- May 7, 2004
- 42,453
- 77,963
Winks replaces Dembele now that he's in his 3rd season in the first team squad. So really we need to replace Winks of a few seasons ago. I fancy Skipp to do that.It looks like Winks is the immediate replacement for Dembele, so we then need backup for him, rather than a direct replacement. It could be that Sissoko plays a lot more if Dembele leaves.
We'll probably have to rely on relatively unproven young signings to become understudies for Davies and Dier, if/when Rose and Wanyama leave. We already have Foyth waiting in the wings at CB.
Although we certainly can't splash the cash like our direct rivals, I honestly don't think we are limited to a £0 net spend either. I tend to believe the reports that we simply didn't manage to pull off any of the signings we wanted for the right fee.
We spent about £16m in 2017/18. If you look at our 2017/18 activity (below), without selling Walker (the only key player to leave), we could realistically have signed everyone apart from Sanchez. The kind of fees that we spent on Moura, Aurier, Llorente and Foyth are realistic going forwards.
Irrespective of funds, we are going to struggle to sign a top striker as backup to Kane, because top players want regular playing time. If we do need to replace Llorente in the summer, the combined sale of him and Janssen should be adequate to enable us to fund any of our realistic targets (realistic in footballing, not financial, terms).
If Toby does leave for £25m in the summer (I'm more optimistic than most that he'll stay), Sanchez and Foyth will most likely have improved by August 2019 and £25m not insignificant (over double what we spent on Foyth). Add in some funds from the sale of a fringe player (e.g. Nkoudou) and we can probably afford another Sanchez type deal.
I also think we're coming very close to the point where CCV, Onomah and KWP will be sold on if they don;t make a real impact on the first team. Not just because we need to think about upgrading them, but because they'll be keen to play regular first team football and progress their careers.
View attachment 42434
I agree about the forwards, we're not going to get a top backup. However we do need to get a promising prospect. We tried with Janssen but it didn't come off. I think we need to discover a prospect at a low cost so the sales of Janssen, Llorente and Nkoudou can cover the cost.
Same for the centre back position if Toby leaves. As you say we're pretty much covered for first choice. I would say Sanchez and Vertonghen showed that last season while Toby was injured. Foyth will hopefully continue to rise too as quality cover. So another extra centre back should be a low expense one to free up funds elsewhere (like another Wimmer maybe).
A right back sold together with Rose could bring enough for a top quality left back. Leaving a majority of funds to go towards a centre midfielder and playmaker (selling Wanyama and Dembele to go towards the extra left from a Toby sale). So it's certainly possible we can pick up a few signings with sales and not spend much.
Our scouts definitely need to show their worth.