Salisu will go and add £20m or so to that total. DCC probably too, maybe for £10m-£15m. McCarthy, but he probably doesn't raise much. KWP, £15m-£20m. Then you have question marks over whether we sell any strikers. Che, Taul Paul, A Armstrong & Mara could all easily go, although I think we'll keep two at least. I still don't know whether we should try and keep Tella or sell him. As others have said, he scored a lot more than expected last season, so is that a good sign, or is it an anomaly where he over performed and won't match that level in future seasons (AKA his current value is higher than his worth)? I guess if we keep him it's low risk because he's from the academy and we didn't sign him for a fee, but then can we turn down the £15m-20m we can get now?
Selling Tella, even for good money (£20m+) would be yet another awful decision. At 23 he was the top scorer for the runaway league winners from the wing and 5th top in the league. The best player in his position in the league last season. If we were linked to a player like that fans would be buzzing as he is clearly good enough to get promoted. It is so rare to have the chance to add a player that is clearly too good for the division after getting relegated.
I always thought we would loose a good number of players and bring in between £100-200m which gives us a good budget for transfers (probably around £100m) to build the squad back. That leaves a good sized fighting fund to stabilise the clubs dodgy financial status
Have there been any rumours about ABK this calendar year? I’m not talking about the buzz after he had a couple of very good games at the start Because since then he has been injured a lot and also a defender in the team rock bottom of the league. Is someone going to bid what we would want for him? Be that 25m or whatever amount that is a significant return on investment ?
It needs a bidding war between the Chavs, Toon and the Scousers to push the price way up, we shouldn't sell our self short because we are relegated.
100% agree, if there is ever a time to play hardball it is now. He will become a club hero if he comes back and takes us back up. I imagine Burnley or a low PL team will still be interested next year if we don’t make it. We can just say “give us 1 year”
I think Tella is worth a go. He might not want to though despite contract. Prefer his heart to be in it. Seems like a decent chap though.
I see this morning that one of the less reputable football website is suggesting that a number of Premier League clubs are looking at signing Will Smallbone after an impressive season at Stoke. No idea how accurate this is but would suggest it would be a team like Fulham. Who knows?
I think "Give us one year, and let's reconvene and see where we are" should be the line used for Tella, Alcaraz and Sulemana.
I'd be gutted to see him go personally, we haven't seen anywhere near the best of him in a Saints shirt yet.
Seeing a bit of a panic over Athletic articles on the other place (SW) regarding heavy transfer activity. I could come out with quite a list of outs without even really putting a dent in. Out AMN (loan ended) Walcott (end of contract) Elyounoussi (end of contract) JWP (£40m) KWP (£30m) Lavia (£50m - £10m to City) Tella (£20m) Adams (£10m) Salisu (£10m) Stephens (£5m) Orsic (negligable) Onuachu (loan out?) So about £155m in and 12 players out. Imagine you bring in CM Grimes (£10m from Swansea, brings experience) CM Scott (£20m from Bristol City, fits the SR model) FWD Piroe (£15m from Swansea, fits the SR model) £45m out and you probably want another CB in, imagine a budget of around £10-15m for that. So let’s say £60m and 4 in. That is a substantial squad reduction, a lot of the deadweight out, unfortunately some useful players that can be anticipated and imo a pretty decent squad for the Championship with around £90m back in the coffers and a squad reduction of 8 players, opening some space for Amo-Ameyaw, Edwards and Ballard to potentially enter the squad too. Of course that might be miles off and it is purely guess work, but that would be a very busy transfer window handled in a way we shouldn’t fear and I don’t think is that unrealistic (bar maybe signing Alex Scott). All that and you could field a Championship XI like: —————————-Bazunu ————————— —Livramento—-Bednarek—-Lyanco—Perraud—- ———————Grimes——-Scott———————- —Sulemana————-Alcaraz———-—-Edozie— ——————————-Piroe—————————-
Piroe will not be coming here. Hes just scored plenty of goals to secure a move out of the championship not to stay in it with a relegated club.
He turned down a much more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, but he preferred the lifestyle in Miami. Can't say I blame him.
