Jamalio Danubio DiCanio
Player Valuation: £950k
3 signings address an obvious weakness and on paper improve the team significantly.
It's still a bloated squad that needs addressing. Hopefully we'll see some outs soon, and hopefully it'll be deadwood rather than a 1st team player to balance the books. You'd hope to see the likes of Pennington, Besic, Bolasie, Bernard or Iwobi, Ramirez, Tosun moved on as a minimum.
With the deadwood removed and the 3 signings we've improved our squad considerably. It is still a squad with significant weaknesses. I'm not convinced by the GK, depth at RB or LB, and our core of CBs. There's also a Q mark about depth at CF and the ability of DCL, Kean and Richarlison to get the goals required on a consistent basis.
However, Rome wasn't built in a day. It's fine to acknowledge the good transfer window we look to be having but also still recognise the holes we still have in the squad. Even with the improvements I think we are in a pack of 5 or 6 teams who'll be looking to challenge for 5-9th (Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, Leicester, us). I actually don't think there's much between these teams though we finished below all of them by +7 points last season. I also think Southampton might surprise a few people this season and challenge for a top 10 place.
I think 5th to 9th is a good aspiration to have. Aiming for 60+ points after getting 49 the season before is a reasonable leap. Whilst I'm happy with the window I don't think it necessarily catapults anyone into thinking Top 6 is a must. I think it gives us a fighting chance of getting a Europa League place and makes the squad more comparable in quality to the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, Leicester (though I still think weaker than the 2 London clubs who will have aspirations of Top 4).
It's still a bloated squad that needs addressing. Hopefully we'll see some outs soon, and hopefully it'll be deadwood rather than a 1st team player to balance the books. You'd hope to see the likes of Pennington, Besic, Bolasie, Bernard or Iwobi, Ramirez, Tosun moved on as a minimum.
With the deadwood removed and the 3 signings we've improved our squad considerably. It is still a squad with significant weaknesses. I'm not convinced by the GK, depth at RB or LB, and our core of CBs. There's also a Q mark about depth at CF and the ability of DCL, Kean and Richarlison to get the goals required on a consistent basis.
However, Rome wasn't built in a day. It's fine to acknowledge the good transfer window we look to be having but also still recognise the holes we still have in the squad. Even with the improvements I think we are in a pack of 5 or 6 teams who'll be looking to challenge for 5-9th (Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, Leicester, us). I actually don't think there's much between these teams though we finished below all of them by +7 points last season. I also think Southampton might surprise a few people this season and challenge for a top 10 place.
I think 5th to 9th is a good aspiration to have. Aiming for 60+ points after getting 49 the season before is a reasonable leap. Whilst I'm happy with the window I don't think it necessarily catapults anyone into thinking Top 6 is a must. I think it gives us a fighting chance of getting a Europa League place and makes the squad more comparable in quality to the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, Leicester (though I still think weaker than the 2 London clubs who will have aspirations of Top 4).
