https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/2017/august/mcburnie-signs/ McBurnie has now signed on loan for Barnsley. Could their RB be coming our way?
well interesting transfer window to say the least, we sell our arguably two best players, pay 11mill for a midfielder to sit on the bench, get Bony back and tbh I have never heard of the Bayern loanee however word has he is quite good (if so good why are Bayern loaning him?) Swansea are thought to have paid a loan fee of around £4m and will also pay most of the midfielder's wages.(I wonder how much he is on)
So we now only have two strikers?! For me I'd class this window as a disaster but the proof will be in the pudding In my eyes we are now deficient at full back, deficient in midfield as it will take the two new foreigners to get up to speed and deficient up front with only two recognised strikers one of whom has been pants and had limited game time since leaving us for city. Add to that is that we've changed system since Bony was so prolific so don't see how we'll adapt. It may be the big cynic in me but I do fear that our aim is 17th and nothing more. Ambition is dead and everything said by the board is pure bull
Yes we bring in lot of money to the club, but we also have premier league wages where most of the money goes to players, how much do you think we pay players like Bony? We have a lot of expenses to pay like the academy and the proposed leasing of the stadium to come. If you read the accounts of the club you'd realise that things are not as simple as you are making out. The club simply cannot spend money like water as that would be irresponsible and not sustainable. We have another window in 4 months, if we spent all the money now what will happen then when we probably need more players? https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04305508/filing-history
How did we know we were selling Siggy before the deal was done, let's not forget that we turned down 2 offers before that, Everton came back with an improved offer, how would we know that they would come back? Most other clubs are in the same boat as us in the premier league, meaning they have to take calculated gambles on what to spend, and where to spend it! I disagree that we are weaker than last season, under clement we got 29 points with 21 games that means over 1.52 a game on average. If that was on the whole season we'd have landed up on 57 points.
We will have on differ on opinion regarding strength of team but tbh if selling two experienced players with 24 goals and 14 assists and replacing them with 2 X 20 year olds with 0 goals & 0 assists at this level last season + a Wilf who barely played and only scored twice (both against us) while reducing the numbers and quality in defence has not reduced our chances then there really isn't anything to say. Gylfi Sigurdsson told Swansea he wanted to leave the club before the end of last season. I'm not naive enough to believe a player with that intention, telling the club that early, was not going to be sold. Can Clement get better results over the season than we achieved last year? Highly likely, but that won't be down to squad strength.
I don't think anyone is suggesting we spend all the money, I'm just making the point that the funds were there for us to get in a couple defenders and still have made a profit this window. In the spending chart, we have made the most money in the league. Making money will be no good to us if we can't field a decent team should we pick up an injury or two. If we continue with 5 at the back, our bench will consist of 1 defender - Rangel. It's just not sustainable.
I think we are stronger in midfield, Richardson can take Mcburnie's role he looks bigger and stronger and has an eye for goal, The big disappointment and worry is our lack of cover at fullback with only two and an aging Rangel as a third.
Because Sigurdsson said he was off last season and we know contracts are only good for increasing a player resale value. IMO we are weaker we've just sold our naturally left footed British full back with no replacement. we're still stuck with Montero & Ki and a rapidly aging Rangel, Leon , Dyer & Routledge .We've stood still yet again whilst with exception of Newcastle those around us have strengthened .Time will tell if we've got it right for this season but if we continue with this strategy then it will catch up with us .
With the new additions clement still has options left to switch play to suit how games are going, but what our strongest 11 is may take a few games to reveal itself, depending on how quick they all gel and form partnerships up front and play as a unit which is clemos job. But dont leave the new guys on the bench for to long cos we still dont have enough quality strength in depth here yet.
I agree that we appear weak in defence now but I thought I'd read that Clucas has played as a right back, so can provide cover. In fact if Clement stays with 3 Central D's at back, playing Clucas as a wing back could work.
I'm pleased we've done some squad clean up but we've obviously failed to miss the 2 big turds left in the changing room...Ki and Montero!
The best way to shut him up is to get 3 goals in his 5 games. II think we will play a different type of game that the one we would have had to play with Llorente up front.
You're right in that you read Clement said that about Clucas but the n he said that about Fer last season and we know what happened there.. Although I haven't seen him live yet I don't know whether Clucas has the pace to play wing back.
