With promotion on the horizon, we are 95% now looking at needing to build a team of players to keep us in the Premier League next season.
I’m sure this will be a hot topic for discussions as soon as the curtain falls down but the reality is no business will get done in the short term as the European Championship Final isn’t until the 14th July.
We need to sell Dewsbury Hall prior to the end of June I believe to comply with upcoming FSR regulations, so with that and the upcoming contract expiries, we are going to have a skeletal squad, even compared to this season.
We have seen the promoted sides struggle this season, Burnley in particular have struggled to adapt and are having their own attempts at a great escape.
We’ve got an impending points deduction in the region of 10 points heading our way due to PSR (FSR) breaches, so we’ll be looking at needing to get 52ish points from 38 games. That’s an average of 1.37 points per game. The reality is, this team isn’t going to do that.
We are going to need some major additions, all within a small time period, all bedding in quickly, as the Premier League kicks off on the 17th August.
By my take, we are going to need to undertake the following:
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Expiring Contracts
2024 - Vestergaard, Albrighton, Vardy, Praet, Ndidi, Iheanacho
You’d keep Vardy and Vestergaard in reality. Ndidi has been good this season, however I can’t see him staying with us and he’s injury prone. We don’t have the luxury of carrying a player that is only okay capable of playing 50% of the games.
2025 - Iversen, Ward, Thomas
I’d move all of these on if we can to be honest, even if we are only covering wages
Loan Contracts
Doyle, Akgun and Fatawu
I believe we are obliged to keep Akgun and Fatawu is a no brainer transfer. We can only loan two players from the Premier League, so I’m not sure Doyle is worth it, unless we look to sign him permanently.
Chances are we will look to loan players from the relegated teams, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we ”loaned” players from Forest, Sheffield United, Burnley or Luton.
Slim pickings in reality but Forest have some good players that could play the Enzo system in the likes of Gibbs-White, however I don’t see the likes of Sangare who we courted for years being an option. Sander Berg from Burnley maybe.
Transfers
KDH will need to go unfortunately to balance the books so to speak. I think that’s the reality of it. I’m not sure if this has been widely accepted or known? I’d be amazed if he’s with us next season. For the right price, I can see any of our squad members being sold, however we need to shift Souttar, Soumare, Ward, Iversen, Kristensen, Thomas and Daka going for money. Reality is, that doesn’t happen.
We aren’t going to have the luxury of splashing cash. It will pain people but I can see us looking at Josh Brownhill from Burnley on a free. He was steady when Burnley got promoted and he’s been one of their better players.
Obviously we are all hoping we can unearth loads more gems for next to nothing, however the entire footballing world is playing that game.
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In an ideal world, I think we are looking at two centre backs, two full backs, four centre midfielders, two wide players and two forwards. That’s a major rebuild and we’ve rarely seen this work.
We all need to acknowledge, staying up next season is the target and it’s going to be a bloody grind. This promotion might feel like a damp squib, however staying up next season might be one of our greatest achievements.
