We are going to give more young players a chance, which I support. Surely Bentaleb, Kane and Mason turned out better as a group than three high-priced signings we could have made in their place. If Pritchard, Alli and Carroll disappoint, then it's time to partly reevaluate. I wonder about Onomah as a possible first team striker, actually.
We should be considerably better based purely on our players's ages and the fact that they have another year playing in the same system, with most of the same first team. I would say most undervalue both maturing and continuity as factors in improvement. I note the average age of the first team is of an NFL first year player. In fact, the pressure is on Pochettino to some degree. If the club doesn't improve, he has to be questioned.
The problem is the clubs above us, and one below, have spent big and we haven't. I agree with Spurf: it's probably just par for the Levy course.
To judge from the persistence of various rumors, it looks like he's doing exactly what you would expect, which is comparison shopping. When teams jack up the price on a target, he's pricing other targets. Of course, if you're willing to go for multiple targets, it decreases the chances you'll get the coach's first choice, which is certainly a drawback. The other drawback is that it will decrease the time new players have to get used to the team, and vice versa.
I also think McCarthy is Stambouli in Irish disguise--in other words, not worth 20 million.
As for strikers:
Hernandez sounds too good to be true for 9 million, so he probably is. While I’d love to have him for that, or even for somewhat more, I don’t really see why he’d want to come here. He would not be first choice, and we don’t have CL. He doesn’t seem like a player who could play anywhere but striker, either, unlike Berahino.
I think West Brom will price us out of Berahino as well, though you never know. If we get him, it will probably be for around 20 million, which I can't decide if I would take or not. I probably would. As expensive as that is for a backup striker, he's 21, he's English, and he's an option on the wing, so it's not that likely we'd lose too much on him.
While there are many players I’d like to have, I’m pleased the club has done the two things which most needed doing, which were address our defensive frailty and shift extra players.
I wonder what kind of budget remains for signings. The figures on the first page show we have a 6.5 million net profit. But that doesn’t take into account all the money we’ve saved from the wage bill, which would really dwindle if we can shift Adebayor and Soldado. My sense is Levy would be willing to spend big for the right player, but most expensive targets want CL football.
How he balances getting a team that will fill a big grounds versus having the money to pay for it will be intriguing.