Martin O'Neill is ready to re-shape his squad, but how much work will take place? Newcastle United have been attracting the plaudits in the North East, and rightly so with their creditable and unexpected fifth placed finish. Sunderland had a mixed bag of a season, terrible under Steve Bruce, excellent for the first three months under Martin O'Neill, and lethargic over the past month and a half of the season. That final month and a half will have taught O'Neill just as much as he learned when they were winning. He will have seen his players weaknesses, where his squad needs strengthening, and learned plenty about the character of his players. He chose not to make any signings in January, giving the players a chance, and now will be the time for him to put his own stamp on the squad. Sunderland under the ownership of Ellis Short have been big spenders in recent seasons, and the American will surely back his new manager again this time around. However after a season of standing still, he will want a return on his investment, and O'Neill's challenge will be to push for a European place, while fans will want to finish ahead of rivals Newcastle, who also have Europa League football to balance. Since 2008, Sunderland have spent heavily; £24.6 million in 08/09, £31 million in 09/10, £22 million in 10/11, and £24 million last season. They have made sales too, most notably the £24 million departure of Darren Bent to Aston Villa and the £20 million sale of Jordan Henderson, but sit fourth in the Premier League net spend table over the past five seasons. This season, they will again no doubt be busy, but will have to do their fair share of selling too. In the departure lounge will be goalkeeper Craig Gordon, now third choice, possibly a reportedly unsettled Craig Gardner, and off-loading record signing Asamoah Gyan from their books, who has let the club down badly with his sojourn in the Middle East. One key point is to retain Stephane Sessegnon, and fend off interest from London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham. As for targets, the club will be after strikers, for sure. Nicklas Bendtner is unlikely to return, while Connor Wickham is yet to show the potential which convinced Steve Bruce to spend £8 million on him. Jordan Rhodes is a name linked, but after Wickham, the club may be wary of signing a free scoring prospect from the football league to lead the attack. O'Neill has already been linked with Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand, on loan, and a surprise swoop for Tottenham midfielder Steven Pienaar. Not so excitingly, Karl Henry has been touted, and fellow Wolves player Steven Fletcher has said he has turned down a move to the Black Cats. Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha has been linked too, as has free agent Carlos Cuellar, who recently left Aston Villa. Intriguingly, the season has not even been over a week, and the transfer window has not even officially opened. The transfer targets and speculation will increase, and arrive in waves. Sunderland will make their moves, and once again be one of the league's busiest teams. It promises to be an exciting summer in the North East. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For me I rekon its going to be a huge summer for us and its rival we get it right. In MoN we have the man who can do this but he needs backing! As it says above over the last few years we have spent around 20-30m and we need to again this summer. If Martin is given the money he can transform us and I'm sure we will improve upon this season... I say Out GK - Craig Gordon - free agent RB - Marcos Angeleri - free LB - George McCartney - 500k LB - Wayne Bridge - End of Loan CB - Sotirios Kyrgiakos - End of Loan CB - Titus Bramble - 1m RM - Ahmed Elmohamady - 1.5m CM - Christian Riveros - already gone for a minimum fee CM - Craig Gardner - 3.5m CM - David Vaughan - 1m CF - Nicklas Bendtner - End of Loan CF - Asamoah Gyan - 6m loan + atleast another 6m loan CM - David Meyler CF - Connor Wickham CF - Ji Dong-won In LB - Ryan Bertrand - Loan CB - Carlos Cuellar - Free Agent CM - Mohamad Diame - Free Agent CM - Gylfi Sigurdsson - 7m W - Junior Hoilett - Free Agent W - Matt Phillips if Blackpool don't get promoted if they do Wilfried Zaha - 4m CF - Arouna Kone - Free Agent CF - Hugo Rodalega - Free Agent CF - Steven Fletcher - 7.5m Team ------------------------ Mignolet ------------------------ - Bardsley ---- O'Shea ----- Brown ---- Bertrand - ---------- Sigurdsson --------- Colback -------------- Hoilett ------------- Sessegnon ------------ McClean -------------------- Kone/Fletcher -------------------- subs Cuellar/Turner/Kilgallon Westwood/Carson Larsson/Phillips or Zaha Diame/Cattermole/Richardson Rodalega/Campbell Fletcher/Kone
I'd expect more than £3.5 for Gardner, and also think Ricco will go (i'd rather he didn't personally, however...). I don't buy this Fletcher thing until I see quotes, Wolverhampton is a ****hole, and he's a Scotsman, so surely the North-East appeals as close to home. I think we are nailed on to go for Cuellar, but he isn't a right back, he's not got the pace or the touch.
He was born there, but his dad was a soldier so they moved from base to base, in England and Germany, then his dad died of cancer when he was 10 and his mother moved him and his sister to Hamilton to be closer to her family.
Ha, My bad mate, just knew he was a Scotland international who started at Hibs. Think the facepalm was excessive, I make no apologies for not knowing the birthplace of the man.
Didn't you see what Bruce did then for 5 transfer Windows? We had more comings and goings than a month in Greek politics. There may well not be this many granted and its probably not the prefered option but then Mon might just decide to cull all the ones he doesn't want in one window. We shall see soon enough.
Really cant see that many coming in , as stated many times already I think MON will bring in 3-4 players who will push for a starting 11 and a couple to warm the bench. We are not that for from a decent team/ squad that we need to make that many changes . We had a better defensive record than Arsenal and Newcastle and equal with Chelsea,that is better (equal) than 3 of the top 5 so there isn't really much tinkering to do there, we havn't had the luxury of a real L/B for many years so could see someone come in there. MON has already stated he is after 2x C/F and I think he will go for an attacking/creative M/F , after that unsure but don't see many more coming in.
8? Clarify? Wholesale changes - yes. But I can't remember any team having more than 15 ins and outs in a window, to hope for a whole new squad is ridiculous, for starters, there would hardly be time to do all the paperwork.
Gyan = not coming back by the looks of it Bendtner/Bridge/Kyriakos gone back from loan Riveros = gone I believe Gordon = Probably wont sign so gone Angaleri = not a clue but doesnt look good for him with us. There is 7 and we still have Elmo/McCartney who look like they are surpless to requirements, esp McCartney.
Yes but you can't just name players who you don't rate and say "oh well there's one, two, doesn't look good for him etc etc"
Who said i didnt rate them, you asked which 8, so i gave you the 8 and 5 of those are definately gone (well Gyan **** knows, but can you see him coming back? i cant). Gordon I rate, angelari no idea havnt seen him play, must have something to be in the Argentinian squad but injuries have ruined his time with us, McCartney really good 1st time, 2nd time waste of cash im afraid, Elmo I quite like, bit too raw though, may come good but sadly it may not be with us.
I'm simply saying you can't claim "8 are already gone" because from your outside view they are surplus to requirements or whatever. You can only claim someone is IN/OUT once they are IN/OUT, seems fairly obvious to me.
but i didnt say 8 were already gone, poolie_mackem did. tbh I cant see the 8 either, but you asked which 8 so I tried to answer what he was thinking, didnt want to leave you hanging, then I get the grief lol but saying that I cant see those 9 being here next year, they are not already gone, but i still cant see them being here.
