Wirtz from Leverkusen.
Personally I think we need:
GK
LB
2 XCB
DM
RW
ST
I think Dubz will be away and the same with Miggy.. Minteh will probably get another season on loan possibly..
I don't think the midfield needs touching much if all stay fit but it depends on whether or not we sell Bruno
Wilson will not be here next season, I think he will be sold and Isak gets the number 9 next season, we just need someone who will push for that starting position too.. I think we revisit the Ekitike deal again
Wirtz from Leverkusen.
GK - James Trafford
LB - Lloyd Kelly? Open to options but he is free in summer and decent
CB - Tosin Adarabioyo - on a free in the summer, quality player + one other - obvs gonna have to pay for that one unless they unearth a gem
DM - I dunno if we need another Midfielder. Anderson was a bull against spurs, J7, Tonali, Bruno, Longstaff, Miley & a full fit Willock next season is a superb variety of tools for EH to work with. Maybe Teun Koopmeiners or his team mate Éderson both play DM and dominated Liverpool in the 0-3 thrashing at the skip
RW - decisions decisions - Takefusa Kubo at Sociedad is a wild card but we have a good relationship with the spanish club after signing Isak
open to options, who you lads fancy?
ST/CF - Benjamin Šeško is my No.1 tip top choice. Love that lad. Plays the Classic No.9 but with new age mobility. Ekiteke might be another option the lad is still as talented and potential as he had.
It's gonna be one hell of an exciting summer
Would you take James Trafford over Ramsdale?
I think he would cost just as much without the experience..
I love Sesko, have done for a couple of seasons now.. I'd take him or Patrick Schick in a heartbeat
Kubo is a good shoult but over him given the chance I'd love to go all out for Yeremy Pino or Roony Bardghji
I can’t see us signing more than 3 players for a fee.
If Kelly comes in on a free then great, but we’re probably going to be limited by how much extra we are making out of this and into next season to pay form someone’s wages.
Say a player costs 40m and is on 100k/month… that’s (rough maths) 13 million commitment for 5 years.
We know we have Sela and Adidas uplift
We know there will be a few fringe players gone
There’s speculation over Miggy and Wilson (met him yesterday at Whitehouse farm and got a pic of him with my eldest - really nice bloke)… not sure about either… and of the two I would rather keep Wilson and manage his fitness… he does his job consistently when fit, Miggy is back to the usual goals and assists…. But not convinced he’ll leave.
So given we know we have increased wages with Bruno and Big Joe, and Miggy got a new contract and Tonali is on the books even if not playing… so I don’t know how much uplift other than main sponsors we might have to spend
My assumption is we will have approx 50m to pay for increases in transfer fee’s and wages, it’s very conservative, but I think 3 players who are good enough to play in a team battling for a European spot is a good improvement.
Positions I would prioritise…
CB / RW / young striker to learn from Isak and Wilson
I think we will see a bigger spend than that just purely based on the fact its the start of the new financial term, I do think the PSR or FFP will be scrapped soon enough and some cashflow will come in..
I'd be disappointed if we didn't add some serious depth but know that there will be a few outgoings too.. be glad to get some of those out of contract players gone too who are on silly wages for their standard..
Would you take James Trafford over Ramsdale? - 100% Trafford is gonna cost about £15-20m Ramsdale hasn't proved to be worth 3x that price at £50-60m.
I love Sesko, have done for a couple of seasons now.. I'd take him or Patrick Schick in a heartbeat
I'd take either Schick is a little older, more complete in many ways but also had a bit of a drop off once signed a new contract.
Also Schick is 28 and will he transfer his best form to the Prem? He'll be a big ticket item at that age and the salary will be substantial.
Sesko would be a smarter signing 20yrs old and 6ft 4in. A freaking monster in the box! him and BDB alongside Botman in both Penalty areas would be crazy intimidating!
Kubo is a good shout but over him given the chance I'd love to go all out for Yeremy Pino or Roony Bardghji
Pino - https://www.sofascore.com/player/yeremy-pino/984624 / https://fbref.com/en/players/540ec57...couting-Report
Don't know anything about this guy TBH.
Roony Bardghji - mmmm Onion Barji (makes Homer Simpson drooling noise haha)
https://www.sofascore.com/player/roony-bardghji/1162107 / https://fbref.com/en/players/88ce7ddc/Roony-Bardghji
Not much on him apart from the schooling he gave Man U in the UCL this season.
With FFP, we need to look at a few real quality players.
Sell Wilson and Miggy to help. Obviously along with any fringe players we can.
A striker obviously. Not sure who, but should be young and not always injured. I like the look of that Sesko.
RW. We've seen the difference Gordon has made over Maxi. Need a similar upgrade on Almiron. Would like a look at Minteh, but he should just be be backup/ squad if given a chance.
LB. Keep Burn as a CB where he is much better and bring in a first choice left defender. Again...dunno who.
CB. Kelly seems to be coming in which is great. But he was supposed to replace Lacelles..we need Botman replaced too. So a rapid right sided CB ready to compete with, take over from Schar.
That's the focus imo.
Ideally we should sign a fast first choice DM.
Then look at a keeper.
What do you mean by the start of a new financial term?
All that happens is we drop off the losses from 20/21 from our rolling 3 year figures, and given that was Ashley’s last full season I’m not expecting that will free up much (if any) debt against the 105m limit.