On paper we have the numbers to be relatively comfortable in this area of the pitch. On the pitch itself though, we have to rely on the same bodies too often and that’s the problem.
Elliott is going to be a long term absence. We’ve seen Naby miss a game having kicked a blade of grass and we know his international trips often end up with him fatigued or injured. Thiago has already missed five games having played less than 180 minutes so far this season. Ox has played less than 30 minutes of PL and CL footy since the opening day of the season. Hendo is well out of sorts and Milner is currently covering at right back.
I talked about replacing Wijnaldum’s minutes a few times in the summer and was told they could be spread around but I think that’s proven to be wishful thinking. I think the concern is, can we really push for another player in that area with so many bodies already unless we can shift one or two on.
I think we’ll see Milner’s time come to an end in the summer. Possibly we’ll see a push to move one of Ox or Naby on. I think the former seems to have fallen further than the later but comes with less baggage. We really need to manage Henderson’s minutes and find some type of alternative to Fabinho.
Three players of interest who have contracts expiring in the summer are Franck Kessie at Milan, Boubacar Kamara at Marseille and Denis Zakaria at Gladbach. All in that right kind of age bracket we like, all at clubs where we’d be a step up even as first team depth option rather than guaranteed starter and all likely to be on relatively modest wages by our standards even with the Bosman bump these contracts get.
I think you get the right one of those in on a free and we’ll have a proper useable option that would really help the balance and depth. Not that that helps us now but maybe a cheeky January bid if needs be so those clubs get some type of fee instead of nothing come the summer.