As a few of us were derailing the Marco Silva thread discussing his previous and our future transfer business it seemed appropriate to open a new thread...put simply who
should go this summer and who
will likely go?
I've gone with the 'popular' opinion on the below although of course there will be disagreements over whether some players deserve or should be given another season etc.
Of course there will never be this amount of player departures but it does make interesting and somewhat alarming viewing...
The ones 'no one' will miss -- 18 Players
Keepers -- Robles (Free) / Stekelenburg / Hewelt
Defenders -- Browning / Garbutt / Pennington / Galloway / Cuco / Mangala (loan) / Williams
Midfield -- McCarthy / Tarashaj / Grant / Mirallas / Besic / Klaassen
Attack -- Henen (Gone) / Sandro
The noticeable departures -- 7 players
Keepers --
Defenders -- Keane / Mori / Jagielka / Baines
Midfield -- Bolasie / Schneiderlin / Rooney
Attack --
Remaining Squad
Pickford / ??? / ???
Coleman / Kenny -- Holgate / Feeney -- ??? / ??? -- ??? / Robinson
Gana / Baningime / Connolly -- ??? / Davies
Walcott / Dowell -- Sigurdsson / Vlasic -- Lookman / Onyekuru
??? / Niasse / Tosun / DCL
Minimum Additions
1st eleven -- LCB / LB / CM / CF
2nd eleven -- LCB / GK /GK
Conclusions
Admittedly of course this is more 'Football Manager' (or whatever FIFA is) than reality, it shows that even removing twenty five players from our squad would only require seven additions. This in itself is extremely alarming and shows what a disgraceful last two years under Koeman's stewardship has reaped.
Given that we are going to have a limited budget to buy new players, and the new players we buy will need to be quality starters able to help us bridge the gap to the top 6, here are my alterations.
(2)Keepers -- Pickford is the undisputed first choice but we need someone to push him to perform at the top level at the game as well as an up and coming keeper. I don't think that anyone will really argue on this position.
Just Robles to go, perhaps Hewelt. Stek to stay. Unless we can get Robles to somehow sign a new contract.
(1)Central Defence -- Of course we will never be left with only Holgate and Feeney as the central options. One of Jagielka, Mori or Keane is likely to stay with another signing needed here who needs to be the leader at the back and a top player...ideally a figurehead of the defence.
Getting rid of all of them is not feasible Zat, as much as we would want it to happen. We don't have the budget and, as good a prospect as Feeney is, I think he definitely could do with a season on loan first. I'd get rid of Williams obviously, but keep Jags for another year as 4th cover until Feeney is ready to take his place. I'd sell either Keane or Funes Mori to raise funds towards the cost of his replacement.
(1)Left Back -- Baines is the key here. If he leaves do we sign 2 new players or promote someone (Robinson/Connolly) as the 'reserve/rotation' option? Otherwise we do need a top starting player.
Depends who we bring in. If young or from outside premier, we may need Baines to rotate to help new guy settle in. If not, we could sell baines and have Robinson as back up as you suggest. I don't think we'll get value for money buying from the Prem so I'd be inclined to bring somebody in from Europe and keep Baines as back up, maybe until January.
(0)Defensive Midfield -- Gana and Baningime have impressed when tasked with roles which suit them (press/harry/tackle) and should easily fill one position here along with utility player Connolly
I think we need two new players across the midfield. One a box to box strong runner and one a playmaker. Gana I would very much keep and Siggy too, along with the youngsters. I'd sell Besic, Schneids and McCarthy (subject to fitness). Undecided on Klaassen as he may fit better into our new style of football. But if we could recoup a lot of what we paid I'd probably be inclined to sell.
(2)Central Midfield -- I cant remember the last effective central midfielder we had who could play the box to box role unless we go back to the Premier League olden days of Speed (RIP), Dacourt, Huchinson and Parkinson. Perhaps Arteta is the most recent player who filled this role although not a traditional box to box player. We do have Davies who can eventually blossom here but I feel we
ideally need two signings for this position.
(2)Attacking Midfield -- With the experience of Walcott and Sigurdsson as well as the talents of Lookman, Dowell and Vlasic we look quite good here for numbers if Onyekuru receives a work permit. I do however think we should be loaning two of the younger players and signing another two high profile younger players who are more likely to push themselves as starters and create competition.
I'd get shut of Bolasie and Mirallas. Not sure Onyekuru will get a work permit and, if not, I'd bring in another player for out wide. Dowell would come into the squad.
(1) Forward -- Some would want Niasse to leave but you cant argue with his numbers, ten starts and eight goals. Tosun also seems lethal and the opposite can be said of the highly promising DCL who needs more work on his finishing. We do lack a super centre forward on a par with the top 6 teams and Brands needs to find one.
I don't think we need 4 strikers if we are playing with pacey wide players. If we brought another striker in I'd get rid of Niasse, but I don't want to do this as I think he's proven himself to be very effective from the bench. I'd stick with what we have for next season then see what we need the following season depending on DCLs development and Tosun too of course. I think both will flourish in a new attacking style of play with the wide players and midfielders supporting them.
So, to conclude if we jettisoned 24 players from the first team we would require 9 new players.
So my scenario would involve jettisoning fewer players and bringing in 5. I even know which 5 I want to bring in now.
Centre Back Dayet Upamecano (19 France) R B Leipzig
Left Back Alex Grimaldo (22 Spain) Benfica
Centre Mid Tanguy Ndombele (21 France) Lyon
Attack Mid Hakim Ziyech (25 Morocco) Ajax
Wide Justin Kluivert (19 Holland) Ajax
3 of these are young but have performed to a high standard at a decent level so I don't believe they are a high risk, but neither will they cost as much we would have to pay for a Koulibaly or Carvalho
The squad would be
Keepers, Pickford, Stek
FBs Coleman, Kenny, Grimaldo, Baines, Robinson
CBs Holgate, Funes Mori, Upamecano, Jags,
CMs Gana, Beni, Siggy, Ndombele, Davies
AMs Lookman, Ziyech, Kluivert, Vlasic, Dowell, Walcott
Strikers Tosun, DCL, Niasse
That's a very manageable squad of 27, full of youth, pace and attacking intent that would fit Silva's pressing style perfectly.
This seems highly unlikely and I'm sure Brands, Silva (or even both) may see certain qualities in some players which they feel may work well in the new system and style of play.
My personal view is that if we did make wholesale changes then we would only need 4 starting players as well as 4 or 5 rotation/development options. This seems doable to me, especially with 2 being keepers.
I'm not naïve enough to expect top 4 after wholesale changes or to think we may not struggle initially. However with the right signings made I would hope Brands 'Sweeps the leg' and puts his stamp on the squad.
Circa 100 million pounds in sales and possibly 100million in Moshiri's money to sign 6 or 7 outfield players...
I for one hope that Brands goes all in.
