We have the potential to be much stronger.... but, will our new signings be able to realise their potential.
The weaknesses are obvious. We have lost Gueye and Zouma..
The biggest weakness is not replacing Zouma at all. We have two midfield signings that we hope will be as good or even better than Gueye.
Lookman was peripheral since he signed so I regard his loss as minimal. He was a fans favourite without ever really doing much.
The potential strengths are many.
Lossl, a very good quality reserve keeper, if Pickford were to get injured this season I think we have a better replacement than we had last season.
Sidibe : is an experienced international and if he can reproduce his best form could arguably even force his way into the team ahead of Seamus... that is serious competition for both of them.
Delph : experienced at the highest level and will bring far more to the squad than just what we see on the pitch. Anybody that as much football under Pep as he did cannot be a bad player.
Gbamin : one of the unknowns, I never heard of him, have never seen him play and I would guess that goes for most on here. Still very young and if proves to be a good premiership player that certainly makes us stronger.
Gomes : we had him last year and it took several months to get fit and get settled, proved to be a huge asset for us. Losing him would have been a big loss.
Iwobi : I think this fellow will prove to be the best signing of all seven. A player that I rate, a player that when he is good can be extremely difficult to mark, a bit inconsistent but still very young. If he can score eight or nine goals this season and can be more consistent in his play I think he could double his value in a season.
Kean : I hope he can live up to the expectations that some have for him, I cannot help but feel it will take him longer to settle because he is so young and doesn't appear to speak English. He needs to be given time, but as usual will probably be written off by some before October.
DCL, Davies are a year older and hopefully will contribute more.
We can only hope that Richarlison, Dignes, Bernard, Keane, Sigurdsson,Coleman can carry on where they left off last season.
We could be much , much stronger but we will have to wait a few months to see exactly where we are.
Similar to last season I would not be surprised if we are better after Christmas than before as the new faces take time to settle.
