Summer 2022 Transfer Window

[ErwinK1961]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Dortmund set the release clause though!

Its a huge wedge of money for them ultimately, should be interesting to see how they spend it and what it does for their competitiveness in the Bundesliga.

Getting Adeyemi from Salzburg

[verlaine1979]

Dortmund's model is great, but probably only plausible in Germany. They can pretty much guarantee any promising 20 year old they want from any league in the world a couple of seasons of high profile, Champion's League football at a well-run club, and then an easy pathway to sale when the time comes. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

19 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Dortmund's model is great, but probably only plausible in Germany. They can pretty much guarantee any promising 20 year old they want from any league in the world a couple of seasons of high profile, Champion's League football at a well-run club, and then an easy pathway to sale when the time comes. 

With Livramento and Broja, I think the club are replacing CL with Premier League, in that statement, as being us.

[verlaine1979]

45 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

With Livramento and Broja, I think the club are replacing CL with Premier League, in that statement, as being us.

Not sure how high-profile we are tbh. A few years of PL shop window is a good selling point, but our form over the past few years has been so inconsistent that I'm sure it will give some of our targets pause.

Edited 20 April, 2022 by verlaine1979

[Holmes_and_Watson]

9 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Not sure how high-profile we are tbh. A few years of PL shop window is a good selling point, but our form over the past few years has been so inconsistent that I'm sure it will give some of our targets pause.

It was really the Premier League being the selling point in my comment, more than our form in it.

🙂B

Although we've been back in it for a while. As we show that The Pathway works with those two, we might attract more talent. That will hopefully push us upwards and we attract even better talent. I think the club were going to try and position us as an alternative to German Football. One other advantage is that they move from us to a top 4/6 club having played in the same league. So less transition time/issues.

[verlaine1979]

11 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

It was really the Premier League being the selling point in my comment, more than our form in it.

🙂B

Although we've been back in it for a while. As we show that The Pathway works with those two, we might attract more talent. That will hopefully push us upwards and we attract even better talent. I think the club were going to try and position us as an alternative to German Football. One other advantage is that they move from us to a top 4/6 club having played in the same league. So less transition time/issues.

Fair points - we have to start from somewhere. The main thing we need now is enough cash for a few of them to fail. You can't build a model in which every youngster you recruit turns into a sellable asset, which is what we had to do during our one-in-one-out era. Hopefully the new owners will give us enough room to speculate a little. One Haaland or Sancho pays for a lot of Emre Mor and Maximillian Philipp etc.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Fair points ...

Yay! I made a fair point! Pulls shirt over head...runs round lounge...hits door and falls over....owwww... 😊

[pimpin4rizeal]

On 20/04/2022 at 10:10, Saint86 said:

I'd be very surprised if city let Delap go out with an option to buy!

Why? If they are getting haaland chances of delap breaking through for them is looking bleak.

But I’d rather we concentrate on players that will benefit us in the long run, not raising the value of players for other clubs like we did with broja..

I thought the whole point of buying youngsters was for buy low sell high potential.. if it’s only a loan it doesn’t really give us any gain and then we are left with a hole to replace 

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Why? If they are getting haaland chances of delap breaking through for them is looking bleak.

But I’d rather we concentrate on players that will benefit us in the long run, not raising the value of players for other clubs like we did with broja..

I thought the whole point of buying youngsters was for buy low sell high potential.. if it’s only a loan it doesn’t really give us any gain and then we are left with a hole to replace 

Do you feel as though we haven't gained from having Broja here?

[Pwoite]

14 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Do you feel as though we haven't gained from having Broja here?

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

[stevy777_x]

54 minutes ago, Pwoite said:

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

Adam Armstrong is fucking shit don t make any excuses towards his shiftiness on Broja taking his place.

Of course we have gained, we are still in PL FFS. It wasn t a given gad we had AA in the starting line up all season instead

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Pwoite said:

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

I think that we gained that early form from him, that AA might not have managed. Broja would also have had to show his ability in training. AA had chances to retain his spot.

I will caveat the above by saying that I think the club are *very* keen to play Livra and Broja. Even on loan, Broja shows we will play talented youngsters, and keep them in the team. It is a year long loan. But other players will be looking and thinking they could sign for us for 2 seasons, of a 4 year deal, and get sold upwards. That's going to improve us both in immediate talent and sell ons to attract better players.

Despite a more recent lack of goals, I think Broja's strengths give us a better shape, and an outlet that others might not.

So, some gains there.

I hope AA comes good. I recall an instinctive effort in an early game from him. But I'd pick Broja ahead of him. I'm less convinced with Tella (not much experience) or Long (bags of experience) to be the main striker. Long certainly has things he's excellent at.  Regular finishing might not be one of them.

Depending on what we do over the summer, AA will get chances again.

[Saint_clark]

I'd take Nketiah on a free tbh.

[Saint_clark]

Wrong thread.

Edited 21 April, 2022 by Saint_clark

[TWar]

We need investment at the business ends of the pitch. Cbs are struggling and strikers don't score. All very well having good fullbacks and center mids but if we don't have quality in the most important positions we will struggle.

Bednarek out, Broja returned, new CB and new CF. A good 10 would be nice too.

[S-Clarke]

9 minutes ago, TWar said:

We need investment at the business ends of the pitch. Cbs are struggling and strikers don't score. All very well having good fullbacks and center mids but if we don't have quality in the most important positions we will struggle.

Bednarek out, Broja returned, new CB and new CF. A good 10 would be nice too.

Number 10 is more than a nice to have, it's a fundamental must for the summer.

At the moment we have to hope Armstrong is fit and in form, then it works. If he's not available or having a poor game then we have nothing. Redmond, Elyounoussi, Moussa, Theo all need to go. Two new wide number 10's with pace who can actually change a game will make a huge difference to us.

Edited 21 April, 2022 by S-Clarke

[TWar]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Number 10 is more than a nice to have, it's a fundamental must for the summer.

At the moment we have to hope Armstrong is fit and in form, then it works. If he's not available or having a poor game then we have nothing. Redmond, Elyounoussi, Moussa, Theo all need to go. Two new wide number 10's with pace who can actually change a game will make a huge difference to us.

Yeah, a good 10 is important. Probably more so than a keeper. But 6 goals from our CF isn't enough, that's relegation form. Likewise our cbs are appalling right now. 

[Baird of the land]

11 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Number 10 is more than a nice to have, it's a fundamental must for the summer.

At the moment we have to hope Armstrong is fit and in form, then it works. If he's not available or having a poor game then we have nothing. Redmond, Elyounoussi, Moussa, Theo all need to go. Two new wide number 10's with pace who can actually change a game will make a huge difference to us.

I'd do hope we get a good 10 in. However i'm struggling to understand Ralph's persistence with the starting both Armstrong & Elyounessi. Redmond as he showed tonight has the ability to cause teams problems even if he's not perfect. Equally imo a game like tonight was screaming out for the direct running of Tella.

[The Kraken]

16 minutes ago, TWar said:

We need investment at the business ends of the pitch. Cbs are struggling and strikers don't score. All very well having good fullbacks and center mids but if we don't have quality in the most important positions we will struggle.

Bednarek out, Broja returned, new CB and new CF. A good 10 would be nice too.

I’d add a CM into the mix. I love Romeu but he’s 30 now and often playing in a 2 man midfield, and he’s played 30 games this season in the league alone. Not sustainable going forward.  Diallo isn’t like for like for Romeu, and Ralph has only started him 8 times this season in the league. Our central midfield seems to be either brilliant or not quite on it. Tonight, the latter.

There are improvements that could be made almost all over the pitch. Full back is ok, but everywhere else you could point at a player who isn’t quite good enough and/or the strength in depth isn’t there. Broja has been off colour for too long, he needs to be replaced, but there’s just not enough behind him. JWP and Romeu, the same. Central defence is an utter mess and minus Salisu, all three are not good enough for a side with aspirations of breaking the top ten.

So, yeah. Where to start?!

[ErwinK1961]

2 x GK, CB, CDM, 2x 10’s, ST (maybe 2).

7-8 signings needed. Not going to happen.

[pimpin4rizeal]

6 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Do you feel as though we haven't gained from having Broja here?

I don’t think we would have got relegated without him anyway so not sure about really gaining.

And it is possible his presence in the team could have stopped the likes of tella or someone else stepping in..

overall though it’s frustrating to see such a top talent like broja just pass through and we make nothing financially.. Ralph did say at one stage we couldn’t afford broja at start of season.. but maybe we did our money on Armstrong instead ?

[pimpin4rizeal]

6 hours ago, Pwoite said:

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

Agree good post

[Lighthouse]

6 hours ago, Pwoite said:

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

Yes. We've gained because we've had a better player in our team; a team which many people were tipping for a relegation fight at the start of the season. You've answered your own point with the BIB; he gave us some important goals and points earlier in the season, so undeniably we've gained that from him being here.

None of your downsides are really downsides. Those players aren't playing because they quite simply aren't good enough. With Broja's recent form they've had a golden opportunity to get back into the side and none of them have. Armstrong is a modern day Rasiak or Rob Earnshaw, Long couldn't get a game in the Championship last season and Tella is well on the way to being the next Josh Sims.

[Midfield_General]

14 hours ago, Pwoite said:

On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong

 

For me, that’s very much a positive. 

[Turkish]

9 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

2 x GK, CB, CDM, 2x 10’s, ST (maybe 2).

7-8 signings needed. Not going to happen.

Especially as we’d need to sell to fund some if not all of it, so you’d need to replace those players as well. So talking probably 9-10 signings 

[hypochondriac]

10 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

2 x GK, CB, CDM, 2x 10’s, ST (maybe 2).

7-8 signings needed. Not going to happen.

Ridiculous. We need 1 x gk, 1 x 10 and one maybe 2 strikers. Maybe a cm So 4 or 5 signings. 

[Roo1976]

15 hours ago, Pwoite said:

Interesting question. If he returns to Chelsea, as seems likely, then what have we gained. Yes, a few key goals, and points, and it would be worth seeing quite how much they amount to, and in January Armando was on fire. Since then, well, what?

 

They are the positives. On the downside, he has taken a place that could have gone to Adam Armstrong, to further his potential, or Long or Tella or even someone from the B team, that would have increased their experience, skill and value. As a result of Broja's presence, AA has become a lonely, forgotten squad member and his career has been set back, perhaps irreversibly. Longer term, has the club truly gained?

 

Same thoughts here about Armstrong. Until Brojas burst onto the scene AA should IMO have been given more time to gel with the team setup and maybe,just maybe might now be more of a goal threat that more fans would have hoped hes turned out to be. He should (aa) be playing the remainder of the games (yet again IMO )in case we get out bid for Broja, as im sure we will ,and whats more would he be worth a big money punt given the fact hes been anonymous over the last 7-8 games for us?. Even  Longs been preferred to AA all be it minutes to go rather than 45 plus minutes,daft. Our summer recruitment and scouting needs to be bloody good and we need manager with proactive plans A and B and for gods sake stop trying to be clever and tinker around with formations that the team dont seem to be able to grasp.

One more moan...............why does JWP play so deep and almost just above the center circle?.When hes been picked for England hes right in the thick of it on the outside of the oppositions box?, totally frustrating, if hes back to cover for the ageing legs of Romeu, play a younger fitter Diallio or try and trust Djenepo or Redmond. Too many passengers in the squad atm .

[Dman]

41 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Ridiculous. We need 1 x gk, 1 x 10 and one maybe 2 strikers. Maybe a cm So 4 or 5 signings. 

Agreed, imo we need in the below order: 

Keep one, replace one - GK

Striker

CB & a creative winger / 10 

tbh, give our situation I’d happily extend FF for another year to allow us to shop elsewhere to improve the squad. 
 

Striker, ideally keep Broja, that seems unlikely, so I’d say a new striker is essential. 
 

CB, I’d try and ship Bednerak off. Doesn’t need to be someone expensive. I’d rather an older experienced head, if I’m honest. 
 

We could do with a back up to Romeu. 
 

I’d be looking to shift, McCarthy, Bednerak, Redmond, Djenepo, Theo, long and even A Armstrong if we get an offer what we paid for him. 
 

Big summer ahead, as we’ve been saying for the past 4 years. 

[TWar]

Essential:

• Striker
• CB
• 10

Highly desired

• GK
• CM

Would be good if left over budget

• Another 10
• Another CB

Perfect (and impossible tbh) window would be players like Taiwo Awoniyi, Caleta-Car, De Frutos, Sangare, and Henderson.

Cheaper options would be something like Joel Piroe, Anjorin, Worrall (if Forest don't come up), Matt Grimes, Johnstone, and previously unknown youth players from bigger sides. Be cool to see us have a look somewhere in between these two.

Edited 22 April, 2022 by TWar

[ErwinK1961]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Ridiculous. We need 1 x gk, 1 x 10 and one maybe 2 strikers. Maybe a cm So 4 or 5 signings. 

As it stands, McCarthy is the only senior GK here next season. All others are out of contract. So we will need two (one could be a young prospect).

Djenepo, Redmond and Walcott are all allegedly up for sale. That leaves us with Moi and Armstrong who are both pretty average (plus Tella who doesn’t seem to get a look in). We need two options here if we want to progress.

Defence has been a constant issue for several seasons. If you’re content with the 4 CB’s we currently have, fair enough. Three of them aren’t good enough to start regularly for a side who wants anything other than bottom third dross. We need an improvement here. 

Broja will be off in the summer, so we need to replace him and Long. Again, could get a young prospect as one of the two.

We have no replacement for Romeu if he’s injured. Plus he’s getting on a bit in the role we’re asking him to play. This area needs attention. Question marks still out on Diallo and Smallbone could do with a loan.

Do I expect this to happen, no. It’s what we need if we want to progress though. 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[vectraman]

11 hours ago, Dman said:

Agreed, imo we need in the below order: 

Keep one, replace one - GK

Striker

CB & a creative winger / 10 

tbh, give our situation I’d happily extend FF for another year to allow us to shop elsewhere to improve the squad. 
 

Striker, ideally keep Broja, that seems unlikely, so I’d say a new striker is essential. 
 

CB, I’d try and ship Bednerak off. Doesn’t need to be someone expensive. I’d rather an older experienced head, if I’m honest. 
 

We could do with a back up to Romeu. 
 

I’d be looking to shift, McCarthy, Bednerak, Redmond, Djenepo, Theo, long and even A Armstrong if we get an offer what we paid for him. 
 

Big summer ahead, as we’ve been saying for the past 4 years. 

Can’t disagree with most of your thinking there.

 

We absolutely must have:-

A first choice keeper. Not Forster. For 4.5 years we have regretted having him on a reputed 75k a week. He is not suddenly a world beater. He has had a few good games granted, but he really isn’t all that. Flapped at Leeds, flapped last night when Burnley scored the disallowed 3rd goal ( I mean he just flapped the ball straight at Rodriguez, and by luck it was disallowed. Totally crap keeping). As a keeper you should be pushing the ball out to the sides to safety. Even against Chelsea, he flaps the ball back into the danger zone but people say great save…..I’m not fooled. Criticise me if you want but I’m sorry he is just not the answer to our keeper problem. 
 

A starting quality centre back. Salisu on his day is decent (been awful recently, I think he’s thinking he’s off to greater pastures….) no one else is a good enough quality starter. Need an experienced CB, not some nipper who can have a sell on value one day, maybe. Evans at Leicester as an example. Of the type of player we need. Experienced head, knows what it’s about, can help our younger players improve.

 

Assuming Broja can’t be retained we need a striker. No idea who or where from. But with Che on 7 goals, JWP on 7 and Broja on 6, the bar isn’t high….However, I think our strikers struggle due to lack of decent service…..leading us nicely onto…

 

A creative number 10. We haven’t got one. In fantasy land a pacey player, who can take on and beat someone and play a quality through ball/cross. A Mahrez type player, but for £10 million…..not asking much I know 🤣.

 

As a Saints fan, I know we could do with all of the above. But…..

If I was the Saints owner, I’d be in this quandary. We may finish between 10th and 15th. Prize Money difference £10 million. Invest £50/60/70 million to gain maybe 5 premier league places (£10 million). No. Makes no financial sense at all. That is I believe the issue. There is nothing to gain by investing bigger, realistically you aren’t going to get better than 8th regardless, unless you put in hundreds of millions. Which we never ever will. 
So survive, stay up, is all we ever will strive for. Sorry that’s my logical head, and I can’t see anyway it’ll be anything but this…

Mediocrity until we go down. Which we will. I want to be wrong, I’m a Saints fan. Please someone tell me why my outlook is wrong. Genuinely!

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, vectraman said:

…flapped last night when Burnley scored the disallowed 3rd goal ( I mean he just flapped the ball straight at Rodriguez, and by luck it was disallowed. Totally crap keeping). As a keeper you should be pushing the ball out to the sides to safety.

Ian Whittell in The Times doesn’t agree with you. I wouldn’t qui Go as far as him and I though Forster might have done better with their disallowed effort but he did have two opposition players right in his face with no defenders anywhere to be seen.

“Two first-half goals would have been far more but for a stunning display from the Southampton goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, and an indifferent one from his outfield team-mates.”

”…and nine minutes later he made an equally stunning goalline save to keep out a Rodriguez header”

“…when Rodriguez and Cork scrambled the ball in after another superb Forster save, but VAR ruled it fractionally offside.”

 

[Baird of the land]

For me the main needs are Gk(we’ve only one under contract), DM (our only one is over 30 and needs refreshing) & striker (we’ll be losing both  broja & long with Armstrong having struggled to adapt too)

i also think 10 is important( personally I like Armstrong and I like tella. You’d hope we could shift a couple of djenepo/Walcott/Redmond/ elyounessi

I don’t see cb that high on the list unless we sell salisu(I hope not), we sell bednarek(yes please)

[VectisSaint]

On 21/04/2022 at 22:12, The Kraken said:

I’d add a CM into the mix. I love Romeu but he’s 30 now and often playing in a 2 man midfield, and he’s played 30 games this season in the league alone. Not sustainable going forward.  Diallo isn’t like for like for Romeu, and Ralph has only started him 8 times this season in the league. Our central midfield seems to be either brilliant or not quite on it. Tonight, the latter.

There are improvements that could be made almost all over the pitch. Full back is ok, but everywhere else you could point at a player who isn’t quite good enough and/or the strength in depth isn’t there. Broja has been off colour for too long, he needs to be replaced, but there’s just not enough behind him. JWP and Romeu, the same. Central defence is an utter mess and minus Salisu, all three are not good enough for a side with aspirations of breaking the top ten.

So, yeah. Where to start?!

Spot on, though I would go further, CM is actually the highest priority. We have been found out, and when our 2 CMs are not at the top of their game we are easily outplayed, not least by opponents outnumbering us in the middle. We need to be able to go 3 in the middle at times and for that we need another 'first choice' as well as a decent backup (Diallo is not that player, good as he is). Our CBs are all mediocre (including Salisu who has shown recently to be as error prone as any), but on their day with good cover in front of them are adequate. Our strikers are not really the issue either, it is the lack of service as much as anything. Adding in CM (not replacing) with quality has to be top priority over the summer, if nothing else we need to have the 2 in every position that is often talked about but for some reason seems to be overlooked in these crucial positions.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

17 hours ago, vectraman said:

If I was the Saints owner, I’d be in this quandary. We may finish between 10th and 15th. Prize Money difference £10 million. Invest £50/60/70 million to gain maybe 5 premier league places (£10 million). No. Makes no financial sense at all. That is I believe the issue. There is nothing to gain by investing bigger, realistically you aren’t going to get better than 8th regardless, unless you put in hundreds of millions. Which we never ever will. 

So survive, stay up, is all we ever will strive for. Sorry that’s my logical head, and I can’t see anyway it’ll be anything but this…

Mediocrity until we go down. Which we will. I want to be wrong, I’m a Saints fan. Please someone tell me why my outlook is wrong. Genuinely!

Your outlook is correct, but you can just accept it and enjoy supporting the club

[vectraman]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Your outlook is correct, but you can just accept it and enjoy supporting the club

Wise words 👍😀

[SuperSAINT]

The one that got away…

 

[S-Clarke]

22 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

The one that got away…

 

I think he was much more the profile of player we needed to be honest, Diallo is decent but a totally different type of player than we needed at the time I think. Diallo is more of a work in progress, whereas I think Sanagre with his physicality would have been more of an instant hit. Hopefully we get a player like that over the line this summer.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

On 22/04/2022 at 10:35, TWar said:

Essential:

• Striker
• CB
• 10

Highly desired

• GK
• CM

Would be good if left over budget

• Another 10
• Another CB

Perfect (and impossible tbh) window would be players like Taiwo Awoniyi, Caleta-Car, De Frutos, Sangare, and Henderson.

Cheaper options would be something like Joel Piroe, Anjorin, Worrall (if Forest don't come up), Matt Grimes, Johnstone, and previously unknown youth players from bigger sides. Be cool to see us have a look somewhere in between these two.

 

Of the squad we have. (Contract expiries in brackets.)

GK - I'd not mind seeing Forster (22) stay, but it seems very likely he'll be going. McCarthy (?) as #2. Caballero (22) and Lewis (22) going too.
Full Back - KWP (25) & Perraud (25) to start, with lots of Livramento (26) minutes. Small (24) as developing back up. Ramsay (23) and Vokins (24) probably surplus now.
CB - Salisu (23) either signs an extension or the club should try to sell him. That leaves Bednarak (25), Lynaco (25), Stephens (?) & Valery (23)
CM - JWP (26) but, as with Salisu, Romeu (23) extends or the club looks to move him on. Diallo (24) is not really a Romeu back up. Smallbone (24) still not shown enough.
10s - Armstrong (24) and Mo (23) will be okay, but we could really do with an update here. It seems the club would prefer Redmond (23) Djénépo (23) & Walcott (23) all to move. They might look to cash in on Mo, if possible, too.
Striker - I'd be surprised if Broja (22) stays on. Long (22) going. That leaves Adams (24), Armstrong (25), Tella (25) and Nlundulu (24), with only Adams showing starting form.

With so many with not long on their contracts, and the club probably only too happy to listen to offers for a lot of other, non regular starters, there could be a lot of changes in the summer. 

We could really do with...
#1 goalkeeper
#1 CB, (esp. if Salisu goes, but we need to upgrade in the position anyway)
#1 CM (esp. if Romeu goes. but we need to upgrade in the position anyway). 
#1 10 (esp. if Mo goes, but we need to upgrade in the position anyway)
#1 Striker (esp. if Broja goes, but we need to upgrade in the position anyway)

That's a *lot* of first team players to be bringing in, expecially with not the biggest budget. We could be doing with moving on a number of others to fund this.

[HarvSFC]

Essentially, we need a summer of 2014-15, which saw us bring in Tadic, Pelle, Forster, Long, Gardos, Mane, Bertrand, Alderweireld and...Taider.

Only thing is, is that we brought in approximately £100m from player outgoings. Can't see the same happening this summer.  

[Saint_clark]

On 21/04/2022 at 21:57, S-Clarke said:

Number 10 is more than a nice to have, it's a fundamental must for the summer.

At the moment we have to hope Armstrong is fit and in form, then it works. If he's not available or having a poor game then we have nothing. Redmond, Elyounoussi, Moussa, Theo all need to go. Two new wide number 10's with pace who can actually change a game will make a huge difference to us.

If we get rid of ALL of Redmond, Elyounoussi, Djenepo and Walcott then we don't just need a new starting number 10 but also two backups as well. What the hell has Elyounoussi got to do to prove himself capable of putting a shift in at this level? We should be looking to improve, yes, but shifting them all on and requiring us to sign an entire first choice and backup attacking midfield is ridiculous. 

[Far que]

Saints of to the bargain basement again no doubt

[Master Bates]

21 minutes ago, Far que said:

Saints of to the bargain basement again no doubt

They do some good kitchen tables and chairs. Do a mini refurb of one of the Suites.

Edited 24 April, 2022 by Master Bates

[stevy777_x]

10 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Essentially, we need a summer of 2014-15, which saw us bring in Tadic, Pelle, Forster, Long, Gardos, Mane, Bertrand, Alderweireld and...Taider.

Only thing is, is that we brought in approximately £100m from player outgoings. Can't see the same happening this summer.  

Depends if a big club comes in with a huge offer for JWP

[Chez]

Villa linked with our friend Duje Caleta-Car, but unless Salisu or Bednarek depart will we be signing a CB?

[Wade Garrett]

On 22/04/2022 at 09:07, Roo1976 said:

Same thoughts here about Armstrong. Until Brojas burst onto the scene AA should IMO have been given more time to gel with the team setup and maybe,just maybe might now be more of a goal threat that more fans would have hoped hes turned out to be. He should (aa) be playing the remainder of the games (yet again IMO )in case we get out bid for Broja, as im sure we will ,and whats more would he be worth a big money punt given the fact hes been anonymous over the last 7-8 games for us?. Even  Longs been preferred to AA all be it minutes to go rather than 45 plus minutes,daft. Our summer recruitment and scouting needs to be bloody good and we need manager with proactive plans A and B and for gods sake stop trying to be clever and tinker around with formations that the team dont seem to be able to grasp.

One more moan...............why does JWP play so deep and almost just above the center circle?.When hes been picked for England hes right in the thick of it on the outside of the oppositions box?, totally frustrating, if hes back to cover for the ageing legs of Romeu, play a younger fitter Diallio or try and trust Djenepo or Redmond. Too many passengers in the squad atm .

Great point regarding JWP.  He is so much more than a ‘water carrier’.  The way we are using him is criminal, but then, so are a lot of things Wreck-It-Ralph does.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

15 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Essentially, we need a summer of 2014-15, which saw us bring in Tadic, Pelle, Forster, Long, Gardos, Mane, Bertrand, Alderweireld and...Taider.

Only thing is, is that we brought in approximately £100m from player outgoings. Can't see the same happening this summer.  

Although we could get an offer for one of these, I'd see the more likely players in the squad to be:-

GK - McCarthy
FB - KWP, Livramento, Perraud, Small, Vokins
CB - Bednarek, Lynaco, Stephens
CM - JWP, Diallo, Smallbone
10 - Armstrong
SC - Adams, Tella, Nlundulu

Players with a year left, or on their way...
GK - Forster, Caballero, Lewis
FB -  Ramsay
CB - Salisu, Valery
CM - Romeu
10 - Mo, Redmond, Djénépo, Walcott
SC - Broja, Long

We're got going to get loads for a lot of the outgoing players, with the lengh of contracts they have. No doubt, a fair number of them will still be with us next season. We'd be ridiculously short on numbers. I certainly hope so in Romeu' and Salisu's case, if extensions are signed. 

I don't think I'd want to see too many of the first group leave, as they are our key players. KWP and JWP are our stand out players, and losing them would be particularly tough. 

But I wonder if clubs are slightly less fearful of this scenario, due to Crystal Place's approach. The clubs can now show that wholesale changes *can* be made, without it falling apart. It gives them a bit more confidence when dealing with players.

Our recruitment side will ahve to live up to its billing, in order to identify a number of players in what could be a very busy summer. If we do have some more wiggle room, as suggested in the take over, we could be doing this proactively.

[ErwinK1961]

6 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Although we could get an offer for one of these, I'd see the more likely players in the squad to be:-

GK - McCarthy
FB - KWP, Livramento, Perraud, Small, Vokins
CB - Bednarek, Lynaco, Stephens
CM - JWP, Diallo, Smallbone
10 - Armstrong
SC - Adams, Tella, Nlundulu

Players with a year left, or on their way...
GK - Forster, Caballero, Lewis
FB -  Ramsay
CB - Salisu, Valery
CM - Romeu
10 - Mo, Redmond, Djénépo, Walcott
SC - Broja, Long

We're got going to get loads for a lot of the outgoing players, with the lengh of contracts they have. No doubt, a fair number of them will still be with us next season. We'd be ridiculously short on numbers. I certainly hope so in Romeu' and Salisu's case, if extensions are signed. 

I don't think I'd want to see too many of the first group leave, as they are our key players. KWP and JWP are our stand out players, and losing them would be particularly tough. 

But I wonder if clubs are slightly less fearful of this scenario, due to Crystal Place's approach. The clubs can now show that wholesale changes *can* be made, without it falling apart. It gives them a bit more confidence when dealing with players.

Our recruitment side will ahve to live up to its billing, in order to identify a number of players in what could be a very busy summer. If we do have some more wiggle room, as suggested in the take over, we could be doing this proactively.

Salisu has two years left.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

57 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Salisu has two years left.

I completely blame the idiot who posted it was 23 in an earlier post....oh wait, that was me... 🙂

Edited 24 April, 2022 by Holmes_and_Watson