Previous Message

Let me explain.

First is the group of people who are just obviously living in a dreamland and think we'll sign all these players that are way above our status. I think this is still a minority, thankfully.

Bigger issue - and I have been guilty of this as well - is expecting that Moyes & co manage to fill all gaps with decent players this summer. Having thought about this I find this highly unlikely. Much more likely scenario is that day after TDD we are all hoping January window comes soon because squad needs more bodies.

We have all made our lists of must-haves: backup goalie, right back, left-back (at least cover for Myko, but prefer upgrade), fourth choice CB to replace Keane, a central midfielder, a right winger and a striker. Plus a few bodies to fill in the numbers as adding six players would still only mean about 18 players.

There are several reasons I think this. First, Moyes is not willing to spend heavily on players he thinks are not worth it just to fill those gaps. Players who are clearly better than our current standing tend to have lots of admirers. And many of those can offer better salaries and/or European footy. Part of this thinking is also based on Moyes's own comments about not fixing everything in one window + saying that he doesn't expect marquee signings.

So I would not be shocked if that fourth-choice CB to replace Keane is... Michael Keane on reduced salary. I also suspect we will again loan one or two players. And they won't be very glamorous. We will probably also sign someone like Longstaff who we can at best call "useful" but will hardly get anyone excited. Moyes might also consider if Harrison is a worthy reclamation project, he said at some point that he has been happy with how he has improved this Spring.

I do hope we can find one or two quality players who can elevate the squad but I can't think of any who fits this bill that we have been linked with and who is realistic. So plan b is signing a couple of younger players with good potential. But they probably need some time to get used to PL.

I have to point out what a brilliant job Thelwell did finding Ndiaye, O'Brien and Alcaraz on relatively small amounts. How well next season goes hinges a lot on Moyes finding one or two players more like that. We might buy couple of players for 30 million, but bulk of buys will be cheaper, freebies or loans. And I suspect Moyes is also not willing to go to a bidding war for free transfer players so that pretty much would eliminate chance of getting the best ones.

I do wonder what kind of squad we have when pre-season starts because obviously Moyes won't make majority of his deals in June. Many of the kids will get a nice trip to USA in July I reckon.

So I needed to get these reality check thoughts out. I'm sure lots of you disagree and I hope I'm wrong and we will have an exciting squad with lots of potential next season.