Summer Transfer Window 2023

[VectisSaint]

6 hours ago, Dman said:

He's nowhere near good enough. If we have to rely on him for any period of time next season, we're in big trouble. 

I'd like us to look at bringing 2 CB's or a CB who can fill in at DM.. Hasn't Charles played CB a few times for City youth team? Perhaps he could act as the 4th CB.. 

Why is he "nowhere near good enough", successful loans in League 2 and League 1, surely backup in the Championship is the next logical step. Agree that perhaps the PL was a step too far, but is there any point in keeping him if he can's step up one more level. 

[woodsaint1]

15 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Why is he "nowhere near good enough", successful loans in League 2 and League 1, surely backup in the Championship is the next logical step. Agree that perhaps the PL was a step too far, but is there any point in keeping him if he can's step up one more level. 

Not sure about a successful loan in L1 last season.

Of his 18 appearances for Morecambe from January, he only played 45 mins or more in 12 of them, of which they only had one win. It is a huge step up from a relegated L1 team to a team who should be contesting for promotion to the PL

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Danbert said:

Why do you think he'll move on if, as I do, you think hcdajfu? I can't see us attracting anyone significantly better to play second fiddle to Stephens and Bednarek who would be a decent enough first choice pairing IMHO.

Something went on behind the scenes and despite a managerial change, I am not sure he is keen to be here. There is a lot of noise about potential moves. 

I am also concerned about the quality of player we will be able to sign. I still remember the nightmare we had at CB with the likes of Powell, Hajto, Thomas, Lancashire, Perry Liptak, Bennet and Daily serving up various degrees of shitness.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

Piroe watch

As happened with Diaz at Blackburn, if Swansea hold out for too much then he will go nowhere and walk for free next summer. The same could be said about us and Che.

[Chez]

34 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Not sure about a successful loan in L1 last season.

Of his 18 appearances for Morecambe from January, he only played 45 mins or more in 12 of them, of which they only had one win. It is a huge step up from a relegated L1 team to a team who should be contesting for promotion to the PL

he had a pretty shaky start to his league 2 loan too, all be it he finished it well. If we want to win the league, bare minimum we need players that excelled in League 1 (Aaron Collins for example). I guess he would only be cover, but your cover players need to be able to step up when required if you want to win the league.

[goodymatt]

 

[verlaine1979]

Re: Downes, always seemed pretty unlikely that he'd want to drop back down to the Championship after only a season. Would give his career trajectory the stink of failure.

[James]

Re Downes: he may want to be the Rice replacement but realistically there is no chance he will be. Barely played for WH in the league last year and, by the end of the window, I'd be surprised if he wasn't third/fourth choice. Of course he has to say that, he's a WH fan I believe and he probably thinks he's got the chance to step into an open spot, but I don't think Moyes fancies him (based on his usage last year) and IMO a move to us, with a chance of promotion and coming up as a starter under a manager who knows him, might well be attractive at the end of the window.

[CB Fry]

Nathan Redmond wanted by Burnley on a free according to The Athletic.

Pushing the boat out to stay up and no mistake.

[Saint Garrett]

9 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Nathan Redmond wanted by Burnley on a free according to The Athletic.

Pushing the boat out to stay up and no mistake.

Would be a decent signing for them on a free. Good lad off the pitch too, 

[SNSUN]

3 hours ago, goodymatt said:

Piroe watch

£20m is a fair bit of money for a Championship striker but even so it would be quite a smart signing for Leeds. He has close to a 1 in 2 goal record in the Championship in a mid-table Swansea side. He's only 23 and is over 6 foot. I'd liked to have seen us interested in him as I think he's the best available choice to be Championship ready (besides Gyokeres who went abroad) but Martin will know all about him and if he doesn't want him (or maybe the club think he's overpriced), then I guess we trust him. 

Edited 18 July, 2023 by SNSUN

[Pat from Poole]

15 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

£20m is a fair bit of money for a Championship striker but even so it would be quite a smart signing for Leeds. He has close to a 1 in 2 goal record in the Championship in a mid-table Swansea side. He's only 23 and is over 6 foot. I'd liked to have seen us interested in him as I think he's the best available choice to be Championship ready (besides Gyokeres who went abroad) but Martin will know all about him and if he doesn't want him (or maybe the club think he's overpriced), then I guess we trust him. 

Or possibly we need to sell players before we can get Piroe.

Leeds will presumably have cash available following their takeover.

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

I have seen a few people saying that our top priority needs to be getting a striker and that was certainly true last season. However, I am not 100% convinced it is our top priority this year with both Ward-Prowse and Lavia likely to leave. I think central midfield is a bigger concern, even allowing for the fact we have signed Charles from Man City.

Also, I think we find ourselves in a bit of an odd position in regards to attacking players. For a start we have loads of them with a number of youngsters starting to knock on the door to first team football. In short, at present we have all of the following options including wingers and wide midfielders, etc.:

• Adams
• A. Armstrong
• Mara
• Onuachu
• Ballard
• Dibling
• Amo-Ameyaw
• Sulemana
• Djenepo
• S. Armstrong
• Edozie
• Aribo
• Doyle

That is a lot of attacking players and I think before we bring in more (whether strikers or wingers) we may well need to ship out a few (e.g. Onuachu, Adams, AA and possibly a couple of others). However, with some of these youngsters showing a huge amount of promise in pre-season I think we have to be careful that we don't totally block the way for them to compete to get into the first team. I am particularly keen to see Ballard in the first team, so I am currently a bit disappointed that we haven't seen him so far in pre-season matches.

[SNSUN]

4 hours ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

I have seen a few people saying that our top priority needs to be getting a striker and that was certainly true last season. However, I am not 100% convinced it is our top priority this year with both Ward-Prowse and Lavia likely to leave. I think central midfield is a bigger concern, even allowing for the fact we have signed Charles from Man City.

Also, I think we find ourselves in a bit of an odd position in regards to attacking players. For a start we have loads of them with a number of youngsters starting to knock on the door to first team football. In short, at present we have all of the following options including wingers and wide midfielders, etc.:

• Adams
• A. Armstrong
• Mara
• Onuachu
• Ballard
• Dibling
• Amo-Ameyaw
• Sulemana
• Djenepo
• S. Armstrong
• Edozie
• Aribo
• Doyle

That is a lot of attacking players and I think before we bring in more (whether strikers or wingers) we may well need to ship out a few (e.g. Onuachu, Adams, AA and possibly a couple of others). However, with some of these youngsters showing a huge amount of promise in pre-season I think we have to be careful that we don't totally block the way for them to compete to get into the first team. I am particularly keen to see Ballard in the first team, so I am currently a bit disappointed that we haven't seen him so far in pre-season matches.

Martin seems to like AA so I think he's part of our immediate future. Adams will probably go to a Prem team. I think Onuachu will go but we will keep Mara. We definitely still need a striker even with Ballard coming through. As for the AMs then I hope we keep Sulemana and Edozie, I think Djenepo will stay, and of course all the youngsters will chip in but I think Stu and Aribo will go. You've also missed off Tella who, if he stays would be massive but again he could go. Lose Tella and I think we need one more AM.

[Weston Super Saint]

7 hours ago, Pat from Poole said:

Or possibly we need to sell players before we can get Piroe.

Leeds will presumably have cash available following their takeover.

Aren't we ThE RicHEsT CluB iN tHe WoRlD?

[Saint Garrett]

If we’re going to go up this year, I feel we need a new striker, proper talisman striker who hasn’t been battered by recent seasons. I’m still expecting Adams to go due to his contract situation, and wouldn’t be surprised if Arma goes, but Russell seems to like him so maybe he can get him playing, Onuachu will probably end up out on loan somewhere. Sulemana who knows, same with Tella. But I wouldn’t be putting any money on any of those scoring 20 goals this season, 

[Smirking_Saint]

16 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Everyone kind of danced around the main point I was making. Not who is the better centre midfielder or how lavia will be in a good team. 

last season we were a shit team that conceded a lot of goals and had very little creativity.. lavia as good as he is can’t stop a leaky defence by himself. So I don’t see how you think he affected results more then jwp 

Jwp is No Matt le  tissier but he’s the closest thing to a talisman we had last season, the majority of our points jwp was more important then lavia 

there’s a reason he won player of the season by 71 percent if it was as clear cut as you say that wouldnt of happened 

I’m honestly not running lavia down here and we all know he will play for a big club and be one of the best midfielders in the world , but he wasn’t as important in winning points for us as jwp 

I don’t really understand the point you’re trying to make ?

The reason I think Lavia was more important than JWP is because without the underrated work that Romeo did/does the rest of the team wouldn’t function

JWP cannot effect games if it wasn’t for Romeo allowing the team to maintain shape and win the ball back

[Give it to Ron]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

If we’re going to go up this year, I feel we need a new striker, proper talisman striker who hasn’t been battered by recent seasons. I’m still expecting Adams to go due to his contract situation, and wouldn’t be surprised if Arma goes, but Russell seems to like him so maybe he can get him playing, Onuachu will probably end up out on loan somewhere. Sulemana who knows, same with Tella. But I wouldn’t be putting any money on any of those scoring 20 goals this season, 

Exactly how I feel too we don’t have that striker who I have any confidence in to lead the line and get 20 goals this season. 
Adams going and being replaced is obvious one due to contract.

[Convict Colony]

[Danbert]

11 hours ago, Chez said:

Something went on behind the scenes and despite a managerial change, I am not sure he is keen to be here. There is a lot of noise about potential moves. 

I am also concerned about the quality of player we will be able to sign. I still remember the nightmare we had at CB with the likes of Powell, Hajto, Thomas, Lancashire, Perry Liptak, Bennet and Daily serving up various degrees of shitness.

We are massively overstocked at centre back. Someone has to go and I'm glad Lyanco seems to be on his way. Given his exit, the club may be more keen to retain Culetta Carr as I find it hard to believe we'll keep ABK and Salisu.

[SotonianWill]

I don’t think we should be spending £20m on one player in the championship. Surely the black box has got someone somewhere who can score 25 in the champ, they’ve been looking for premier league quality for so many years. 

[Dusic]

Summary of latest Tanswell article on The Athletic:

- No firm interest in JWP at an acceptable price level (upwards of 30m) but likely to go late in window

- Lots of Lavia interest

- Pretty much anyone else could go for the right offer

[Chez]

10 hours ago, James said:

Re Downes: he may want to be the Rice replacement but realistically there is no chance he will be. Barely played for WH in the league last year and, by the end of the window, I'd be surprised if he wasn't third/fourth choice. Of course he has to say that, he's a WH fan I believe and he probably thinks he's got the chance to step into an open spot, but I don't think Moyes fancies him (based on his usage last year) and IMO a move to us, with a chance of promotion and coming up as a starter under a manager who knows him, might well be attractive at the end of the window.

Hope you are right, but he's not going to give up Prem football at West Ham lightly. 

[Give it to Ron]

11 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

I don’t think we should be spending £20m on one player in the championship. Surely the black box has got someone somewhere who can score 25 in the champ, they’ve been looking for premier league quality for so many years. 

I think having Mowbray on board may help as he has a good record at Aberdeen and Boro. We just need to trim down the bloated squad which isn’t easy.

[Highfield Saint]

5 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Summary of latest Tanswell article on The Athletic:

- No firm interest in JWP at an acceptable price level (upwards of 30m) but likely to go late in window

- Lots of Lavia interest

- Pretty much anyone else could go for the right offer

Investigative journalism at its very best from the Athletic there

[hypochondriac]

17 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Summary of latest Tanswell article on The Athletic:

- No firm interest in JWP at an acceptable price level (upwards of 30m) but likely to go late in window

- Lots of Lavia interest

- Pretty much anyone else could go for the right offer

If true, I don't understand how we can plan properly for the season. You'd hope that the manager can be confident of some of them staying at least. 

[Dusic]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

If true, I don't understand how we can plan properly for the season. You'd hope that the manager can be confident of some of them staying at least. 

He essentially is saying that Martin will have an idea of who is likely to stay/go i.e JWP, Lavia, Salisu etc but not definitive. Also as RM himself has said some players will play the first few games and then leave.

Mentions that a deal could still be struck for Livramento for example, who Martin would obviously want to stay.

Not ideal but its where we are in the food chain following repegation and I don't think there is a whole lot anyone can do about it unless they decide its better to sell players for under their value rather than waiting a month or so.

[beatlesaint]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

If true, I don't understand how we can plan properly for the season. You'd hope that the manager can be confident of some of them staying at least. 

well we cant, this is one of the reasons i firmly believe that automatic promotion this season is virtually out of the question.  

[Master Bates]

38 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I do, he's my neighbour.

[James]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

If we’re going to go up this year, I feel we need a new striker, proper talisman striker who hasn’t been battered by recent seasons. I’m still expecting Adams to go due to his contract situation, and wouldn’t be surprised if Arma goes, but Russell seems to like him so maybe he can get him playing, Onuachu will probably end up out on loan somewhere. Sulemana who knows, same with Tella. But I wouldn’t be putting any money on any of those scoring 20 goals this season, 

Totally agree. I think we are in a weaker position, from a long term sustainability perspective, than the last time we went up, where we had a group of talented players capable of stepping up and hungry to get there having never played in the top league, versus now, where we have a load of guys who might be good enough for the Championship but have shown themselves not good enough for the PL. Could see Ipswich being really strong next year as they have a great young coach and will be coming off an excellent prior season.

Lambert's goals were a huge part of our success last time and even if Che is good enough for this year we know that as soon as we go back up he won't be.

 

[revolution saint]

10 minutes ago, James said:

Totally agree. I think we are in a weaker position, from a long term sustainability perspective, than the last time we went up, where we had a group of talented players capable of stepping up and hungry to get there having never played in the top league, versus now, where we have a load of guys who might be good enough for the Championship but have shown themselves not good enough for the PL. Could see Ipswich being really strong next year as they have a great young coach and will be coming off an excellent prior season.

Lambert's goals were a huge part of our success last time and even if Che is good enough for this year we know that as soon as we go back up he won't be.

 

Totally agree.  I think we should be buying players that are both good enough for promotion but also really good in the premier league.  I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this before but it's a great idea.  Hopefully we can do our stuff under the radar.

[Saint86]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

If we’re going to go up this year, I feel we need a new striker, proper talisman striker who hasn’t been battered by recent seasons. I’m still expecting Adams to go due to his contract situation, and wouldn’t be surprised if Arma goes, but Russell seems to like him so maybe he can get him playing, Onuachu will probably end up out on loan somewhere. Sulemana who knows, same with Tella. But I wouldn’t be putting any money on any of those scoring 20 goals this season, 

Am i the only one who thinks Ballard has the potential to really ignite this season? Sure he needs a bit of luck and some faith, but those ahead of him aren't exactly great, and what Ballard is is an extremely confidant and competent goal scorer - and someone who will suit are possession heavy build up with lots of players and movement in and around the box. I'm not saying to hold high expectations on the kid, but i do think he could do really well this year if he gets his chance.

[revolution saint]

1 minute ago, Saint86 said:

Am i the only one who thinks Ballard has the potential to really ignite this season? Sure he needs a bit of luck and some faith, but those ahead of him aren't exactly great, and what Ballard is is an extremely confidant and competent goal scorer - and someone who will suit are possession heavy build up with lots of players and movement in and around the box. I'm not saying to hold high expectations on the kid, but i do think he could do really well this year if he gets his chance.

TBH I don't think many people have seen enough of him to make much of a judgement.  Sounds like a decent player and hopefully is so look forward to seeing him play.  Amo-Ameyaw lad has looked really good in the couple of pre season games and the sub appearance at Liverpool though.

[Saint86]

58 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If true, I don't understand how we can plan properly for the season. You'd hope that the manager can be confident of some of them staying at least. 

We probably can't - but we can prepare for the uncertainty. We're transitioning in style and our overall squad and depth is good for the championship. We'll have strategic areas to strengthen but in around that we could end up with any number of potential line ups depending on who stays/gos. Fans will need to be patient as things settle down and we learn the style. Its also important to remember that often the championship sees teams promoted after a bad start.

[Saint86]

1 minute ago, revolution saint said:

TBH I don't think many people have seen enough of him to make much of a judgement.  Sounds like a decent player and hopefully is so look forward to seeing him play.  Amo-Ameyaw lad has looked really good in the couple of pre season games and the sub appearance at Liverpool though.

I've been relatively impressed with all the kids that have featured so far in pre season. They're certainly up to the required standard to either be squad players or provide back up depth between them. Some will clearly be more involved than others, and i think A-A is definitely one of those. The kid looks a genuinely good prospect that we've picked up on the cheap.

[SaintsFan86]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

If true, I don't understand how we can plan properly for the season. You'd hope that the manager can be confident of some of them staying at least. 

Was said that Charly is staying for the next year, so already jm thinking he is going to be player of the season.

[saintscottofthenortham]

If Charlly does in fact stay... My god. He will rip that league a new hole. 

[Chewy]

11 minutes ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

If Charlly does in fact stay... My god. He will rip that league a new hole. 

What kind of cooking involves ripping a new hole?

[Saint Fan CaM]

I’m going to the Bournemouth game and hoping to see a much more cohesive, balanced and forward thinking team of players that have one key objective…score goals and win a game of football. That’s entertainment value, but if we lose it doesn’t matter as long as that objective is demonstrated - it’s a pre-season friendly after all against Prem opposition.

What I expect to see however is a sad reflection of a rag-tag disjointed squad of players, most of which operated at a very low level of quality in the Prem and worryingly also, against lower league opposition. A group of players inherited by a Manager who expects them to play like Man City, but don’t have the attributes to convert the few goal scoring chances offered into goals. No new proven, commanding striker added and the prospect of losing our ‘best’ players so further depleting squad quality.

You may have guessed I’m not feeling particularly upbeat about the coming season at the moment (although that’s not stopping me travelling to Sheffield for the opening game). The one glimmer of hope I have is that somewhere in this squad there is a key that unlocks a performance like the last Liverpool game. Let’s just hope he or they are not sold. After the Bournemouth game I believe we’ll be in a reasonably good position to tentatively predict if the past 3 years of timid, lifeless football has been exorcised and whether there might be a chance of promotion.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’m going to the Bournemouth game and hoping to see a much more cohesive, balanced and forward thinking team of players that have one key objective…score goals and win a game of football. That’s entertainment value, but if we lose it doesn’t matter as long as that objective is demonstrated - it’s a pre-season friendly after all against Prem opposition.

What I expect to see however is a sad reflection of a rag-tag disjointed squad of players, most of which operated at a very low level of quality in the Prem and worryingly also, against lower league opposition. A group of players inherited by a Manager who expects them to play like Man City, but don’t have the attributes to convert the few goal scoring chances offered into goals. No new proven, commanding striker added and the prospect of losing our ‘best’ players so further depleting squad quality.

You may have guessed I’m not feeling particularly upbeat about the coming season at the moment (although that’s not stopping me travelling to Sheffield for the opening game). The one glimmer of hope I have is that somewhere in this squad there is a key that unlocks a performance like the last Liverpool game. Let’s just hope he or they are not sold. After the Bournemouth game I believe we’ll be in a reasonably good position to tentatively predict if the past 3 years of timid, lifeless football has been exorcised and whether there might be a chance of promotion.

I couldn't care less how we perform against Bournemouth in a preseason friendly as long as we are ready for the season. It may give us an indication but then again it may not. 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

10 hours ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

I have seen a few people saying that our top priority needs to be getting a striker and that was certainly true last season. However, I am not 100% convinced it is our top priority this year with both Ward-Prowse and Lavia likely to leave. I think central midfield is a bigger concern, even allowing for the fact we have signed Charles from Man City.

Also, I think we find ourselves in a bit of an odd position in regards to attacking players. For a start we have loads of them with a number of youngsters starting to knock on the door to first team football. In short, at present we have all of the following options including wingers and wide midfielders, etc.:

• Adams
• A. Armstrong
• Mara
• Onuachu
• Ballard
• Dibling
• Amo-Ameyaw
• Sulemana
• Djenepo
• S. Armstrong
• Edozie
• Aribo
• Doyle

That is a lot of attacking players and I think before we bring in more (whether strikers or wingers) we may well need to ship out a few (e.g. Onuachu, Adams, AA and possibly a couple of others). However, with some of these youngsters showing a huge amount of promise in pre-season I think we have to be careful that we don't totally block the way for them to compete to get into the first team. I am particularly keen to see Ballard in the first team, so I am currently a bit disappointed that we haven't seen him so far in pre-season matches.

We have a lot of strikers but hardly any goal scorers

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I couldn't care less how we perform against Bournemouth in a preseason friendly as long as we are ready for the season. It may give us an indication but then again it may not. 

I would argue that if we continue to look toothless in attack, that will be a legacy issue that has plagued us for months/years and one that will be extremely difficult to reverse. The last three seasons bears witness to this.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Saint Fan CaM said:

I would argue that if we continue to look toothless in attack, that will be a legacy issue that has plagued us for months/years and one that will be extremely difficult to reverse. The last three seasons bears witness to this.

We could lose 6-0 against Bournemouth and it will be entirely meaningless if we subsequently go and smash Sheffield Wednesday. Yes, failing to finish chances may be an indicator of problems for when the season starts, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and that is how we get on at the start of the season and not before. Aribo scored an incredible goal last preseason and everyone was going nuts about it and then he was rubbish all year. The reverse could happen this year for all we know.

[Sheaf Saint]

29 minutes ago, Chewy said:

What kind of cooking involves ripping a new hole?

[Master Bates]

21 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I couldn't care less how we perform against Bournemouth in a preseason friendly as long as we are ready for the season. It may give us an indication but then again it may not. 

So you care more 

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

So you care more 

Sorry I'm distracted by your avatar so have difficulty replying coherently.

[revolution saint]

12 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

So you care more 

 

[SaintsFan86]

37 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’m going to the Bournemouth game and hoping to see a much more cohesive, balanced and forward thinking team of players that have one key objective…score goals and win a game of football. That’s entertainment value, but if we lose it doesn’t matter as long as that objective is demonstrated - it’s a pre-season friendly after all against Prem opposition.

What I expect to see however is a sad reflection of a rag-tag disjointed squad of players, most of which operated at a very low level of quality in the Prem and worryingly also, against lower league opposition. A group of players inherited by a Manager who expects them to play like Man City, but don’t have the attributes to convert the few goal scoring chances offered into goals. No new proven, commanding striker added and the prospect of losing our ‘best’ players so further depleting squad quality.

You may have guessed I’m not feeling particularly upbeat about the coming season at the moment (although that’s not stopping me travelling to Sheffield for the opening game). The one glimmer of hope I have is that somewhere in this squad there is a key that unlocks a performance like the last Liverpool game. Let’s just hope he or they are not sold. After the Bournemouth game I believe we’ll be in a reasonably good position to tentatively predict if the past 3 years of timid, lifeless football has been exorcised and whether there might be a chance of promotion.

Against Bournemouth I imagine we will see what RM expects his starting 11 to look like against Wednesday.

For now at least I'm expecting this;

Baz;

Tino, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning;

Charles;

Alcaraz, JWP;

Tella, Adams, Arma.

That is what I predict currently. That will likely change with departures sure, But hopefully by the latter friendly we are playing close to our best 11 to give them some form of cohesiveness to 1 another.

 

[LeBizzier69]

13 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Sorry I'm distracted by your avatar so have difficulty replying coherently.

My 9 year old daughter was looking over my shoulder when I was on here recently and stated within the wife’s earshot “why are you looking at bouncing boobs” or words to that effect. Had to prove to wife that I wasn’t watching smut. Great avatar though.

[Rebel]

There didn't seem to be any mention of Djneppo or Aribo is The Athletic article - wonder if that means anything?  Personally I would move both of them on. Djneppo always looks like he's got a positive attitude and works hard - but he doesn't have any end product (pass or shot) apart from the very rare spectacular effort - which just isn't enough. And Aribo just looks like he is too laid back to care - putting some effort in occasionally might of helped.

As for strikers - we do need a goal scorer. I don't think we can rely on any of our current strikers to score the goals we need - even if some of them do stay.  

I think Adams with one year left on his contract will be off to Everton or a similar low end Premier League club. 

There was talk of Marseille being interested in Mara back in January - so it wouldn't surprise me if he heads back to France. 

Tall Paul was big mistake full of desperation just like Carillo and doesn't look suited to a possession based style of football. 

I wouldn't trust Adam Armstrong to start scoring again - he's looked so bad the last 2 years - so if we get a good offer for him from someone like Ipswich I'd let him go. 

And Ballard is one the for the future - should be given a chance this season but not relied on.

Piroe looks like he will be too expensive for us - and I expect wants a Premier League move.  What we need to do is find the next Gyorekes or Piroe before they reach the heights of being a 15+ Championship goal scorer and cost £20M  Hopefully Mowbray will find us someone like he did with Duk or Miovksi at Aberdeen.  Or maybe we will bring in one of them.

Tella and Alcaraz are going to be key for us when it comes to scoring goals - but we still need a striker.

The other big issue for me is the Romeu shaped hole in our midfield - I see Shea Charles as the replacement for Lavia which means we still need to fix the hole that was never filled by Diallo and/or Maitland-Niles.