We do still have our 2 loan spots which may well come useful, particularly in the more expensive attacking positions.
Delap from Man City would be nice!! Assuming we cannot buy him. Edit: l watched the Under 19's Euro Final and he came on as a late sub and his surging run into the box and forceful shot led to the winning goal for England over Israel. I was hugely impressed.
Jacob Tanswell (Southampton reporter at The Athletic) thinks a 10 in addition to Aribo is a “live possibility”. Was in the comments on his exhaustive write up on Romeo Lavia’s role and skill set.
The talk at the start of the summer was basically that we wanted to keep KWP, JWP, Livramento and Salisu and anyone else would be allowed to leave if there was interest. Our crop of number 10s last season were average at very best, so if we can move on at least 2 of them then we will need replacements. personally I’d be happy to move on all of them apart from S Armstrong but appreciate this isn’t football manager. Can definitely see Walcott, Djenepo and Tella leaving on loan as a minimum though which would leave room for 2 in the squad, whether we have money after addressing other areas is the question
I saw something suggesting that a number 10 with more of a goal scoring track record was still on the list Equally I am sure I have seen mutterings that Aribo + (I think) a striker are what has been earmarked as all the signings we can make before actually shifting some people. Whether that is space in the squad or needing to generate some incoming fees or both I am not sure. And how many outgoings are already plotted isn’t clear either For example is ABK a replacement for Bednarek and an addition CB would require another outgoing? Or would Bednarek’s departure be the trigger for another incoming. Only time will tell on this one I’d like to think we will use the loan slots available. Most sensible would be for an AM and Striker since we need two of both including Aribo and they are more expensive. But a right back is also competing in that slot as signing one doesn’t seem like it would be worth it. These loan slots probably won’t be sorted until later in window until more business has been done by the bigger clubs. Same with some of our other rumoured targets - for example Colwill isn’t going anywhere until chelsea sign two CBs
Never mind. Posted a YouTube compilation of him, accompanied by some hilariously bad youth level goalkeeping but no embed is possible.
I cant see anymore ins there without a couple of outs. As far as I can see there's no increase in squad size with the 9 on the bench rule. We will be running out of numbers wont we? 26 listed on the website as first team players.
I fully expect some players to leave but I don't think numbers are an issue (yet) because we've mainly signed young players so far and players under 21 don't need to be registered in the squad.
I'd imagine that we wanted to get some of our targets in before initiating The Purge, which is probably sensible given that the opposite -- selling players early, spending the remainder of the window chasing targets while the stench of desperation grows stronger and stronger -- hasn't worked out so well in the past.
Hopefully still a lot of signings to be made, as I think we need another no.10/wide midfielder, in addition to Aribo. That's as well as adding two strikers, to replace Long and Broja, and a right back/full back to cover Tino. I'm hoping we can sell Djenepo, Walcott and then one of either Redmond or Elyounoussi, and actually have the clearout we're rumoured to be after. For the no.10s I would go: Aribo, Armstrong, Redmond, Tella and then another new signing for the wide positions. The signs are that we'll possibly sell Bednarek, who we've likely already replaced, but if Lyanco also went, then we'll need another centre half, too. I know this isn't Football Manager, but that's still another four or five possible signings?
What's nice is we've bought in youngsters in areas where we needed depth but equally where they have the quality to compete right away if they are good enough already. That's the way Leipzig etc have improved over the years. Of course we need a forward and we'd love more creativity (and maybe even a utility full back) but we are in an extremely good position to either deliver on targets in that area or take advantage of some bargains from bloated/expensive squads. Can see us getting someone like Brandon Williams at a cut price or loan to fill a gap, for example.
