Ric Flair

Could he be the Vestergaard player? His passing stats don't suggest so but Gil Vicente might not play anything like we play so they get lost in the data. Him being two footed, pretty quick and good at bailing out is basically what Ben Nelson has in his armoury too. But a year in the Championship playing regularly could be planned for Nelson?

I had noticed this too, so many blocked shots. I think he's another who suits a front two and space being created by another striker near to him. That was the system he was in at Preston. It's staggering that we sign players who's experience comes from being in a front two or who are better in a pair. Daka only ever played in a front two at Salzburg and nearly all his best games for us in his 1st season here were in a two. Cannon did well at Preston in a two and Iheanacho's best form has been in the withdrawn role in a front two. Only Vardy has ever been comfortable as a sole striker for us. No doubt we'll make the same mistake again this summer.

If we can get our wage bill down to somewhere nearer £100m in the PL, then we ought to be able to spend a healthy amount in the right manner.

Hasn't done a bad job? They have 24 points from 36 games. I don't care whether they can mathematically stay up or not, even 2 wins only gets them 30 points for the full season. That is an utter disgrace.

Isn't he incredibly injury prone and done very little bar a half decent spell at Southampton?

I like the sound of his profile, don't know anything about him (probably a good thing). I dispute the veracity of us having tried to sign him in January though, highly doubt that even though I remember the reports at the time.

Circumstances very much prevented him from playing with injuries and then us stumbling across the line for promotion. That said he should have been on the bench vs Blackburn.

But we didn't manage to sell a single one of them and yet that must have been part of the future forecast in the business plan at some point, especially after the summer of 2021. We knew we were pushing things to the max. We were never going to comply without doing so, I've cut the figure so many ways and 22/23 we'd have needed to move on Tielemans, Maddison, Soyuncu + Fofana and got top 10 whilst not paying Rodgers off. There were also a number of other transfers we either rejected or the player rejected which doesn't help our cause either. Wages scuppered us every way you look at it and we were the causation of that to begin with.

We'll find it very difficult to defend that £100m + worth of players have ran their contracts down, likewise another £50m + this summer.

Wonder if his wages have doubled on promotion then.....

Yeah, I think he'd be most dangerous as an 8 or the type of role Eze has played during his career where he drifts from out wide to behind the strikers. I think Enzo's system would suit him and he's strong defensively too.

Yeah loans if we have a 25 man squad that's got the required amount of quality. If we are lacking due to funds then keep them and blood them.

I'd like us to be aggressive in our attempts to completely rebuild the way we operate as a football club. Which is a young and progressive squad signed for modest fees with huge potential upscale. A wage structure that is competitive but not stupid and instead is tiered on success at the club rather than high from the off based on reputation. If that sees us miss out on certain targets then so be it, just scout better in more obscure places. I'd like to see us tap in to the Japanese, South Korean and South American markets where there is huge gains to be made. As well as more in Scandinavia where we've had success already. Also invest more belief in to our academy and develop the talents such as Nelson, Alves and Braybrooke. They'll be excellent players within a year even at PL level. If we get a points deduction that's too difficult to overcome then I want us to be able to go down and not gamble everything on coming straight back up, where the EFL are desperate to hammer us. That probably means Ricardo, Justin, Daka, Soumare, KDH and even the likes of Faes need to be moved on as soon as possible to free the high wages up. We need to be a lean mean fighting machine.

The club will use the fact we got rid of our captain and didn't replace him except for a free transfer 3rd choice and sold our most coveted asset for £70m and only brought in a modest replacement for £15m in our attempts to comply ahead of 2022/23. However, our plummet in to the relegation places, which saw us lose £35m in place money and our need to try and get urgent additions in to stay up in Jan, meant we've spiralled and seemingly breached. Whether that makes any mitigating argument I don't know. I find it hard to have any sympathy for us as we know the chronic mistakes we made before and during this.

Plays centrally as well

Yes he got injured for a couple of months. He's back now.

Oliver Whatmuff is an astonishing name 😂😂😂 In all seriousness this is an exceptional achievement and it's a huge testament to the hard work throughout the academy at lower levels. I'm harsh on demanding we become one of, if not the best academy in the country because I believe those aspirations aren't unachievable. Buzzing.

Yes, I've heard Kosiorek is extremely well regarded too.

He's been atrocious this season bar a spell of about 4-5 weeks around September to October time. It confirmed to me that he cannot and will not ever be able to play as a 9 at a relatively high level. Put him in a front two and his qualities will likely outweigh his inefficiencies but very few sides play that way. Funnily enough Emery has deployed a front two a lot in his career but less so at Villa. If he ends up there and prospers in such a role it wouldn't be a major surprise but equally could see him carrying on the same meandering contributions that he has at Leicester. No other club is likely to get a major honour out of it though like we did fortunately.

Iheanacho looks to be off

Mulled this over but if we were to go for one Championship player (subject to them not getting promoted) at the right price (only 1 year left on his deal so should be less than £15-20m) then it's got to be Jonathan Rowe at Norwich. With him and Alves as options out wide or as an attacking midfielder we'd be set up for a good few years.

Any relation to the 90's wizard Ruben Sosa?

Let's hope so, this age group has been ear marked for some serious talents. As been mentioned, Jake Evans has already done well at U18s, Jeremy Monga recently promoted to the U18s and Lorenz Hutchinson expected to go far. There may well be others. Steve Beaglehole working quietly in the background at this level I see!

What pisses me off about him is his lack of pragmatism and his refusal to rotate/make subs. This at first was offset by his championing of young players from the academy but that dried up as well. Jury is out for me on the strong propensity to rile me very easily.

Quite possibly but Enzo will have a limited budget and he needs at least 3, possibly 4 central midfielders. He known what Sensi brings and he wasn't just being signed for 6 months in the Championship. It was a very concerning transfer anyway given our recent track record so I'm largely relieved but we will need a clutch of frees and/or loans in the 9+ new players we need.