Sigh. This thread was coming.
The assumptions I'm making are that a) we'll miss out on the CL again, and b) none of the players currently out of favour will work their way back into the side come May.
We'll sell to buy, as per usual. The most realistic 25 I can see heading into next season will be this:
----------------------------------------------------Lloris/Vorm/Archer---------------------------------------------
Walker/Yedlin-----------------Fazio/Dier------------------------------New CB/Veljkovic------Rose/Davies
----------------------------Bentaleb/Stambouli----------------------------Alli/Mason--------------------
Lamela/Townsend/Pritchard--------------Eriksen/Dembele/Winks-------------------------Chadli/New LM
----------------------------------------------------Kane/Soldado/New ST-------------------------------------------
Ideally, I'd have liked a good, ball-playing DM in the side in place of Stambo (who hasn't really shone in his appearances thus far), but it's unrealistic to imagine him being moved on after just one season. I would definitely have liked to see McCarthy come in: I think he's as good a player as we can expect to get in that role, as Schneiderlin and the like are far, far too good to stoop to dancing to the tune of Levy's ultra-low bidding process.
Secondly, I don't expect Verts to stay either, although Lloris can probably be made to stay for another year given his position.
The usual suspects (Chiriches, Capoue, Kaboul, Ade, Paulinho, Lennon, Holtby (
) ) will likely be moved on, and I don't expect to see the likes of Grant Hall,and Ryan Fredericks around much either, given the depth ahead of them: they'll likely go out on loan again, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them sold too. And Friedel will surely retire - he's now commentating on Spurs matches while still technically a GK at the club, surely an untenable situation.
Positives:
Youth - I think we'll see at least two of our promising youngsters get fairly important first-team roles next season - I'm wagering on Veljkovic and Pritchard being the ones, given a) Veljkovic's versatility and technical ability (which would allow him to fill that DM spot if worst came to worst), and b) Pritchard's magnificent form at Brentford. I've included Winks in the squad, but more on him later. Beyond that, it'll be an amazingly young squad unless the incomings are all thirty-somethings. And while the likes of Azzaoui, Yahaya and Edwards are too young for consideration in 2015/2016, given the rave reviews around them I'd be surprised if they weren't in contention in 2016/2017, assuming a good season in the U-18s and U-21s for them all.
Home-grown - Of that provisional squad, nine players are English (ignoring the potential incomings), 11 are British, and anywhere from 6 to 9 are academy graduates (depending on how long you consider a sufficient time period spent at the academy for a player to be considered a 'graduate'). Good, warm feeling from that stat.
More suited to Poch's style - we were hampered from the start this season given that Poch evidently doesn't trust 7 or 8 players in our squad to be regular starters, severely limiting our options and harming our overall fitness. I assume this squad in 2015/2016 would be more suitable to him in that regard, even if it's unlikely that he'll be particularly happy at the low-cost, bargain-bin nature of some of the players in it.
New signings:
New CB - I'm wagering that it'll be Moreno. I know Gutter Boy's put some ITK out there about Abdennour, and that player is a possibility, but I'm still sticking with my prediction for now.
New LM - Andre Ayew, free transfer, problem solved in the Levy-est of ways. Milner's also available on a free, and would be useful given his work-ethic and experience, but his wages will likely make Levy shiver in horror.
New ST - difficult here. I love Danny Ings (great lad as well as a surprisingly good player) and I'd like him to come in on a free come July, but if we can, we should be all over Timo Werner - only 18, has the potential to be absolutely world-class, and currently the top prospect in a Stuttgart side which looks alarmingly close to the drop - he could be a brilliant and relatively cheap acquisition if we can pull it off (which of course relies on a lot of factors, not least Stuttgart going down
).
Wild-card:
Winks or Carroll? - This is where the aforementioned Harry Winks comes into play - Carroll has been great for Swansea, an energetic DM who's built their play from the back in a manner similar to Spurs-era Carrick. He'd be a great option to have to pair with Mason and Alli (who seems a more Gerrard-type player, from what I've heard), and he'd be both more experienced than Alli and more calm in possession than Mason - the latter in particular opening a slew of tactical options to Poch, from sending him on late in a game to stifle the opposition an calm things down to playing him as a conservative AM if need be.
However, we don't know if he'd be happy to compete for his place here (As opposed to just playing regularly at Swansea without the hassle), or if Levy won't go pound-eyed if Swansea chuck enough money at us. In that regard, Winks (judging by what people have said about him) seems like an easier option to use in the squad as a 3rd AM. I wouldn't be particularly opposed to either of them being used, but I don't think there's space for both of them (not from a 25-man squad perspective, as Winks might not count given his age, but from a perspective of giving either of them enough meaningful playing time over the course of a season). I leave it to GG to decide.
Closing comments:
Soldado: I don't think we can offload him now, even if it's clear that he's absolutely shot and needs to go as much as we need to let him go: Levy won't take the inevitable loss, and no team will pay anywhere close to what we paid for him (be it 13 or 26 million quid, depending on whether you count the add-ons) given his presumably high wages.
Overall nature of the squad - young, hungry, presumably committed, and all good lads - sure, not full of 'quality', but a squad seemingly well-suited to Poch. Overall, quite good.
