Swap Ba and Bennette for me but yeah, 2 ST's (1 Decent CF with experience and 1 younger but with games behind them also) LW (Clarke replacement - Millar or Johnston) RW DM with experience (Norwood on a free?) CM with experience (Browne on a free?) We must bring in these experienced players to give players like Ekwah, Jobe, Ba etc time to properly develop without the pressure of having to start every game. Having Norwood & Browne IMO would be great for Ekwah and Jobe as they can rotate in and out with them and also sponge their experience
100%. We might well be saying this about player like Aouchiche, Mundle and Pembele, but for now the jury is out on a lot of them. I think the original version of the model (I hate that word) where we brought in kids on the fringes of PL squads (Cirkin, Clarke, Alese, Huggins, Ballard) was really successful but the shift to the foreign markets has seen us bring in a lot of kids who are just not ready for this league. The approach needs rebalancing this summer.
If they get £30m for Clarke that is insane business, black magic-esque. I’m hoping the new gaffer can help bring the most out of Ba on the right this season I really like him think there’s a very good player in there.
I think the squad reshape is exciting but ultimately for it to work properly we need to move someone on for a significant fee. Clarke has earned a move.
I’m fine with Clarke going as long as we can get £20m+ and reinvest the vast majority into the playing squad. Big season this one especially if Clarke goes.
O'Nien isn't a top end Championship CB. Seelt won't play again until 2025, Triantis is unproven. I'd say we definitely need a commanding CB to play alongside Ballard.
Well O'nien clearly is, every manager has started him for a reason. The data shows he's one of our better players and one of the most important to how we play. He might not be a better defender than Ballard but is more important to our team
We have to account for injuries, Seelt won't be in action for some time, not sure what happens with Triantis, Alise doesn't have a great track record with injuries too.
Can't see us investing heavilythere though. Would imagine O'nien and Ballard are almost guaranteed starters. Think the only way we get a CB is a young kid or a loan
This is assuming we play 4atb mind, Le Bris might even want to play a 3 back yet, might need more cover then if he doesn't fancy one of Alese/Hume/Hjelde to play CB