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Big Friedkin Rebuild

Simon Buttle said:
Sorry but I refuse to believe that when bidding for a player the DoF doesn't actually know how much money they have to bid with.
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Have you paid any attention at all to Moshiri's tenure? This is a club that got a points deduction because they hadn't read the rules about what they were and weren't allowed to do. Ancelotti and Brands both suggested they'd been lied to about what we were doing, Dyche said he could write a book on the madness that's gone on behind the scenes, players like El Ghazi have been signed clearly over the head of manager and DoF. The DoF not being entirely sure what he's got to work with would be small fry compared to some of the stuff going on over the last few years.

Basically there are 2 options to cover what you're saying. The DoF knows he only has £10m to spend but spends all summer bidding £30m despite knowing he doesn't have it (for the bantz maybe?) or the DoF believes that £30m deals are doable but actually when push comes to shove it turns out they aren't. Quite how you've concluded that option A is infinitely more likely than option B I don't really know to be honest.
 
Dymak said:
It's an opportunity rather than a weakness imo. Most if not all of them would accept an extended contract if we offered them, but many will be binned off as we wish to improve and move on from them.

The picture should look a bit different come the end of January anyway, as we will see incomings and departures in January.

Doucoure hasn't had his wages reduced, he was in an extremely strong position at the time his most recent contract was agreed. We actually have the option to extend his contract in the summer as well. I think this was possibly more to do with ensuring we get a fee for him, which I think we will in either January or the summer.
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Interesting take; what movement do you think we’ll see in January? I’ve seen the Michael Keane rumours, but beyond that I’m not sure what will happen. What do you think is feasible in Jan?

My initial thought was: if Dyche is in charge, there’ll be no incomings, as the board will want to hold off until the summer for a new manager to sign his own players. (Caveat: how bad is our league position and do we need to spend our way out of relegation trouble?)
 
Sona said:
Provided Dyche keeps us in the Premier League, the summer of 2025 promises to be a huge rebuilding process for the new owners.

We have the following 10 players out of contract in the summer:

Doucoure £120k
Calvert-Lewin £100k
Keane £80k
Gueye £80k
Holgate £70k
Coleman £55k
Maupay £50k
Young £40k
Begovic £9k
Virginia £8k
TOTAL: £612k / week
(All salaries are approximate and averaged out from various sources across the web; please don’t take as gospel)

We also have 4 players returning to their parent clubs at the end of their loans:

Broja
Harrison
Lindstrøm
Mangala

That’s a huge turnover of 14 players, but also provides some much needed finance for a rebuild.

Based on the above, we will only have the following 12 senior players:

Pickford
Patterson
Mykolenko
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
O’Brien
Iroegbunam
Garner
McNeil
Ndiaye
Beto
Chermiti

Priority signings would then have to be:
• Starting RB
• Starting LB
• Starting CM
• Starting RW
• Starting CF

We’d also need a backup goalkeeper, whilst perhaps looking to promote Armstrong and a couple of youth team players to the first team squad.

Personally, I don’t feel that Patterson, Mykolenko, Beto are good enough, but could serve as backup until January / Summer 2026, otherwise it would leave us too much to do in one summer.

Discussion:
1. How much of the above (if any) do you think we will be able to get done this coming January?
2. Do we keep any of the contract expiry players (maybe on a 1-year extension on reduced terms)?
3. Do we turn any of the loan players into permanent signings?
4. Are there any other starting eleven positions that I’ve missed from the priority signings?
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For the out of contract players I'd give Doucoure, Gueye, Young and Viginia another year, all provide good cover and experience.
The rest can leave as far as I'm concerned.
I'd rather Armstong and Dixon go out on loan which is why I'd renew Doucoure, Young and Gueye for another year.

On the loans, I'd like to see more of what Broja can do, if its good then sign him up (if its for a reasonable fee), likewise with Mangala.
Linstrom and Harrison haven't done enough so far imo to earn a permanent signing.

I think Beto will leave either this Jan or Summer which should give us some money to work with.
Mykolenko I'd keep as lb cover (he's okay defensively just offers nothing going forwards) an I doubt we'd get much for him anyway.
Patterson might be better under another manager but I'd be inclined to move him along (unless Young leaves).

I agree with these as the priority signings.
Priority signings would then have to be:
• Starting RB
• Starting LB
• Starting CM
• Starting RW
• Starting CF
 
Sona said:
Provided Dyche keeps us in the Premier League, the summer of 2025 promises to be a huge rebuilding process for the new owners.

We have the following 10 players out of contract in the summer:

Doucoure £120k
Calvert-Lewin £100k
Keane £80k
Gueye £80k
Holgate £70k
Coleman £55k
Maupay £50k
Young £40k
Begovic £9k
Virginia £8k
TOTAL: £612k / week
(All salaries are approximate and averaged out from various sources across the web; please don’t take as gospel)

We also have 4 players returning to their parent clubs at the end of their loans:

Broja
Harrison
Lindstrøm
Mangala

That’s a huge turnover of 14 players, but also provides some much needed finance for a rebuild.

Based on the above, we will only have the following 12 senior players:

Pickford
Patterson
Mykolenko
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
O’Brien
Iroegbunam
Garner
McNeil
Ndiaye
Beto
Chermiti

Priority signings would then have to be:
• Starting RB
• Starting LB
• Starting CM
• Starting RW
• Starting CF

We’d also need a backup goalkeeper, whilst perhaps looking to promote Armstrong and a couple of youth team players to the first team squad.

Personally, I don’t feel that Patterson, Mykolenko, Beto are good enough, but could serve as backup until January / Summer 2026, otherwise it would leave us too much to do in one summer.

Discussion:
1. How much of the above (if any) do you think we will be able to get done this coming January?
2. Do we keep any of the contract expiry players (maybe on a 1-year extension on reduced terms)?
3. Do we turn any of the loan players into permanent signings?
4. Are there any other starting eleven positions that I’ve missed from the priority signings?
Click to expand...
We have to get rid of some, but drafting in replacements will not cover what we get other than saved wages..... Our youth policy is non existent - so wages will be needed plus fees to strengthen the squad up to standard just to survive this year ....
 
Billy Dean said:
No idea mate. Could be it was between them and Onana who we went for that summer? But no idea really
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It sometimes depends more on the structure of the deal rather than the amount.
Some clubs want most of the fee up front (which we cant afford), which is why we couldn't sign MGW for example, whereas for Onana it was spread out in instalments and allowed us to pick up a few other signings that window too.
Friedkins cash injection will allow Thelwell to identify and chase these better targets without having both hands tied behind his back.
 

Sona said:
Interesting take; what movement do you think we’ll see in January? I’ve seen the Michael Keane rumours, but beyond that I’m not sure what will happen. What do you think is feasible in Jan?

My initial thought was: if Dyche is in charge, there’ll be no incomings, as the board will want to hold off until the summer for a new manager to sign his own players. (Caveat: how bad is our league position and do we need to spend our way out of relegation trouble?)
Click to expand...

God knows, but I do expect it to be a fairly lively transfer window with or without a new manager. The following will be 'in the window' and available for sale imo:

DCL
Beto
Doucoure
Keane.

All would require replacements should they be sold.
 
Dymak said:
God knows, but I do expect it to be a fairly lively transfer window with or without a new manager. The following will be 'in the window' and available for sale imo:

DCL
Beto
Doucoure
Keane.

All would require replacements should they be sold.
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Beto might get sold but DCL and Keane are almost certainly going to sign pre-contracts with someone and leave for free in the summer.
 

WelshBlue92 said:
Beto might get sold but DCL and Keane are almost certainly going to sign pre-contracts with someone and leave for free in the summer.
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They would need to move abroad to arrange that in January, but yes, that's something that we will have to roll with if our attempts to sell them in January are unsuccsessful.

It wouldn't be a nightmare if we had to keep them for a further six months imo, both have at least some utility that will come in useful during the remainder of the season.
 
Joey66 said:
PSR leaves them very limited on what they can splash out, but ridding players may help? - our youth policy is damming - anyone decent sold or sent out on loan is a disaster IMO ....
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PSR my arse, imo.

There are so many workarounds. Not least the old fashioned tactic of selling a player so that you can then by a new one.

Getting decent cash for Beto and Doucoure means having a decent transfer budget without any investment whatsoever.
 
GoldenToffee said:
Probably need £200m of investment before start of next season. Incredibly interested in seeing how on earth they manage that. A good chunk of that needs to be invested next month given our precarious position in the league.

I think Gueye is looking good enough to offer a further year, but surely the likes of Coleman and Young need to be off. I'd go back in for Mangala for a year, not going to get better on loan.
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Spending £200m, we’d fail PSR by a mile, even if we sold every first team player first. Even with our new infinite money tree, it will take a few seasons to be allowed to spend that much. Possibly 2 if JB wakes up and we pull someone’s trousers down, and we get some corking sponsorship deals.

It’s going to be a long road back. But we will finally be facing in the right direction.
 
Dymak said:
PSR my arse, imo.

There are so many workarounds. Not least the old fashioned tactic of selling a player so that you can then by a new one.

Getting decent cash for Beto and Doucoure means having a decent transfer budget without any investment whatsoever.
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Those workarounds don’t work for the likes of us. We were almost blamed for a once in a lifetime pandemic and a war thousands of miles away.
 

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