So you'd rather the manager knock nails in with his bare hands and thin air for at least six months?
If he tells you he can use a glass hammer, give him a glass hammer! He's already made lemonade with some absolute lemons.
If De Zerbi believes that Summerville or anybody else is good for his team, and they want to come, then get the player.
Of course we shouldn't get bad players. The manager has asked for top players. This manager has earned the right to be the judge of who is good for his philosophy much more than Lange or Vinai have, also more than you or I. He may have seen things that we have not.
De Zerbi has asked for a balanced squad with top players ready to work in pre-season. To go into another season with an unbalanced squad now, especially with the injuries we are carrying is inexcusable.
My concern generally is that we have this belief that certain experienced players are not good enough for Tottenham, when actually they may well good enough to build a squad with. The manager should be the final judge. Especially after what he has just achieved and in the absence to a DOF with any significant authority.
He's earned the right to be trusted. Obviously, don't give him tools he doesn't want, but definitely don't bandage his hand and tell him to keep knocking nails in with bloodied fingers.
If we were relegated, do you not think that our squad wouldn't be picked apart by bigger teams?
Trippier was a solid member of the squad and when he and Walker rotated and competed, we were arguably at our strongest level, regardless of what you I or anyone thinks of him as a player. The Rose/Davies Walker/Trippier era was arguably the last time we acheived anywhere near exemplary balance as a squad in those positions.
Swapping Walker out for Aurier was the bigger issue in my opinion. The Walker sale was a key point of trajectory change.
Obviously Trippier was backup to Walker, so the comparison is not ideal because we don't have a very good LW at the moment and we need one.
Maddison is probably a better example of how it's not always the worst thing to get relegated players, and I'd still rather he was backup to a MGW at this stage, for example.
Ideally we wouldn't have to consider these options, but there are many teams above us in the league as far as options for players.
Man U last season, after a sliding doors moment in the EL final, gave us the best example of how to move in a crucial window with big swift moves that add goals to the team. We were left twiddling our thumbs in comparison, and now look at the league.
We need big bold moves right at the beginning of the window, but we shouldn't be held hostage by indecisive and uncertain players. We need top players who actually are convinced that they want to play for the team and are ready to join with speed. If not the best and biggest players, then the next ones down the list who De Zerbi wants to work with, who have both enough experience to compete, and potential to improve.
Build the bloody squad.
The way some people are talking, you'd think the motto is To Dare Is To Dawdle.
The time for dawdling is done. Go hard or go home.