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Comments
Was a good 4/5 yards behind our other defenders
But yea immediate repsonse has to be GK
Literally every week we seem to change keeper as both have been poor
100% Hart's fault.
A few freebies. If I could choose three, I think it would be Reina, Can and Wiltshire.
But all three will have far, far better offers, IMO
Tom Cairney
Jonjo Shelvey
Ryan Fredericks
Tom Heaton
Lewis Dunk
Wouldn't mind any of those.
If we can keep our players fit (or, in fact, just keep them at all) then we have plenty of pace in attack; Antonio, Masuaku, Arnautovic and Lanzini are all quick.
Our problem is, and has been for years, the lack of pace in defence and midfield. I'd be happy with those on your list. However:
Tom Cairney - will depend entirely on whether Fulham get promoted. If they do, is there really any benefit in him leaving them for us?
Jonjo Shelvey - he's rubbish, remember? Sully said so*
Ryan Fredericks - See Cairney
Tom Heaton - This one has a chance. Him or Pope would do us.
Lewis Dunk - No real reason for him to leave Brighton for us, IMO. We are on paper a bigger club but I do wonder whether players will be put off by all of the drama surrounding the club.
Still think a genuine DM is a priority though. Happy to sign Cairney or Shelvey, so long as we get a Dendoncker/Carvalho too.
*this may or may not have actually been said. Given our owner's penchant for voicing his opinions about players the it wouldn't surprise me
I think Cairney is an upgraded version of Noble, from what I've seen. Very good passer and is a productive passer. Fredericks is more of a risk but I think he's the perfect modern day full-back. Certainly has potential. Heaton is proven at PL level and with Pope coming through I think there is a question to ask Burnley. Dunk has had an excellent season this year, was one of the best Championship CB's last season and I feel with Collins on the way out and Reid, although I love him, proving more and more fragile, it's an area we need to look at, especially if 3/5 at the back is to continue.
To be honest, I would back us to sign all of those players, bar Shelvey. I'd also take a punt on Wilshere if we could convince him and there's a couple of lads at Bournemouth I like.
I'd be certain we'd be able to pay bigger bucks than Fulham, Brighton and Burnley, so I think that would be a pull to those players. Of course they may be non-starters, but worth the question. ;ok
I think a DM is vital too, but they are very hard to find and I still have hope Obiang can be that guy. I think a DM is vital if we abandon the 3-4-3/3-4-1-2/whatever formation but with a back five in place, I think it's more important to have two dynamic CM's.
He could do that at West Ham for an extra £10k a week.
He'll be bottom half at Brighton, on £20,000.
We'll pay him £40,000 for the privilege here.
We were linked with a couple of DMs in January; I'm sure we'll do some business in that position.
Same staple for recruitment as usual
1 player for 20m+
1 player for 10 - 15m
2/3 players between 5 - 10m
Most of those players will be valued by their clubs at the 20m+ mark.
Think Chelseki would want around £30m for him, and I'd like to hope we could get better than him for that sort of money.
£30m, which is probably more than half of our budget, gets you Danny Drinkwater or, if rumours in January were to be believed, Tom Cairney.
We arguably need five players that can come straight into our starting eleven, which would equate to, what £80m-£100m if we want to move forward. We simply don't have that kind of money.
Reina, Fredericks and Wilshere are all free and would improve on our options in their respective positions, which means we could go (relatively) big on a CB and a DM, but as I said earlier, these free agents will probably have more attractive propositions than us.
Ben Foster is 35, as a short term measure he'd be excellent but he can only have a few seasons left before he hangs up his gloves.