If both Xhaka and Partey are not at the club next season, we still need to bring 2 midfielders in. If we don't, and assuming the aforementioned names do depart, our midfield options would be Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Elneny, Jorginho, Lokonga and Fabio Vieira. Rice and Odegaard are the two players who are guaranteed to start. With Havertz, it is unclear what we're going to do with him or whether he's the required calibre. Jorginho is a good squad option, but he shouldn't be playing regularly at all. Lokonga is likely to be offloaded this Summer and the jury is out on Fabio Vieira, who still looks lightweight. Elneny is only here to recover from his injury and provide some stability before he decides whether to carry on playing or go for his coaching badges. These options are not sufficient enough to compete on all fronts.
I would say 1 more is enough. I include ESR in the options as I think he will play the attacking mid role - it's why he was given the 10. I know he can play wide left also, but don't think that is where he is going to be utilised. So I think our attacking mid options are Odegaard, Havertz, ESR and Vieira. 4 for 2 positions. I get the nervousness around Vieira. In defensive mid it would be Rice, Jorginho and Elneny - that's 3 for 1 position or 2 of 3 if we play with a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1. 1 more here (Lavia for example) would give us enough depth. Of course, that assumes Havertz is going to play as an attacking mid and not as a 9 - which I bloody hope is the case.
In attacking midfield areas, I agree that we are stacked. Defensive/box-to-box areas is where the lack of quality bothers me. Elneny will barely be playing next season, so I don’t actually think we should be considering him as a viable option. Jorginho is experienced and a very intelligent player, but his lack of athleticism and power will be a problem in games where he doesn’t have protection. Lavia would be an option and I’d also be potentially looking at Youssef Fofana from Monaco. If we got those two in, then I’d be happy with the options we have in all midfield positions.
Sad to see him go, and we will miss his character in the dressing room, but I think it is the right time all things considered. Whatever we think about him, he did love the club and gave his all on the pitch. It’s a shame he couldn’t have left us with a league title, as that would have completed the redemption arc, but I’m glad he will be remembered fondly. Best of luck at Leverkusen, Granit.
^ So, Saliba, Rice, Timber all to be announced in the next few days, hopefully. we do seem to take our time with announcements though, lol. We also need to get Odegaards future locked in.
He was excellent last season, much better than many give him credit for. Would go as far as saying he was one of the best midfielders in Europe. Not going to be easy to match, whether it’s Havertz or Rice trying to replace him.
He’s worth more than that. Not sure what wages he’s on, so we may just sell him cheap. Certainly no longer required.
Holding is earning about £50k p/w, but even still, we bought Holding for £2m in 2016. Selling him for €2.5m is making a loss! We should be aiming for between £8m-£10m, which is more than reasonable for a lower-level Premier League calibre defender. There's apparently several English clubs interested too, so we should be able to get a decent enough fee for him.
I really hope we don't have to deal with WHU and Sullivan again. Them announcing Rice has left before we've announced he's joined us is a real Sullivan move.
