[Albion] What is De Zerbi’s target and can we meet it?

[Reddleman]

No.

Almost certainty yes.

Premier League in line for five Champions League places after Uefa reforms | Champions League | The Guardian

The Premier League can soon expect to have five teams in the Champions League after Uefa confirmed changes to the format of its competitions

amp.theguardian.com

 

[Bodian]

I think he's saying that he and the club should have the same targets - not that we have to actually meet that target. I feel he might be quite content if we aim for something together, whether we fall just short or actually reach it. It's the ambition he's keen to align.

Which could imply he has higher targets than the club at the moment.

 

[Change at Barnham]

Although Mitoma has signed a new contract there is still a possibility that a Champions League big gun comes in for him in the summer.
RDZ would be mightily pissed off if we lost him.
Estupinian is another who could be targeted in the summer and also possibly Ferguson, and even maybe JPvH.

These are lines in the sand that I reckon RDZ will be drawing, plus wanting a couple of high quality signings.

 

[Eeyore]

It's either retention of bottle tops or the much-rumoured Amex -> Brighton Station monorail.

I think the monorail is most likely to be delivered first.

 

[Eeyore]

Although Mitoma has signed a new contract there is still a possibility that a Champions League big gun comes in for him in the summer.
RDZ would be mightily pissed off if we lost him.
Estupinian is another who could be targeted in the summer and also possibly Ferguson, and even maybe JPvH.

These are lines in the sand that I reckon RDZ will be drawing, plus wanting a couple of high quality signings.

I think the worry is that this can put the the club into the realms of losing money if transfers aren't made. Unhappy players too.

There's two barriers here, one that players want to move on the other that Tony, understandably, wants a self sustaining model.

Whether there is a disconnect between RDZ and Tony on those things is impossible to say.

 

[trueblue]

It’s not pie in the sky though is it. This season fifth place gets champions league, we are five points off that despite crippling injuries and Europe to contend with. Last season we finished 5 points off fifth and only 9 off fourth despite it being RDZ first season. He clearly feels that with more commitment to retain players and some additional investment he/we can close that relatively small gap.

‘Established’. I can’t see us being ahead of Manchester City, Manchester United post-takeover, Newcastle, Arsenal and Tottenham regularly - and that’s not even bringing Chelsea or Villa into it. I like your optimism though.

 

[Mont-Colt65]

Although Mitoma has signed a new contract there is still a possibility that a Champions League big gun comes in for him in the summer.
RDZ would be mightily pissed off if we lost him.
Estupinian is another who could be targeted in the summer and also possibly Ferguson, and even maybe JPvH.

These are lines in the sand that I reckon RDZ will be drawing, plus wanting a couple of high quality signings.

Why would he be "mighty pissed off"? RDZ would have expected that he be sold. (RDZ was the one who kept saying publicly early this year that he should stay another year. ) We need to sell in order to get "high quality", established players.

 

[chaileyjem]

The fact the club are referencing the new contract discussions on the club site shitley means it close / done?

They are referencing them I guess because unusually RDZ instead of being coy about it in - when asked - in yesterday’s press conference - just came out and gave an update on the talks following media stories (leaked by him ?) . He (paraphrasing) said it was close/ was v positive / but not done yet.

 

[Seagull58]

From what PBOBE says about De Zerbi, he has clearly really challenged the club.

Just strikes me as incredibly healthy that the manager has such high expectations. He knows we won’t throw tons of cash at salaries and recruitment but if the right player comes along and there is good value (see JP for £30m), we’ll splash the cash.

It’ll be no surprise to me if we fork out another £30m for someone like Bardghji this January in a position where we are very weak at present (right wing) to keep our wonderful and beloved Italian big balled hero happy.

Can he play left back?

 

[Moshe Gariani]

‘Established’. I can’t see us being ahead of Manchester City, Manchester United post-takeover, Newcastle, Arsenal and Tottenham regularly - and that’s not even bringing Chelsea or Villa into it. I like your optimism though.

This. Very sadly. And +Liverpool. It is incredible that we have even had the chance to be in a conversation about "top 4/5/6/7" for a couple of seasons...

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Yes, but only if the English club team coefficient is ranked in UEFA's top 2 this season.

Currently we're ranked 3rd, behind Belgium's club teams and Germany's.

Considering Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, West ham, Aston Villa and ourselves are all amongst the favourites to reach the final of our respective European competitions, its highly likely, but not guaranteed, that the Premier League will get an additional Champions League spot next season for the team who finish 5th this season.

We are 4th according to the UEFA site at the moment. Behind Germany, Spain and Italy. We'd be helped massively by Newcastle and Man Utd getting at least 3rd place in their Champions League groups. If they get eliminated it would have a real detrimental effect on the chances of being one of the top 2 associations for the season.

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[chickens]

I would hope that if we can continue our current overall trajectory, then by the 2025/2026 season we could start to be a top eight club, season in, season out.

I don’t see how we could consistently achieve a higher target than that given our relative financial strength and commercial position.

We would need so much commercial growth to compete any higher than this, that we would have to be both winning trophies and operating on an almost Manchester United level of commercial success (without all the profit being sucked out by greedy owners)

However, it could be that RDZs target is something much more short-term and tangible, like ensuring we have what we need to power through the Europa League this season. We don’t know, but I hope that club and coach can agree on a mutually satisfactory goal. I genuinely feel that all have the club’s best interests at heart.

 

[trueblue]

This. Very sadly. And +Liverpool. It is incredible that we have even had the chance to be in a conversation about "top 4/5/6/7" for a couple of seasons...

Yes … can’t believe I forgot Liverpool. Definitely them. 6th for us is/would be a fantastic achievement, massively against the odds unfortunately. That’s not to say we can’t ever get into the Champions League. There could be a weird season like 2016 or we might win the Europa League, but if RDZ’s ultimate goal is to be challenging seriously in the Champions League, impossible. The deck is stacked to ensure it can’t happen for a club of our financial stature. Hopefully, he’ll give us a few years building towards that and gaining experience himself.

 

[chaileyjem]

I suspect one of RDZ's "targets" is related to his pay ha ha.

 

[Machiavelli]

Although Mitoma has signed a new contract there is still a possibility that a Champions League big gun comes in for him in the summer.
RDZ would be mightily pissed off if we lost him.
Estupinian is another who could be targeted in the summer and also possibly Ferguson, and even maybe JPvH.

These are lines in the sand that I reckon RDZ will be drawing, plus wanting a couple of high quality signings.

I'm not convinced about what your arguing here. We're not going to go from selling 3 to 5 quality players each season, which we have done over the past two years, to selling none. I'd imagine that keeping this down to one or max two is more that RDZ has in mind, provided there's sufficient cover coming from the academy, loans out, and transfers in. RDZ spoke very highly of the academy unprompted when asked about Hinshelwood.

In terms of outgoings, I suspect Mitoma is the most likely in the summer. Not only his age, but we have cover there in Adingra and Enciso -- although we could do with one more quality addition in the wide attacking areas.
The others that will be the most in-demand are either injured (Pervis), or not quite ready (Fergie and JPvH), or even both (Enciso).

 

[trueblue]

I suspect one of RDZ's "targets" is related to his pay ha ha.

I reckon that’s the one area we can compete in. With the exception of City & Liverpool, it looks like the going rate for a top, top boss is £8m-£10m per year. Hard to believe it would be higher abroad bar a couple of clubs. So about what you’d pay for a player with potential these days. Worth pushing the boat out for an exceptional coach.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Amex -> Brighton Station monorail.

My first thought too

 

[Dave the OAP]

I suppose we will only find out when he writes his autobiography but I think RDZ was very upset when the heart of his team was ripped out and the reason was we will always let our best players go to better clubs. If I was a manager I would not accept this as the moment you get a settled side and get them playing your way, the owners cash in. I am still not convinced we have replaced Mac and Cac with like for like.

in the same way we must accept that if another “big club” comes looking and he goes, we must view this as the business model of the club.

it will be interesting this January as I can see a few of our players being hunted…Pedro, Gross and Adringa, Van Hecke, and I hope we have some good targets to strengthen especially as we have lost the likes of Solly which does look like another Moder situation.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I suppose we will only find out when he writes his autobiography but I think RDZ was very upset when the heart of his team was ripped out and the reason was we will always let our best players go to better clubs. If I was a manager I would not accept this as the moment you get a settled side and get them playing your way, the owners cash in. I am still not convinced we have replaced Mac and Cac with like for like.

in the same way we must accept that if another “big club” comes looking and he goes, we must view this as the business model of the club.

it will be interesting this January as I can see a few of our players being hunted…Pedro, Gross and Adringa, Van Hecke, and I hope we have some good targets to strengthen especially as we have lost the likes of Solly which does look like another Moder situation.

I suspect RDZ very much knew the model that he was signing up to.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I suspect RDZ very much knew the model that he was signing up to.

There is a difference between knowing about it and suddenly finding your two stars are sold on to potential rivals. I know about the ins and outs of agents etc but the statement that anyone can go to better themselves appears to me as ridiculously undermining of anyone who comes here

But it’s Tony’s club and he can run it how he wants