I don’t disagree with that. And he is in the pool for the type of strikers we should realistically be looking for. But £50m was a bit extravagant given he had a run of about 10 games before going off the boil. He looked an astute signing but I just think you were overplaying his rise, that’s all.
And today Cathcart showed again what a composed defender he is. Yet people have said they don't mind if he goes or he's only worth keeping as a backup
It's risky but definitely possible to pull off, we go through a large restructure of playing personnel: Keep: Karnezis Gomes Kabasele Cathcart Prodl Mariappa Janmaat Kiko Cleverley Hughes Chalobah Pererya Richarlison (provided no big bids come in for him) Capoue Zeegalaar Sell: Deeney - Should get £20-25m for him Okaka - £5m Doucoure - £40m Gray £15-20m Britos - £500k Holebas - £1m Kaboul - £1-£2m Amrabat - £5m Zarate - £2.5m Oulare - £1m? Loan: Hoban Sinclair Dahlberg Lukebakio Released: Ndong Carrillo Unsure: Cucho - Probably won't get a work permit, would be ideal if he did get one though Penaranda - Still question marks about his ability and attitude. Would need to be assessed over pre-season Success - Same as Penaranda If we take the tail end of those valuations (and I think we could probably get more than what I've quoted for many of those players) that works out at £91m + whatever is earmarked as the transfer budget (say £40m based on previous seasons). This is over £130m available for spending. My "keep" list leaves us with: 2 GKs (Gomes/Karnezis) 2 RBs (Kiko + Janmaat) 4 CBs (Prodl/Cathcart/Kabasele/Mariappa) 1 LB (Zeegalaar) 5 CMs (Clevs/Chalobah/Hughes/Pererya/Capoue) 1 winger (Richarlison) 0 Strikers I'd say we'd then need to purchase 1 solid (potentially starting 11) CB, 1 first choice LB, a solid DM, 2 wingers and potentially 3 strikers. 8 players to buy with a £131m budget means roughly £16m per player. I would break this down by the following: First choice CB = £15m (I really like Reyes from Porto who's available on a free..) First choice LB = £17.5m (Luke Shaw on a free? Gibbs?) Solid DM = £12m (Lemina? Probably cost in excess of £12m though) 2 Wingers = £35m (Deuleufo seems unlikely to be back at Barca next season and has one year left on his contract - pay Barca a decent loan fee of £10m and sign him on a free in January - leaving £25m for a new decent winger) First choice star striker = £30m (Mariano Diaz from Lyon please) 2 backup strikers = £10m each (Not a clue but I like Bobby Reid from Bristol City who'd be available for <£6m - who can also play on the wing) If Cucho gets a work permit then that's an extra 10m to spend elsewhere (most likely on the backup strikers or DM), likewise if one of Penaranda/Success is deemed good enough to join up with the first team squad (can't see both making the cut though) then that would free up even more money for the pot. It's ambitious but it's certainly doable on paper. Some interesting free agent options: Luke Shaw Diego Reyes Dani Garcia (CM) Ashley Young (bit old but could do a job for a season or 2 imo) Ivan Marcano (another from Porto, can play CB or LB) Mark Uth (would be a great option from the bench) Any of these would free up loads of the budget to further reinforce other positions
You’d keep Zeegelaar? The days of us getting anywhere near what you quote for Deeney are gone. We won’t get any more than £10/12m for Gray either I’d bet. Britos is out of contract. Holebas has just signed a new contract. Luke Shaw isn’t available on a free. Neither is Ashley Young. There is absolutely NO WAY we are spending anywhere near the total you’ve laid out on the positions listed - especially not £30m on a striker or £25m on a winger. Why would Barcelona effectively sell us Deloufeu for £10m and not sell him elsewhere for £20m/£25m? Bristol City have money and did well this season - Reid was their best player and is young. Championship players of that kind of recent CV cost upwards of £10m, not less than £6m. I agree with the outline of your post but some of the detail is way off.
I initially removed Zeegelaar but decided to keep him as a backup, we wouldn't get much selling him (basically what we'd spent on him in the first place) and would be hard up to find a decent replacement for a similar sort of fee, so it's better to put that money into a reliable first choice LB instead. Oops, missed Shaw + Young signing 1-year extensions. My bad. I still think we could definitely get £20m for Deeney, same for £15m for Gray. Holebas just signed a new contract, doesn't mean we won't be able to sell him - clubs in Turkey or clubs in the bottom 5 of Serie A would easily pay that sort of money for him. Depends if Deloufeu kicks up a fuss, with one year left on his contract he can effectively decide where he wants to go, if we can convince him his future is here with us then Barca will be left with limited negotiating power. Reid is 25, hardly young and has one year left on his contract, I can't see him moving for more than £10m.
Won't be able to keep Karnezis if reports in the Greek media are true - Olympiacos want to sign him & he wants to return to Greece.
Not saying you are totally wrong but who do you think would give us £20m for Deeney? Maybe, there’s an outside chance a promoted team gives us near £15m for Gray but don’t forget there were many raised eyebrows when we paid what we did for him and he’s not don’t much to show his price shouldn’t have majorly depreciated since then. I still think £10m is much more likely. The LB issue is such an odd one to figure out. The new contract for Holebas literally makes zero sense. Keeping Zeegelaar as backup doesn’t carry weight because he’s supposed to be doing that now and was overlooked instead of Mariappa at LB when Holebas was injured. All the signs are that Zeegelaar is completely unwanted so even if no one wants him, he’s taking a valuable squad place - pay him off if he’s not wanted. Which takes me back to Holebas contract...sure we could have tied him down with the though of selling him and making a million - but are we that desperate for a payment of £1m (max) that would likely be paid in stages when we happily spend £3m on garbage like Zeegelaar? Whatever way I look at the LB situation, it makes no sense and shows real lack of thought. We need 2 new ones because Zeegelaar is no good and Holebas will never sit quietly being a backup and probably can be quite disruptive if he is. I apologise about Reid, I though he signed a new contract but I see it was just an extension of a year. So maybe £6m is fair. I still don’t see us spending anywhere near the amounts mentioned or even recieving the amounts you’ve suggested but I hope I’m wrong and I certainly like the ambition. I’d also send Karnezis back and ask for Scuffet or Meret. Karnezis has been steady but is no better than Gomes - I actually don’t think he’s as good - and I’d keep Dahlberg. It’s time to bring through a young, new No.1.
Isn't Berghuis still ours? He won't be coming back, so selling him would go a bit of the way towards the Deulofeu fee
Time to finally sell Hogg ? If HTFC stay up he may be up for making the move permanent. Throw in Neuton as a freebee.
wfc4ever is generally right, we sold him to them for £6m last summer (http://www.goal.com/en/news/steven-...sfer-news-football/14xj9tcyepg0u11xktyhste95p). Basket case rumours in recent weeks have suggested that Sevilla are interested in bringing him in next season: http://eurofootballrumours.com/sevilla-eyeing-move-for-feyenoord-winger-steven-berghuis-9141/.
The club have confirmed to Sky Sports we have no senior players out of contract this summer. This can mean only one thing... a new contract for Britos! #salahinhispocket #uruguayanmaldini http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-players-who-could-leave-for-free-this-summer
We should know for sure in the next few days. Retained lists from PL clubs are due today I believe and will be published shortly afterwards.
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...16255616.Zeegelaar_would_welcome_Ajax_return/ Zeegelaar would welcome a return to Ajax - I suspect many a Watford fan would welcome that too.
I was in awe of that Ajax team of the early 70s. (Unluckily, Watford was easier to get to on match days.) What has become of them?
Mariappa, simply not good enough. Britos, not interested Prodl, too slow, poor positional play, cannot jump Holebas, terrible attitude Sinclair, who? Karnezis, poor keeper Okaka, tries hard, but a black Trevor Senior Kaboul, injury prone Wague, pointless signing Zeegelaar, another pointless signing Deeney, is he a spent force? Should we cash in now? It will another season of struggle unless we can sign some decent players. Cucho will not put a Watford shirt on. Gracia will probably be sacked by Christmas. The Championship is waiting for us.
