Hugo Viana to be new Director of Football (Official Announcement p17)

[Centurions]

I think the biggest mistake we made is letting so much of our youth go. Imagine how many of our youth we sold would be playing now

Palmer, maybe. And that's it.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Palmer, maybe. And that's it.

The only issue I have with Palmer going is that a possible loan to a Premier league club might have been a better option but I don't think anyone would have envisaged Palmer having such a good first season with Chelsea.

The other one is Lavia. Don't understand the reasoning in putting a buy back clause in that only became effective after 24 months.

I suppose every player is different and have agents with different agendas. THB is a typical example where Southampton had a compulsory purchase clause only if they got promoted.
There's part off me thinking I'd nearly have preferred them not getting promoted and THB still being on our books. From THBs perspective it has worked out perfect for him, culminating in an England cap.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Given how much Pep likes new challenges is it possible that the appointment of Viana , one of the top DOF in Europe , was instrumental in helping him decide to extend . He likes to be surrounded with intelligent players and backroom staff .After all he has known we would need a replacement for some time so demonstrating to Pep that we mean to stick with the best could have been a shrewd decision .

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

It doesn't feel as though we're as strong as we were this time last year, and it's probably because we're not as strong as we were this time last year.
The injuries haven't helped, but not replacing Alvarez (especially with Bobb sidelined) have left us dangerously reliant on Haaland for goals

The next arrivals need to be better than what we've got, and none of this "They always do better in their 2nd season" mythology which might have been true for Rodri, but nobody else