If we have to bring a few players in for 10-20m then so be it, to compete we need to ship out the deadwood and be active in the market.....it's not that difficult.
Having a full squad full of shit then you're not going to compete are you? Rather a 20-21 man squad where all of them have quality.
Right… we’ll let’s do sone maths here.
We’ve been whining on about how we don’t have a good or big enough squad to cope - based on certain individuals being crap or constantly injured.
So, our starting point is this :
GK : Alisson - OS
GK : Kelleher - HG
GK: Adrian - OS
DF : TAA - HG
DF : Robbo - OS
DF : Tsimikas - OS
DF : Virgil - OS
DF : Konate - OS
DF : Matip - OS
DF : Gomez - HG
DF : Phillips - HG
MF : Fabs - OS
MF : Hendo - HG
MF : Thiago - OS
FW : Jota - OS
FW : Nunez - OS
FW : Gakpo - OS
FW : Diaz - OS
FW : Salah - OS
That’s a squad of 19, 6 short of what we can register - but only allowing for 3 OS players to be added.
Curtis Jones, Van den Berg, Leighton Clarkson, Adam Lewis, Paul Glaetzer, Rhys Williams, Jaros, Jack Bearne & Arroyo all have to be added to the squad, loaned or sold.
Realistically - Jones gets added, but the rest will likely get cut - maybe VdB & Clarkson to fill out the squad - all would be HG apart from Arroyo.
Harvey, Carvalho, Morton, Ramsay, Bradley & BadgerTits have another year at least as youths, so don’t need to be registered - all, apart from Ramsey (it’s a grey area with him) will be HG.
So… right now, we could sign 3 new OS players, add them to the squad without having to sell anyone - and we could add Jones, VdB & Clarkson to fill things out - if they’re considered good enough.
We could retain a whole pile of the kids in the event we need them - and have them wasting away on the bench when the could be getting valuable playing time somewhere else on loan.
So… no… I don’t think it’s a good fucking idea to hollow out 5 or 6 players, mostly homegrown from our squad of 19 (+ Jones), meaning we have to buy 5 or 6 new players on top of the 3 or 4 we already need.
We could shift Matip without it really mattering & maybe Thiago if we have other MFs coming in.
If we need to shift fringe players that are would likely just about pay for their replacement, then Phillips, Gomez & Tsimikas are the options, with Kelleher likely being able to bring in a profit.
If we want to sell core players that would have to be replaced directly, with no profit generated after an additional replacement over and above what we need is brought in - then Robbo, Fabs and well… take your pick of one of Jota, Nunez, Diaz or Gakpo.
If we want to go ballistic - Alisson, Trent, Virgil or Mo.
I’d put Jones, Harvey, Konate, BadgerTits & Carvalho (just about) in the “do not sell” basket.
Hendo is leaving on a free when his contract ends - he’s earned it - make your peace with it.
Please…. can we not do the “let’s sell loads of players and sign replacements for fantasy sums” please - it doesn’t stack up.
We need at least 2 good midfielders & a couple of squadies - that’s our budget spent - we can get another 1 decent player, maybe 2, by selling some fringe/youth players - anything else isn’t worth it - it’s just fulfilling fan fantasy.
