I thought he did that, didn’t he use Thiago and Keita as the reference points for his search?
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I had a look through the squad earlier and I think it shakes out like this.
We have Ben Davies, Big Nat, Ojo, Woodburn, Van Den Berg, and Neco on loan, and I can’t see any of them returning.
Definite departures.
Milner: I think he will leave. As much as he clearly loves it here, I think there has (finally) been a bit of a decline this year and at the same time I don’t think he’ll want to see out his career being brought on for the last three minutes to kick lads and run it into the corner.
Adrian: As long as Kelleher is happy to stay, I don’t think we really need him hanging around and filling a foreign player quota place.
Karius: Just. Please. Go.
Origi: Contract up and he is still fairly young. Needs regular football and he isn’t going to get it here.
Oxlade-Chamberlain: He has spent this season fighting to stay off the cull list and I think he has lost that fight. His reaction on Sunday was of a lad who knows he has just played his last game.
Possible departures
Minamino: Has been on the periphery, but has proved really useful in the cup comps and might quietly be the best scrappy finisher in the squad. Not many others I’d be more confident with a ball breaking to in the squad. More than happy with him staying, but a bid of twenty million would probably give us something to think about.
Keita: There is a contract issue to resolve, but he has been substantially more available than in previous seasons and is somewhat on his way to showing his worth. I think it was always going to come down to him and Ox, one stays one goes - and he has certainly won that battle. Having said that, a decent fee that offsets a big payout for another midfielder might be tempting
Gomez: Really hope he stays, but he’s gone from being Virgil’s best mate to fourth choice behind the new lad in twelve months and that can’t be fun. Looks like he could do with ten games on the bounce, but that’s not going to happen while we’re trying to win leagues and European cups.
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I think he will come into the squad next year, he’s had a fantastic season at Preston. The fact he can play right back as well (despite it being right wing back) is a huge plus.
https://www.pnefc.net/teams/first-team/defender/sepp-van-den-berg/
His defensive stats are all mid 60% which is very very good.
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I’m really curious to see him with the first team. I haven’t seen him play much since the cup games he played last season, only when we played Preston early this season.
Maybe we’ll get a look in pre-season.
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I’m really interested in him because he looked so utterly clueless the small number of times I saw him with the first team that it was difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm to recruitment team for him. Regardless of what happens in terms of coming back to us, it’s nice to see he’s done well this season.
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I agree with you on him, I’m thinking he’ll come back and replace the Gomez role as I’ve a feeling he might want out.
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So with Neco and Millie gone, you’d bring in a new RB to backup Trent, or?
Depends how much the club rate Bradley, think Gomez can fill in there (if he stays), or would consider Tsimikas as as option.
If the answer to all those is ‘nah’ then, yeah. We need a right back.
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Good analysis above Mascot. That’s about how I see it too, with the obvious caveat… let’s see what happens with contract extensions for Salah, Mane and Firmino. I suspect we will extend one, allow one to wind down, and sell another, which would obviously lead to more key incoming. But there are too many variables to be sure.
The right side of our attack is pretty thin. Mane, Jota, or Diaz aren’t comfortable on that side.
Mane spent his first season here on the right hand side, was only moved over to the left to accommodate Mo
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i know i have suggested this before and was shot down in flames, as we shouted abuse at him when playing Norwich,
(its all pantomine and water of a ducks back hopefully)
but watching Scotland play Poland the night,
And Glimour just keeps impressing me, 20 years old, so comfortable and intellengent on the ball,
from goal line clearances to defences spltting passed this lad is only going to get better,
would love to see him here.
cmon Jurgen make it happen whilst we can get him cheap…
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Chelsea won’t sell.
hopefully they wont have a choice…
A rightback who can play leftback at a pinch would be awesome.
I wonder who is the better prospect, Gilmour or Callagher? Both have impressed me in the bits Ive seen, but I havent seen enough of either to know how complete their games are. Will be interesting what happens to these kids with respect to Chelsea.
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Ramsey and Chukwuemeka, at Aston Villa, both look like interesting midfield prospects to me.
It’s tough to know what we will do in midfield, and it will be related to exits too, but I could even see two midfielders being acquired - a peak performer to slot into the team more weeks than not, and a very talented youngster who has every chance of displacing one of the older midfielders down the line.
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Norwich fans are deeply unimpressed with Gilmore, he’s struggled to make an impact at all when he has played for them. I’ve actually seen a few of them describe him as the worst player they’ve ever seen, which sounds hyperbolic of course but does indicate the esteem he’s held in by those who watch the team every week.
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Imagine how bad he’d have to be to earn that title
I just don’t see the point in signing any of those names above when we have the likes of Jones, Elliot, Morton and Clarkson at the club. All similar types. Gallagher I could make a case for, not the others.
I’d hope we’ll be aiming a bit higher than that, Tchouameni (maybe, I haven’t actually seen him), Fabian Ruiz…someone like that. A player who can make an instant impact and doesn’t need too much development and ones who’ll offer more defensive stability than the likes of Ramsey and Gilmour.
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