Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
Getting in and around 'silly season' now with everyone excited about Xmas, Xmas footie and of course the coming transfer window.
The quotes from Martinez about Kone and Gibson being long term players and him looking for short-term options is interesting as, after this season they will only have 2 years left on their contracts along with Naismith and Pienaar (Osman / Gueye / Alcaraz one year).
Obviously contracts may be extended, however at the end of this season that's 7 first team players (5 of which will be over 30) with 2 years left and if Martinez is truthful another 2 sold this January (Jelavic/Heitinga) with short term cover brought in. This is potentially quite a radical overhaul needed with Distin also no spring chicken and Hibberts contract expiring at the end of this season.
Defence
The full back areas look fantastic with Baines/Coleman probably the best 2 in the league and having fantastic cover in Stones and Oviedo.
The problem I can see emerging is in central defence. Looking more long-term it's only Jagielka/Stones there who fit right sided centre back slot. We have Distin at left sided centre back but no understudy / competition for him. This is an absolutely crucial area for Martinez as he needs the centre backs to be able to pass the ball out from the back and there's not many Ronald Koemans around these days!
I feel that this player will be a big money (for us) signing and needs to be a 'New Distin' with ball playing skills. So many rumours of Bruno Martins-Indi and by all accounts he can fit the bill for us perfectly and of course he's played under Koeman himself.
Midfield
On the wings we look quite weak after Mirallas and Pienaar other than Deulofeu if we can keep him for another season. So it could be said that we need to bring in one or two players here, perhaps a Tom Ince free transfer at the end of the season--although I don't think this is crucial and Martinez may even choose to play wing backs.
In central midfield I believe we have 2 potentially world class players--Barkley (obviously) and McCarthy (which may be a surprise to some but every successful team needs a player like this). In the longer term though the rest of our central midfielders are not getting any younger (Osman) same but on loan ( Barry) or injury prone (Gibson).
Losing Fellaini in central midfield may not have been felt due to the 2 new signings, however we lack height, strength and power in the centre. Yann M'Vila was mentioned before he went to Rubin Kazan and again over the past couple of days-- he would be perfect.
Attack
Obviously Martinez signed Kone before he knew Lukaku would become available and now he's out for the season. Jelavic can't hit a barn door and it sounds like he will be leaving in January which leaves only Lukaku.
Now if we can't afford him or he doesn't want to join us then Lukaku will be gone and we will be left with Kone who is certainly not a top end premier league striker and will have been out with a serious injury for the best part of the season.
It's possible Martinez would like to see an all rounder up front which is what he has classed both Kone and Lukaku as, but it's extremely difficult to predict who this may be or the type of forward he feels will spearhead the team.
Spine
So, in short a new spine of the team at a bare minimum. Most likely 2 young, tall, strong ball playing defensive minded players at left sided centre back and left sided central midfield and a top centre forward.
We've possibly got enough cash (or will have just enough cash in January after Heitinga/Jelavic leave) to sign the centre back. However Martinez will need to certainly 'wheel and deal' to bring in the other two players which will most likely be in the summer.
Going to be an interesting and hopefully productive next two transfer windows.
The quotes from Martinez about Kone and Gibson being long term players and him looking for short-term options is interesting as, after this season they will only have 2 years left on their contracts along with Naismith and Pienaar (Osman / Gueye / Alcaraz one year).
Obviously contracts may be extended, however at the end of this season that's 7 first team players (5 of which will be over 30) with 2 years left and if Martinez is truthful another 2 sold this January (Jelavic/Heitinga) with short term cover brought in. This is potentially quite a radical overhaul needed with Distin also no spring chicken and Hibberts contract expiring at the end of this season.
Defence
The full back areas look fantastic with Baines/Coleman probably the best 2 in the league and having fantastic cover in Stones and Oviedo.
The problem I can see emerging is in central defence. Looking more long-term it's only Jagielka/Stones there who fit right sided centre back slot. We have Distin at left sided centre back but no understudy / competition for him. This is an absolutely crucial area for Martinez as he needs the centre backs to be able to pass the ball out from the back and there's not many Ronald Koemans around these days!
I feel that this player will be a big money (for us) signing and needs to be a 'New Distin' with ball playing skills. So many rumours of Bruno Martins-Indi and by all accounts he can fit the bill for us perfectly and of course he's played under Koeman himself.
Midfield
On the wings we look quite weak after Mirallas and Pienaar other than Deulofeu if we can keep him for another season. So it could be said that we need to bring in one or two players here, perhaps a Tom Ince free transfer at the end of the season--although I don't think this is crucial and Martinez may even choose to play wing backs.
In central midfield I believe we have 2 potentially world class players--Barkley (obviously) and McCarthy (which may be a surprise to some but every successful team needs a player like this). In the longer term though the rest of our central midfielders are not getting any younger (Osman) same but on loan ( Barry) or injury prone (Gibson).
Losing Fellaini in central midfield may not have been felt due to the 2 new signings, however we lack height, strength and power in the centre. Yann M'Vila was mentioned before he went to Rubin Kazan and again over the past couple of days-- he would be perfect.
Attack
Obviously Martinez signed Kone before he knew Lukaku would become available and now he's out for the season. Jelavic can't hit a barn door and it sounds like he will be leaving in January which leaves only Lukaku.
Now if we can't afford him or he doesn't want to join us then Lukaku will be gone and we will be left with Kone who is certainly not a top end premier league striker and will have been out with a serious injury for the best part of the season.
It's possible Martinez would like to see an all rounder up front which is what he has classed both Kone and Lukaku as, but it's extremely difficult to predict who this may be or the type of forward he feels will spearhead the team.
Spine
So, in short a new spine of the team at a bare minimum. Most likely 2 young, tall, strong ball playing defensive minded players at left sided centre back and left sided central midfield and a top centre forward.
We've possibly got enough cash (or will have just enough cash in January after Heitinga/Jelavic leave) to sign the centre back. However Martinez will need to certainly 'wheel and deal' to bring in the other two players which will most likely be in the summer.
Going to be an interesting and hopefully productive next two transfer windows.
