Scott had a budget of 10m and got RVB whose probably worth twice that, Roger’s who has clawed that initial spend back and could/should bring more in, Dieng who is a championship quality keeper, Engel and Bangura who look decent at this level, and Lath whose progressing, plus a few others who may or may not make it.
If he has a similar hit rate next summer but with a bigger budget we will be laughing
Great for sustainability and the accounts not so great for building a promotion team. We are further away now than we were 12 months ago and with McGree and Hackney looking like they could depart, I really worry that we'll be even further away in 12 months time.
I disagree. Engel is not good enough for a promotion team. Not even close. He's one of our worst performances most weeks.
We know very little about Bangura really. He's looked decent in bursts so a bit of optimism there,
VDB looks a great talent but he's shown his inexperience over the last 6 weeks. He's been caught out quite a few times but gets a pass from the fans. He's not a £20m player, Not even close. Be lucky to get £8-10m, Ignoring the 3 relegated teams, the only defender in the league that is worth even close to £20m is Greaves. CB wasn't really a place we were struggling though.
Dieng is a decent 1st team player
Silvera - not good enough
Gilbert - Not good enough
Barlaser - Not good enough
Azaz - Seems a decent player but not sure he's good enough to be the first choice no10 if we aspire towards promotion
Lath - Probably ok for a back up. Need better for a first choice striker. Would have hoped for better for his fee
At the end of last season we probably had the following as a core of players to build the team round
-------------?????------------
Smith---Fry----Lenihan--?????
-----Howson---Hackney-------
Forss------Akpom-----McGree
----------????????---------------
then we lost Akpom.
-------------?????------------
Smith---Fry----Lenihan--?????
-----Howson---Hackney-------
Forss------???????-----McGree
----------????????---------------
Are we any better off now?
We've sorted out the GK position
We need to replace Howson even if he renews.
Smith is a year older and coming off a bad injury. He needs replacing
------------Dieng--------------
???---Fry/VDB----Lenihan--???
-----????????---Hackney-------
Forss/Jones---???????-----McGree
----------------??????-----------
There's a real possibility we loseMcGree and Hackney. The recruitment team have massively failed over the last 18 months. The first team is far weaker and we have less squad depth.