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Sold Jelavic, Anichebe and Vellios.
Got Lukaku, Kone and Eto'o.
That's before long term contracts and Gareth Barry and co are taken into account. Pleased here.
When you put it like that...
Samuel Eto'o and Tony Hibbert are in the same squad.Bill has an arm coming out of his armpit...egad
Samuel Eto'o and Tony Hibbert are in the same squad.
I genuinely love that. Not having a go at hibbo, I love him and I love that fact.
You need to mix it up to win gear. Hibbo and Eto'o. Them and all inbetween, covers all bases.
He was a panic buy imo, shame for all concerned how it has eventuatedunforgivable for spunking £6m on Kone.
There's four of that lot you wouldn't want to see in any first team, that's for sure. I'd say there's only 18 there I'd trust to take to the pitch. We have no option at RB, a poor GK understudy, no real playmaker worthy of the name.
The age of the squad must be pretty high, it looks it.
Couldn't believe it at the time tbh.unforgivable for spunking £6m on Kone.
We are probably better off than under Moyes 3 years ago age wise though. We had very few young players then and no sign of any getting a game.There is a cause for concern in the current squad, and I simply do not see the money being there to properly replace two first team players in 12 months time if lets say and god forbid a couple of our regulars get severe injuries that see them retired. Simply put, and this is just to make an example but if Distin and Barry both got ACL injuries at some point this season that'd be them done as pro's.
Having such an over 30's laden squad/first eleven is heaping risk onto risk, we have a great core of early 20's players but could we put a side together out of them? it'd be a real stretch.
This is a rough list of what we currently have available listed with their ages.
Howard 35
Robles 24
Coleman 25
Hibbert 33
Oviedo 24
Baines 29
Jagielka 32
Distin 36
Alcaraz 32
Stones 20
Gibson 26
Barry 33
McCarthy 23
Besic 21
Mirallas 26
Pienaar 32
Atsu 22
McGeady 28
Osman 33
Barkley 20
Naismith 27
Lukaku 21
Eto 33
Kone 30
10 Players need to be replaced within the next 5 years roughly. The greatest concern here is that we probably need to roughly replace around 8 players within the next 3 years. However I think it might be do-able if we sign into those positions (which I think will happen) over the next few years. We have the young talent already in place hopefully that might fill the key positions over the next few years. The area I have most concern about is at the back...but at the same time we have a few coming through by the looks of it (Galloway, Garbutt etc).
Robles 24
Coleman 25
Stones 20
Duffy 22
Oviedo 24
McCarthy 23
Besic 21
Barkley 20
Mirallas 26
Atsu 22
Lukaku 21
This is a team we will never field...but its a team that are mostly made up out of our younger players with Mirallas as the eldest in it...roughly an indication of where we are going into the future. Average age = 22.54 years old. Given that few players listed there might not be ideal BUT point is...I cant remember when in the past we could field a team of roughly 22.5 years of average age and look at it and think thats not a terrible team. The potential in that lot is high and around those players one can build a very good team for the future. Yes we havent signed Atsu on a permamnent but think if he playes well this season we most probably will.
Personally I think we have a very bright future ahead of us...and I trust in our manager to fill the gaps over time and at the same time plan for the future...as he seems to be doing just that at the moment...and it wont happen overnight BUT I think by next year this time it will even look better.