Originally posted by Gazza:
<strong>I would definately like to see some changes, but not mass changes as some have predicted; by that I mean one or two, not four of five. Although it is important we improve our squad, we need to keep the core of the team in good shape. I don't agree with those who think our back-four are useless. We have the best left-back in the Premiership, along with one of the most dependable and consistent right-backs in the League, while in Brown and O'Shea we have two potential stars - Brown going to the World Cup will help him no end: he just has maturing to do. What we need is an experianced CB who can offer stability and consistency (I wish we had Blanc five years ago) and will not succumb to lapses in concentration. If Ayala comes in and Blanc stays on, great. That would be the defence sorted imo. If Blanc does leave however, a player in the mould of Mexes or Hofland could come in. With a striker like Di Canio coming in, that would surely be our summer shopping done, and only at a cost of about 35-40m. Plus, we could recoup a healthy 10m from the sales of Yorke (sorry, Duff ain't coming) and our fringe players etc. Panic buying ain't the key. <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[No No]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
I'll re-post something I wrote in the Transfer forum recently.
Blanc - retire
Johnsen - free (there has been no talk of offering him a new contract, unlike blanc)
May - free
Irwin - retire
Fortune - sold as work permit not renewed
Yorke - sold
Raimond Van Der Gouw - retire
Rachubka - sold
Ronnie W - sold
Webber - sold to watford
Thats 10 players almost certain to go, 4 centre backs, one full back, 2 goalkeepers, one midfielder, and 2 strikers
And thats not including the maybes:
Barthez - sold
Phil - sold
Veron - probably not sold due to comments made by fergie, though he should be, if only for the money
Those almost certain to leave will rake in at most 15m, mostly from the youngsters, fortune and yorke, but will lower the wage bill dramatically. So to do any real buying, to replace these players, we'd have to sell a/some big money player(s). Obvious choice being Veron (or in my nightmares - Scholes).
If we're losing that many players from our squad, then obviously we're going to have to get in a lot more than 1 or 2 new players, or bring through a lot of youngsters. Looking at the positions, we definitely don't have 4 decent youth centre backs (maybe 2 at best with O'Shea and Tate), no good enough full back, no youth keepers good enough to play a first team game, and maybe only one striker good enough to play worthington cup games (nardiello). Clearly we need to restore our strength in depth - its not just about the first team although that could do with improving too. In my opinion our defensive problems haven't been down to the centre backs, but the full backs, both of which I would replace and understandably we have been linked with replacements, whether it be Lizarazu or Reiziger (not my choices mind).
