Not Actually that Crucial a Summer as of August 2023...beginning to now think everything isnt fine!

Good thread..

I'm looking forward to another exciting window under Ange, the only worry is the lack of homegrown players for the CL squad..

Would like to see Kyogo sign a new contract too.

Be interesting to see what improvements Ange makes..

 

In an ideal world that's what we'd want but I think we'll be lucky to see 3 new signings come in, couple more if we sell anybody to replace them.

 

We are in a great position to upgrade some key positions, for Europe.

But there is lots of Deadwood to get rid of, which could generate a bit of money and lighten the wage bill as well.

GK - someone better with ball at there feet.

LB - a Johnstone clone would be brilliant

LCB - a left sided Kristoffer Ajer, someone who can break the press through dribbling or passing would make us more press resistant.

Midfield - two box to box 8 with pace and power and good technical ability. Apparently we are trying to sign Connor Barron from Aberdeen.

Right winger - left sided winger with pace and trickery

striker - to give us depth to allow us to rest and routate.

it will be an interesting summer, there is no excuse not to push the boat out and improve the starting 11, which will in turn improve the squad.

I believe the club are pushing on with the training facilities at Barrowfield. So money will need to be set aside for that, but with champions league, Japan/ Korea tour and player sales. We should be able to buy the players we need and build the infrastructure of the club aswell.

 

Was interested reading Craig Moore's (I know) comment on how Ange evolved the Aussie team and changed to a 3241. It's essentially the system the English media are creaming themselves over from Guardiola. 5 years after Ange was doing it.

Wonder if this is something he may look at particularly for champions league. He has already hinted at Iwata and Cal mac playing as a 2.

Saw it very briefly against motherwell the other week but that was more in desperation in last 5 mins to try get a winner bit still a system Ange has in his back pocket.

Many of the components are already in place.

rcb Johnston/Iwata/Starfelt
Cb. - Ccv/Starfelt
LCb - Kobayashi
No 6s Mcgregor, Iwata, Mooy, oriley, Hatate, Taylor
No 10. Reo, oriley, Mooy, jota, haksa
St Kyogo, Oh

Ideally u need a Gk who's good with his feet and probably short on players to play the wider role although both Maeda and Bernabei certainly have qualities ud look for.

With so many players being able to play more than 1 of the positions it would allow good flexibility between a back 3, 4 or 5 if needs be.

Would love to see us throw a curve ball like it against the huns next week and completely bamboozle the mole. A box midfield 4 of hatate, Mcgregor, oriley and jota would absolutely kill them.

 

Ange said yesterday we'll only be looking to strengthen in a couple of areas and will be looking at the Asian Market again. Core squad will be the same next season apparently. 2-3 signings max I reckon and a replacement for Abada if he leaves.

 

If we take the word "couple" literally, it might mean GK and CB only. IMO, these are the two positions we're thinnest at. A focus on the Asian market may mean we won't be spending a lot. Perhaps a young GK from Japan or Korea to be trained by Hart?

 

Question for the OP. Which summers are not crucial?

 

• Sell both O'Riley and Turnbull. Replace them with an industrious box-to-box midfielder.
• Sell high on Starfelt. Replace him with a left-footed, ball-playing centre half.
• Sell Siegrist due to homegrown quota. Replace him with a ball-playing keeper to battle it out with Hart for first choice.
• If Abada wants out, replace him with a natural right winger.
• Clear out the deadwood: Barkas, Soro, McCarthy, Ajeti, you name it.

 

Our biggest challenge this summer is keeping the core of the team. CCV will no doubt have suitors after him willing to throw KT kind of dosh at us. Jota and Hatate will surely be on plenty of short lists. If one or two of them is away in the summer we'll have some job replacing them with the same quality or someone with huge potential.

It would be smart to recoup the money from the Bernabei transfer. He might go on to do some great things, but his style of play does not suit the inverted wingback role very well. Either get in someone more suited to that role in or let Scales be back up for Taylor the upcoming season.

 

Think this is gonna be a bigger summer than we expect.


Easy to think, we only need maybe 2 or 3 key signings to take us up a level. But also need to remember that if we want to go in to season 4 with Ange and continue to IMPROVE in Europe, then we need to get players in this summer that we expect to be at that level come season 4.

O'Reilly, Abada, Hatate, Bernabéi, CCV, Jota, if these guys are all buying in to the Ange process and at the same time using the club as a progression on to bigger clubs, then they'll surely for the most part be happy and expecting to play here next year and perform in the UCL next season.

However, after that, going in to season 4 under Ange, players will naturally then be looking to move on, either out growing the club or believing their progression will be better suited elsewhere (depends on how we perform as a club), or sign new deals is also an option.
But either way, a fair few of these names (and others) could see the end of season 23/24 as their last with us.

Ideally big money comes in for these names, but that still them means a big investment in that summer for the following season.
That's gonna bring its own issues for a club our size and position, that we likely need to sign development players on the whole and they need more than a few weeks to be where we need them to be at.

So ideally, we may see the likes of Abada, Jota, Hatate, CCV replacements signed this summer or next winter to give them time to build up to the level we want then at.
Otherwise we will stall as a club again, progression won't go as we hope, Ange will end up feeling that season 4 is a step backwards and isn't being shown the true ambition he and the fans need.



Yeah, this summer could be bigger than we think, albeit not as obviously blockbuster as we may find out for 18-24 months

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Yeah it's a massive window for us.

Feels like we're now at a point where we need to see progression in Europe, whether that be finishing 3rd in the CL group and winning a couple of knockout rounds in the EL, or finishing 2nd in a CL group...

But we're also at a stage where a lot of our big players have been here for 2 seasons, which is usually when players start angling for that next move. If we can keep Jota, Kyogo, Hatate, CCV etc then I have no doubts we'll strengthen the squad and make progress next season.

Assuming we keep our big players, we still need to strengthen a few specific areas. Left back is a big one. Taylor has been brilliant but to go to that next level, we could be doing with some more pace and power in that area of the pitch. A quality right winger as well would be huge. Imagine another Jota type out there?

Still think we could be doing with more pace and physicality in centre mid, even as a rotation option.

 

I think it will only be a couple plus the amount we sell. At this point in time I see CCV as the only possible defender to leave permanently, midfield could be a few as I could easily see people coming in for Turnbull, Hatate and O'Riley and I expect Abada to go too. The advantage is I think even if we sell 2 we could easily get £20m.

 

We cannot afford to lose CCV. I've no clue where to find a defender as good as he is, while being affordable. He's the first world-class player we've had since VVD. Okay, Forster had world-class shot-stopping in his 2 stints with us...

 

Think we can grind the huns into the dust this summer. Actually think they will be weaker regardless next season. Think really strengthening a couple of positions could mean a better showing in the Champions League. We already have a good player in every position so anyone we bring in that’s better will be huge.

 

Just having a think back over our previous successful runs quite often season 3 into season 4 is where we have faced difficulties.

Martin O’Neill season 3 we got to Seville but they won a domestic treble.

Gordon Strachan we eventually won the league title but were along way behind and got there by the skin off our teeth. Went on to lose the league the next season.

Neil Lennon (1st time) got to CL groups for the second year running but failed to make any impact after getting to last 16 and went out early in both domestic cups.

Brendan Rodgers failed to get to CL groups, had pretty patchy league form but still had a lead however gap to them had narrowed.

Now there are a lot of factors at play and ones that differ across each of the managers but recruitment is definitely one of them and a failing to really freshen up the team adequately or provide depth was a big part in O’Neill, Strachan, Lennon and Rodgers issues with their third seasons.

Our squad looks a lot stronger now than it did at any of those points for those managers, however, it got me thinking that actually losing a couple of our regulars as long as we are properly prepared to back Ange to replace and we get top money from sales may not be a terrible thing.

I think the being able to properly replace and having the security of CL group stage football is a differentiator to the scenarios of Lennon and Rodgers, also Ange’* rate in the transfer market has been impressive. Essentially having a few new faces to keep the team fresh and offer something new may not be a bad thing is what I am saying.

By no means would I want to lose too many players but say Abada and one or two others go then I think we can still come out of the summer stronger. The ones that would worry me to lose are Kyogo or CCV as they have both been excellent for us during their time at the club. Getting a talisman is never easy, and neither is finding an absolute rock of a centre back.

 

Not sure if mentioned previously, but we need to think about eventual successor to CCV.
Hopefully with the injury, that will put off potential buyers but, eventually he will go.
If he continues in a similar vein of form, we may get a big offer in the new year window but more likely he will be away this time next year.
So now is time to bring in replacement, bed in. Or do we reckon Koby can come good, was not impressed with him at weekend?

 

But he will leave, if not this summer then the following. We have to be prepared to lose our best, that's more important than player retention. We weren't prepared to lose Boyata (I get he wasn't great) so lost out on 8m, we weren't prepared to lose Eddie and he had a mediocre final season and we probably could have gotten more, Tierney was replaced with Boli nd a raw Greg Taylor and we never prepared to lose Lustig and he ended up playing as 1st choice far longer than he should.

 

We have to take Anges statement that we need to be agile and aggressive in the transfer market at face value.

If decent offers come in for high performing / big potential players (Abada, O’Reily, CCV, Jota etc) the club will look at them seriously and act accordingly. Ange has been great in the transfer market and will have replacements on his watch list for most all key positions. We’ll also have some cash to spend and so far the board has backed him, no reason to think that will stop with current successes.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see some similar loan to buy options on good players like we did with Jota and CCV.

If we want to do better in Europe we will need a better striking option than Kyogo, a better GK, a LW with real creativity to replace Maeda and a LB who can do what AJ does on the right. Doubt we will get all of that in one window, but maybe build towards it during summer for a tilt in Europe next year by securing domestic dominance again.