It’s always a balance. When do you decide someone will not make it? Too late and you have wasted time and wages, too soon and you minimise your possible return on a sale. Loans can be confusing as players sometimes find their level and look great and it makes you think they can step up.
And of course these days it’s vital the academy bring in revenue through sales.
Hence the rise in buy-back and sell-on clauses.
Morton is a good example of how hard it is to judge and time these decisions. Last summer he was coming off a good loan spell, had strong interest from the Championship and abroad but we held onto him “just in case” after the Zubimendi deal fell through. But he’s barely played for us since and now is surely off this summer but it won’t be for anywhere near what we might have got for him last summer.
If we don’t move on Doak this summer I think he’s one who’ll bounce around on loan until his contract is up. McConnell probably needs that loan move this summer to prove his ability and/or shop window him with a view to possibly selling next summer.
That’s the challenge with being an elite team. It’s so hard for these kids to break into the side but if we don’t feel they’ll make it here we need to give them a chance to showcase their talents to maximise the fee we can sell them for.
Moving on Morton, Doak and Bajcetic could potentially fund a deal for Kerkez or a CM without really loosing anything in terms of contributors to this season. Hard to argue against that thinking given the PSR rules and the added value of selling club developed players.
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Would reduce the number of homegrown players for future squads. All three qualify as homegrown (Doak will when he’s 21), and the importance of having qualified players, even as backups, is not to be underestimated, especially with Kelleher, Gomez and Trent possibly departing this summer.
Morton is as good as gone, having barely played this season, but Bajcetic and Doak could be valuable long-term squad players. Even if they aren’t good enough to be regular starters (and it is too early to be definitive there), they can contribute from the bench and in cup fixtures.
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We wouldn’t need to negotiate for Huijsen. He has a release clause.
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Morton, and in a different way, McConnell, are puzzling cases. The latter especially was name-dropped by Arne as someone he’d like to keep around and work with, but since the transfer window closed, he’s played just 90 minutes in the FA Cup, and been on the bench 6 times.
I read it was about 40, kicking in this summer.
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Doak is injured… not likely to play again this season
So if it was a choice between keeping Baj and Doak with a good chance of them being on loan or not playing much first team football, or bringing in another first team level player for next season, what would you pick?
Not saying you’re at all wrong with what you’ve said but that’s also the conundrum we’re having to balance.
I’m not entirely sure of our homegrown position but I’m guessing Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Jones and Elliott would all be homegrown options for next season? Doesn’t that leave just two spots for a full complement with Jaros possibly having one of those as third choice keeper?
I know we need to think long term but we’ve also got Danns and Koumas out on loan too, either of which you could add to a match day squad as well as the likes of Nyoni and Ngumoha who we don’t need to register.
For the record, I think Bajcetic stays with us next season but Doak and Morton go.
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If we are to buy a midfielder, I don’t think it will be to fill the 5th choice spot. I think we go for someone who will compete for first choice with Mac & Grav. Either way, Mac will have the ability to play further up the pitch and give Dom a rest. Our midfield is tired. We need another player Slot trusts to legitimately rotate.
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Oh and Kerkez for me. I love his pace, power, and stamina. He seems to have a little edge to him that will be quite useful. He is also young, so he should improve.
Dream summer
Kerkez, Huijsen, a CM Slot trusts to start in important games and Isak + keeping Virgil, Trent and Mo or bringing in replacements for them.
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Duh
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Is he Korean? Position?
It was more of a hypothetical than anything hard and fast.
It was more a conversation around when to make the call to move young players on. Clearly Slot needs more midfielders he can rely on. We bring in one this summer, where does Bajcetic get the games he needs? Does Slot even trust him or is he going to be a passenger all year before we sell him next summer for half what we could have this summer.
I don’t know the right answer is but it’s definitely a question that’ll need asking and we’ll definitely need to raise some funds somewhere.
Nobody does at the moment, not even Arne. All we can do is wait and see what transpires over the summer.
And speculate ad nauseam on TAN, of course.
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The other factor is what we get offered. Sometimes it’s too good today no.
I misspoke when I said fifth choice. What I meant was a fifth midfielder (not ranking it) who Slot will use regularly. Right now we have four, and they are tired.
If we do not have the money to put into the midfield, because we need to do lots of other business as a higher priority, I could see us carrying on with what we have, and Slot maybe using Endo a bit more, and arguably Bajcetic coming back to make a case for himself.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
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We will get something for Tsimikas so that’s about 15m probably.
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