The Squad planning thread

[Ajm1985]

I think we are doing OK here...

KDB Gundo contracts expire this summer
Walker Bernie contracts expire next summer...

Plus we have one player who has to prove his worth in Matheus and academy graduate Macatee.


So I guess this summer we will concentrate on KDB & Gundo replacements, which means that we will buy defensive midfielder who covers for Rodri and either Matheus proves his worth as an attacking midfielder or we will sell him, add extra money and buy player like Wirtz or Musiala or whoever they are talking about.

Then we will have to replace Walker & Bernardo. By that time hopefully Rico will be fully ready for the first squad and we will buy his cover or competition, like Frimpong for example. As for the Bernardo, we will have 2 full seasons of Macatee by then and if he proves worth, we will use him as Bernardo's successor, otherwise same will happen to him like it happens to Matheus.

Therefore next two summers: 1 CDM and 1 RB. Plus 2 CAMs depending on Macatee / Matheus situations, which means that at least we will generate 50% of those transfers by selling Macatee and Matheus.

After two years, we will have to look at CB replacements, but till that happens, we will have a lot of time..

In other words - well done Txiki.

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

Think its just an option looking at reports.

 

[DATOIA]

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

Well.. when we sold Gundo, we had Alvarez who wanted more game time and Foden, plus as I understand club was working on Bellinghem transfer, as well as Kovacic. So it was correct decision to let Gundo go..

This summer Alvarez wanted to go and was sold. If he hadn't gone, maybe we wouldn't have signed Gundo.

But I am not talking about "what would have happened", I am looking at the squad and it is well-planned.
We have a lot of young players.

Plus we won't need major overhaul as squad replacement can be done step-by-step, like I said - this summer find replacements for KDB & Gundo and next summer, find replacements for Bernie & Walker.

And players like Macatee and Bobb give us ability to spend less, as this players are developed year-by-year and eventually are getting to the level City needs them to be. So when someone retires or is sold, we don't have to spend big to find their replacements.

That's why our net spend for the last 5 years is less than 11 teams in PL, including Big8 and other ones.
But the results are N1

Yep, transfers like Mendy or Phillips happen once in a while, but I think we have the best ratio in terms of successful transfers vs flops, during the last 10 years.