It is far from being about just replacing the 6 loanees and 3 contracted players from the squad, given we have McNair, Fry, Crooks, Bola, Akpom, Roberts, Howson all out of contract in June 2024. We have a small crisis on our hands. Not only do we need to replace the relative quality within the first team itself, but the squad too and risk losing players worth potentially upwards of £30M or so for nothing. We will probably be looking to sell some of those player whose contracts are up next year rather than lose them for nothing. Their importance to the squad is mixed, but nevertheless important.
Some of those players, if leaving in 2024, may be less inclined to give their all come the business end of the year too. Anyone thinking we are in a good place currently and the future is rosy has their heads in the sand. New signings are always a gamble, how quickly they gel into their role, buy into a project is open to debate. We have generally been lucky with the quality of loanees this season past, they all generally offered improvement in what we had.
The task has to be to improve further on that quality, as lets not forget, the quality was still not good enough to get us over the line. In numbers alone we have lost 6 loanees and 3 contracted players as far as i recall then there is the risk with the other 7 whose contracts are up next season, some of whom will likely be sold. That could see us looking to bring in upwards of 10-15 players just to stand still in terms of numbers, add in the level of quality needed to mount a serious promotion push in a season where you are seeing big reputation teams being relegated from the Premier League and promoted from league one, never mind the opportunities those relegated previously with the parachute monies available to outbid us when chasing the same players.
Our Head Coach is a pull, our performance last season will be noted over say WBA, Norwich, Watford etc, but that only goes so far, money talks, the size and shape of the squad as it stands counts too. I genuinely think there is a mountain to climb before we can even begin to tread water, let alone swim to the finish line ahead of the others that we need to. This summers window is imho, the most difficult and most complex we have ever faced. Right now, I am looking forward to see the quality and calibre of the backroom staff we have and their ability to deliver the quality and numbers of players we need within the limited funds that will be available. Right now, we are at a fork in the road and I don’t know where we are heading. I just hope it works out as we all hope it will.