Next seasons squad

[shailen]

This squad needs a refresh. 5 players in and a couple out. We need a new keeper, CB, RW, CM and a LB which will take a few windows to recruit!! 

[volpeazzurro]

7 minutes ago, shailen said:

This squad needs a refresh. 5 players in and a couple out. We need a new keeper, CB, RW, CM and a LB which will take a few windows to recruit!! 

And a new bloody manager or else it would be totally pointless. 

[Tielemans63]

I genuinely believe the next 12 months are make or break for the club. We're on a knife edge in terms of the quality, value and suitability of the squad. Top doesn't seem to want to / be able to invest heavily either. Doing things on the cheap only works for so long. It's going to need an almighty shake-up to stop us sliding back into the Championship and remaining there.

 

When we lose Madders we're properly ****ed.

Edited 27 December 2022 by Tielemans63

[Pliskin]

We might finally sign Billy Sharp! He’s decent at Championship level! 

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

First - get a new manager.

 

Then prioritise getting Maddison a new contract. If he signs, build the team around a spine of Faes - KDH - Maddison, with Maddison as captain. If he won't commit, sell if we get a bid of 65m+ in January, 50m+ in the summer.

 

Over the next two windows I'd want us to sign a new GK, LB, CB, RM and CF. Realistically, probably from lower leagues / cheap foreign market gambles, but we could raise a bit by selling Ward (5m), Veste (3m), Bertrand (0m), Tielemans (15m), Soumare (10m), Mendy (5m), Praet (7m), Perez (5m), Iheanacho (20m).

 

25 man squad

 

GKs: New GK / Iversen / Smithies

 

RBs: Castagne / Pereira

LBs: Justin / new LB / Thomas

CBs: Faes / New CB / Evans / Amartey

 

CMs: KDH / Ndidi /Choudhury / Braybrooke

 

AMC: Maddison / Barnes / New RM / Albrighton / Alves

 

CF: New CF / Vardy / New CF / Daka

Edited 27 December 2022 by LeePhilpottsBaldSpot

[Rigga]

The  rebuild that BR talks about, really need 6 starters ? At least ….

it’s a pretty average squad let’s be honest..

 

take Maddison out of there when he decides he’s fit and not watching the darts… and we’re pretty ****ed ain’t we 

[Dan]

7 hours ago, Col city fan said:

If Maddison has any sense whatsoever he’ll be out of this club in a flash.

And that statement is the problem. That's how our own fans view it now. God knows how somebody like him views it when he knows he's good enough to play in the CL.

 

It's all a bit depressing. We've had it very good and I think the wheels are coming off now. We've had two good periods since we came up. The 2015/16 season obviously (although we squandered what we built from that very quickly) and then around 2018 time we put the pieces together for another good side. I'm not sure we'll be able to do it again. We may get the odd gem but I doubt it. The brilliance of Vardy, Mahrez and Maddison has carried us and when we're reliant on individual stars it will always eventually burn out.

[Sly]

5 hours ago, LeePhilpottsBaldSpot said:

First - get a new manager.

 

Then prioritise getting Maddison a new contract. If he signs, build the team around a spine of Faes - KDH - Maddison, with Maddison as captain. If he won't commit, sell if we get a bid of 65m+ in January, 50m+ in the summer.

 

Over the next two windows I'd want us to sign a new GK, LB, CB, RM and CF. Realistically, probably from lower leagues / cheap foreign market gambles, but we could raise a bit by selling Ward (5m), Veste (3m), Bertrand (0m), Tielemans (15m), Soumare (10m), Mendy (5m), Praet (7m), Perez (5m), Iheanacho (20m).

 

25 man squad

 

GKs: New GK / Iversen / Smithies

 

RBs: Castagne / Pereira

LBs: Justin / new LB / Thomas

CBs: Faes / New CB / Evans / Amartey

 

CMs: KDH / Ndidi /Choudhury / Braybrooke

 

AMC: Maddison / Barnes / New RM / Albrighton / Alves

 

CF: New CF / Vardy / New CF / Daka

 

Choudhury, Evans, Amartey, Maddison will be gone. 
 

Bertrand and Ricardo aren’t that far of fitness from what I’ve been told. I actually thought Bertrand would be an insurance payout at one time. We might see both feature before the end of the season. 
 

If you think about the bad injuries, we’ve had Bertrand, Ricardo, Justin, Evans, Suengchitthawon and now Alves. They were and we’re in and around pushing the first team. Praet was another concern yesterday, as he appears to be made of glass.

 

We’re all concerned about Maddison’s contract ending in 2024, in reality, so does Ndidi, Iheanacho, Smithies, Albrighton, Vardy, Thomas, Vestegaard and Praet. We might want some of those to go but we need to better protect our assets. 

 

I’m with @Ric Flair and genuinely believe if we don’t get the next few transfer windows correct, we’re in a mess and could potentially be playing Championship football. Although, I’m sure a few other teams feel like this as well. 

 

Edited 27 December 2022 by Sly

[whoareyaaa]

Players we need to move on as they are not good enough or don't want to be here.

 

Vesterguard, Bertrand, Perez, Praet, Soumare, Evans.

 

Players likely to move on due to contract, Youri and Soy.

 

Amartey and Thomas are not good enough to be starting in the Prem imo, Amartey is OK but has too many errors in him.

 

I would do everything to hold onto Maddsion and build the team around him, but can see him moving on.

 

So that is 11 players in total and that's if people don't think we need a new keeper, big job for the recruitment team and I don't think the manager is cut out to build a team from here, his signings have been shocking

 

Next season..

 

                       Ward

    Castange ****  Faes  *****

 

    ******  KDH  Nididi   Barnes

 

               Nacho Daka

Edited 27 December 2022 by whoareyaaa

[alanf0x]

I would keep: 

 

James Justin

Jonny Evans

Ricardo Pereira

Timothy Castagne

Wout Faes

Harvey Barnes

Youri Tielemans

James Maddison 

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall

Wilfred Ndidi

Jamie Vardy 

Kelechi Iheanacho

Patson Daka 

Luke Thomas (loan out) 

 

The players in bold are players I would play week in week out (worryingly x7 out of 25 at present). 2 of which will be gone in the summer (Tielemens and Maddison). 
 

Big summer ahead. 

 

 

[Livid]

We had a couple of decent years where we lured some quality players in whilst looking like Champions League contenders. 
 

We’ve fell short in terms of performance, recruitment, financial acumen (the three a probably linked) and what quality we have is now looking to move on. 
 

We need to cut out the deadwood but we’re going to be left with next to nothing to work with. 
 

Given our recent record on buying players it’s quite worrying. 

[BroughtonFox]

When you see who we’re linked with in January it doesn’t give you much confidence.

 

Get a new exciting manager in from abroad before the end of the season, give him at least ten games to look at the squad. Promise him money and a chance to sign a load of players (which we’ll need) and let’s get a proper rebuild going. 

 

I’m sorry but if we give Rodgers the rebuild over the summer we’ll have Michael Keane, Andy Carroll, Adam Lallana and Ashley Young coming in

[davieG]

We need a recruitment team that can find gems in the less well know Foreign Leagues and the EFL couple this with a significantly lower wage structure and we could then supplement the team with a couple of higher profile proven players.

 

In amongst that we need a central player, Captain if you like who is Mr Commitment and who can drive and whip the team to perform.

 

We need a coach with an abundance of streetsmarts to drive the naivety and pussy footing out of this club.

 

I know, i know but I can dream.

[Sly]

10 minutes ago, davieG said:

We need a recruitment team that can find gems in the less well know Foreign Leagues and the EFL couple this with a significantly lower wage structure and we could then supplement the team with a couple of higher profile proven players.

 

In amongst that we need a central player, Captain if you like who is Mr Commitment and who can drive and whip the team to perform.

 

We need a coach with an abundance of streetsmarts to drive the naivety and pussy footing out of this club.

 

I know, i know but I can dream.

You’re bang on the money with the leader bit. Youri is great, however he isn’t the player that is going to pull you through a game. Loom at Bruno for Newcastle yesterday. Simple things like that make your team mates give that extra 1%. That’s an onfield leader. 
 

I also think personality / language wise our makeup is wrong. 
 

How many languages does Rodgers speak? Is it English, Spanish and French? 

 

If we replace him, we’ll need some to cover these bases. I come back to my point on Soyuncu, his English isn’t great and he can’t communicate without having Evans next to him on the pitch. 

 

 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

This is so perilous. We are sleep walking into transitioning to the league below with all the deadwood, underperformers and good players running down contracts.

[Dusty]

32 minutes ago, alanf0x said:

I would keep: 

 

James Justin

Jonny Evans

Ricardo Pereira

Timothy Castagne

Wout Faes

Harvey Barnes

Youri Tielemans

James Maddison 

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall

Wilfred Ndidi

Jamie Vardy 

Kelechi Iheanacho

Patson Daka 

Luke Thomas (loan out) 

 

The players in bold are players I would play week in week out (worryingly x7 out of 25 at present). 2 of which will be gone in the summer (Tielemens and Maddison). 
 

Big summer ahead. 

 

 

Ndidi isn’t good enough to play week in week out anymore, he’s been a poor player for the last 2 years, I’ve lost count of how many penalties he’s given away. I’ll always love him but not good enough or fit enough anymore. We need a soumare type player, physically good, press resistant, competent passer. 
 

Same applies for Vardy, he’s a club legend but it looks like his race is run. Can’t remember the last premier league game where he looked good? 
 

I can’t see Castagne staying either, he’s good enough and aspirational enough to play at a higher level and he doesn’t look like he’s that happy to be here. 

[Cropwellfox]

Feels like things could unravel very quickly, Vardy time coming to the end, Maddison and Tielemans both likely to be out the door within 12 months, Evans possibly done, no premier league quality GK currently in the squad, average players still on long deals (ie soumare) - so so important we stay in the league this season, unthinkable what happens if not 

[kingfox]

Regardless of what we do in the transfer market, a period of sustained mediocrity feels like it’s around the corner.

 

The days of the likes of Leicester & West Ham breaking the mould and getting top six will fade away again.

 

The Premier League is changing and not for the better, I wouldn’t be surprised if normality resumes either this season or next. The Premier League will become a league of the “Big Seven”(Newcastle included), then it will be the rest.

 

Teams like ourselves, West Ham, Brighton will just be stuck in that cycle of Champions League & Europa League quality teams coming and pinching our players. Leicester will inevitably lose Tielemans & Maddison, West Ham will inevitably lose Rice & Bowen, Brighton will inevitably lose Caicedo, MacAlister & Trossard.

 

This squad is on the brink of a refresh, we’ve known that for the past year; however regardless of what Martyn Glover conjures up, we will probably go into next season and seasons beyond thinking, will we finish 8th or will we find ourselves in a relegation battle.

[LCCFox96]

Still feeling unwell after yesterday’s shit show so doing a thought dump here in the hope it makes me feel slightly merrier and because I believe we are entering a bit of a shit or bust period for our squad.
 

Our immediate priority is to get the January window right. And by f**k do we need to do just that. We have an opportunity to use the window to steady those type of erratic, self-destructive performances that we saw yesterday, at Bournemouth, at Arsenal etc etc.

 

A new CB, new LB and quality RW are a must. We needed another CB addition to replace Soyuncu anyway especially as it’s clear Vestergaard won’t be called upon if it can be avoided. That leaves our current starting pair and a crocked Evans which isn’t deep enough. Young Luke Thomas badly needs some support at LB whilst Justin is out and Bertrand is riding his deal out on the treatment table. And - of course - we still need that same quality RW replacement that we’ve needed since Mahrez left.

 

We need at least 2 of those 3 signings to have Faes style impacts. It’s a big ask but if we can do it we’ll tuck in in midtable relatively comfortably. Any of the fringe/out of favour players we can move on to support that January activity and streamline costs for the next 6months is a bonus and leaves us bettered prepped for a strong summer window.

 

To me it feels like the club have hit pause on any serious development and investment and we’re holding our breathe, I presume and hope for a big summer. It would be risky to not change that approach in January (Rodgers comments sound promising here) but it would be suicidal to not invest seriously in the summer. 

 

For me, summer priorities are:

- a new first choice GK

- another CB depending on Evans’ progress, Amartey’s contract, and Vestergaard’s hopeful exit

- a young, hungry CDM to back up Wilf

- almost certainly a Tielemans replacement 

- hopefully not a Maddison replacement

- another exciting CM/CAM option

- another RW / LW 

 

I can see wholesale exits in the next 3months. I think the following will go for nominal or reduced fees in this window or leave on a free in the summer: 

 

- Soyuncu, Bertrand, Perez, Mendy, Tielemans.

 

Then we also have Amartey with his contract running down who continues to divide opinion.

 

I think we’ll actively pursue or listen to offers for the following either in January or the summer:

- Ward, Iheanacho, Vestergaard, Praet, Soumare, Choudhury (hopefully Watford take their option to buy) 

On top of all of that we have question marks about Maddison’s future, the longevity of of Evans, Vardy and Ricardo, and concerns around whether Ndidi and Justin will ever hit their peak heights again.
 

Whilst I’d instantly feel more relaxed with a couple of strong January additions and a new deal for Maddison (I’m resigned to Tielemans going), the make-up of our current squad is a ticking time bomb. There are far too few sellable assets left in the squad and a lot of our best players have minimal time left on their deals or are the wrong side of 30. We’ve also had a foul record with injuries in recent years too which has hampered the progress of some of our players and our ability to name a first choice 11 regularly. 
 

The massive fee for Fofana and Faes being largely outstanding has bought us some time and resources to do something but we HAVE to get this right. If we have another couple of poor windows and the squad continues to deteriorate then we could be in huge trouble by the time the 23/24 season ends. I really think things are that delicately balanced now.

 

And then, of course, surrounding it all we have the Rodgers debate. Yesterday was shambolic - a poor set up coupled with basic mistakes from the players and we got slapped by a well organised, well drilled, energetic side who are bang in form. However, unless we nose dive horrifically again Rodgers appears to be here to stay. I’ve seen very little in Rodgers’ tenure to suggest he’ll suddenly become a maestro in the market. Enter Martyn Glover. Please be good Martyn!

[coolhandfox]

You have to see it as an opportunity to move the squad forward.

 

We have a large proportion of the squad not contributing or good enough or want to move on.

 

Mendy, Perez, Bertrand, Evans, Soyuncu, Amartey, Tielemans all out of contract means we have around 400k reduction in the wage bill.

 

Mendy, Perez, Bertrand and Evan are no real lose, hard to included Evans in there but doesn't matter how good you are if you can't get on the pitch.

 

Whilst Tielemans and Soyuncu are good players, why would we want to keep anyone who doesn't want to be here. I'd sell both in January and try and bring in some cash.

 

We need to move on Praet, Soumare and Vestergaard for whatever we can get maybe 20m-30m

 

Amartey I'd probably try and get him to stay as a squad player.

 

Maddison is a tough one, I think we have to chuck massive money at him and make him club captain.

 

So we are looking at 10 out.

 

I'd look to bring 7 in and promote a couple from the Academy as squad fillers.

 

We are going to need around 100m minimum. 

 

I believe Glover was brought in because he has a background of working on a budget.

 

Its not impossible we basically need a summer like we had in  2018/19, which saw us bring in Maddison, Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu on top of a couple of decent in this winter window.

 

Spending 100m on players on 5 years contracts only adds 20m to the accounts each season.

Edited 27 December 2022 by coolhandfox

[Tielemans63]

1 hour ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

This is so perilous. We are sleep walking into transitioning to the league below with all the deadwood, underperformers and good players running down contracts.

Agreed. Been quite concerned about what the plan is for a while, but now wondering if there's even a plan at all. We're a mess.

[KFS]

Also, when does it work signing a whole new 11? Southampton had to do it this year and look worse than ever. Scary times

[DerbyshireFox]

As basic as it sounds we need pace. We used to have it in abundance. Vardy has lost a yard (at best) of pace inevitably. The only pace we have now comes from Barnes or Daka, and it’s seldom utilised. We don’t have anyone who can run at a player or beat a man anymore. It makes life a lot harder when teams know you aren’t often going to threaten in behind 

Edited 27 December 2022 by DerbyshireFox

[Sly]

6 minutes ago, DerbyshireFox said:

As basic as it sounds we need pace. We used to have it in abundance. Vardy has lost a yard (at best) of pace inevitably. The only pace we have now comes from Barnes or Daka, and it’s seldom utilised. We don’t have anyone who can run at a player or beat a man anymore. It makes life a lot harder when teams know you aren’t often going to threaten in behind 

I feel at times, without Maddison we’re reduced to the one weapon; which is Barnes and his directness. 
 

Our inability to ever replace Mahrez / right wing, with even a mid Premier League standard player is frustrating. 
 

The core of our success was recruited under a different regime. 

[Matt]

15 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

You have to see it as an opportunity to move the squad forward.

 

We have a large proportion of the squad not contributing or good enough or want to move on.

 

Mendy, Perez, Bertrand, Evans, Soyuncu, Amartey, Tielemans all out of contract means we have around 400k reduction in the wage bill.

 

Mendy, Perez, Bertrand and Evan are no real lose, hard to included Evans in there but doesn't matter how good you are if you can't get on the pitch.

 

Whilst Tielemans and Soyuncu are good players, why would we want to keep anyone who doesn't want to be here. I'd sell both in January and try and bring in some cash.

 

We need to move on Praet, Soumare and Vestergaard for whatever we can get maybe 20m-30m

 

Amartey I'd probably try and get him to stay as a squad player.

 

Maddison is a tough one, I think we have to chuck massive money at him and make him club captain.

 

So we are looking at 10 out.

 

I'd look to bring 7 in and promote a couple from the Academy as squad fillers.

 

We are going to need around 100m minimum. 

 

I believe Glover was brought in because he has a background of working on a budget.

 

Its not impossible we basically need a summer like we had in  2018/19, which saw us bring in Maddison, Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu on top of a couple of decent in this winter window.

 

Spending 100m on players on 5 years contracts only adds 20m to the accounts each season.

Agreed.

 

I see losing these players as a positive.

 

Either players who don’t want to be here or are simply not good enough anyway.

 

We can draw a line under it and rebuild - of course the rebuild can go either way but I can gain some positivity and hope that a rebuild ends this dour lull we find ourselves in.

 

During this rebuild we might need to take a few steps back but within reason I’ll accept that in hope a rebuild brings a more exciting brand of football with players who want to be here who look bothered, arsed and want to play for us.

 

For all this to have the element of positivity it starts with getting rid of Rodgers. 
 

I just hope he and the club can come to some agreement at the end of the season.

 

It’s currently nothing but a loveless marriage or convenience.