score any more in the prem than what we have now. Will be overpriced as having scored loads at Champ level and being Chelsea and English. I'd prefer a couple of promising youngsters.
Quality ex Chelsea midfielder and young promising keeper both made available. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48194617 Also a quality midfielder (/ right-winger in the Hughes mould) and dependable LB. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48168340
I put Abraham in the Patrick Bamford folder. Looks promising in lower divisions but doesn't quite cut it at the top level.
Chalobah wasn’t overpriced because he was English and Chelsea? And rumours were Wolves were close to getting him in January for £12m. That’s a decent price. Look at some of the goals he has scored this season. Championship or not, we don’t have a striker who can score goals with the technique he has. Would be a good replacement for Gray, who I expect to ask to move on. He’s not going to be a regular in the first team here and I while he’s accepted his role this season, I doubt it’s one he wants to continue beyond this year.
He has more ability than Bamford. And is a different type. Bamford is a Vydra type. Abraham is a Deeney/Gray type and is more physical, has a decent presence in the air and can play both with a partner and solo. Is he the finished article? God no. But he fits what we should be interested in IMO.
I disagree. I'm quite a keen follower of youth team football. It's clear that he's been rated more highly and has more to his all round game than Bamford. Bamford is closer to a 10-15 goal Championship striker and Abraham a 20-25 one. You're talking about a completely different class of striker. Sure he struggled in a poor Swansea team when he was what, 19? I wouldn't let that put you off. The question for me is not be one of quality, rather one of price. I'd try for a loan with an option to buy (would probably have to be somewhere around the 15-20m mark), and see what Chelsea say.
We shall see but Bamford and Vydra were tipped for the big time and it just didn't happen. Doesn't matter what type of striker he is it's if he is good enough. I don't know either way to be honest but as you said, Chelsea's transfer ban may be a stumbling block anyway
You may well be right but scoring goals at Championship level is far easier than the EPL and quite a few players with promising careers don't quite make the grade. Does score some excellent goals but so did Vydra and Ighalo
Don’t think anyone will pay Gray 70k a week though so we’ll struggle to shift him. Ditto Okaka on 45k (even worse value).
Quite true. But that’s the market we are in. Anyone who has proven they can score 10-15 in the PL or has scored a bundle of goals overseas in a comparative league won’t be coming to us as they will be too expensive and/or have suitors bigger than us.
I’m sure you’re right but I i posted it in the spirit of pretending I was in charge (Pob Pozzo) as per original post remit. I think there’s still maybe potential resale value on the right player given the continuing upward trend on market value. I suspect the most unrealistic thing about my post was us being able to attract the right players in that price bracket. Anyone I’m chuffed anyone read the post, so thanks.
How much of an impact will brexit likely have on work-permits etc? Surely this could potentially make a significant difference to player values etc
It will just be a case of getting work permits IMO, and I don't see why players will not be able to even if we leave the EU on a no deal. However, even if work permits do become a problem it will be the same for all UK teams so there should be no problem. In fact maybe it could even become a good thing as many of our young talented players will actually get a chance to play and prove themselves, which in turn might just improve the chances of our National team too.
I agree. But my point was more about the profile and style of the players, not comparing their abilities.
Gks - foster clear number one and I’d have Bachman and dahlberg fighting it out for back up rights. FB’s - keep all 4 main ones, with an eye on replacements for the season after. Navarro sold or loaned out. CB’s - Cathcart is the only one worthy of a starting place. Mariappa as a 4th choice back up. Kabasele is a tough one to call because he has good attributes but messes up so many times. I’d say we need 2 new CB’s to be signed to start. Players like Duffy and Dunk (we won’t get those two though) CM’s - keep them all Attacking midfielders - happy to keep Hughes, Pereyra, but GD is seen as a striker and Sema is not good enough so sell or loan out. Need 2 new players here. ST - keep Deeney, GD and Gray but success needs to go and we need another option So we need CB 1 CB 2 AM 1 (possibly Lukebakio) AM 2 ST (possibly Peneranda or Cucho) Not actually that much to make us that level better - just hope it happens.
This year the squad produced a team that scored 52 goals and conceded 59. Over four seasons our goals scored is; 40, 40, 44, 52. And goals conceded 50, 68, 64, 59. So goal differences of -10, -14, -10 and -7. Bearing in mind that many of this years goals came from Deulofeu and Pereya one or both are likely to go in the summer. I think our priority should be strikers not £25 million centre backs.
Oh dear that second season was a goal difference of -28 and third season -20. So a big improvement this year. Still think we need to prioritise getting more goals from the team.
Sturridge has played 218 games in 12 seasons. That’s 18 per season although that will include a good number of sub appearances.
I want Batshuayi badly but with Chelsea's transfer ban I doubt they'll let ihm go. I wouldn't mind Rondon either to be honest, does what Deeney does but better. I'd like to go back in for Craig Dawson if West Brom don't get promoted, he'd be perfect IMO. I've only watched him a few times but that Jake Cooper at Millwall looks promising too. I doubt we could get him but Kieran Tierney from Celtic would be brilliant as we ease Holebas aging legs out. And it's probably impossible but I would LOVE Dani Ceballos from Madrid who is available and being touted at £20 million. We'd probably sell him back to Madrid for £60 million in three years.
Bringing Walcott back home would be the best gift that Gino could give the fans this summer. Maybe with a view to a future coaching role.