Thats right, I just couldn't help myself on making a thread about the team for next season and a warning now. I got a bit carried away. Now of course McDermott will have ideas of his own but they won't be half as good as mine No one knows how much money we will have to spend but I think we should be trying to line-up with a team looking something like this for the first game of next season obviously prioritising certain positions. -----------------------------------New GK------------------------------------ Peltier/Byram------------Lees--------------New CB------------Warnock Byram/Green-----------Austin-----------New CM-------------New LM --------------------------McCormack---------Morison/New ST------------- Subs: Ashdown, New Utility CB, Green/Norris, Tonge, Hall, Diouf, Morison/Somma/Varney Thats a total of 6 new signings which I don't think are necessarily needed. We already have the players up front imo, Morison just needs a summer of pre-season as well as maybe Somma keeping fit and Varney hitting form. We also have Poleon who could come through. Also we have around 1000 CMs so we again may not need a new one but I would like to get a team nucleus that most of which would be good enough to step-up to the prem if required. Also some of these may be better to loan a youngster from a top prem side rather than sign a player permanently New GK - Now, I wouldn't be entirely against keeping Kenny for one for more season and thats putting aside his behaviour of being a complete dick. I think he has done OK but not great. He makes a lot of acrobatic saves that a taller goalkeeper would make look quite comfortable and lets in a lot of goals that a better keeper wouldn't. I don't think it would be that hard to improve upon Kenny, it would be more a matter of whether we have the funds available because I would probably make it a low priority. The thing is we would need to decide whether we wanted another keeper pretty early in the summer because I think the last thing we want to be doing is signing a keeper on the last day of the TW who isn't farmiliar with the squad whatsoever and we would also be trying to recoup some money by trying to sell Kenny. Some options for the new GK would be: Ross Turnbull - He is out of contract at Chelsea at the end of the season. He may fancy getting first team football and dropping down to the championship, presumably wages might be an issue here so he would have to take a fair wage cut but I do believe Kenny is on pretty high wages for this level. He also doesn't play all that often and may be slightly rusty. Simon Moore - Brentford goalie. He has been linked with big moves this summer, one of those is Manchester United and he is definitely going to be big in the future. Only 22 years old and being tipped for future England goalkeeper we might want to get in now. It may put us back around 750k but if Brentford get promoted to the championship we may be able to offer a Kenny and cash deal. I would be quite excited by this signing personally although there is a risk that he may bring a few mistakes with him being so young. I've even seen a hell of a lot of mistakes from Butland this season and I think thats because of his age. Shay Given - Superb goalkeeper but getting on in years. Far better than Kenny with no question. Whether he would want to go down a league would probably be the issue as I think Aston Villa would be keen to sell as they pretty much always are. I don't think he would cost too much given the fact he is getting on in years and a second goalkeeper at a team fighting relegation. Would definitely be more than good enough in a promotion winning team. New CB - I think most of us would agree on this one. The fact we only have a few CBs currently and we also would like a commanding CB who perhaps would even take over as captain as well as a utility man that would probably spend most days on the bench. Richard Dunne - He is out of contract in the summer, while getting older and slower he is still a great CB who would bring a calming influence to a currently fast-thinking/doing backline. I really do think he will make the step-down to the championship this summer anyway and think Leeds might be the perfect choice for him. Alex Baptiste - Leicester tried to sign him in January and if we were to look at him I would probably expect some competition from them again in the summer. Blackpool's captain and I think his performances get somewhat overshadowed by Ince. He would definitely be good enough to make the step-up and would be ideal for us. He is also out of contract this summer and I do believe he has signalled intention to leave. Curtis Davies - Another who is great at this level. Would set us back around 1.5m I would suggest but would be a great addition. This is a position I think we should spend some money on anyway, and also if he is available we may face some competition for his signature. Christophe Berra - His contract is expiring in the summer. While he hasn't been hugely fantastic at wolves this season. He is more than capbale and we still need to add to our CBs and he would be one of the better options. 28 years old so has some know-how and has a few seasons left in him yet. Maybe wouldn't be hugely happy with staying on the bench as a back-up but if we were to sign Baptiste or Davies then I don't think there would be much choice. Matthew Kilgallon – Out of contract at Sunderland and dropped down the pecking order by new manager Di Canio. He may want a return to Elland Road and I would certainly want him to return New CM - We do have a lot of CMs but I think we should perhaps try and clear this area out a little bit and bring in one of REAL quality and a bit of creativity to their name. Liam Bridcutt – Apparently out of contract this summer which I’m surprised that Brighton have allowed that to happen. Would compliment any midfield in this league but may have to pay compensation. Andre Moritz – Out of contract at Crystal Palace. Doesn’t always get games there but that is more because of formation and certain players stepping up there this year I believe. Liam Trotter – I don’t really believe that we would be able to afford trotter because I think it would probably take around 2.5m for him to be taken away from Millwall. But if we were willing to spend that money, I would certainly be considering Trotter. New LM – We need some creativity out wide as well. It made a big difference when we had Jerome Thomas and we need to try and bring someone else there who is a bit better than Ryan Hall. Matt Phillips – Out of contract this summer with Blackpool and had a bit of a stagnant year there when last season it looked like he was going to go to the premiership and now I think that opportunity has gone for him. We would still have to pay compensation for him as he is only 22, I would say it would edge towards the 1m mark but I think he would be worth that. Chris Burke – He is more of a right sided player in my mind but he is also out of contract this summer. We were reportedly interested in him in January and most fans agreed he would make a very good signing. 29 years old so probably won’t be able to make the step-up to the prem if required but would be more than suitable in getting us there. Albert Adomah – I think he is an incredible player at this level in quite a poor Bristol City team. I can almost guarantee that he will move away from Bristol City in the summer to a much more rounded team. I think he would probably set us back a few but would be definitely worth it imo. New ST – Don’t think we really need a new striker but may benefit from signing someone up top to play alongside McCormack and give others some competition. Dwight Gayle – Definitely picked up some form at Peterborough, its hard to say how much they believe he is worth but he could do well at a bigger club who is looking for promotion Nahki Wells – I wouldn’t be against taking a gamble on him. He is young and has performed well, the step-up would be a test but players have done it before and succeeded. Quite highly rated and scored 22 goals for Bradford this season Some other noteworthy players who are out of contract this summer would be: Tom Heaton, Eric Lichaj, Liam Rosenior, Marcus Alonso Patrick McCarthy, Jonathan Spector, Kevin Davies Anyway, there are a lot of frees in there that would cost nothing in transfer fees, I think the list I was going off is from January rather than now so some of them may have signed new contracts with their clubs. Admittedly there are also a lot in there which are probably out of price range but I do think if we want auto-promotion especially we will need to splash out on at least one of the cash signings
Keeper- Stockdale or Lee Camp (third choice at Norwich and they owe us) Defense- Don't think we need anyone, maybe a centre back, bring back Kilgallon Midfield- Complete reshape, maybe keep Green and Austin, bring in Steve Davis, Gradel (wont happen) Gattuso and Joey Barton (love the hatchets) Stirker- Diouf, Morrison, Poleon and McCormack should be okay. This took little to no thought and im just back from a night out, no abuse please.
Josh, a couple of things fella.... How has Adam Drury been for you and is he worth keeping for another year or two? Lee Camp could be a good shout. Once Ruddy is fully fit and back for us, I can see LC being let go quite quickly. Bridcutt - Don't be surprised if Norwich or Villa came along and nabbed him (possible another PL team or two may be interested, assuming they don't get promoted) Trotter - Fight off money bags QPR to get this one from what I am hearing. Davies - CH was interested in this guy before the season started, not sure if he would go for him this summer or not though. I would think you are at risk of a smaller PL club such as ourselves or a more wealthy Championship club 'stealing' some players from under your feet mate but as you say CM will have his own ideas and may not give a toss about any of the guys mentioned
As much as I'd love us to get someone like Trotter in as a CM, I think he'll be out of our grasp financially. Also, we'd definitely have to move a CM or two on to make a signing there, just because otherwise a ridiculous percentage of our wage bill would be CMs that just don't get played. While that's not an ideal reason not to sign someone, you don't want the rest of the team suffering as a result. Matt Phillips would be a cracking signing as well, can't believe he is going to be out of contract. We'd have a lot of competition for his signature though, but then again we would with a lot of the players you've listed here. It'll be interesting to see, if we do go in for players like this, whether we actually get any of them. Under Warnock and Warnock/Bates we were told all too often that other players were more attractive for this type of player to go to. I know (unfortunately) it'll still be Harvey doing a lot of the negotiating, but it'll be interesting to see if players view us as a more attractive option now that we don't have an ongoing T/O hanging over us, and have McD with a view to take us forward.
GK: Would love to see us bring in Alex McCarthy, although after his performance against Liverpool he's probably PL bound no matter how much he loved it here. No-one else really jumps out at me, and I'd rather keep Kenny than bring in someone like Camp. I don't see this position as a huge priority unless we can bring in someone like McCarthy. Defence: I wouldn't be surprised to see Alex Pearce come from Reading to partner Lees, played every game for Reading last year and seems to have fallen out of favour. Harte could be useful cover for Warnock and would be good to have around the dressing room. One CB would be my main priority. Midfield: WINGERS!!! Burke on a free and taking Adomah from the relegated Bristol City would do very nicely thank you. A creative CM could also be useful depending on how Dawson develops and where the bald eagle wants to play Rosco and Diouf, no idea who could come in at the moment. Other than that I think we're fine in the middle, the midfield has only looked poor this season IMO because the ball's been lumped over them constantly, the likes of Green, Tonge and Austin are very good players at this level and have proved they can pass the ball. Strikers: A quick young goal scorer a la Gayle or Wells as Josh mentioned. Overall 4 or 5 quality additions and I think we'd be looking good for next season.
Don't think we need a GK but I would mind getting shut of Kenny and bringing somebody new in. I'd love to see Given in a Leeds shirt. CB should be our priority this has been shown over the last few weeks but no older players let bring in some young blood. Wingers, Winger ,Winger. We need them let's trim the CMs a bit and use the money for Wingers. I think we need to get at least one striker in this summer I don't think Somma will be here some June/July and Harbibou won't get a permanent deal. I'd love to see the scouting system to be used in full effect and we get some gems from the lower league and places like the League of Ireland a la Kevin Doyle.
I think Niall Mcginn from Aberdeen could be good, another one from Northern Ireland, winger, fast and can finish. Although 'On the last day of the transfer window, McGinn revealed he received a six-figure bids from three clubs in the Championship, which he rebuff, in order to have his faith shown in him by manager Craig Brown.' doesn't sound great.
Drury I think has done well whenever he has played. And at the start of the season was our best LB, I would definitely keep him for at the very least next season but mainly for back-up to Warnock who has been very good since signing for us I thought about Lee Camp but I never really rated him that highly at Forest. Dunno how he has done for you though, has he even really played much? Yea, I know a lot of these players will probably be quite unlikely. But I would like us to show some sort of intent. I also tried to put players up that will probably be moving in the summer, most of which I think will. On the Matt Phillips front, I think a lot of interest in him has dropped a lot because of this season, we would still have to pay compo though if we wanted him I told you I got carried away
I did actually put adomah in there but must have accidentally deleted him. I think he is such a fantastic winger and very underrated because of the likes of Ince and Zaha
New keeper definitely required to keep up with the recent tradition of starting with a new keeper every season: Casper-Higgs-Kasper-Lonergan-Kenny-?????
