Next seasons squad

[Raziel]

Proof it's not just how much, but how you spend

 

[Rafa87]

Verbruggen
Senesi
Palinha, Joao Gomes
Alex Scott
Marmoush

I’m not sure who to go for at LW…

(I’m not sure we could get Alex Scott, we would have to hope him being a spurs fan means he sacrifices a Euro tour with Bournemouth.)

 

[robp135]

Players Out

Sold
Vicario, Dragusin, Romero, Richarlison, Phillips, Devine, Solomon, Veliz
Release/Loan End
Davies, Bissouma, K.Muani, Dorrington, Hall
Loan
Gunter, Rowswell, Souza, Abbot, Olusesi, Donely, Ajayi, Lankshear, Melia

I conservatiey estimate this brings us in £200M in transfer fees and £600k PW in wages.

Based on an average net spend over the last 5 years of £115M, I will set a conservative spend £100 + £115M incoming for £215M total. Plus a wage bill increase of £400k with £600k per week coming off the books from players leaving.

I am going to assume the Robertson, Senesi & Palhinha signings get done. £15M in transfer fees and £325k per week in wages. That leaves us with £200M to spend and £675k on wages on the 4 remaining players we need at GK, CM, WF, CF which it seems we all agree would be the remaining key needs. From that players who we have been linked with;

Goalkeepers
Verburggen - £60M (£150k PW)
Trafford - £45M (£75k PW)
Trubin - £45M (£75k PW)
Risser - £30M (£50k PW)
Atubolu - £15M (£50k PW)
ter Stegen - Loan/£5M (£200k PW)

Kinskys form puts us in a tricky position because to attract a top level keeper means they need to be guarenteed the #1 jersey. His form is why I would lean towards a short term deal with an experienced keeper like ter Stegan who Kinsky can learn from over the next year while playing cup games and take over from in 27/28.

Centre Midfielders
Wharton - £90M (£150k PW)
Scott - £60M (£75k PW)
Locatelli - £45M (£200k PW)
Jones - £30M (£100k PW)
Forfana - £30M (£100k PW)
Hackney - £25M (£50m PW)

This is where I think we go all out. Wharton would be a game changing signing and a real statement of intent from ENIC. Give us the ability to control the game and play line breaking passes from the midfield.

Wingers
Yildiz - £75M (£200k PW)
Savinho - £50M (£150k PW)
Ndiaye - £50M (£125k PW)
Akliouche - £40M (£100k PW)
Rashford - £25M (£200k PW)
Gnabry - £25M (£200k PW)

Ndiaye would be my pick over Savinho here just for his ability to play LW, RW & AM. This means he can cover for Kudus/Kulusevski/Maddison/Xavi while they get back to 100%. But would be happy with either. Prem proven and will be ready to make an immediate impact.

Centre Forwards
Thiago - £75M (£150k PW)
Aghehowa - £75M (£100k PW)
Torres - £60M (£150k PW)
Marmoush - £50M (£200k PW)
Ramos £35M (£125k PW)
Mateta £30M (£100k PW)

Marmoush my choice here. Once again Prem proven, ready to come in. Also has the flexibility to play LW & AM if needed.

Incoming
Marc Andre ter Stegan - £5M (£200k PW)
Marcos Senesi - Free (£100k PW)
Andy Robertson - Free (£150k PW)
Joao Palhinha - £15M (£75k PW)
Adam Wharton - £90M (£150k PW)
Iliman Ndiaye - £50M (£125k PW)
Omar Marmoush - £50M (£200k PW)
Total Spence - £215M (£1.0M PW)

Squad 2026/27

Goalkeepers
1st XI: ter Stegen, Kinsky
Backup: Austin

Full Backs
1st XI: Porro, Spence, Udogie, Robertson

Centre Backs
1st XI: Vuskovic, van de Ven, Danso, Senesi
Youth: Byfield, Takei

Centre Midfielders
1st XI: Wharton, Bentancur, Palinhia,
Youth: Bergvall, Gray

Attacking Midfielders
1st Team: Maddison, Gallagher, Xavi
Youth: W.Barnett

Wingers
1st Team: Ndiaye, Kudus, Kulusevski, Odobert
Youth: Moore, Yang

Centre Forwards
1st Team: Marmoush, Solanke
Youth: Tel

 

[robp135]

Also adding quality rather than quantity another reason is how far are we off? We got 11 points from 7 under RDZ. Extrapolate that over 38 games that’s 59 points this season that would have been 6th. Previous seasons you’d be a couple of wins from 5/6th. So add a bit of quality and you could bridge that gap. Is 5/6th what we want to aim for, no. But it’s a good step back in the right direction.

Even if we don’t sign anyone he will be adding Vuskovic, Maddison, Kudus, Solanke as well.

 

[Bishop]

Don’t think it will be a massive overhaul but 4/5 signing including making Paulinha permanent.

Vicario sell

Kinsky keep

Austin Keep



Porro keep

Spence keep

VDV keep

Danso keep

Romero sell

Dragusin sell

Vuskovic keep

Davies End of contract

Udogie keep

Souza loan if we bring in another left back



Paulinha sign(rdz seems to like him)

Bentancur keep

Bergvall keep

Gallagher keep

Gray keep

Sarr sell

Bissouma End of contract



Maddison keep

Kudos keep

Simons keep

Kulu keep

Odobert keep



Tel keep

Solanke we will keep him due to book value

Richarlison It’s a keep him or Solanke situation. I think I’d rather keep him but because of above Richi would go

Muani end of loan



So that’s 19 players staying

A CB looks to be Senasi

We then need to sign a goalkeeper

A striker

Another wide/attacking creator



We are not in Europe so we won’t need the biggest squad. Better to spend good money on 3/4 this summer and then 3/4 next summer when hopefully we are back in Europe.

We won't get back into Europe with that squad.

 

[Yiddo]

Even if we don’t sign anyone he will be adding Vuskovic, Maddison, Kudus, Solanke as well.

And Odobert

 

[robp135]

And Odobert

He won’t be back until end of the year.

 

[parj]

Think you need to break it up

Released/out of contract - Davies, Bissouma, RKM
To sell - Dragusin, Sarr, Richi (1 year left on contract, older and on paper Solanke is more a RDZ striker), Vic (Italy agreed?), Romero (think he will push for it)

That's already 8 changes, and leaves

Will still be injured during 1st half of next season - Odobert, Xavi
Remaining squad - Kinsky, Udogie, VDV, Danso, Spence, Porro, Bentancur, Palhinha (seems RDZ wants him), Gallagher, Gray, Bergvall, Maddison, Tel, Deki, Kudus, Solanke

That is a squad of 18 already with no Europe

You then have

To evaluate - Vuskovic, Moore, Lankshear, Phillips, Takai, Yang, Scarlett, Devine, Williams- Barnett
For me, Vuskovic is only one we should be considering for immediate 1st team integration, Lankshear and Moore could be half season cover depending on how light we want to keep squad.

Smart thing to do
- Keep squad light, focus on quality incoming, continue to correct HG problems (would allow a "bigger" squad when we return to Europe)

Have to buy
CF - Richi replacement, need a consistent goalscorer, my profile would be someone with pace (we have a hold up man in Solanke), if they can play off RW would give us more options and them more chances of playing. Think we might have to go to Europe to find the player. One of two positions we need to be willing to spend club record fee on.
GK - Vic replacement to battle Kinsky for #1, would be really good to go HG here, Trafford?
CM- Technical player, can help us both control the game and get the ball forward, expect to play alongside Bentancur most days. Second position to spend cash on.

Those 3 would push the squad to 21 players already.

Highly recommended
RW - neither Kudus or Deki are ready now (hopefully RDZ has a date), neither will have played competitive football in >6 months, seems risky to have no other option
LW - Odobert & Xavi out till 2nd half of season, if we sell Richi we become very light here with only Tel. Moore could be used as cover until Odobert back. A Perisic type signing would be ideal,

That would push squad up to 23 with everyone fit. It's the reason I don't see us buying more than 5 first team players in any scenario.

I agree mostly with what you say, but Solanke has to go. We need a striker holding the ball up near the box, not the half way line. I also don't think he is the best at linking play, his touch, passing and vision isn't good enough. Richy literally beats him on scoring goals. Everything else, they could both do better