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Comments
All this slamming is giving me a headache, and somebody's sure to get their fingers trapped one day.
Also if someone had told me that Mane, Salah and Firmino would leave in such proximity I would've never believed it
Firstly, the positives. We got a good price for Rice and most of other other outgoings. It's a shame Scamacca wanted out, but he just didn't settle and at least we recouped a good chunk of what we paid for him, and managed a sale rather than the loan that most of his suitors were pushing for. We played hardball with Torino over Vlasic as well, and definitely got an extra few million for him than we might have done in previous years.
We also refused to overpay for our earlier (although not early) purchases, with both JWP and Alvarez coming in for a chunk less than was being asked for them originally. More by luck than judgement we managed to avoid Maguire, although I must admit I'm slightly concerned that we signed an alternative with known medical issues, especially with our track record. I'm pleased we signed Kudus given that he's highly rated, we'll just have to wait and see if that translates to PL performances.
Now the bad, we've kicked so many cans down the road that we've already got a massive job to do next summer, and all whilst having a negative net spend this window. We've also managed to seemingly alienate some players that clearly wanted away; I'm not saying just because they want away we should automatically crumble, but given that, for instance, Cresswell and Antonio need replacing anyway, it seems a very odd ploy. For next summer, we're already looking at:
Antonio - Old, needs replacing, wants away, will be OOC
Cresswell - Old, needs replacing, wants away, will be OOC
Ogbonna - Old, needs replacing, will be OOC
Fabianski - Old, needs replacing, will be OOC
Zouma - Suspect knees, will likely need to cash in at some point before he's worth nothing
Paqueta - Likely would have been gone but for betting issue, situation very much up in the air
Coventry - Nowhere near PL level, will be OOC
Johnson - Will be OOC, lost his way, unhappy with what he's been offered
Coufal - OOC although we hold a one year option so last chance to get anything back on him, needs upgrading
Benrahma - Seemed to be in a position we'd clearly earmarked for an upgrade given interest in Barnes and Borges, but Benrahma still the incumbant for LW/LAM, needs upgrading
Ings - So unsuited to how we play, will have a year left on contract next summer
Fornals - No longer a regular starter in the PL, OOC next summer although reported that we have a one year option.
There's so much work that needs to be done next summer, and a few of those issues really should have been addressed for this season. CF is surely the most obvious one. Antonio has had a couple of decent games, but he's a very hot and cold player, especially once he gets some miles into his legs during a season. He can't be relied on to maintain any form, and the alternatives are basically a completely unsuitable Ings or a very inexperienced Mubama who should be out on loan this season. The off-mentioned option of using Bowen threatens to remove our most potent attacking threat from the last couple of seasons from where he's been very effective; who in their right mind would do that? It's inexcusable to have gone through another window without bringing in a CF.
I'm torn between 3 other positions as to which is most important that we should have added to. LB, LW and CM. Cresswell clearly wanted away, and we should have let him go if we could have got anything for him; he's clearly well past his best. Emerson has good games in him (increasingly so) but we need an alternative as well given the games we've got this season and I am very wary of having to rely on Cresswell again this season.
LW seemed to be a priority position to upgrade early in the window given the strong links to Barnes and Borges, but it went off the radar; did Benrahma suddenly improve whilst he was on holiday? He has to be one of our most frustrating players; his pass to Bowen against Brighton was sublime and, had it been a Man City or Arsenal player we'd still be seeing constant replays of it, but his open play shooting was as ineffectual as usual this evening and you can see why Moyes would want more contributions from the position.
Finally, CM. One player out injured and we effectively have no cover there. Coventry isn't a serious option, he wasn't even on the bench. Sangare went to Forest for about £30m late on Deadline Day, surely we'd have been a more attractive option? I know Downes didn't pull up any trees last season, but if we weren't going to bring anyone else in, why did we let him go out on loan?
So my frustration is that we had a negative net spend of upwards of £20m, whilst having areas that desperately needed attention. Add to that a minimal (in the current age) transfer budget of £50-60m and we could have addressed at least 2 of the 4 areas I've outlined above, and removed 2 from the long list of problems to deal with next summer. The good business we've done is completely undermined by the work left undone. A grudging 5/10, probably boosted from a lower score by our good start to the season.
I think we had a good window and I’m glad we didn’t do a Forest and got virtually a new side in - again.
Mostly though I’m just glad it’s over.🎉
Despite the number of players we've brought in in the last 3 windows (13), we've still got the oldest squad in the league, so we're just creating problems further down the line apart from the fact that we should be stronger than we are for the current season which includes a European campaign.