Yeah but I was referring to the fact that it’s a new guy coming in, one who’s already publicly stated that he wanted to come and be no. 1, it’s another face that is not familiar with the dressing room in particular.
I have a brother-in-law who’s the absolute opposite of me on that realism-optimism spectrum. A bit like that urban legend of the soldier from French Foreign Legion who was the last one left alive of his squad but demanded the opponent to surrender to him when they finally had him surrounded. You see, you remind me of him. Everything points out to Nunez being, well, average and Trent leaving in the summer but your defence of the opposite points is valiant.
I rate Bradley, I thought I had made that clear throughout my posts - it’s his injuries that I’m really worried about. Maybe Slot will find it easier to work with a more conventional fullback than Trent (which Bradley is) but for the sake of depth, I think another one is needed, quite likely one who’s a bit further along in development than Bradley is at the moment.
I think that Slot will look to add more athleticism to his midfield - Bajčetić could well be that player (I already discussed it here in the last few days) but there’s still a question mark over him. I prefer a player who’s already at the club than spending an eight-figure sum on a new one, we’ll see. For what it’s worth, I think McConnell goes on loan and Endo gets sold (it doesn’t look like Slot fully trusts him, Elliott and a few others, at least not to me).
Presuming that Alexander-Arnold is indeed off, which I still doubt, I wonder if that reasoning would hold true. Why would we bring someone in who would block the path of a really talented 22 year old? It makes no sense for us.
It makes no sense, he should have gone this past January if that were the case. As it is right now, he’s not anywhere close to any playing time in the first team.
I don’t know about trust, but it just baffles me too that he just doesn’t seem willing to play Endō more. I disagree about Elliott, I think he got injured at a bad time, just like Chiesa.
I had a quick look on Transfermarkt at both Feyernoord and Az Alkmaar over the last 7 years, and I’m not sure there is any difference in the clubs handling of transfers at either club while Arne was there compared to when he wasnt, which suggests to me that those changes are probably more a function of how those clubs operate than managerial preference.
If Endo had more quality, he’d get more trust and minutes. Like there is more rotation in positions where that quality is more equal. Even I thought Endo would play a bit more, but I can’t say I’m shocked. These people know a hell of a lot more than us. I think he’ll go and two seasons at Liverpool in his 30’s was a cherry on his career.
Of course it makes sense. A coach can change his mind on a player or what he thinks they need to progress. Circumstances around the squad itself can also change.
I think he has been fairly explicit on what he wants from his players and how he wants his team to play. He is reluctant to have the team adapt its approach in order to accommodate Endo.
I would not be looking for Diaz to be part of the exit group, as I think he is a good player. Still, if good money were offered I could see Slot preferring to reinvest it on another player he might prefer, perhaps due to younger age, or maybe a sought after attribute such as more reliable goals or assists.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s waaaay down the list for me, but given the links we’ve seen I would imagine someone will test the water for Diaz, and at that point we’ll see if it moves the dial with him staying/going.
Also I like the look of Cherki, has the body shape of Suarez, but also reminds me of Bobby, wish he could as good as either of those and with their mentality.
I’m not saying that possibility doesn’t exist. It’s quite simple in that sense, that we knew at the point when he had the opportunity to go on loan and we chose to keep him, what our future fixtures were likely to be. There aren’t any “easy” Champions League games, so the games he would have had an opportunity for would just be the FA Cup games, which would really add at most 2 or 3 first-team games for him.
I still don’t feel it’s that big an accommodation, especially when you look at what the team is like when he’s actually on the pitch.
My point was (which I totally skipped , hey, it’s the Ramadan, cut me some slacks, will you) our incomings will largely depend on the outgoings. Nine players won’t be leaving and we aren’t going to have nine replacements. The incomings will become certain once the outgoings are sorted out.
I think there’s a few players we’ll be looking to move on actively, and a bunch of others we’ll be open to leaving if we get an acceptable offer… and as well as those listed, I’d be adding Jota to that list as well.
It’s going to be interesting what happens at midfield, especially as this is going to be a summer where we could be forced into two new fullbacks, a striker, a right sided forward and a centre back.
The temptation must be, considering we spent 140m on a total midfield reset less that two years ago, to try and get by with what we have and prioritise other areas.
What I think we have is four options for three positions, plus a specialist holder (who Slot didn’t appear to rate, but seems to have warmed to recently) and a really talented young attacking midfielder of whom there is doubts about his physicality in the kind of midfield we want to play.
So the sensible thing to do might be look at McConnell or Bajcetic as an extra body, focus the transfer funds elsewhere, and look at midfield again in the summer of 2026.
My only concern about this is that Bajcetic (who I thought looked the absolute bollocks breaking through) has just got back playing regular football, and going back to a squad role where he plays scraps of football isn’t going to do his development any favours.
Nunez is exactly a bad lesson how, back then, a future Firmino replacement (even of different type, a proper #9) would’ve been “really expensive” and look at how that one turned out, so…
Let’s see what we really need to do this summer, what we judge as priorities, what can be delayed and what our directive team has in it’s sleeve.
Everything points out to Nunez being, well, average and Trent leaving in the summer but your defence of the opposite points is valiant.
, hey, it’s the Ramadan, cut me some slacks, will you) our incomings will largely depend on the outgoings. Nine players won’t be leaving and we aren’t going to have nine replacements. The incomings will become certain once the outgoings are sorted out.