Whether we can or not is down to being in the championship or not. He hasn't met his trigger yet, and it was further away when those statements are made. Obviously Baz is just reporting whatever info he gets from the club. The conspiracy was that If we played him again we'd immediately have to pay for him. Neither of those suggestions were true and they remain so. But as with most things, there was a kernel of truth there, and that's the scenario we have here.
We keep saying it but our transfer policy really is poor. The most obvious evidence of how poor it is is how often we end up reversing it. Agreeing to obligatory clauses that we end up trying to get out of or undo, signing players to long contracts and then wanting rid of them 6 months later. Whether we stay up or not, this summer is going to be another window where we're trying to offload a lot of players who we'll probably struggle to shift because of the contracts they're on. We do sign good players but we don't make them work. We chop and change manager and end up with players that the incumbent doesn't want, even if they are decent players. So we sign more players and loan out the ones we don't want and can't sell. What a mess.
Baz already saying we need to bring in quality in the summer. NO! Let this group develop! Let's get some stability ffs.
We will though. We can't realistically end this season with the scoring record we have and not look to sign some players to improve on it in the summer. But we'd have to get rid of loads more to do that and achieve the smaller squad Selles wants. And like you say, the side effect would be we're again setting back the chemistry of the team a bit.
But we say this every years and the new players don't help. Because they're new and don't hit the ground running more often than not.
We're stuck in a cycle where the transfers repeatedly don't come off and/or we write them off too quickly and we always end up having to redo it every window. I don't think there's an easy or quick fix from where we are now in terms of the contracts and obligations we have. All these serious injuries will also complicate things this summer.
Of course we need to bring in quality in the summer. The issue is the number. 3 or 4 quality additions, including in still unaddressed areas, plus those hopefully coming back from injury (no, I don't mean Sinik) and we should be good to go. There will have to be a fair few released as the squad is bloated. Integrating say 3 or 4 over the summer isn't a big issue. The challenges obviously come when it's near to a new team's worth brought in each window. (All stating the obvious I know).
3-4 quality over the XI sure but 3-4 quality in the attack diminished the progress of Joseph, Belloumi, Kamara, Burstow and others.
We 100% need to spend money on a proven goalscorer. Pedro is a brilliant player but isn’t going to get a tonne of goals and I’m still not sold on Joseph, hopefully comes good but I don’t think he’s going to get 10-15 goals next season.
Burstow was a buy for the future and I'm certain the plan was to loan him out, but injuries forced our hand. Amrabat, Pedro, Lincoln, Sinik, Zambrano and Puerta are, as it stands right now, leaving the club at the end of the season. They all have options in their contracts, either to purchase the loans or to extend for another 12 months. Gelhardt would depend on what Leeds want to do with him, I think there's a bargain to be had there but bigger clubs than us would want him if he was available. Barry I would expect to come back next season and that's already been alluded to by the club to Baz. Burns I think we could buy if the price wasn't mental, but given that Jones and Hughes have done well and Macca and Egan have another year, I just don't think it's in his best interests to come here for his first permanent club. I think he's a good player with a lot of promise, but with Andy Smith and Paul Iggulden waiting in the wings, it doesn't seem likely that we'll buy him unless one of the others gets bought. I'd expect Pedro to be given another season as he's a handy impact sub at worst, Puerta I'm sure we'll buy at some point and Zambrano I think they're still waiting to see how long his ban is, but chances are they'll try and get him too if the price is right (I don't think it'll be much). Of the players currently in the first team squad who aren't getting minutes, Burstow and Vaughan you could loan out without missing them.
We never do and it's one of my biggest gripes as a City fan. I'll never work out how Peterborough seem to have a 30 goal a season striker popping up every season yet we seem to buy players like (and I'm not knocking them) Kyle Joseph and Jay Simpson who are a "different kind of striker". Even when we brought in Abel Hernandez, it took him a season to get going properly; the last proper out and out striker we paid a transfer fee for was Fryatt and we haven't had one since. Richard Kone at Wycombe is having a great season and although he almost went to Luton for £6m, we didn't even bother trying. Which I guess at that price is fair enough, but you have to look at Birmingham who managed to sign Jay Stansfield and wonder why we struggle so badly to bring in these strikers when we're happy to print money to bring in players across the midfield.
The Puerta issue seems to have created conspiracies but I think there’s truth to it. Sellés said it was purely a tactical decision to not play him for a few games, not financial. I personally think the club were delaying playing him for a bit him until they had discussions with Leverkusen about renegotiating the terms of the buy-option. Not sure why Leverkusen would agree to that as we signed terms with them and it’s not in their interest to do us a favour by accepting less than what we agreed. If that’s the case, it makes us look incredibly bad to other clubs. I think when we initially signed him the €3.8 million buy-option wasn’t an issue but the sacking of Walter and having to sign loads of players in January for the new coach meant our financial situation has changed a bit. I also think the club are trying to hold off signing him permanently until we’re certain we’re a Championship club next season which still may not be decided until May. It’s not Leverkusen’s problem though. It’s entirely our fault through piss-poor recruitment and long-term planning. Sacking Walter in November, getting Sellés then having to sign even more players in January obviously wasn’t the plan. Signing Zambrano knowing he had a doping ban hanging over his head and now twiddling our thumbs over his buy-option also isn’t good planning. The club’s an absolute basket case regarding transfers and has been ever sign Acun bought the club. Unlike previous summers, we do not have a Philogene, Greaves or Lewis-Potter to sell for £15 million+ this summer coming up so our financial situation with FFP and balancing the books is looking bleak. Signing Puerta and Zambrano on permanent deals doesn’t look prudent at the moment, especially since there’s still a real risk of us going down.
I’ve done this before but it bears repeating. We won’t be signing “a proven goalscorer”, we will be signing talent that has the prospects of becoming a proven goalscorer, or a previous track record. That’s what we’ve done with Burstow (scored goals as a youngster in League One), Bedia (scored a hatful in Switzerland), Pedro (scored loads a few years ago in Serie A) and Joseph (not yet a big scorer but very hard working). Barry and Kamara are the nearest we have to proven goalscorers, and their records are both garnered in League One. If we really want a proven goalscorer, someone we know can do it in the championship, these are the current options at the top of the scoring charts: Joel Piroe - heading to the Prem with Leeds. Borja Sainz - had a purple patch and now can’t hit a barn door. Josh Maja - not going to leave WBA for a rival. Wilson Isidor - not going to leave Sunderland for a rival. Callum Robinson - might be attainable but a risk at 30 years old. Josh Sargent - heading for the Premier League. We won’t be signing a proven goalscorer. We will be signing players with potential, just like we’ve been doing for the last 12 months. It’s bound to be hit and miss (we’ve had far too many misses).
Completely agree we need a first choice striker but I'd be really hesitant to try to overhaul our #10 and winger positions yet again.
*touch wood* If we are still a Championship club come next season, we will just have to stick with what we’ve got on the wings in Kamara, Belloumi and Millar returning and agreeing a deal with Villa to get Barry back on loan for a full season. Two left-wingers and two right-wingers. If it’s possible, try to get Gelhardt back as well as he’s versatile and can play either wing, as a striker and just behind the striker. It’s ridiculous to say but we should be looking to shift Palmer, Mehlem, Giles and Racioppi permanently in the summer. I think Paderborn will buy Mehlem as they have an option and he’s playing really well for them from what I can gather (I still rate him but Sellés doesn’t see him as part of his plans and prefers others in midfield). Palmer was a weird signing to begin with and we should get him off the wage bill ASAP to any club that would take him. Racioppi just never worked out. Was clearly brought in as a backup to Pandur to challenge for the number 1 spot but Acun was like a kid in a sweatshop and just had to bring Rushworth in too. Giles the less said the better. I’d be surprised if Boro want him permanently as he’s been ****ing ****e for them too. I’d keep Ömür unless a club will pay more than what we signed him for. I’d also keep Simons but Wycombe have a buy-option and they’ll probably get promoted. Let Sinik, Amrabat and Fleming leave when their contracts expire in June and activate Pedro’s option. Puerta’s situation isn’t clear but I wouldn’t exercise the buy-option for Zambrano. I know he’s highly-rated and has high potential but with the doping ban, it’s a risk we cannot afford to take. I’d prefer taking a punt on Kyprianou at Posh as he’s out-of-contract in the summer. Would be a cheaper and safer option as there’d be no transfer fee, he hasn’t been banned for doping and until this season due to some injuries, he has played consistently in League One for Peterborough and has a lot of minutes under his belt.
I think the injuries have changed the picture, the loanees who may have been back up to fill the squad a few games here and there to cover short term injuries and when we have the 3 game weeks. Now they have become the first choice due to losing our own players.
I think the proven goal scorer argument whether we can get one or not depends on the definition of a proven goal scorer. Is it 20+ goals a season, 15 to 20 or 10 to 15. The position we'll be in if we stayed up we won't be getting 20+ but maybe 10 to 15
For me, alongside Zambrano and Puerta if they become permanents - we need to be looking to sign full backs on both sides, a striker and see if we can do something about Barry and Gelhardt. If we start the season with the midfield we have now, plus Zambrano - I’m fairly content. Centre backs I’m happy with and Millar and Belloumi would bring our attacking options back to something decent. So if you include keeping the players that are already here - that’s 7. I really think any more than that is change for changes sake.
Fullbacks are an issue (we said the same last summer). I’d prioritise left-back over right-back. Sellés seems to prefer playing McLoughlin at left-back over Drameh, Coyle or even Jacob which suggests he likes that hybrid left-back/left centre-half role that a lot of clubs use these days. Without the ball it’s a flat back four but with the ball it’s a back three with the left-back tucking in and the right-back pushing up high and wide to form a 3-2-5 or 3-1-6 in possession. If that’s the way he wants to go then someone like MacNulty at PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie would be a great signing. It would allow whoever the right-back is to get forward as much as possible almost as a wingback and the right-winger can play more narrow which is how Sellés wants his wide players to play like anyway.
