- May 5, 2005
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Suggestions from ITK yesterday that Carroll could be part of any Villa deal for Adebayor (I'm guessing about the location, but it would make a whole lot of sense). That brings us down to Bentaleb and Mason, plus relatively untested (yet very promising) Velkjovic, Ali and Winks. Also strong suggestions Dembele is not for sale. I think one quality CM will put a whole new slant on things. Targetting/buying a round peg for an round hole in the managers view, not trying to force a square peg into a round hole just because said option was cheap.
With so few options left, I do wonder if one main signing like for example McCarthy/Rabiot for PL, will still leave room for a second player to come in, an older head like Cambiasso or Motta, with the intention of being used predominantly in Europa as a guiding hand for some of our talented stock of youngsters?
I cannot for the life of me see, that after Levy making such a step change in his approach to sales, actively clearing the less wanted players early, even at a loss, historically he would have tried to hold out till the last minute asking higher prices, will then go and undo all that promise by not delivering an improved option for the manager. Seems bizarre to even consider. The squad and wage bill must have been cleared for a reason, that being to bring in better calibre/more suitable options.
Not sure about that last bit - Poch has said he wants a much smaller squad and has also made it clear that those who have left were never going to be in his plans - so we're not necessarily clearing the decks for someone new.
Personally I do think we will sign one CM and one forward still, but it wouldn't be a major surprise for Poch to be quite happy with things the way they are in midfield at least, based on what he's said in the past.