Got my lasses da’s funeral late today. How do they expect me to give her any love and attention with all of these possible signings ffs !
I'd imagine there are a number of names being discussed right now. The Clarke money has opened up some doors for us. Reading Founded1879's interview with a French journo it seems as though Isidor is more conformable on the left (not that it's a particularly glowing report mind you) so I reckon we are looking for 2 strikers - Mendy was already in the works, so be interesting to see if this money takes him out of the running and we go for next level up
I’d imagine Leeds and Burnley can get pretty close to Bournemouth on wages, if they are prepared to. Factor in no fee.
I'd be disappointed to see Ekwah go. I guess if we have a suitable upgrade then that's fine, but I'd rather see Aouichiche go and free up space/wages that way.
While I get that argument, I guess it begs the question of what we are gonna do with that money instead? Are we gonna be able to deploy that money closer to the first team picture? Or are we expecting to move that cash 'further away' by investing it in younger talent? If we pooled Ekwah and Clarke cash, does it enable us to deploy more talent in any particular area? Maybe we get two slightly better strikers but we still only play with one - and already have at least two options on the books that we want to use. For me its a good problem to have, but we don't have all that many spaces in the squad for direct impact on the first team, barring the obvious. I don't see selling Ekwah and putting money in the bank all that useful in and of itself. And spending all the Ekwah money on a direct replacement is likely gonna come with expectations of starter minutes - which then impacts Neil, Jobe and Rigg.
I'd love him here, but its a profile problem for me. If Billing came to SAFC he'd expect to start week in week out. But that works against our aim to give most of our midfield minutes to Neil, Jobe and Rigg. I know it's a long season and all that, but managing the profiles and expectations within the squad is a critical task.
I don't think we need a direct Ekwah replacement because I don't think he has a position in the current squad. A Neil backup would be a player closer to the first team than Ekwah. Then just general squad upgrades would be the direction i'd go outside of the striker position. Raise the floor of the squad with players that fit the system better than the currect squad players.
You’d have thought so but I’m not too sure how it all works. I know they’ve brung in quite a bit ££ this summer and the Gallagher deal counts as 100% profit…
See I don't mind that at all, if we can improve the side then we do it. It raises the level and quality.
Squad as it stands If we have that many outgoings you'd think a bit of cover in defence and midfield wouldn't go amiss
