Zatara
Player Valuation: £90m
As a few of us were derailing the Marco Silva thread discussing his previous and our future transfer business it seemed appropriate to open a new thread...put simply who should go this summer and who will likely go?
I've gone with the 'popular' opinion on the below although of course there will be disagreements over whether some players deserve or should be given another season etc.
Of course there will never be this amount of player departures but it does make interesting and somewhat alarming viewing...
The ones 'no one' will miss -- 18 Players
Keepers -- Robles (Free) / Stekelenburg / Hewelt
Defenders -- Browning / Garbutt / Pennington / Galloway / Cuco / Mangala (loan) / Williams
Midfield -- McCarthy / Tarashaj / Grant / Mirallas / Besic / Klaassen
Attack -- Henen (Gone) / Sandro
The noticeable departures -- 7 players
Keepers --
Defenders -- Keane / Mori / Jagielka / Baines
Midfield -- Bolasie / Schneiderlin / Rooney
Attack --
Remaining Squad
Minimum Additions
1st eleven -- LCB / LB / CM / CF
2nd eleven -- LCB / GK /GK
Conclusions
Admittedly of course this is more 'Football Manager' (or whatever FIFA is) than reality, it shows that even removing twenty five players from our squad would only require seven additions. This in itself is extremely alarming and shows what a disgraceful last two years under Koeman's stewardship has reaped.
(2)Keepers -- Pickford is the undisputed first choice but we need someone to push him to perform at the top level at the game as well as an up and coming keeper. I don't think that anyone will really argue on this position.
(1)Central Defence -- Of course we will never be left with only Holgate and Feeney as the central options. One of Jagielka, Mori or Keane is likely to stay with another signing needed here who needs to be the leader at the back and a top player...ideally a figurehead of the defence.
(1)Left Back -- Baines is the key here. If he leaves do we sign 2 new players or promote someone (Robinson/Connolly) as the 'reserve/rotation' option? Otherwise we do need a top starting player.
(0)Defensive Midfield -- Gana and Baningime have impressed when tasked with roles which suit them (press/harry/tackle) and should easily fill one position here along with utility player Connolly
(2)Central Midfield -- I cant remember the last effective central midfielder we had who could play the box to box role unless we go back to the Premier League olden days of Speed (RIP), Dacourt, Huchinson and Parkinson. Perhaps Arteta is the most recent player who filled this role although not a traditional box to box player. We do have Davies who can eventually blossom here but I feel we ideally need two signings for this position.
(2)Attacking Midfield -- With the experience of Walcott and Sigurdsson as well as the talents of Lookman, Dowell and Vlasic we look quite good here for numbers if Onyekuru receives a work permit. I do however think we should be loaning two of the younger players and signing another two high profile younger players who are more likely to push themselves as starters and create competition.
(1) Forward -- Some would want Niasse to leave but you cant argue with his numbers, ten starts and eight goals. Tosun also seems lethal and the opposite can be said of the highly promising DCL who needs more work on his finishing. We do lack a super centre forward on a par with the top 6 teams and Brands needs to find one.
So, to conclude if we jettisoned 24 players from the first team we would require 9 new players.
This seems highly unlikely and I'm sure Brands, Silva (or even both) may see certain qualities in some players which they feel may work well in the new system and style of play.
My personal view is that if we did make wholesale changes then we would only need 4 starting players as well as 4 or 5 rotation/development options. This seems doable to me, especially with 2 being keepers.
I'm not naïve enough to expect top 4 after wholesale changes or to think we may not struggle initially. However with the right signings made I would hope Brands 'Sweeps the leg' and puts his stamp on the squad.
Circa 100 million pounds in sales and possibly 100million in Moshiri's money to sign 6 or 7 outfield players...
I for one hope that Brands goes all in.
I've gone with the 'popular' opinion on the below although of course there will be disagreements over whether some players deserve or should be given another season etc.
Of course there will never be this amount of player departures but it does make interesting and somewhat alarming viewing...
The ones 'no one' will miss -- 18 Players
Keepers -- Robles (Free) / Stekelenburg / Hewelt
Defenders -- Browning / Garbutt / Pennington / Galloway / Cuco / Mangala (loan) / Williams
Midfield -- McCarthy / Tarashaj / Grant / Mirallas / Besic / Klaassen
Attack -- Henen (Gone) / Sandro
The noticeable departures -- 7 players
Keepers --
Defenders -- Keane / Mori / Jagielka / Baines
Midfield -- Bolasie / Schneiderlin / Rooney
Attack --
Remaining Squad
Pickford / ??? / ???
Coleman / Kenny -- Holgate / Feeney -- ??? / ??? -- ??? / Robinson
Gana / Baningime / Connolly -- ??? / Davies
Walcott / Dowell -- Sigurdsson / Vlasic -- Lookman / Onyekuru
??? / Niasse / Tosun / DCL
Coleman / Kenny -- Holgate / Feeney -- ??? / ??? -- ??? / Robinson
Gana / Baningime / Connolly -- ??? / Davies
Walcott / Dowell -- Sigurdsson / Vlasic -- Lookman / Onyekuru
??? / Niasse / Tosun / DCL
Minimum Additions
1st eleven -- LCB / LB / CM / CF
2nd eleven -- LCB / GK /GK
Conclusions
Admittedly of course this is more 'Football Manager' (or whatever FIFA is) than reality, it shows that even removing twenty five players from our squad would only require seven additions. This in itself is extremely alarming and shows what a disgraceful last two years under Koeman's stewardship has reaped.
(2)Keepers -- Pickford is the undisputed first choice but we need someone to push him to perform at the top level at the game as well as an up and coming keeper. I don't think that anyone will really argue on this position.
(1)Central Defence -- Of course we will never be left with only Holgate and Feeney as the central options. One of Jagielka, Mori or Keane is likely to stay with another signing needed here who needs to be the leader at the back and a top player...ideally a figurehead of the defence.
(1)Left Back -- Baines is the key here. If he leaves do we sign 2 new players or promote someone (Robinson/Connolly) as the 'reserve/rotation' option? Otherwise we do need a top starting player.
(0)Defensive Midfield -- Gana and Baningime have impressed when tasked with roles which suit them (press/harry/tackle) and should easily fill one position here along with utility player Connolly
(2)Central Midfield -- I cant remember the last effective central midfielder we had who could play the box to box role unless we go back to the Premier League olden days of Speed (RIP), Dacourt, Huchinson and Parkinson. Perhaps Arteta is the most recent player who filled this role although not a traditional box to box player. We do have Davies who can eventually blossom here but I feel we ideally need two signings for this position.
(2)Attacking Midfield -- With the experience of Walcott and Sigurdsson as well as the talents of Lookman, Dowell and Vlasic we look quite good here for numbers if Onyekuru receives a work permit. I do however think we should be loaning two of the younger players and signing another two high profile younger players who are more likely to push themselves as starters and create competition.
(1) Forward -- Some would want Niasse to leave but you cant argue with his numbers, ten starts and eight goals. Tosun also seems lethal and the opposite can be said of the highly promising DCL who needs more work on his finishing. We do lack a super centre forward on a par with the top 6 teams and Brands needs to find one.
So, to conclude if we jettisoned 24 players from the first team we would require 9 new players.
This seems highly unlikely and I'm sure Brands, Silva (or even both) may see certain qualities in some players which they feel may work well in the new system and style of play.
My personal view is that if we did make wholesale changes then we would only need 4 starting players as well as 4 or 5 rotation/development options. This seems doable to me, especially with 2 being keepers.
I'm not naïve enough to expect top 4 after wholesale changes or to think we may not struggle initially. However with the right signings made I would hope Brands 'Sweeps the leg' and puts his stamp on the squad.
Circa 100 million pounds in sales and possibly 100million in Moshiri's money to sign 6 or 7 outfield players...
I for one hope that Brands goes all in.
