07 Aug 2020 12:14:56
With Salisu and KWP coming in and Hojbjerg going, all for a net gain (superb business), I can't see any more changes at the back for Ralph.

Three keepers - one will probably go.
Two senior full backs with two junior back ups, as well as, reluctantly, Stephens and JWP if needed, and four CBs I think will do for him.

I don't think both Hoedt and Jannik will leave. Bite our tongues and take £8-10m for Wesley and be done with it if we can.

We may need another CM. Romeu and Armstrong are good but if Reed goes to Fulham and Lemina to Eastern Europe for a combined £20m, we should look to get another CM in as Smallbone and JWP aren't the most defensive minded players if needed there.

Wingers we are abundant in. JWP, Redmond, Djenepo, Boufal, Sims when fully fit is plentiful. Ings Adams Long and Obafemi up top is also good, with Obafemi I think good enough to step in for Ings if injured.

That just leaves question marks over Carrillo - again take £10m and run - McQueen and Gunn/ Forster.

Hopefully we can sell Hoedt, Reed (reluctantly), Lemina, Carrillo, a keeper and one or two squad players for another ~£45m and buy in one more midfielder and maybe another attacker at most, but I think we've already done a majority of business and it's good to have a settled squad mostly sorted and in good form and high spirits for next month.

1.) 07 Aug 2020
07 Aug 2020 17:05:44
Definitely need to get rid of all the deadwood, players out on loans etc. If we could generate £40-50M to allow us to bring in maybe 2 class players we'd be challenging for European football next season.

2.) 07 Aug 2020
07 Aug 2020 23:06:45
Lemina - Galatasaray and Marseille linked, maybe £15m there
Carrillo - hopefully a bottom half La Liga side or Argentine club for £6-8m
Hoedt - spent time in Serie A, maybe someone will take him for £8-10m
Hesketh - is now 24 and spent last year at Lincoln. I’m not sure he has a future and may go for £800k-£1m
Gunn - someone will take him as a second choice for £6-8m hopefully
Valery - given the issues surrounding his personal life, he may be moved on and hasn’t been in the best form this season. A promoted or championship club may come in for him or he may move back to France for £3-5m
McQueen - is now 25 and may head off to the championship for £1m or so
Reed - Fulham seem to be nearing an agreement for £8m and he’ll be guaranteed a starting position so good luck to him

There’s - hopefully - £50m+, albeit optimistically. There’s already some losses in transfer price there but costs may end up being even lower to get Pellegrino’s disasters off the wage book.

Get the top 3 on that list gone and we’ll be singing. Get a CM in - McKennie I think is unlikely - and another class young player and I will be buzzingggggg.

3.) 13 Aug 2020
13 Aug 2020 07:58:26
I can't make up my mind with Obefemi but one thing I'msure about is he's not the answer to step in for Ings. Still so much improvement needed in his all round game I feel. Do you keep him with Ralph to coach or find a decent loan move for a year with regular first team starts? I think he'd benefit from a loan: get him out of his comfort zone, force him to work on his 'professionalism' (something Ralph often mentions) and get minutes.

4.) 13 Aug 2020
13 Aug 2020 09:46:13
I agree about Obefemi. I don't think he's ready to step into Ings boots if Danny happens to be out for any length of time and Shane Long isn't the answer as I don't think he can lead the line for 90 minutes so we could do with someone else to fill in whether that means bringing someone in on loan or buying another young but experienced striker. I've heard that a couple of teams are looking to buy Carillo so hopefully that comes off as we need to get some money back from the players that have been out on loan.

5.) 13 Aug 2020
13 Aug 2020 10:13:06
I’ve read that Pellegrino wants Carrillo AGAIN and to be honest he owes it to the club to repay some of that £19m. Think he’s at Velez in Argentina now.

Galatasaray don’t want Lemina back so hopefully a top 5 league top 6 side come in for him. Hoedt will be a real struggle to shift.

6.) 13 Aug 2020
13 Aug 2020 14:58:41
I like Obafemi, the kids only just turned 20, so he's still got so much to learn. I think we should keep hold of him, Ralph's trying to shape him into the ideal player he needs to be for his team. I wouldn't want to risk that by sending him to a random club. How many players have we shipped off on loan that haven't been able to ever get into our team in the past 5 seasons? Look at Harrison Reed, got into the team under Poch but hasn't had a look in since, same can be said about the Sims. I'd rather him, start the odd game and be a good impact sub and learn under Ralph, then ship him out to a mediocre club. Or else we risk bringing in another flop.

But I agree, if Ings was to get an injury and be out for a few months, we would be in big trouble. But we're not really in the position to bring in a new striker to play second fiddle to Danny Ings. Maybe if that happens you play Redmond upfront and start Boufal or Djenepo in his position.

I hope we'll be able to sell Lemina, Carrillo and Hoedt. I've heard Marseille are in for Lemina, hopefully we can make 10m for him (I would actually like to see him play for us again, I think he has bags of talent. However, it seems like he has a massive ego and isn't a good professional) . Pellegrino is in for Carrillo again. However, he has said that he wants to stay in Europe. We could flog him, but it would be for real cheap as he only has a year left in his contract. Hoedt is also wanted by some Belgium clubs. Annoyingly, with these players, we are going to struggle to sell them. We'll be lucky if we get even 20m for all 3 of them, who probably cost us 50m+ combined.

I think if we do bring anyone else in this summer, it'll be a young player with lots of potential, on the cheap. I can't see us replacing Hojbjerg, I think that will be Romeu's position to fill.

7.) 13 Aug 2020
13 Aug 2020 15:30:31
I think that Lemina thinks that he's better than he actually is plus he seems to have an attitude problem. As for Carillo I'd be quite happy to get £5 or £6M for him. The same with Hoedt just to get him off of our books.