Summer 2017 Transfer Speculation

Lukerz

Buffy - compare his approach to that of Kouyate...

I thought Antonio was a talented RWB, in the mould of Victor Moses or Kyle Walker. I thought he had potential there.

buffybegood

Slaven_A_Laugh_Lukerz said:

Buffy - compare his approach to that of Kouyate...



I thought Antonio was a talented RWB, in the mould of Victor Moses or Kyle Walker. I thought he had potential there.

But Bilic wanted him as a RB, not a RWB, they're very different positions. If we were going to be playing 3-5-2 every week, I can see an argument for Antonio at RWB, but he's not a RB and never will be (imo).

Also, Kouyate knew he was only filling in, as Antonio was originally last season; he hadn't been told that Bilic intended that to be his position full stop.

baracks_a_hammer

I personally think that anyone who thinks that the Dave's are going to go on a massive spending spree and let Slav choose the players we buy are going to be sadly disappointed. Seven of those "out" players in Luke's list above are slav's from just this season - they may well now not trust his judgement

The Dave's may well keep Slav but I doubt they will extend his contract at the same time. All of which potentially points to a "treading water" season 17/18 to accompany the manager's contract meandering to a gradual end, much as what happened with Sam.

Fortuneseeker

Can't honestly see all ten on the list going, possibly 3 may be four, if you include Fletcher who was rated higher, according to some sources, to Rashford when he was at Old Trafford. Fernandes is one for the future and see no sense in him going but a lot of what is going on at the moment I see no logic to.

ASLEFshrugged

Antonio was a terrible RB and clearly unhappy playing a role he didn't feel he was suited to. He's been a lot better playing further up the pitch and playing him in defence was a waste.

Calleri and Tore will return to their parent clubs, Arbeloa was just on a season long contract and Adrian is out of contract too. We might try selling Sakho again like we did last summer as he's only got one season left

The rest we're pretty much stuck with unless they want to leave

Deal with it

AdMeus_CaputFilius

baracks_a_hammer said:

I personally think that anyone who thinks that the Dave's are going to go on a massive spending spree and let Slav choose the players we buy are going to be sadly disappointed. Seven of those "out" players in Luke's list above are slav's from just signings during Slavs management this season - they may well now not never trust his let him sign the players he wants in his judgement, preferring to rely on their own and that of their advisers.

- fixed that for you ;wink

But were they though? Or was it more the case of Slav being told "these are the players that are available for the money we have - which ones would you like?" I would imagine Slav had others in mind that were not included and others who might have been, and could have been better than what we got, who may have declined the invitation to join us.

Its a bit like pointing to the chocolate section in a sweet shop to a child telling them to pick what they want "but not the Lindt or Green & Black brands or similar - only the shop own brands but you can have a Cadbury's/Galaxy/Nestle, as well but only one mind you."

MrsGrey

He would have known when he took the job that the premium chocolates were not on the agenda. Unless he's an idiot.

IronHerb

But DS promised premium chocolate last summer.

grey_til_I_dye

IH

He actually promised to make the cost of premium chocolates available (and agreed a deal for one) - but that doesn't mean you are going to be able to buy one if they are limited in supply, and, unusually for chocolates, are allowed to choose who they go to...

Fortuneseeker

grey,

Good point but we shouldn't be shopping at Harrods and then end up getting something from Lidl?

See John Terry is available. ;wink

grey_til_I_dye

Fortune

But imagine the faces of the kids if you told them there was no chocolate at all...

IronHerb

;lol

Fortuneseeker

grey,

I don't need to imagine. I just need to remember my reaction at the close of the recent transfer windows to know how they would look.

grey_til_I_dye

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I do think a few players will be showing the door but doubt all of Luke 10 will move on

Tore is a loan that we've tried to let go

Adrian
Arbeloa
Sakho
Valencia (if we can, see last window)
Calleri

Arguably can see leaving. Think Nordtveit, Snodgrass and Feghouli will be given another year to show their worth unless a good bid comes in

I'd keep Masuaka think he has a lot of potential as does fernandes

McHammer

Striker Diafra Sakho, 27, had a huge row with West Ham boss Slaven Bilic before Saturday's draw with Sunderland, after he refused to be named as a substitute. (Sun)

De ja vu. If true how can he expect to start after being out so long!

Yeoldhammer

So much deadwood to get rid of i can't see how we are going to get the bodies in we need. How to keep the ones we have and how to get rid of the ones we need to move on.

alderz

I still think we have a decent squad, personally. We've been poor this season for a number of reasons, but the big one is that we have been regularly disrupted by injuries. Whenever we start to settle on a side a key component gets crocked.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I agree with alderz, the squad isn't bad

We've had a bad season but Antonio, Lanzini, Obiang, Reid and Kouyate (less so than the others) have still had good seasons....all 5 of those players are top half of the table players

Cresswell has had an awful season that was disrupted by an bad injury during preseason....before that he's been one of the best left backs in the league...and can only hope that his class pulls through as

I refuse to believe that none of Ayew, Feghouli or Snodgrass can't find a place in this team their history suggests they can all be big players

Masuaka got some early flack but I've been encouraged he's just a young man, and byram while rash shows the potential to be a useful player

Collins when called upon has been a rock and like the 3 attackers I mentioned I can't 100% rule out Fonte not being a big player....class tells and he's got class

What we really need is a good preseason.....undisturbed but Europa league and injuries to key players....because last preseason was a catastrophe

Yeoldhammer

Surely we can't roll out that every season we didn't so well because of injuries. Its a squad game now and has been for a number of years, if the sum of your squad is poor overall then its simply poor.

Its not as if every other club have not had their fair share of injured players to stars either as has being frequently pointed out throughout this season.

Its a scapegoat comment for some shocking performances and displays and shows how out of depth the squad actually is in this league. Its almost a certainty we are not going to get through a whole season without players being injured. We had players injured last season for long lengths to if I remember rightly in one of our best seasons. Lanzini / Antonio / Sakho / Carroll / Payet / Reid all injured for long periods of time last season.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

This is the most physically demanding league in the world..... so injuries can be an excuse

These are players that have been ruled out for 8 weeks or more:

Byram
Cresswell
Ogbonna
Masuaka
Obiang
Ayew
Carroll
Sakho
Tore
Feghouli (first game of the season as well)

They are all long term injuries....name a team that has had the same luck

alderz

Yes, lots of teams get injuries. But there are 7 teams below us in the league too. There seems to be this feeling that we have had a worse season than anybody else has, but we are 13th in the league. By no means have I enjoyed this season (it's been the first season in many years that I haven't been that interested (although that might be more to do with the rest of my life than the football)), but it has been no worse than a dozen others.

For me, the core of the squad is good. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew, Lanzini, Carroll are all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes of Byram, Collins, Feghouli, Snodgrass, are good players for us too.

Every team suffers when you take out key players, because the replacements are replacements for a reason, they aren't as good. Our issue is that we have been forced to rely on players we would rather use as bit part far more often that we would have hoped.

IMO, and it is only my opinion, the main two positions we need to address are GK and ST. I would like a new RB, but I have faith that Byram can be a good player for us for years to come, and I would like to see him trusted with the position.

Yeoldhammer

For me, the core of the squad is good. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Cresswell (still think he can replicate his form so will give you that one), Noble (Core but not top 10 standard imo), Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew (has the ability to but not seen enough of it yet), Lanzini, Carroll (not core if you cant depend on him for more than half a season are all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes of Byram, Collins (solid backup does a job), Feghouli, Snodgrass, are good players for us too.

Striked through the ones who I think are below top 10 standard and for me top 10 should be where we are when looking at our Financials + based in London + Wages paid.

TwistandShout

Grey, you know what you're gonna get with loan deals and frees...

8 bad ones. 1 good one (Lanzini loan)

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

I'd actually only change 2-3 players

I originally said that the second half of this season would be the opposite of the first and we'd be back on track, how wrong was I??!?

Get a top notch keeper stop faffing around trying to keep two No.2's happy

Get a RB but the right one who can show Byram the way to do it, not one that you're going to fall out with

We're overloaded with midfielders and wide men, get another striker

That's it, regroup with hopefully an injury free summer, DO NOT STICK SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES and the jobs a goodun!!

coyi

TwistandShout

4/5 first team players needed for me. Which means proper investment... (Not loans and frees...)

GK (10-15m)
RB (10m-15m)
CM (15m)
LW (15-20m)
FW (25-30m)

alderz

You think we can spend nearly £100m in one window? If that's what you consider 'proper' investment it's no wonder you think the board don't back the club.

baracks_a_hammer

Yes but Alderz we will recoup £40m of that by offloading Nordveit to Barca

SuzanneClaret

Do Barca know?

alderz

For me, in priority order, we need GK, ST, DR, WG.

GK: £5m-£15m. I think Joe Hart and Jordan Pickford would be available at the top end of that budget. Cheaper options that I consider a step up on what we have would be people like Asmir Begovic, Lukasz Fabianski, David Ospina. I also think we could test Stoke for Jack Butland, seeing as Lee Grant has been so good this year.

ST: £15m-£30m. I don't see the point in saying "we need to spend £30m" because we can offer it but that doesn't mean £30m players want to join us. I actually think there are decent option out there for less money than that anyway. The one I would like to see us go all out for is Javier Hernandez. He's scoring goals for Bayer, even though they have had a bad season. They aren't getting Europe, and I would imagine we would be able to offer him guaranteed football and a pay increase. He's also only got one season left on his contract, so could be available.

DR: £10m-£15m. I still want to see Byram make this place his own, but we definitely need an alternative. For £10m we could probably get Craig Dawson off WBA, who I think has been one of the best fullbacks in the league this season. I am also still a fan of Dominic Iorfa. Would be nice to have two young rightbacks to battle it out.

WG: £15m-£20m. For me, we should only be targeting a winger once the other three positions are sorted. In Antonio, Feghouli, Ayew and Snodgrass we should be well stocked here, and we have Valencia returning too. If we were able to sell and upgrade then that would be great, but it isn't a burning issue like the other positions, IMO.

I don't think that we need another CM when we have a pool of Noble, Kouyate, Obiang, Fernandes, and we all want to see Josh Cullen get a chance at the club. Signing a new CM means Cullen may as well leave, tbh. Obviously if one of the others leaves we'll need to replace.

So I think an investment of £30m - £60m should be made on those first three positions. I would like to think that SOME of that would be recouped through sales, but we shall see.