Mid-window review: ins/outs?

[Ghost Hardware]

x2. i would even add Archie Gray and Roony. Maybe some South American young players too.

Gray just signed a new contract. Looks a big talent tho.

 

[pedrodelawasp]

Alfie Devine being recalled from Port Vale.

wonder if that means there’s another loan lined up for him at a higher level or if Ange thinks he can come in and contribute?

 

[ukdy]

7/10 for me so far. Cover brought in for 2 positions.

Beginning to clear the decks and send players out that we don’t want or can’t use.

Hopefully we can move more out and pick up 1 more if needed towards the end of the window.

That’ll put us in a very strong position for the summer.

 

[Trix]

Got Man U or Man City written all over him

That depends on Everton's current state of affairs. The way FFP works it's based over a three year period so just because they may be in trouble because of what happened in the past that doesn't mean they'll still be in for another breach come the Summer. They also have an investor sat there waiting for approval I believe so their short to medium term future might be financially ok, despite them being in a mess before.

 

[bceej]

Alfie Devine being recalled from Port Vale.

wonder if that means there’s another loan lined up for him at a higher level or if Ange thinks he can come in and contribute?

Saw that he's likely to join Plymouth and Phillips. Think our own @Lilywhite Rose

 

[Chirpystheman]

On Sarr I don't see how his season on loan at Metz counts towards the 3 years needed to qualify as HG. That doesn't make sense to me. As if it's a case of just registering a player. Why don't we sign more overseas 18 year olds register and then loan out back to previous club repeat for 3 seasons and then they would count ad HG. That seems like a wild loophole in the law.

 

[luRRka]

On Sarr I don't see how his season on loan at Metz counts towards the 3 years needed to qualify as HG. That doesn't make sense to me.

Because we registered him as able to play for us. The same as Arsenal did with Saliba - under 21 players don't take up a squad place. You just have to register them. Home grown rule states they must be registered at a club in the same association for at least 3 years before 21

 

[Chirpystheman]

Because we registered him as able to play for us. The same as Arsenal did with Saliba - under 21 players don't take up a squad place. You just have to register them. Home grown rule states they must be registered at a club in the same association for at least 3 years before 21

So sarr won't count in Europe as he's not been club/associated trained for a continuous 3 seasons

 

[rossdapep]

@Ghost Hardware Totally missed it as I have been paying attention elsewhere and didnt see the media really report it here but I missed Marcos Leonardo going to Benfica and he scored 17 mins into his debut last night.

He will tear it up there and end up costing 80-100m

 

[Col_M]

Tanganga now. We are busy busy busy,

 

[Ghost Hardware]

@Ghost Hardware Totally missed it as I have been paying attention elsewhere and didnt see the media really report it here but I missed Marcos Leonardo going to Benfica and he scored 17 mins into his debut last night.

He will tear it up there and end up costing 80-100m

I saw that he moved there, they tied it up very early, but didn’t know he scored already. Tbf it’s probably a good move for him. Would have really liked to have got him tho. He has a €150 mil release clause but you never know…. When we win the quadruple … summer of 2026 it’s on .

 

[archiewasking]

Tanganga now. We are busy busy busy,

Another one who had a loan with few minutes. At this point in his career, we'll probably be looking for a loan with obligation.

 

[TheHodFather]

So sarr won't count in Europe as he's not been club/associated trained for a continuous 3 seasons

This is what I'm assuming. Seems like a bit of a daft loophole in the premier league rules.

 

[worcestersauce]

So sarr won't count in Europe as he's not been club/associated trained for a continuous 3 seasons

Why hasn't he?

 

[Danny1]

Thing is we do have quite a few players still that need to go on permanents by the end of the summer window:
Reguilon, Tanganga, Spence, Rodon, Ndombele & Perisic.

Then the maybes in:
Hoibjerg, Gil & Sessegnon.

That's 9 players out that, in my opinion, could actually just be replaced with 2 players in Gallagher & Kelly/Calafiori.

That would leave us with a strong 2 players per position and with a number of players that are able to play other positions.

We would then be in a position to either buy supreme youngsters (Nusa & Vermeeren), keep on blooding our very good ones (Donley, Phillips, Dorrington, Devine, Moore & Hall).

 

[Snarfalicious]

Thing is we do have quite a few players still that need to go on permanents by the end of the summer window:
Reguilon, Tanganga, Spence, Rodon, Ndombele & Perisic.

Then the maybes in:
Hoibjerg, Gil & Sessegnon.

That's 9 players out that, in my opinion, could actually just be replaced with 2 players in Gallagher & Kelly/Calafiori.

That would leave us with a strong 2 players per position and with a number of players that are able to play other positions.

We would then be in a position to either buy supreme youngsters (Nusa & Vermeeren), keep on blooding our very good ones (Donley, Phillips, Dorrington, Devine, Moore & Hall).

Agreed, I think Forster could use upgrading, but that may wait until January/Summer 2025. If we land a Champions League place for next season, it may change that, though. I don’t think we should go into a season where we will need to rotate all positions substantially more with Forster as Vicario’s deputy, but I may be in the minority on that.

 

[THOWIG]

Thing is we do have quite a few players still that need to go on permanents by the end of the summer window:
Reguilon, Tanganga, Spence, Rodon, Ndombele & Perisic.

Then the maybes in:
Hoibjerg, Gil & Sessegnon.

That's 9 players out that, in my opinion, could actually just be replaced with 2 players in Gallagher & Kelly/Calafiori.

That would leave us with a strong 2 players per position and with a number of players that are able to play other positions.

We would then be in a position to either buy supreme youngsters (Nusa & Vermeeren), keep on blooding our very good ones (Donley, Phillips, Dorrington, Devine, Moore & Hall).

Agree, but personally I still feel we're missing a really top class winger/forward. We might target a striker, but with Son and Richarlison vying for a central position I think we're fine for a season or two as i just don't think there is obtainable striker option out there.

 

[Danny1]

Agree, but personally I still feel we're missing a really top class winger/forward. We might target a striker, but with Son and Richarlison vying for a central position I think we're fine for a season or two as i just don't think there is obtainable striker option out there.

Yeah I agree to be fair, and also we have to start thinking about the fact that Sonny is getting towards the latter stages of his career and in a couple of years could drop off quite quickly. Although with the links to Nusa it appears we are already thinking about that fact.

 

[brasil_spur]

We're at an 8/10 window so far IMO.

Werner on loan makes sense and his option price is incredible if he works out for us. He already looks like an upgrade on Gil and allows us to let Gil leave and replace some of the output from Perisic that we were getting at the start of the season.

Dragusin looks like a great option to cover RCB and LCB.

So in terms of incomings so far, it's been very decent.

Outgoings also quite good, especially getting Dier and some potential money for him.

BUT we're still not there yet on the squad. I know we won't fix everything this window, but in terms of what we need for next season, between then and now we need to address the following:

GK - At some point we might need a Vicario replacement that can play in the same way as him. Forster is not that player. Obviously there will be a drop in quality from Vicario to whoever goes in for him, but we can't change the entire way we play in defence, so the style of GK needs to be the same.

RB - Sorted for now with Porro and Emerson, as long as Porro doesn't get any long term injuries we can rotate a bit more now that Emerson doesn't need to play CB.

CB - Feels like we need another CB (ideally LCB) so we can allow Davies to be LB rotation for Udogie, unless we find a LB rotation player.

LB - Sorted with Udogie and Davies, I'm not sure how easy it will be to find someone who wants to play rotation / cover with Udogie, but should be an area we probably look at.

6 - Bissouma and Bentancur with Skippy as backup - I think we're good here.

8 - Sarr and Bentancur with Skippy as backup - I think we're probably good here too.

10 - Maddison and ? with Deki as backup - we need a player here.

LW - Son and Wener with Solomon as backup - sorted unless Timo doesn't work out then we need to look in the summer.

ST - Richarlison and Son with Veliz and Werner as backup - if Richie can keep netting a goal a game then we're golden for now.

RW - Johnson and Deki with ? as backup - ok as it's unlikely to need a backup, but would be good to have an option there at least.

So the main gaps here for me are cover/rotation for Maddison and RW backup. So perhaps the better option, especially given his recent performances in this role, is to move Deki more to the Maddison rotation role and have Deki as backup for RW.

That would then read as:

10 - Maddison and Deki with Donley as backup -sorted.

RW - Johnson and ? with Deki as backup - we need a new RW player in to provide competition and rotation with Johnson.

So how does this look in terms of main two plus backup:

GK: Vicario, NEW GK, (Austin)
RB: Porro, Emerson, (NEW RB)
CB: Romero, Dragusin, (Phillips)
CB: VDV, NEW CB, (Phillips)
LB: Udogie, Davies, (NEW LB)
6: Bissouma, Bentancur, (Skipp)
8: Sarr, Bentancur, (Skipp)
10: Maddison, Deki, (Donley)
LW: Son, Werner, (Solomon)
ST: Richarlison, Werner, (Veliz)
RW: Johnson, NEW RW, (Deki)

That's a squad of 28 players, although included in that is Austin, 2 new full backs and Donley. Right now we're running also running a squad of 28: Vicario, Forster, Austin, Porro, Emerson, Romero, Dragusin, VDV, Dorrington, Davies, Udogie, Sess, Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur, PEH, Skipp, Donley, Lo Celso, Maddison, Deki, Solomon, Gil, Werner, Son, Richie, Veliz and Johnson. So the above suggestion seems about right.

 

[Chirpystheman]

Why hasn't he?

Because he was loaned out for a season. Uefa rules state continuous training