The fact is we have a squad full of players not fit for the Premier League, whether that be because of a lack of ability, lack of application, lack of suitability, or a combination of all three, and because of this the squad needs a huge overhaul. We have so much crap we desperately need to shift and replace, I don't see how we can possibly have a quiet summer.
An absolute minimum of: 1x First choice centre back (not another squad filler e.g. Wague) 1 x Left Back 1x Striker capable of playing the lone striker effectively Plus Deleufeu Anything more than that would be a bonus for me. Those additions plus a better season re injuries we could well have a decent season. Chalobah and Cleverley back will be a huge boast (losing Doucoure would also mean more recruitment needed!)
In my opinion we need a defensive midfielder to screen what will never be a great defence and to stop the likes of Noble, Allen and Elneny strolling about picking out forwards from just 20 metres outside our box. A fit Cleverly and Chalobah would help, but they're not pacey destroyers. We'd also give away fewer central free kicks if we were not reliant on Doucouré pulling back fellow midfielders breaking through. Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk
Dahlberg we know is coming in to replace Karnezis Penaranda - will he be U21 still ? either way he is coming in Holebas signed a new contract so I can see him going out on loan or be kept as back up to a new Left back Amrabat - out on loan Hoban - if he has any years left on his contract then he'll go out on loan Success - out on loan Oulare may come back to the B team but likely to stay out on loan Deulofeu will come in to replace the out going Carrillo - This will be part of a deal giving Barcelona 1st refusal on Hernandez Gray - I can see him staying if we get a new coach Britos, Kaboul, Zeegelaar, Okaka, Wague, Ndong , Sinclair will all go Those in bold are the players that have been involved in the 1st team the most and are the key players to repalce so 2 Centre backs, 1 maybe 2 left backs, 1 centre forward Compared to recent years it is quite a quiet window
Dahlberg plus one other keeper. In the defence keep Prodl and Femenia. The rest can go apart perhaps from Cathcart. Too many sicknotes. Would love to see Bustos here but unfortunately that boat may have passed as Bayern are interested, Midfield does not need many changes, Chalobah, Hughes, Pereyra, Capoue (hope he keeps playing as he does) and a replacement for Doucoure if he leaves. Dendoncker perhaps. Upfront two new strikers. Cash in on Deeney for what we can, Okaka off, Gray sold to Cardiff. Wingers probably sign a deal for Delofeu with Hernandez in mind plus a player maybe Vidal. I think we will earn a fair amount in transfer fees going out enough to sign several players and a couple of loanees as well as a couple of young u18 prospects plus Andy Scott will not doubt be looking at 2-3 of the best young players in the Championship in teams that just missed out on promotion and will not be on the Sessegnon scale. Or indeed a tier lower.
Here's my take on what should happen in the summer. Goal keepers Gomes - retained Karnezis - go back to Udinese Bachmaan - retained Defenders Janmaat - retained Kiko - retained Holebas - retained Zeegelaar - sold Prodl - sold (unlikely to happen) Mapps - retained Cathcart - retained Britos - released Hoban - released Wague - back to Udinese Kabasele - retained Kaboul - sold/released Midfielders Cleverley - retained Chalobah - retained Doucoure - sold for £40m Ndong - back to Sunderland Capoue - retained Pereyra - retained Hughes - retained Forwards Deeney - retained Okaka - sold Richarlison - sold for £40m Gray - sold Sinclair - released/sold Carrillo - back to Benfica Lukebakio - retained Success - sold Amrabat - sold Zarate - sold Incoming Deulofeu (hopefully) Dahlberg (confirmed) Penderanda (work permit permitting) So, to depart 1 x left back, 5 x central defenders, 2 x midfield, 4 x strikers, 5 x wide forward/wingers. From that list we would need to sign a left back, 2 x central defenders, replacement for Doucoure and at least one striker.
I'd say we need: GK: Let Karnezis return to Udinese, don't rate him higher than Gomes after his first 3-4 games where he did look very good. Too slow off his line and doesn't command his box. Has better kicking and holds the ball better but isn't up to speed with the English game. Took Gomes about a year and a half to adapt with Spurs, seems to be about right for any GK joining us from abroad. LB: Either one of Holebas or Zeegelaar sold, keep other and 2nd choice cover. Holebas has too many brain farts, Zeegelaar isn't defensive minded. CB: Prodl, Cathcart, Kabasele and Mariappa can stay. Bring in a high quality CB and let one of fight it out for the other spot. RB: Janmaat and Femenia work fine there, unless we keep Femenia as a winger in which case a RB is needed. CM: All good here, if Doucoure is sold bring in Lemina. Wings: Make Deu a permanent transfer, find another decent winger and that's good depth in that position. Strikers: Sell Gray, Sell Okaka, Keep Deeney as 2nd choice. Bring in high quality all rounder.
5 Players in seems about right. Not the extent we did this Summer so it'd be quieter but addresses our core issues.
We've been linked with him before but Ekambi from Angers looks ideal for us. Seems to be able to do everything that our three current strikers offer. He's having a great season and scored again yesterday.
Agree with all of that but would keep Okaka as 2nd or 3rd choice and sell Deeney and Gray. We would get more money for Deeney and hes equally as useless as Okaka.
Don't get me wrong, I want to keep Okaka but he's barely content as 2nd choice let alone 3rd, and out of Okaka and Deeney although I feel Okaka is the better player he'll be more likely to rock the boat when not playing.
Sadly for Okaka any time he makes a tackle it seems to be a foul ! Shame as once again he looked to pose a threat with his power - more so than Deeney .
Near the end of the Burnley game he came to edge of the box to get the ball. Before that though multiple times he was hesitant.
If we get around 40m for Doucs I wouldn't invest that into his replacement I think we have enough quality in the midfield to still suffice in that area without him. I'd rather see 40m + whatever money Gino wants to invest spent on a 20-25m striker and the rest spent on bringing in a first choice LB and at least 1 more first choice CB. Not that bothered if we keep Karnezis or get rid - think him and Gomes are about the same quality but both good enough for the prem IMO. In this scenario it would be 4/5 players in, which for me would be good enough to improve on this year (barring another season of a million injuries) and would be a 'quiet' summer for Watford. Really we can't make any classic 'Pozzo' useless signings ala Diamanti, Oulare, Djedje, Wague, Zeegelaar etc.
He's always miles out of his goal sliding to collect the ball at the feet of attackers. It couldn't be clearer.
My take on what business needs to be done: Manager - As long as we pick up a few more points in our remaining games I think we should stick with Gracia and back him in the market. He clearly needs a pre-season with the players, most of which needs to be practicing defending set-pieces! Goalkeepers - Gomes has been a great servant to the club but should probably be put in a coach/player role for next season. Karnezis has done enough to warrant a permanent deal and keep his place as our number 1. Dahlberg is apparently a fine young keeper and I am more than happy for him to be our number 2 and an understudy to Karnezis and Gomes. Bachmann can stay as our third choice. Business that needs doing: Karnezis on a permanent deal. Right backs - Janmaat isn't the world's greatest RB by any stretch of the imagination. If Javi intends to play Kiko as a RW next season then I would be tempted to buy a new first choice RB. Janmaat is good enough for the bench and is decent as a wing-back if we play 3 at the back. Business that needs doing: New RB if Kiko plays RW Centre backs - Kabasele is arguably our best CB and would be in my starting 11 next season. Mariappa was good business on a free but is simply not good enough to start. British will be gone. Prodl can leave too if he wants to. Kaboul is good for the subs bench but is never fit and the same goes for Cathcart. I imagine we will see a 1 in 1 out policy over the summer. Business that needs doing: At least 2 new centre backs, 1 to go straight into the starting 11. Left backs - Holebas is terrible but isn't going anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if Zeegelaar is on the moon right now - nobody seems to know where he is! Ship him out and bring in a new quality LB. Business that needs doing: New LB to go straight into the starting 11, ship Zeegelaar out. Defensive midfielders - Chalobah and Cleverley are quality and Capoue seems to be pulling his weight at the moment. Unfortunately we won't hold on to Doucouré so it will be a case of just how much we can get for him. Business that needs doing: Replacement for Doucouré, not necessarily a starter Attacking midfielders - Hughes is amazing and Pereyra can play here too. Cleverley also filled in well earlier in the season. No changes are required. Business that needs doing: none Wingers - Carrillo is pretty terrible and shouldn't be signed. Deulofeu on the other hand is class and if the opportunity presents itself he should be signed. Pereyra has played very well on the left recently and Kiko has been effective on the right. Success and Lukebakio should go out on loan. Richarlison will stay in my opinion but if the right sort of money is offered (30m+) the we should take it. Business that needs doing: Deulofeu on a permanent, replacement for Richarlison if he goes. Strikers - It is time for Deeney to go. His fairytale must come to an end and he can take Okaka with him. Gray has apparently been offered to Cardiff but he will stay in my opinion. Penaranda will finally be available to us which is nice. We will then need to sign one more striker to go into the starting 11 and a sub if Gray goes. Business that needs doing: 1 new quality striker plus a backup of Gray leaves To summarise, I don't think it will be a 'quiet' summer. Excluding players returning from loans and loans becoming permanent deals, I make it that between 4 and 9 signings need to be made. Taking the middle of that is 6.5 so 6 or 7 transfers which isn't quiet but I guess by our standards that is definitely not busy!
So he can stand around waving his arms, trap the ball 5 yards & stand around waving his arms, respectively.
Interesting. Who’s our captain? We desperately need a leader on the pitch. A Kompany type figure who keeps everyone honest. Like Ashley Williams for Swansea a couple of years ago.
Still think we should go for Joe Bryan from Bristol City. They still might make the play-offs but if they don’t then I would like to see us go for him. I’m sure there will be a lot of clubs going for him though so Gino won’t entertain a bidding war unfortunately. We will end up with one or two decent players and about 4-6 crap ones, as per usual.
https://www.bold.dk/fodbold/nyheder/werder-boss-delaney-droemmer-om-pl/ Thomas Delaney on his way to the Prem this year as per Sports Director. I'd imagine we're one of the clubs who have put a bid in for him.
Well we will do any last minute panic buying earlier this summer as the transfer window closes earlier of course....
We have Bachman as back up, it could be good to have two young keepers fighting for the No 1 shirt with Gomes retained as a player coach.
Getting Chalobah back will be like a new signing, as will a refreshed and relaxed Richarlison. What we don't know is the impact of any sales. We have a large number of players on loan, most o which you can't see making a return intohe 24, but you never know if a first team squad player will attract offers hat are accepte. You never quite know what the club are thinking. Hughes was a great signing which came out of the blue. As was Femenia.
I would rather keep the likes of prodl, holebas and capoue. They contribute to the team and would only be replaced with a bulgarian under 23 or aging italian. In other words we wouldnt upgrade. Gk sorts itself, im happy enough with karnezis and dahlberg with gomes as experienced cover. Full backs i think we need cover, ryan sessegnon if Fulham are selling. Gibbs/Bertrand would be decent if the money is right. Centre backs..... If we had kaboul cathcart britos kabasele fit the whole year we'd be ok. The problem has been whoever is fit plays. Marriappa I would keep as injury and suspension cover (there'll be free englishman spaces in the squad). We could easily see Kaboul, Cathcart and Britos leave. I'd replace with 2 players who you would expect to be 1st team regulars not Zeegelar style journeymen or Wague style reserves. Midfield without Doucoure is covered if chalobah returns with a fixed knee. I would be looking for players with potential in the championship on the cheap. Wingers, I think we might sign Delofeu. Richarlison may as well go. If pandarenrdra arrives that could well be all given Pererya/Femenia/Janmaat/Hughes can cover width. I would sign another brazilian wonderkid if Richie leaves just because. Forwards. Sinclair, Success and Oulare can leave and we'll never hear of them again apart from someone posting a what happened to them link to the dutch 3rd division in 2025, or a news report on FA cup 1st round day about Billericay Towns Jerome Sinclair who used to play for Liverpool. Gray can go, hes not good enough. Okaka and Deeney are both big and strong which is useful in some situations so we keep one, maybe the one who has scored 100 goals for the club, unless he wants a trasfer to the BBC. But neither are who I would trust to lead the line next year and bag 12-15 goals. In fact if the options are there I would buy 2 forwards with any Richarlison/Doucoure money before replacing anyone else in the squad. I dont want to waste money on players like Sinclair. I know the argument is that its not coming out of your pocket so why do you care. But if we sold Doucoure for 40m that would just about cover Sucesses 12m fee and wages, Niangs loan and wages, Oulares 8m and wages, Sinclairs 6m and Brice Dja Dje. That is criminal and plain depressing if you think about it for too long.
Isn't he only on loan for now? Presume we will sign him up on a permanent basis but who knows with this club! The most important issue this Pre-season must be to ensure we actually have a medical team that is fit for purpose!
I'm pretty shocked at people who say midfield is covered if Doucoure goes; he might not have been playing to his heights recently but we'll damn well notice it if he isn't there anymore, let alone the fact that we're supposed to be improving incrementally, and that would represent a regression. Personally don't feel a great desire to rely solely on Capoue or Cleverley alongside Chalobah either, particularly not if it's Capoue and particularly not after we saw what our midfield could look like with a Chalobah/Doucoure-type-player axis in the first weeks of the season.
Doucs leaving would leave a massive hole in the team even before allowing for the inevitable 6 month hamstring injuries. We would need to break our transfer record to replace him with someone still not quite at his level.
