Summer clear out

[Exiled_red]

Keita is the only one I'd definitely sell not because he's the worst player but because we could get decent money for him and reinvest.
Not sure about the other names, yeah they're not good enough or injury prone but our squad is fairly weak as it is.

I'm not sure we will get such a big fee in the Grand scheme of things, we are looking at a big loss. I think he can be a good player for us if we can get him on the pitch regularly. Given that we are trying to work with him on it I think Naby has another year

[Doc_Piptorious]

I'm not sure we will get such a big fee in the Grand scheme of things, we are looking at a big loss. I think he can be a good player for us if we can get him on the pitch regularly. Given that we are trying to work with him on it I think Naby has another year

He had and still sems to have a good reputation in Germany so he could be part of a deal with Leipzig or maybe Dortmund if we were doing business with either.

Could see something like one of them "buying" him from us for maybe €50m and us buying someone from Leipzig for a similar amount or buying someone like Haaland from Dortmund for €100m but only €50m actually ever changing hands in that one.

From a FFP pov it makes sense I think.

[labourRed]

I'm not sure we will get such a big fee in the Grand scheme of things, we are looking at a big loss. I think he can be a good player for us if we can get him on the pitch regularly. Given that we are trying to work with him on it I think Naby has another year

Nah, the leagues too big for him. Time to cart him back to Germany. He's the last person you'd want coming into a struggling team. He's a shrinking violet at the best of times, he barely shows for the ball when we're on it.

If we can wipe our face with the transfer fee in a post covid world when clubs are broke i'll be staggered.

As Jaco has suggested, i'd be hawking him in swap deals in the hope that some German club take the educated gamble that he'll do well back there.

[Big-Red-Ed]

We have been letting players move on without replacing them for a while now. All the names mentioned above could conceivably go. We are maybe on the verge of a major rebuild which isn't very clever.

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[Exiled_red]

Looking at it from the other perspective, the squad that we might expect to have next season:

GK: Alisson, Kelleher (CT)

Defenders: VVD, Gomez (CT), Kabak/replacement, Robertson, Davies (AT), Matip, R. Williams (B/CT), Phillips (AT), TAA (CT), N Williams (B/CT)

Midfielders: Fabinho, Thiago, Milner (AT), Keita, Henderson (AT), Ox (AT), Jones (B/CT), Shaqiri, Elliott (B/AT*)

Forwards: Firmino, Mane, Salah, Minamino, Jota, Origi

CT - Club trained, AT - Association trained, B - B list player (someone who can play but doesn't need to be listed on the main list because they are still young) * Elliott will eventually count as club trained when he has been here 3 years.

I am assuming that Adrian and Wijnaldum will leave because they are more or less certain to go IMO, along with Karius, Wilson and Grujic, there will probably be a couple of other players going as well but we don't know for certain who they will be.

Adrian and Wijnaldum will free up a couple of non-homegrown spots in the squad, taking us to 15 of the max 17. To use the Homegrown slots fully we need at least 8 homegrown players at least 4 of whom are club trained. The club trained players will be Kelleher, Gomez, TAA and presumably Jones (he is young enough to qualify for the B list but as we don't have other options for that place it makes sense to include him there. The other 4 homegrown slots would likely be filled by 4 of Davies, Henderson, Milner Ox and Phillips with the other taking one of the 'spare' other slots that could otherwise be used for non homegrown players. (Elliott would potentially qualify for the other HG slots, but as Elliott qualifies for the B list there is no point in including him on the main list as it takes places away from other people). From a Homegrown perspective it doesn't make sense to sell more than one of the 5 association trained players as that will mean (unless we replace them with another association trained player) we will lose that slot. So from that point of view I can see Phillips going and Ox and Milner staying. Obviously there is also a financial consideration as well and presumably Ox is the only one in there that is likely to command a significant fee.

Of the non-homegrown players their sales come down to pure footballing reasons, if we sell a few of the non HG players the quotas become less of an issue.

[Buzzo]

No Trent or Robbo

[Exiled_red]

No Trent or Robbo

TAA is in there, somehow missed Robertson will edit it

[Kenneth]

Our number one priority for the summer is to replace Roberto Firmino. Our rivals in England and Europe have world class players doing that job and we cannot afford to hope and pray that Bobby becomes that again, because he's miles off for the past year or more. We won't regain our attacking prowess without a world class attacking playmaker. Horrible to say, but put Bruno Fernandes in our side and we're still challenging at the top of the league.

[Slinky Skills]

Our number one priority for the summer is to replace Roberto Firmino. Our rivals in England and Europe have world class players doing that job and we cannot afford to hope and pray that Bobby becomes that again, because he's miles off for the past year or more. We won't regain our attacking prowess without a world class attacking playmaker. Horrible to say, but put Bruno Fernandes in our side and we're still challenging at the top of the league.

I know it's harsh as he's been brilliant for us but he's been poor for a long time. Can't think who we can bring in to replace him though?

[Chazza]

Our number one priority for the summer is to replace Roberto Firmino. Our rivals in England and Europe have world class players doing that job and we cannot afford to hope and pray that Bobby becomes that again, because he's miles off for the past year or more. We won't regain our attacking prowess without a world class attacking playmaker. Horrible to say, but put Bruno Fernandes in our side and we're still challenging at the top of the league.

Replace him with who???

[Kenneth]

Dunno

[Fosterbloke]

Can we replace Fredo?

[danperkins]

Along with the loanees, Adrian, Derek, Philips are goners. Ox, Keita and Matip should be offloaded imo. We just do not get value for money from these guys. Shaq I like but keeping him fit has been impossible too. Get the crocks out and replace them with non crocks.

Another quality cf would be nice too. We do need a clear out though.

[Jas]

Our number one priority for the summer is to replace Roberto Firmino. Our rivals in England and Europe have world class players doing that job and we cannot afford to hope and pray that Bobby becomes that again, because he's miles off for the past year or more. We won't regain our attacking prowess without a world class attacking playmaker. Horrible to say, but put Bruno Fernandes in our side and we're still challenging at the top of the league.

Anyone think Jack Grealish could do the Firmino role?? The more I see of him the more I like him as player, works his bollocks off, physically strong and plenty of ability with the ball.

[Kenneth]

I haven't watched enough of Villa to judge, but I'm going to say no anyway.