Gamez and Manquillo too please! Of the 5 you mentioned 3 aren't going to play for us again. Darlow I don't mind as a reserve team keeper but the annoyance is Joselu who we are likely to be stuck with for years to come. He's better than Reviere or Xisco at least!
All of those, yes. At the start of the season I'd have said Diame but I think we'd be mad to get rid now and Hayden needs to go for a better DCM brought in with Big Mo retained. I don't especially see the point in persisting with Mbemba or Mitrovic if Rafa doesn't fancy them. I'd replace Manquillo with a new RB and have Yedlin in reserve. Get 5 or so new signings right and we could have a nice squad next season. Those would be CF, LW, ACM, DCM, Reserve LB, RB. Buy Dubravka obviously and I think there is a fairly modest fee already agreed. Maybe buy Kenedy if he's for sale and the fee couldn't be spent on someone even better. I'd keep Gayle since you can't replace all the forwards in one go and I guess the same goes for Perez on that basis if Joselu was to go (which I bet he doesn't). It's likely that Rafa will be rebuilding in stages though so some of these will still be here next season. If he's genuinely given every penny the club has in the bank and the club relaxes it's wage caps and transfer fee vertigo so we can try and sign the next level of players then I think over the next 4 transfer windows he'll have built us up to a top 8 club. All of this is obviously dependent on staying in the league!
Oh, yeah, Gamez also. Although both he, Haidara and Curtis Good are out of contract at the end of the season and have zero chance of being offered new deals.
Hope we can sell Colback to Forest. They might even take Darlow back, he'll be surplus to requirements here if we have Dubravka and Elliot with Woodman hopefully making the step up at some point.
Diame wants shifting while his stock is high. He will hopefully keep his form up til the summer but I wouldn't bet on it lasting longer than that. If we're going to shift a CB I'd prefer to sell Clark and keep Mbemba. Mitro can leave, he's having a great time at Fulham so hopefully they or someone similar will stump up for him. If we do end up going down I'd hope whoever replaces Rafa would try Arma and Mitro up top. I think they could do well together at that level. Gayle should have gone to a Champ club last summer in hindsight but I agree we'll probably want to hang onto him until January at least.
Largely depends who we can sign. I’d want rid of all of those and more. Hayden for me isn’t progressing at all.
Agree with you on Diame. Him and Shelvey together are better than the sum of their parts so I'd like to see him stay.
Gayle, Haidara, Sels, Lazaar, Gamez, Manquillo, Joselu, blah blah, most of the squad really. Rafa ain't gonna stay around for long unless he's allowed to completely transform the squad.
Manquillo, Joselu, Gamez, Joselu, Colback, Joselu, Elliot/Darlow, Joselu, Sels, Joselu Haidara, Joselu, Gayle, Joselu, Lazaar, Joselu, Good, Joselu, Toney, Joselu, Clark... Did I mention Joselu? One's I think will leave but shouldn't - Mitro, Aarons, Mbemba, Hayden - all U23/24 with plenty of potential there and better back up (at worst) than those listed above.
Who we sell will depend entirely upon who we buy. Who we buy depends entirely, at present, upon what funds are made available by Ashley. I do think the lists above are, therefore, being extremely optimistic as to the funds Ashley intends to make available. I will wait to see what funds Ashley provides before deciding who we will sell.
We'll buy 2-3 first teamers (only one of whom will be a marked improvement) and 2-3 back up players who we end up relying on for the first team anyway. We've got a few players out of contract in the summer and further purchases will have to be financed in freeing up the wages of people like Colback and Mitrovic (who together are on a tidy fee). Anyone willing to offload Diame at the moment wants shooting. Yes his stock his high but we have many players whose stock will never be high, we're not going to get in a consistently high performing player and it's better to have someone who blows hot and cold as it nets us wins! ps. Where is the Merino we had back in September? I want to sign him and return the guy we've had since.
Yeh I wouldn't contemplate getting rid of Diame. We'd be lucky to get even 10m for him and there's Colback, Hayden, Saivet to get rid of first. We can't have a complete overhaul of one area, it's going to have to be more gradual. Merino (I'm hoping) will look better in a better team. Get us a decent striker and he'll already start to look better. I think he's lost a bit of confidence and in a team fighting relegation it doesn't half make you look ****!
With Merino I simply think it's a combination of injuries and foreigner/first season/youngster syndrome. He is a good player and will be better if persevered with.
Really really looking forward to Merino next year. He has done quite well for his first given the injuries he has had. He hasn't achieved loads but the one thing he has shown which is probably the key indicator, is quality. He has that ability to play that pressing game you need in the PL. He also has the physical structure to cope very well. His technical quality is already there and he will have learnt a massive amount this year. His age is also a massive factor to consider. Natural progression should mean we have a very good midfield on our hands. I would ask him to watch Matic as a player he could learn from. I see a lot of similar characteristics in their style of play. Mitrovic is the one who could bring in a very nice fee. He will be on decent wages too as his reputation when he came was one of a hot prospect. I would be asking him to watch Costa closely to learn from if he was staying as he has a lot of the same characteristics as a player. I fully expect though he will be moving on and we have to hope he has a great end to the season with Fulham and cracking world cup. Obviously the likes of Colback, Haidara, Saivet, Lazaar, Sels, Gamez, would be expected to move on. I'd also like Manquillo, Gayle, Clark, Hayden, Joselu shifted and upgraded. Diame is a funny one because before the recent resurgence he'd have been near the top of the list. For now I'm unsure. It largely depends how he finishes the season. The only issue is the amount of turnover again. That could be 10-12 players going out without bringing in massive money. Rafa might have to take a longer view realistically with maybe 5-6 this summer and 5-6 the following summer. Painful for the fans but kinda necessary. I think the problem everyone has ignored though is we have already announced the release of a large portion of younger players and Rafa's desire to see the U23 squad upgraded to help increase competitiveness. That can't be done by free transfers and moving U18's up alone. So some of our budget this summer is going to have to be spent on an area that won't have the impact on a first team squad in the short term that a new first team player would.
I will add I am not convinced Rafa will stay. I think he wants to compete in a different part of the league and for trophies in general. I don't think we can give him what he wants without a massive investment (takeover). No one is to blame. Not Rafa, not Ashley, not Charnley. You could blame the PL I suppose. We just can't compete financially is the uncomfortable truth, and no one wants to pay our current owner what the club is worth in his eyes (the only eyes which matter).
With who though? Can you see any of the top 4 plus Chelsea and Arsenal going for him? Then what have you got? Maybe Everton because Of The family links to the area but I'd argue that we have more potential with the right investment. Really like Leicester's game but couldn't see that happening. Everyone else is a definite step down. If we can get rid of Mike and get some proper owners in then there is a lot to be done at this club and I genuinely think he likes the project. I'd maybe get a bit worried if say Spurs lost Potch. Suppose they could come after him and I think that's a job he'd like.
His options in this country are limited. He wouldn’t be adverse to working abroad for the right job as much as England is his home. I don’t think it’s the end of the world either way but obviously the ideal scenario is investment comes in and he builds on what we have. It’s not easy though as we saw with the last bidders. It’s very uncomfortable looking at how hard they went after a cheap deal. You immediately question their motivation and what they actually had to invest. Generally serious investors get the job done.
