There is a lot of paper talk about the drek like Iheanacho. A lot of this will have nothing to do with the club.
Tosin & Kelly are very good standard Prem players and just because they are free doesn't make them lesser quality. Comparing these two to Dummet and Ritchie, they represent a massive step up in quality for the squad. Making the squad a lot more competitive from first 11 to the rest of the 25.
Doesn't mean we're completely broke. However, I do understand the concern from some sections of the fan base.
The club has financial targets they are prepared for players, valuations of what they think a player is worth. The offer for Mamardashvili is still on the table however, Valencia's owner has a higher figure in mind. Like with all football transfers, a player is only worth what a team is prepared to pay for him.
It's not clear that anyone else is gonna come in with that bigger offer. We've moved for Trafford, who, we should remember has been coached at City and mentored by Álisson Becker. At 21 he's experienced a full season as a Premier League Goal Keeper. That's nothing to sniff at.
Obviously I prefer the Georgian signing however the dynamic with Pope as No.1 might cause some instability. I don't know what the best solution here. Trafford will become a great goal keeper and people in the England camp have him pencilled in as T-Rex's long term replacement as Englands No.1.
The Iheanacho links are all agent led as far as I'm concerned. a 1 in 6 level striker has no place in the squad of a team with ambitions to be top 4 regularly.
However, you're right, not having European Competition this season might be a concern, however, the profile of player we're going for is that 22-25 yr old ambitious player who has ambitions to be a UCL regular. Their goals align with ours. So we need to make sure we add some more quality in the vein, to keep moving on.
The luxury/silver lining if you will, of not flying half way around the world to European back waters on a Thursday night means Eddie Howe will have the lads on the training pitch all week and we can really make a fist of challenging for a Champions League place for next season.
Gonna be an exciting few months that's for sure!