[Albion] This summer’s squad rebuild

Kalimantan Gull said:

Our squad rebuild seems in part to be moving out every player who speaks Spanish. There was a time when we our squad was absolutely stuffed full of them, but then Cucurella went on strike, Bruno buggered off with Potter, Caicedo went on strike, Mac Allister refused to sign a new contract without a player-friendly release clause, Sanchez had a strop and who knows what went on with Fati behind the scenes. So now we've shifted Buonnaotte and Barco out on loan, waved goodbye to Lallana, signed a new left-back to take Pervis' place and who knows where Enciso is right now.... Instead we're going full on Northwest Europe with a big helping of Africa.

And although I write this mainly in jest, maybe they did all get a bit clique-y? maybe Ronald is becoming too much of a threat to our social media team?

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Kalimantan Gull said:

Our squad rebuild seems in part to be moving out every player who speaks Spanish. There was a time when we our squad was absolutely stuffed full of them, but then Cucurella went on strike, Bruno buggered off with Potter, Caicedo went on strike, Mac Allister refused to sign a new contract without a player-friendly release clause, Sanchez had a strop and who knows what went on with Fati behind the scenes. So now we've shifted Buonnaotte and Barco out on loan, waved goodbye to Lallana, signed a new left-back to take Pervis' place and who knows where Enciso is right now.... Instead we're going full on Northwest Europe with a big helping of Africa.

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Kalimantan Gull said:

And although I write this mainly in jest, maybe they did all get a bit clique-y and all these shenanigans got a bit wearing? maybe Ronald is becoming too much of a threat to our social media team?

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GT49er said:

I know negotiations take time, but some are taking more than others!

WBG - well, is he actually going?
Kadioglu - when, if ever, will we actually see him holding up the shirt and looking pleased with himself?
O'Riley - is he or isn't he?
Olivier Boscagli - all gone very quiet..........
....................and as for Hummels??

Going to be a busy week from now - up to ten to go out on loan would be my guess - and please will somebody buy Dahoud? - or at least start a positive rumour about somebody interested in him!

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sparkie said:

Diego Gomez ?

That seemed totally done - but not a whisper now.

Maybe it is O'Riley OR Gomez ?

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GT49er said:

I know negotiations take time, but some are taking more than others!

WBG - well, is he actually going?
Kadioglu - when, if ever, will we actually see him holding up the shirt and looking pleased with himself?
O'Riley - is he or isn't he?
Olivier Boscagli - all gone very quiet..........
....................and as for Hummels??

Going to be a busy week from now - up to ten to go out on loan would be my guess - and please will somebody buy Dahoud? - or at least start a positive rumour about somebody interested in him!

Click to expand...

Kalimantan Gull said:

Our squad rebuild seems in part to be moving out every player who speaks Spanish. There was a time when we our squad was absolutely stuffed full of them, but then Cucurella went on strike, Bruno buggered off with Potter, Caicedo went on strike, Mac Allister refused to sign a new contract without a player-friendly release clause, Sanchez had a strop and who knows what went on with Fati behind the scenes. They're too much to handle! So now we've shifted Buonnaotte and Barco out on loan, waved goodbye to Lallana, signed a new left-back to take Pervis' place and who knows where Enciso is right now.... Instead we're going full on Northwest Europe with a big helping of Africa.

And although I write this mainly in jest, maybe they did all get a bit clique-y and all these shenanigans got a bit wearing? maybe Ronald is becoming too much of a threat to our social media team?

Click to expand...

GT49er said:

I know negotiations take time, but some are taking more than others!

WBG - well, is he actually going?
Kadioglu - when, if ever, will we actually see him holding up the shirt and looking pleased with himself?
O'Riley - is he or isn't he?
Olivier Boscagli - all gone very quiet..........
....................and as for Hummels??

Going to be a busy week from now - up to ten to go out on loan would be my guess - and please will somebody buy Dahoud? - or at least start a positive rumour about somebody interested in him!

Click to expand...

SeagullsoverLondon said:

I am quite surprised we haven't bought at least one centre half so far this window.
I think it is an obvious area to strengthen, or at least prepare for the future.
Whisper it quietly, but we need succession planning for Dunk, who is now probably past his peak. Great leader, but now struggling to play consistently over a whole season.
And if JPVH has the season we all hope for then there is a good chance he will be sold for big money to Liverpool, Man U etc.

Therefore, I was expecting us to buy one experienced centre half such as Boscagli (possibly with Igor on way out) and one under the radar young player to develop (as we did with JPVH a few seasons ago).

AZGull and GT49er would have a better perspective than me, but at the moment I don't see any centre half in the current U21s likely to step up any time soon.

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warmleyseagull said:

Maybe not quite as incredible as seems, at least financially.

Club made record profit £123m to 30/6/2024. £33m was repaid to TB, so £90m left (assume no corporation tax due to accrued losses). Caicedo sale was not in 2024 numbers as completed in August, so add £115m. Simplistically, that makes for a £205m war chest. Some will go on wages (though Lallana going helped with that) but a net spend of £200m is not unrealistic, This equates to £230m outgoing fees due to PG and Undav incoming fees, and possibly more to come (WBG, Adingra?). And there will be more loans for sure to lighten the wage bill.

Add to that the points others made: supporting FH; opportunity to take advantage of PSR problems for other clubs; less competitive market due to PSR; the reality that Europe is a closer dream than maybe thought 3 seasons ago; and it all makes sense.

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SeagullsoverLondon said:

I am quite surprised we haven't bought at least one centre half so far this window.
I think it is an obvious area to strengthen, or at least prepare for the future.
Whisper it quietly, but we need succession planning for Dunk, who is now probably past his peak. Great leader, but now struggling to play consistently over a whole season.
And if JPVH has the season we all hope for then there is a good chance he will be sold for big money to Liverpool, Man U etc.

Therefore, I was expecting us to buy one experienced centre half such as Boscagli (possibly with Igor on way out) and one under the radar young player to develop (as we did with JPVH a few seasons ago).

AZGull and GT49er would have a better perspective than me, but at the moment I don't see any centre half in the current U21s likely to step up any time soon.

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Machiavelli said:

Why is it that you're surprised that we haven't bought a CB before the window is closed? Might it be better to wait a week or so?
Freddie Simmonds is highly rated, but probably one or two seasons away.
We'll see if you're right on Dunk but, unlike @Commander, I haven't detected any NSC 'groupthink' that he's past it. I will take a punt and say that JPvH is our best CB currently -- might be proved wrong.

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el punal said:

Didn’t they have this problem at Swansea some years back. If I remember correctly there were two camps within the squad the Spanish speaking group v the rest. The atmosphere was toxic and the situation was never resolved.

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Commander said:

I've read it on here many times that Dunk is on the way down. People spoke loads about it last year when he made mistakes. I don't buy it, I reckon he has a couple of good seasons left in him yet.

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Machiavelli said:

Why is it that you're surprised that we haven't bought a CB before the window is closed? Might it be better to wait a week or so?
Freddie Simmonds is highly rated, but probably one or two seasons away.
We'll see if you're right on Dunk but, unlike @Commander, I haven't detected any NSC 'groupthink' that he's past it. I will take a punt and say that JPvH is our best CB currently -- might be proved wrong.

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London Irish said:

Not after the last two windows Can anyone make sense of the famine to feast strategy. I’m going to be a bit basic and say it’s the club tacitly admitting that not enough was ventured before

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Crawley Dingo said:

Something to do with making all that Chelsea money count. if we leave that surplus until it falls out the time frame then spunking 130 million could get us in trouble with the FFP whatnot, dont know if its 3 or 5 years.

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huzzah said:

how many did we sell them?
View attachment 187671

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Kalimantan Gull said:

And although I write this mainly in jest, maybe they did all get a bit clique-y and all these shenanigans got a bit wearing?

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