GK
Tricky area for me, we of course have Pickford, who I personally consider a very good GK, prone to the odd howler, but I think hes more than good enough for what we wish to do. An ever-present in goal, so thankfully we havent had to rely on Stekkers at all, which is always good. As for next season, what do we do, do we retain Stekkers and hope that young Virginia can put some pressure on Pickford, prevent complacency from Pickford and hope and pray we never have to rely on Stekkers or do we use some of our very limited funds to get in a proper number 2? I would be going with option A myself, but it depends what sort of GK Brands can pick us up. Other than that im reasonably happy with this area of the pitch and as far as first team is concerned we are pretty much ok.
RB
60 grand I say. I honestly thought he was done, but the last few weeks the old Seamus has returned, but, he will be 31 in October, a nothing age for your modern football, but as above with Pickford, might we benefit from getting in somebody to keep him on his toes? Which brings me to JJK, hasnt really shown the talent he did when ive watched him for England and Everton yoot, not saying hes been really bad, but he looked very good going forward, something we have yet to see from him for us. I would be getting in somebody else and giving JJK a loan somewhere. He really needs games at his age and I consider it the best thing for at this stage in his career, hopefully he can really kick on and return a much-improved player.
LB
Imagine watching 1 of the better LBs in the league for 5 or 6 years, then when father time caught up to him you then find yourself with another 1. Lucas Digne, footballer. I also would be offering Baines a 12 month on reduced wages, cant think of many players able to slot him as back up. This of course depends on the likes of Robinson, who from what I gather has had a tough time out on loan and hasnt really kicked on as much as we would have liked. The other names here arent really worth considering.
CB
Unlike Baines, I personally wouldnt be offering Jags another contract. I love him, but hes 37 in August. Mina, sadly we have yet to see what he has to offer, hes been very up and down and sadly very injured, early days yet tho. Keane has been much improved this season, still turns like the QE2, but as I say has really improved and we could certainly do a lot worse. Talk of retaining Zooms pleases me, I just like him for some reason, even tho I really shouldnt, due to his ability to sometimes walk around the pitch like somebody whos wondering if they left the iron on. Holgate has played at RB out on loan and was very impressive at times. I see his future more as a CB myself and with Keane, Mina, Zooms and Holgate I would be fairly happy.
Engine room
Lots of players here, lets start with those I would be looking at moving on. McCarthy, Snides, Besic, Dowell, Williams, Connolly, Gana. Gana you say? Has the weapon lost it? Well no, I wouldnt be looking at moving him on, I just think he will look to move on, im sure im wrong, I often am. I almost put Beni in this list, but instead another loan is best for him at his age. The likes of Dowell and Williams I think will really struggle to break into the team any time soon and at some point, you either move them on or play them.
Andre Gomes is football sex, provided we retain him that leaves us with Iceland, TomTom, Gomes and Vlasic, which means we would need at least 1 other CM. Ideally we would need 2 if we did manage to ship out all the others, which is unlikely, so in that case we retain the best of them. I mean I cant say I know for sure what Williams, Connolly, Dowell or Beni even are.
Widers
The 2 boys from Brazil are just superb, they really are. Walcott started the season off reasonably well, but sadly looks spent, along with Lookman who must be robbing Marcos milk from the fridge or something, I can see both moving on. Hopefully we get a work permit for Henry, which means we would probably need another Right Winger/Forward. Im just gonna pretend Mirallas and Bolasie arent a thing.
ST
Harry Calvert Kane, a massive improvement from the boy this season, leading the line well, but we probably need a little extra here. Tosun doesnt really look the answer and Niasse isnt even a footballer. Sandro and Tarashjai are a thing.
So the tl:dr version.
In an ideal world we would buy the following players.
GK to put pressure on Pickford
RB to put pressure on Coleman
CB if Holgate isnt the answer
CM x 2, depending on Gana/Gomes
RW
ST x 2
I cant imagine we will sign 8 players and the above is a complete ideal world, a world in which we sell/loan everybody we dont need. Some areas, as I say above we could "make do". Something to consider is I havent named any of the yoots. We need a pathway for some of them to break through, we wont know if they are good enough if they never get a chance. Anyway, im sure Brands has all this sorted.
