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Summer transfer window 2023

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Centre back was the least of our worries last season
I don't think it was anyway but even if it was we've lost two of the players who were playing there so it doesn't mean its the same this time. Obviously we all know about the need for a striker but it seems a bit like people have got blinkers on about it and can't see anything else when the squad needs improvements just about everywhere imo.
 
I mean, he is leaving Man United, and he is 30. He won’t be expecting his same wages. He will be taking a huge cut.

We do need a new CB though. Ideally with 2 out (Keane and Holgate) with 1 coming in.

Once a striker is confirmed though as that is the priority.

If his contract isn't up, why would he take a wage cut ?

Maybe United take a loss and cover some of them - but he's not going to personally / voluntarily lose money is he ?
 
He'd be a great signing - but he's on 250k a week isn't he? Never happening.

I also really want to see Branthwaite develop - I'd be more inclined to go for a stop gap like Johnny Evans on a free this season and let Branthwaite be given time to grow into the role if he can.

Holgate is gone, Keane is nowhere near good enough...so we definitely need one more in.
He isn't good enough but he still had better numbers than Maguire did last season and they both played a similar amount of mins. Too many fans are falling into the Kenwright trap of "He plays for a top 6 club so he must be good" imo. Don't even get me started on the age/wages side of it, do our fans not understand what our problems are?
 

Absolutely no issues with Maguire for his ability & leadership qualities - I just don't see how we can budget for his wages in our current situation 🤷‍♂️
Agree, would suit Dyche’s style much better than a higher line at United, Maguire is excellence when the defence drops deep. Like you said, just can’t see how we fund it and we almost certainly should be spending that kind of money on attackers which we need as an absolute priority.
 
If his contract isn't up, why would he take a wage cut ?

Maybe United take a loss and cover some of them - but he's not going to personally / voluntarily lose money is he ?
To ensure he is playing football so he remains in the England team. To ensure he gets a certain length contract at his new club as at 30 he will likely still get 4 years.

If united want him out, then they pay off part of his contract for the final year to get him out, so they save money and new club are willing to take him etc.

He makes nearly a million a month, there’s probably a point when making half that a month won’t make much difference to him, and I’d assume he is past that point.
 
This exactly.
Last season the league was so strong that the likes of West Ham and Leicester were struggling, both of which were comfortable top half teams the season before. It was actually a monumental effort from us to stay up considering our issues and lack of firepower.

This season we have teams like Sheffield United who have just lost their star striker and lacked quality anyway. Luton who don't seem to have any kind of budget to spend. Bournemouth who haven't really improved the quality of their team and will look to play a completely different style which could go either way but more likely to be to their detriment given that they had to be perfect last season to stay up. Burnley who could be last seasons Fulham but I personally don't think they have quite as much about them as Fulham did.

Fulham havnt seemed to improve a great deal player wise and seem to have some issues with players wanting to leave. Then you've got Forest who could suffer from second season syndrome too having only signed Elanga so far who has yet to prove he is actually good enough at premier league level.

I think the league is significantly weaker. If we can just somehow get a few more good attacking options over the line, then I don't think I would be too worried about us at all next season. Because we know we are solid defensively and just a 5-10 percent improvement in attack would make a world of difference.
Agree with this, especially the first part. Last year was a freakish year. I honestly think in most PL seasons that went before even Southampton survive with what they had. Surviving it from where we were when Dyche came in is pretty remarkable.

When you look at where Leicester were in 21/22 to getting relegated in 22/23 merely after a summer of standing still you see how much the standard at both ends has been rocketing forward, standing still was going backwards fast.

Think this summer that trend is maybe at an end, looks like some chickens are coming home to roost elsewhere and the unsustainable arms race is slowing down, plus Luton and Sheffield don't have the quality of the teams going down. I don't think the overall standard will improve (at the bottom end anyway) this summer, for probably the first summer in a few. Steady improvement, particular at the top end of the pitch, should be enough for us. But we still need to make sure that happens.
 


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