Just checked and he signed a three year deal in September, so unlikely he goes this summer unless he wants to. I know the Poland manager was encouraging him to get out of this **** club and Juric said there was interest in him in Jan from Roma I think so he probably will have suitors, up to him if he goes
I would consider offers for him TBH. Edwards and Wood have terrific potential and Stephens has good experience. If we sold both Bednarek and THB we'd need to bring in another CB but that wouldn't be an issue. Definitely want to see Edwards playing for us next season.
Yeah it very much is a dilemma. We have a number of players who proved last season that they are effective, or much better than that, at Champ level, but have since proven not good enough for the PL. Do you keep those players this window with the view to move them on if we do get promoted? Or do you roll the dice and move them on now and do a big rebuild hoping you recruit players who can get you out of the Championship and make the step the up, but most importantly get you out of the Championship (which you know the players you may want to move on can do). Replacing Stephens, THB and Bednarek who were our main centre backs when we got promoted for Wood and Edwards who both have played at average Champ sides at best is clearly a big risk regardless of who else we bring in. Could turn out that Edwards and Wood both kick on and become PL level players, could turn out that they are midtable championship and we miss out on promotion because of them
I'm not sure what will happen with THB. I'm pretty sure he will want to leave but I don't know if anyone will want to pay much more than £25m for him. With so long left on his contract, I can't see us selling for that.
He’s one of the ones I think is a wait and see how he plays it. As you say with 4 years left on his deal we surely will be asking for a sizeable fee, and will anyone want to pay that. On the flip side he is 23, just played for England and has a lot of the traits PL sides like in a centre back. If Max Kilman goes for £40m then THB going for £25/£30m doesn’t seem completely out of the realms of possibility (Kilman is better but a few years older and with less time left on his deal when sold). Downes is another one who I think will want out but who will pay what we want/would any club be an upgrade who would actually buy him is another question. As always there’s too much we don’t know behind the scenes. Some players may just want out and not really fussed where, or maybe they are happy to stay and give a promotion push a go
Yes, lots of unknowns and only time will tell. The only thing I have confidence in is that SR will get good money for any players we do sell.
Last season we had to compete against Norwich and Watford - in addition to Leicester and Leeds - who also had parachute payments. And we still managed to finish 4th with ease. So yeah, if we were to only have two opponents next season with parachute payments, then in that respect we'd have an even greater advantage next season than last season. Birmingham and Wrexham are the two sides who interest me. They both have hugely ambitious owners, and I doubt they'll be wanting to stay in the Championship for too long.
I want to see us prioritise football matters over corporate investment & win the league. Don’t care whether that includes a huge loss. If we’re gonna compete in Prem the season after, we need to recruit players that we think can play at the top level this summer and they should be winning the league!
