….pretty much what
@Nymzee posted about us being in ‘the pits money-wise’. If it happens, I seriously doubt it’ll be a football based decision.
No management in the world sells a player like Branthwaite in these circumstances.
Both Thelwell and Dyche would be risking their necks. It would be all on them as well because even if the board wanted to sell, the manager and DOF have other assets to move on first.
They would have to fall on their swords or id hope the fans would turn.
….not if the decision to cash-in on Branthwaite is entirely out of his hands. I don’t think we can assume this would be a football decision & we certainly can’t assume it would be Dyche’s decision unless he says it was down to him.
Dyche dumped Keane in favour of Mina and Coady, so I doubt he’s wanting to rely on him next season.
It would 100% be on Dyche and Thelwell.
Im confident other teams would pay fees for Maupay, Keane (who were both on their way in January), Godfrey and Holgate (who had offers the past 2 summers).
If no one would cover their wages then we could easily sell them for fees and separately cover the wage difference for 2 seasons. This would inject instant cash on the books and benefit FFP.
It would be mad to sell him without seeing what he can do in the prem. He simply cannot be any worse than Keane or holgate.
If he’s not ready for prem this year then extend the contract for a year and loan him out in the championship and gauge from there.
Unless someone offers 40m ( which won’t happen) we should be keeping him
The first act of business should be extending his contract to 5 years and telling him he'll be starting next to Tarkowski.
He's the exact profile of player that changes the fortunes of the team long term. A comparable player in Europe costs north of £25mil with exceptional scouting.
Posters are belittling what he has achieved over the past season. If he was sold for £40mil after preseason then there could be some merit to it...but not before he has a chance as a starter in the first match of 2023/24 season.
2 first 11 signings?
As a bare minimum we need a centre forward and a centre back for the first 11. Then ideally a left back and winger too. Then a couple more squad players.
We absolutely need a CF and RW signed which is where the majority of funds should go.
But we certainly dont need a starting centre back when Tarkowski and Branthwaite are there. We have 3 first team centre backs on top of them and Welch who has been in the match day squads.
We actually need to sell 2 before even considering signing any more centre backs.
A left back on loan/free makes sense as does a midfielder as backup.
1st eleven = CF / RW.
2nd eleven = DM / LB
Theres no reason to pursue yet another failed scattergun approach to signings.
