Half the season gone, less than 2 weeks left in the window. As each day passes, it’s not looking like we’re going to be doing much to strengthen the areas we need. so based on what we’ve seen so far, who are the top names you’d be selling in the summer to free up funds/squad places/wages? there’s obvious “get rid of’s” such as Werner and Forster etc. but I think in terms of who I’d genuinely be looking to move on (who we can potentially bring in half decent money for, my top 4 would be Johnson, Richarlison, Romero and Bissouma. Johnson simply doesn’t have enough about him for me. It was an expensive mistake, and I feel the money is better reinvested. However, I feel we’ll end up keeping him in the hope he comes good. Which at this stage, there’s absolutely no signs of, IMO. Richarlisons goal scoring record was hardly something to write home about before we signed him, and he’s constantly injured. We need to try and claw back as much as we can for him. Romero I can see handing in a transfer request, and to be honest I think he’s overrated. Someone will pay a fortune for him, so I’d be happy for us to move on. Bissouma just hasn’t reached the levels he was at when he played for Brighton. Time to sell. those 4 could pick us up the best past of £150-200m IMO. however, that leaves us with a lot of business to do, especially when you consider what we already need prior to any sales of senior players. Makes you realise how important it is that this time in January isn’t wasted. Again, it’ll be way too much to do in 1 summer window. We’ll be chasing our tail again.
Good post. You’d hope the club would learn and try to do as much as possible in every window rather than leaving too much to do in one window which just isn’t possible. Definitely need at least 1-2 outfield players in this window. Outgoings will probably wait until the summer because of the injuries.
Hard to argue with much of what you've said with most of them, mate. Albeit on Romero, even if you think he's overrated I do believe he's one of the upper tier CBs in Europe right now, though that essentially also ties into the fact of what I've been saying for months in that football's experiencing a decline. But if we sell him, what happens? We almost certainly won't get better, so we'd be downgrading at a time we're desperate for upgrades. Though I do expect him to want out so we have little choice in the matter anyway. Depending on how the season pans out, there could be clubs sniffing around Kulu too. Good job that stadium's been a gamechanger though, I'd be worried otherwise
For me the easy decisions are to offload Maddison, Bissouma and Richarlison That's likely going to bring in £60-70m, possibly more if one of them heads to the oilfields, and considering we have that option to buy Johnny Cardoso for £25m in the summer we'd potentially have £35m still in our pocket from those sales alone
That was initial gut reaction as well. If Ange stays then I can't see Johnson going as he apparently asked for him, although I know that argument could be made with Maddison as well! We all known how this all ends. Poorly....
He’s a decent defender, and don’t get me wrong I’m not against keeping him. Especially as you say, we’d have to replace him. - which could easily go horribly wrong. That’d then mean we’d need 2 CB’s. Potentially a disastrous situation. I put him in the list mainly because I don’t think he’ll want to stay, so I’d rather we got on with it, as he’ll bring in decent money for the transfer kitty.
whilst Maddison hasn’t exactly set the world alight either, he’s the only player of that type that we have in the squad, so I’d be more tempted to keep him for another year.
That's an understatement! Emperor's new clothes - he thinks he looks great, but that's not an opinion generally held... And from Anges' reluctance to play him, he's not a fan either. In his defence, maybe he needs the right players around him? But that's a no great plaudit for a supposedly 'elite' player
RE Maddison. He established himself as one of the league's most creative and attacking number 10s in that CAM role for Leicester. So of course we stick him at LCM… We’ve also got an inside forward in Son being played as a wide winger… Porro who’s excellent at running the line and crossing from wide being told to run inside all the time… Anyone else genuinely surprised they’re not performing to their capabilities?
Fair point, but let's be honest, he's never been a great defender and his lack of awareness for when he should maybe be covering his flank is a prime reason for many of our defensive problems.
Most FBs aren’t great defenders these days tbh. Trent’s one of the best, if not the best RB in Europe and he’s often been below par at the defensive aspects.
Yeah I’m not Maddison’s biggest fan but I do think the system doesn’t really bring out the best in him.
I think that all of our midfielders would be better suited to playing alongside a proper holding midfielder, too. Gray's too young and inexperienced to be playing there all the time, but getting in somebody he can learn from would be ideal. The link to Douglas Luiz is frustrating for me, as he's the same. Ended up being used there for Villa after Kamara's injury. We've also been linked to a bunch of Italian/Serie A midfielders and a Colombian, but I've not seen enough to judge them.
I’d happily stick Gray there to be honest, he already plays like he’s 30, ridiculous level of maturity for his age.
I agree about him being a fantastic footballer and very mature and composed for his age. We need to avoid burning him out and wasting his potential, though. He's 18. I don't want to see him done by the time he's 28. An Edgar Davids-style signing to learn from would be perfect, for me.
We need another body there for sure. Could even be a younger player like Cardoso. But he could play there tomorrow and arguably should IMO, if Davies can start at CB.
