I think this is a really interesting thread. Many names mentioned above would be great acquisitions, the likes of Scully, Styles and Twine. I will be honest, I am a little worried for this coming season. I do not trust the people above to recruit the right manager or the right players to take this club forwards or at the very least stop the potential decline back to reality.
First it starts with the manager. The question is, do we keep Woodgate or do we appoint someone else? Keeping JW means we have a bit of continuity and of course he would have already assessed the squad, so he would know exactly where he wants to improve. However, does he have it in him to oversee a rebuild the size of this one? In my opinion, it might be a bit too much, but who knows, he has impressed at times this season. I'll get onto this later, on who I think should be given the chance to take us forward, and why.
It is no secret that we will lose an awful lot of players this season. Here are the players we might lose:
Note: This is obviously a rough estimation and all of this is hypothetical.
-Asmir Begovic (potential £2m and £70k p/w of the wage bill)
-Adam Smith (End of Contract, £30k p/w
-Chris Mepham (£5m, £25k p/w)
-Lloyd Kelly (£10m, £25k p/w)
-Diego Rico (£3m, £25k p/w)
-Jefferson Lerma (£15m, £50k p/w)
-Phil Billing (£10m, £30k p/w)
-Jack Wilshere (End of Contract, £20k p/w)
-Arnaut Danjuma (£25m, £30k p/w)
-David Brooks (£15m, £40k p/w)
-Junior Stanislas (End of contract, £30k p/w)
-Cameron Carter-Vickers (End of loan, £15k p/w)
-Roro Riquelme (End of loan, £5k p/w)
-Shane Long (End of loan, £20k p/w)
That is a total of £116m income (£85m in transfers and £31m in parachute payments for 2021/22) and £415k p/w of the wage bill.
This then leaves us with a squad of: (Players inc. U21's for areas lacking depth)
(Players in bold are players which we know are good enough at this level)
Goalkeepers= Mark Travers and Will Dennis
Right backs= Jack Stacey and Brooklyn Genesini
Centre Backs= Steve Cook, Dinesh Gillela and Corey Jordan
Left Backs= Jordan Zemura and Ben Greenwood
Centre Midfielders= Ben Pearson, Lewis Cook, Gavin Kilkenny and Luke Nippard
Wingers= Keelan O'Connell and Ryan Glover
Forwards= Sam Surridge, Dom Solanke and Jaidon Anthony
No disrespect to our U21's, but I do not think they will be able to compete at this level, just yet anyway.
Over the season i have come up with a list of potential players we could realistically sign, this list being of about 400 players in total. I have narrowed it down and this is what i have come up with(inc. potential transfer price and weekly wage):
-Christian Walton (GK) on a free from Brighton, £5k p/w
-George Tanner (RB) for £250k from Carisle, £3k p/w
-Lewis Montsma (CB) for £500k from Lincoln, £4k p/w
-Micky Van de Ven (CB) on a free from Volendam, £5k p/w
-Rob Atkinson (CB) for £500k from Oxford, £4k p/w
-Matthew Pollock (CB) for 250k from Grimsby, £3k p/w
-Mark McGuiness (CB) on loan from Arsenal, £4k p/w
-Derry Murkin (LB) for 250k from Volendam, £3k p/w
-Conor Grant (LB/CM) for £500k from Plymouth, £5k p/w
-Callum Guy (CM) on a free from Carlisle, £4k p/w
-Scott Twine (AM) on a free from Swindon, £4k p/w
-George Lapslie (CM) for £500k fom Mansfield, £3k p/w
-Charlie Wyke (CF) on a free from Sunderland, £10k p/w
-Luke Jephcott (CF) for £500k from Plymouth, £3k p/w
Now, if you see above I didn't go for any wingers, this is why, because i think the man for the job is Chris Wilder, who doesn't play wingers. The squad would look like this:
*means that they can play in other positions just as comfortably
Goalkeepers= Christan Walton and Mark Travers
Right backs= Jack Stacey and George Tanner
Centre Backs= Steve Cook, Lewis Montsma, Rob Atkinson, Micky Van de Ven, Matthew Pollock and Mark McGuiness
Left backs= Derry Murkin and Conor Grant*
Centre Midfielders= Ben Pearson, Lewis Cook, Callum Guy and Conor Grant*
Attacking Midfielders= Scott Twine and George Lapslie
Forwards- Dom Solanke, Sam Surridge, Charlie Wyke and Luke Jephcott
This would bring the squad age down to 23.1 from 25.5 while lowering the salary considerably. 3-4-1-2 with Wilder, we could create a siege mentality and within two years have a competitive team at the top of the championship.
One more thing, everyone is going on about CCV, if we can't get him for anything less than £2m we should look elsewhere, £10m is way too much given the circumstances. A full rebuild is needed... Up the Cherries!!!
