Written by kirsikka
The Wins
Let’s start with the positives and straight up is a nod to the new team at the top over their contract negotiations. Getting Iraola on an extended deal so early in proceedings immediately created a positive outlook for everything. They then followed that up with Lewis Cook signing an extended deal so we’ll have him for longer and, also, he won’t walk away on a free next summer. Excellent!
There was also a challenge around replacing Kelly, a senior player who filled left-back and left-sided centre-back slots. That they managed to bring in a highly talented youngster who is also versatile at an incredibly attractive price seems almost too good to be true. I did wonder why Juventus and Roma were passing on Huijsen and feared that he’d turn out to be all sizzle and no sausage but so far he’s looked mustard.
Losing your star man is never nice but in forcing Spurs to pay the highest transfer fee by any English club this window (Spurs! Levy must be crying into his Weetabix this morning), we’ve reset the ceiling for an AFCB player, shown again we can be a stepping stone to one of the biggest clubs and given ourselves a lot of FFP room. In those terms, it was an excellent deal.
I can’t say for sure that Evanilson will be a PL hit, especially when the weather turns. However, the way we were decisive in immediately bringing in a replacement for Solanke was top drawer. It sends a message to the players and fans that we aren’t messing around. Let’s hope he lives up to the price tag, relative to us as a club. We do need to remember that in this window alone he was only about the 15th most expensive purchase by a Premier League club so across the league he isn’t even that big of a potato.
Araujo seems like a really smart recruitment. Taking advantage of Barcelona needing to raise cash and so selling off some of their youngsters. What I particularly liked is that there’s no buyback and no sell-on clause. That’s good negotiating with one of ‘those clubs’.
The Wait and Sees
Neto. Radu. Kepa. We seem to have a kink about signing keepers with four-letter names. No comment about keepers of the past who were given four-letter names by the AFCB crowd…
The last time we got all excited about signing a Chelsea backup keeper Begovic turned out to be a disappointment at Premier League level. Kepa has the pedigree and all the raw materials to be an outstanding signing for us but you could make the same argument about Neto. I’m sneakily suspicious he’ll turn out to be one of the most astute pieces of business we’ve ever done but it really could go either way.
We’ve seen what Sinisterra and Unal can do without them making the case that they should be starters every week yet. So those are big fees for players who are, at the moment, back ups. I like some of what both have shown on the pitch at times but they need to really get stuck into things from here.
The Misses
There’s been a huge turnover in the squad over the past couple of years but it still feels like there are some obvious potential weaknesses:
– No natural cover at left back. Yes, we have some players that can fill in there but it’s still a worry not having someone who plays there as their first choice. Kerkez looks like a suspension waiting to happen at times so I suspect we’ll see Smith playing out there a reasonable number of times
– The Christie, Kluivert, and Cook conundrums. Nobody else seems to bring the same energy to those roles. Billing and Scott have a few months to really push their cases and Adams needs to at least get on the pitch so we can take a proper look at him.
– Who will play striker if Evanilson is out? We could change the style and use Unal or give Semenyo another go.
We aren’t Chelsea so can’t have fourteen players for every position but some bad luck with injuries and suspensions could see us scrabbling around a little. I guess that’s the trade off we have to make when buying expensive players. We’ll have fewer but they will, hopefully, be better quality.
The Loan Moans (Not Including Ian Woan)
If there’s one thing we’ve struggled with down the years it’s moving players on without having to loan them first.
This isn’t about prize jewels. There will always be buyers for the best, it’s about the surplus to requirements. Look at that lot up the road. Despite their scattershot recruitment they managed to sell for actual cash five players this summer, including unwanted ones. Not just the best.
Or Burnley, who were absolutely abject last year, managed to cash in (with profits!) on at least ten players (probably 12 when all the windows are shut) with others leaving on loans with an obligation to buy next summer.
I’m not holding these clubs up as examples of transfer policy to follow but I am holding them up as examples of clubs who manage to shift players and bring in cash rather than having an army of unwanted out on loan season after season.
I like Anthony and would have been happy to see him in the squad this season but if AI has decided there’s no place for him then why are we doing a deal with Burnley that lets them potentially walk away and not buy him next summer? Didn’t we get burned by Arter already? Look at what happened with Hannibal. Burnley wanted something similar but Man Utd put their foot down. End result – fee for Man Utd.
He may not be Messi but he was a key cog in a Championship promotion-winning team and is still young. I struggle to believe, if we had this part of our process sorted, we couldn’t have found a buyer rather than a loan.
Same with Rothwell.
As for Mepham – just how did we not manage to get a buyer for him? That’s insane.
Faivre and Traore I can understand due to the FFP implications of selling but they are going to be into the mix next summer.
Feels like this has been an ongoing issue for years. For example, we couldn’t rustle up a buyer for Moore in January and had to loan him. A proven Championship striker!
It might be somehow clubs struggle with the perception of buying AFCB’s castoffs because they still see us as a small club but we really need to get a hold of this situation.
Final Thoughts
B+ for the window overall. Despite the grumbling above it was actually very well run and I’m excited to see the team take shape over the coming months.
Your say…
DangerousDave wrote…
Without meaning to state the blindingly obvious, I think it is too early to evaluate our window at this point. Time will be the judge of that.
I think a lot hinges on whether Evanilson and Unal between them can provide enough fire power to compensate for the loss of Solanke.
I also think that squad availability in the next few months will play a big part as to whether this Summer was seen as a success or not. I understand the argument that we may have left ourselves short in certain areas, but I would guess that Franno and his team are banking on the versatility of certain players to fill in the gaps. If Cook were to get injured I think that Christie has shown himself to be more than capable to occupy that deeper midfield role, for example. The one worry that I have is if Evanilson were to pick up an injury before Unal returns to fitness then I do not believe we have the tools to cope with that. Playing a winger up front doesn’t really work at the top level, as we saw on the opening day. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that but it does seem like a risk by the club.
In terms of outgoings, I would guess that the likes of Mepham are on too much money to attract any permanent suitors. I imagine that he could have found a permanent home quite easily had he been prepared to take a pay cut. Traore as has been said on here before, I think would be very hard to find a buyer for as he still has a very high book value. We are just going to have to hope that he tears it up on one of his loan moves I guess. – To join the conversation, click here.
