DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Well, in the summer, Gomes will probably leave. That leaves Friedel and Cudicini as our only established keepers. That is an issue, and the one position I think we lack in, squad-wise. A young GK to give those two some competition would be great. Button and Jansson seem like decent keepers, perhaps they'll do the trick for a season or so. But we'll need a long-term keeper soon.
In defence, Corluka, Bassong, Khumalo, Gallas and probably Nelsen will leave. That leaves;
Walker
King
Dawson
Kaboul
Assou-Ekotto
Rose
Smith
A little bare, no doubt. However, Caulker and Naughton will both be returning from their loans, and both have absolutely excelled at Swansea and Norwich respectively. Caulker is our most promising youth product in years, and will hopefully begin bedding in at centre-back, and Naughton is a very capable full-back who can and has played on both flanks for Norwich, so he can cover/provide competition for both full-back spots. Rose, then, can probably go on loan (hopefully to a Prem side) to gain some experience. The same goes for young Smith, leaving us with
Walker
Naughton
Caulker
Dawson
Kaboul
King
Assou-Ekotto
Which is more than acceptable, I feel. Should the opportunity pop up, we could look at procuring a CB that can play at LB, as a replacement for Ledley, but personally I think we should hold off and give Caulker a year to prove himself before rushing out and buying Vertonghen or whoever. And we can always stick Hudd at the back if we have an injury crisis and three of our four centre-backs are injured. There's a few promising defenders in the Academy as well, Veljkovic being one example, so we could see some defenders in the medium term coming through academy ranks.
Now, midfield. Jenas, Bentley, Pienaar, Gio, Falque and Kranjcar will likely move on in the summer, leaving us with;
Bale
Modric
Hudd
Parker
Sandro
Livermore
Lennon
VdV
Now, that's not a bad line-up at all. Granted, cover for the wings looks a little shaky, but otherwise we're golden. Next year, we'll have Townsend, Carroll, Mason, Parrett and Bostock returning from their loans. My opinion is that they should be loaned out again. Townsend to a lower premiership side, Carroll, Mason and Parett to Championship sides (or moves abroad) and Bostock to, at the very least, an upper-half Championship side, if we can find one interested in him. Then, the priority must go toward finding a player to cover for Lennon and Bale on the flanks. Hoilett, most likely, since he'll be on a free in the summer. That'll give us a midfield of
Bale
Modric
Hudd
Parker
Sandro
Livermore
Lennon
Hoilett
VdV
which should give our manager (whoever he may be) bountiful options to choose from. Other than that, again, we're good, and the year after next, when the aforementioned loanees return, we can evaluate whether they'll make it into our side or not. Plus, we've got some promising academy midfielders coming through as well. Luongo, Ceballos, McEvoy and company look promising, and could mature into first-teamers later on if guided properly, so we look fine in the long-term as well.
Finally ,the forward line. Assuming Ade does depart in the summer, this looks weak, to say the least. It would consist of
Saha
Defoe
Lancaster
Which , while decent, is not top ten quality. So a striker should be a priority acquisition in the summer. Ade would be my choice; better the devil you know, and his goalscoring and assisting abilities have never been in question. It's just his motivational status that concerns most people, and if we get another man-manager like Harry in, that should be taken care of. However, if the new man doesn't want (or we can't afford) Ade, then we'd have to look around for a new one. Ba would be an interesting choice, but his knee still doesn't convince me and his ability with his back to goal isn't totally convincing either. I'd have him in instant, as long as we bought someone else to go with him. That, however, would push Defoe over the edge, and I don't want that to happen. So we've got two possibilities. One is just buying the one striker, (placeholder name Ade), leaving us with
Ade
Defoe
Saha
Lancaster
and the second option is buying two strikers but selling Defoe (placeholder names Ba and Llorente), leaving us with
Ba
Llorente
Saha
Lancaster
Now, in either case, Lancaster is better off going on loan somewhere. Hopefully we can get him a Championship club, but if not, League One/Two should do. Anywhere ge can get experience, really. But that leaves us with three good strikers, in either case, and plenty to call upon. Also, Coulibaly has a lot of hopes pinned on him, and if he gets the guidance he needs, we could turn him into a fantastic striker. His goalscoring ability isn't in question, after all.
So, overall, we're in a very healthy position. The team needs a few tweaks, namely a long-term goalkeeper, a winger and a striker or two, but most areas are well stocked and filled with young, dependable players. In the short term, the goalkeeper is the least needed player, and a veteran on a short term contract to cover for Friedel and Cudicini wouldn't be the worst idea. A winger is a medium priority, unless we wish to retain Townsend and use him as bench cover, and a striker is top priority. In the long-term, a goalkeeper takes top-priority, followed by a young, King-esque centre-back. But, in the main, we are definitely set for the future, squad wise. With a little bit of investment, of course.
In defence, Corluka, Bassong, Khumalo, Gallas and probably Nelsen will leave. That leaves;
Walker
King
Dawson
Kaboul
Assou-Ekotto
Rose
Smith
A little bare, no doubt. However, Caulker and Naughton will both be returning from their loans, and both have absolutely excelled at Swansea and Norwich respectively. Caulker is our most promising youth product in years, and will hopefully begin bedding in at centre-back, and Naughton is a very capable full-back who can and has played on both flanks for Norwich, so he can cover/provide competition for both full-back spots. Rose, then, can probably go on loan (hopefully to a Prem side) to gain some experience. The same goes for young Smith, leaving us with
Walker
Naughton
Caulker
Dawson
Kaboul
King
Assou-Ekotto
Which is more than acceptable, I feel. Should the opportunity pop up, we could look at procuring a CB that can play at LB, as a replacement for Ledley, but personally I think we should hold off and give Caulker a year to prove himself before rushing out and buying Vertonghen or whoever. And we can always stick Hudd at the back if we have an injury crisis and three of our four centre-backs are injured. There's a few promising defenders in the Academy as well, Veljkovic being one example, so we could see some defenders in the medium term coming through academy ranks.
Now, midfield. Jenas, Bentley, Pienaar, Gio, Falque and Kranjcar will likely move on in the summer, leaving us with;
Bale
Modric
Hudd
Parker
Sandro
Livermore
Lennon
VdV
Now, that's not a bad line-up at all. Granted, cover for the wings looks a little shaky, but otherwise we're golden. Next year, we'll have Townsend, Carroll, Mason, Parrett and Bostock returning from their loans. My opinion is that they should be loaned out again. Townsend to a lower premiership side, Carroll, Mason and Parett to Championship sides (or moves abroad) and Bostock to, at the very least, an upper-half Championship side, if we can find one interested in him. Then, the priority must go toward finding a player to cover for Lennon and Bale on the flanks. Hoilett, most likely, since he'll be on a free in the summer. That'll give us a midfield of
Bale
Modric
Hudd
Parker
Sandro
Livermore
Lennon
Hoilett
VdV
which should give our manager (whoever he may be) bountiful options to choose from. Other than that, again, we're good, and the year after next, when the aforementioned loanees return, we can evaluate whether they'll make it into our side or not. Plus, we've got some promising academy midfielders coming through as well. Luongo, Ceballos, McEvoy and company look promising, and could mature into first-teamers later on if guided properly, so we look fine in the long-term as well.
Finally ,the forward line. Assuming Ade does depart in the summer, this looks weak, to say the least. It would consist of
Saha
Defoe
Lancaster
Which , while decent, is not top ten quality. So a striker should be a priority acquisition in the summer. Ade would be my choice; better the devil you know, and his goalscoring and assisting abilities have never been in question. It's just his motivational status that concerns most people, and if we get another man-manager like Harry in, that should be taken care of. However, if the new man doesn't want (or we can't afford) Ade, then we'd have to look around for a new one. Ba would be an interesting choice, but his knee still doesn't convince me and his ability with his back to goal isn't totally convincing either. I'd have him in instant, as long as we bought someone else to go with him. That, however, would push Defoe over the edge, and I don't want that to happen. So we've got two possibilities. One is just buying the one striker, (placeholder name Ade), leaving us with
Ade
Defoe
Saha
Lancaster
and the second option is buying two strikers but selling Defoe (placeholder names Ba and Llorente), leaving us with
Ba
Llorente
Saha
Lancaster
Now, in either case, Lancaster is better off going on loan somewhere. Hopefully we can get him a Championship club, but if not, League One/Two should do. Anywhere ge can get experience, really. But that leaves us with three good strikers, in either case, and plenty to call upon. Also, Coulibaly has a lot of hopes pinned on him, and if he gets the guidance he needs, we could turn him into a fantastic striker. His goalscoring ability isn't in question, after all.
So, overall, we're in a very healthy position. The team needs a few tweaks, namely a long-term goalkeeper, a winger and a striker or two, but most areas are well stocked and filled with young, dependable players. In the short term, the goalkeeper is the least needed player, and a veteran on a short term contract to cover for Friedel and Cudicini wouldn't be the worst idea. A winger is a medium priority, unless we wish to retain Townsend and use him as bench cover, and a striker is top priority. In the long-term, a goalkeeper takes top-priority, followed by a young, King-esque centre-back. But, in the main, we are definitely set for the future, squad wise. With a little bit of investment, of course.
