Summer transfers

klaus_afcb

klaus_afcb

First Team
It's too early, I know, but the alternative is concentrating on work, so here goes...

Where do we think we need to strengthen in the summer?

Personally, I'd go with what we have up front, on the left, and in CM. Solanke, Moore and Lowe are good enough in attack, for me, and I think we're well enough stocked on the left with Anthony, Dembele (and Lowe). Lerma and Cook are PL quality and I'd be happy with Pearson and Kilkenny as back up. We can obviously reassess all those positions in Jan.

I think the real areas we need to strengthen are on the right, behind the striker, and in defence. For me, Christie is not quite enough to be our main man on the right, and Brooks will obviously take time to come back. I also think we need competition for Phil Bill, so a new starting RWF and another starting/rotation option in AM I see as essential.

In defence, I think we'll need two CBs, one of which could be Phillips. Kelly, Phillips, Mepham, Hill, and another should be enough to start the season with. I also think we need a new starting RB. As good as Smith is, he's the wrong side of 30 and I'm not convinced Stacey is a strong enough option. On the left, I'd be happy starting with Zemura, but he'll need competition. So that's two CBs, a starting RB, and rotational LB.

Overall, that leaves us with a shopping list of a starting RWF, a rotational AM, 2x CBs, a starting RB, rotational LB, and, of course, a back-up keeper. So 7 signings in all, a couple of which could be loans. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me and should leave us with enough to build training ground...

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Edited to add, the caveat on the above is assuming we don't lose anyone.
 
Don’t forget we have got Stanislas under contract for another season - Would love it if he could get back to full fitness for a period of games, but admittedly we can’t count on it being that way so another RWF is needed
 
Something to think about more as the days and weeks go by into the summer.

Brooks (and dare I say Stanislas) are PL proven creativity on the books who could come back into contention, only we just won't know for some weeks and months yet.

With our left hand side I kinda think you either have to go with them both together or replace them both, and I don't want to do that. Stick with them and give them a chance I'd say, accepting that they would be vulnerable / inexperienced.
 
klaus_afcb said:
It's too early, I know, but the alternative is concentrating on work, so here goes...

Where do we think we need to strengthen in the summer?

Personally, I'd go with what we have up front, on the left, and in CM. Solanke, Moore and Lowe are good enough in attack, for me, and I think we're well enough stocked on the left with Anthony, Dembele (and Lowe). Lerma and Cook are PL quality and I'd be happy with Pearson and Kilkenny as back up. We can obviously reassess all those positions in Jan.

I think the real areas we need to strengthen are on the right, behind the striker, and in defence. For me, Christie is not quite enough to be our main man on the right, and Brooks will obviously take time to come back. I also think we need competition for Phil Bill, so a new starting RWF and another starting/rotation option in AM I see as essential.

In defence, I think we'll need two CBs, one of which could be Phillips. Kelly, Phillips, Mepham, Hill, and another should be enough to start the season with. I also think we need a new starting RB. As good as Smith is, he's the wrong side of 30 and I'm not convinced Stacey is a strong enough option. On the left, I'd be happy starting with Zemura, but he'll need competition. So that's two CBs, a starting RB, and rotational LB.

Overall, that leaves us with a shopping list of a starting RWF, a rotational AM, 2x CBs, a starting RB, rotational LB, and, of course, a back-up keeper. So 7 signings in all, a couple of which could be loans. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me and should leave us with enough to build training ground...

--

Edited to add, the caveat on the above is assuming we don't lose anyone.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're far off with your thoughts... Was discussing this on the way home last night... Our starting line up in August for me would be

---------- Travs ----------
RB - CB - Kelly - Zemura
------- Cook - Lerma -----
- RM - Billing - Anthony -
-------- Solanke ---------

We're not far off and don't need to dabble too much to get a side that 'could' do a job against some PL sides...

I'm not convinced Parkers' typical formation will work in the PL as we've been over run a. lot in the middle of the park this season so god knows what we'd be like against PL midfields... Looking forward to the summer to see how we've hopefully learnt from our last venture and (miss)spending and buy cautiously and clever...
 
klaus_afcb said:
It's too early, I know, but the alternative is concentrating on work, so here goes...

Where do we think we need to strengthen in the summer?

Personally, I'd go with what we have up front, on the left, and in CM. Solanke, Moore and Lowe are good enough in attack, for me, and I think we're well enough stocked on the left with Anthony, Dembele (and Lowe). Lerma and Cook are PL quality and I'd be happy with Pearson and Kilkenny as back up. We can obviously reassess all those positions in Jan.

I think the real areas we need to strengthen are on the right, behind the striker, and in defence. For me, Christie is not quite enough to be our main man on the right, and Brooks will obviously take time to come back. I also think we need competition for Phil Bill, so a new starting RWF and another starting/rotation option in AM I see as essential.

In defence, I think we'll need two CBs, one of which could be Phillips. Kelly, Phillips, Mepham, Hill, and another should be enough to start the season with. I also think we need a new starting RB. As good as Smith is, he's the wrong side of 30 and I'm not convinced Stacey is a strong enough option. On the left, I'd be happy starting with Zemura, but he'll need competition. So that's two CBs, a starting RB, and rotational LB.

Overall, that leaves us with a shopping list of a starting RWF, a rotational AM, 2x CBs, a starting RB, rotational LB, and, of course, a back-up keeper. So 7 signings in all, a couple of which could be loans. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me and should leave us with enough to build training ground...

--

Edited to add, the caveat on the above is assuming we don't lose anyone.
Click to expand...

I think Christie could be our competition for Billing. He's played a few deadly through balls this season and his hustle could be what's needed in the middle of the park. It's his proper position anyway, I agree we need a dedicated RM/ RW to link up with Smithy or whoever takes that berth.
 
Keeping solanke and travers will be first port of call for me, after that 2 centre bacls and a wide right side.kilkenny will be our on.loan
 
redharry said:
A lot will depend on Brooks coming back. Just hope we don't expect too much too soon.
And of course we could lose players.
Click to expand...
That's the key I think, who will go, and I don't mean of our volition. You plan to add to the squad only for those plans to be scuppered by outgoings. Kelly has been reportedly of interest for some time, similarly Lerma and on recent performances you could see Cook being a target along with Travers.
 
We have more PL experience now than in 14/15 so that should hopefully mean something.

Would actually like to see if we can sign Philips permanently although not a popular opinion on here, maybe Laird too. Hasn’t really worked out with Cantwell.

Could we’ll see the likes of Stacey, Pearson, Kilkenny, Mepham, depart whether that be on loan or permanently
 
I think Stacey would be okay as a wing back but not right back. Meps did well for us in PL as third central defender the few times it happened. Worth keeping I think. We need another left back/left wing back and another right winger. An experienced second choice keeper to help Travers out and provide competition.
 
If I'm honest I can't see us losing anyone... I don't think we have anyone atm that would attract PL teams... Dom still has to prove himself... HE starts banging them in and January could be a tough window... Kelly to Newcastle has been doing the rounds fora while but I think for the money Eddie will have, he'd go elsewhere and get better...
 
Josh Bowler
Lewis O’Brian

Sign top championship talent that can make the step up.

(Id prefer we didn’t spend a penny on players and all on infrastructure but can’t see it and max has the right to do what he wants)
 
SteveJonesLegend said:
If I'm honest I can't see us losing anyone... I don't think we have anyone atm that would attract PL teams... Dom still has to prove himself... HE starts banging them in and January could be a tough window... Kelly to Newcastle has been doing the rounds fora while but I think for the money Eddie will have, he'd go elsewhere and get better...
Click to expand...
The issue in terms of potential losses is the contract situations a number of our players are in:

Solanke
Kelly
Lerma

all in their last year

I imagine them being here next season will depend on them signing new ones, if they don’t then for the good of the club they need to be sold you would imagine. I really can’t see us letting 60m worth of talent leave for free in a year.
 
I would guess with Solanke, Kelly and Lerma (and others) they would all have taken a pay cut on relegation and have now had it reinstated. Would imagine new deals will be put forward in the summer, may even be extension clauses in some or all of them. Will be interesting to see what happens when they get back from their hols.
 
Waz afcb said:
Josh Bowler
Lewis O’Brian

Sign top championship talent that can make the step up.

(Id prefer we didn’t spend a penny on players and all on infrastructure but can’t see it and max has the right to do what he wants)
Click to expand...
If by infrastructure you mean a training ground, then I can see how that could positively affect player/team performances, however we clearly need to strengthen the quality of the squad also. If you mean a new stadium, that to me is an obvious waste of money and is unnecessary, at least at this point.
 
redharry said:
I would guess with Solanke, Kelly and Lerma (and others) they would all have taken a pay cut on relegation and have now had it reinstated. Would imagine new deals will be put forward in the summer, may even be extension clauses in some or all of them. Will be interesting to see what happens when they get back from their hols.
Click to expand...

Agree… can’t see us doing all the hard work of getting to the PL, only to park the spine of the team… Kelly and Solanke will def be put on new contracts… The only one I can see ‘maybe’ being sold is Lerma… Not for any reason other than he’s been here on high wages throughout and is probably the one that could easily step into two-thirds of PL midfields…
 
If Everton go down....will we zoom into Goodison ' tongue in cheek' ...full of cheek,....all Billy Big Club and prune them down for a few bumper bargains...?

For a start there is....no I won't say him ...no..no..no...forget it !

Or if its Leeds....sneak in..have a look around...see if any of the better ones might like another immediate crack upstairs..
...stop me..stop me....I'm getting all Elite !

:LOL:...ain't 'come down' from last evening !
 
Surprised no one has mentioned Tom Lawrence - media speculating that we’ve already got him lined up. Like the look of him, despite mexied reviews at DCFC.
 
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