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Just carrying on from the Milner thread; if he doesn't sign a new deal & Sinclair is sold.

If we are talking grade 'A' proper 1st team level players, next season's UEFA squad, without sanctions, would be 17 players plus Hart & Clichy. So 19 players out of a possible 25 places. Iheanacho would not qualify as a 'B' list player & would have to take up one of the 17 places if we required to use him.

If we were to sell Clichy, we would be another 'homegrown' player short. So if we dump a left back, it is most likely to be Kolarov.

Current squad after transfer window (senior pros).

Hart(hg) Willy
Clichy(hg) Kolarov Zabba Sagna
Vince, Mangala, Demi, Dedryk (hgct)
Silva, Nasri, Navas, Yaya, Fern1, Fern2, Milner (hg) Lampard (hg)
Aguero, Dzeko, Bony, Jovetic


So that's the 17 'free' places taken next season, without Iheanacho.

The 'homegrown' places: Hart, Clichy, Milner, Lampard, (Boyata as 'club trained').

If Milner leaves, then unless we bring back Lampard again, we would be using 19 players plus Boyata, in next season's Champions League squad. So unless we sell some players from the 17, we can only sign 2 'homegrown' players in summer. Plus there are 4 'club trained' places & only Boyata to occupy a place.

Another good reason to be testing Academy players in the cup now.

Thanks Ted. I've always been a bit surprised we bought Caballero. He's a decent enough player but we could have got a decent mature home grown player instead. A reserve keeper is an easy home grown win I would have thought. That said we'll have to see whether we sell any of the players you've listed to free up space. If Iheanachu comes in then I suspect Jovetic goes out. As you say Kolarov could be sold and a home grown player brought in instead. Ideally it would be our very own Angelino but it might be a year too early for him. Would we prefer to bring back Denayer and sell on Boyata? I would seriously consider it. Doesn't make any difference on the home grown front of course.

blues2win wrote:Thanks Ted. I've always been a bit surprised we bought Caballero. He's a decent enough player but we could have got a decent mature home grown player instead. A reserve keeper is an easy home grown win I would have thought. That said we'll have to see whether we sell any of the players you've listed to free up space. If Iheanachu comes in then I suspect Jovetic goes out. As you say Kolarov could be sold and a home grown player brought in instead. Ideally it would be our very own Angelino but it might be a year too early for him. Would we prefer to bring back Denayer and sell on Boyata? I would seriously consider it. Doesn't make any difference on the home grown front of course.

A 'decent mature home-grown keeper' is OK unless your main keeper breaks his leg or something. That changes the whole game and it's bye bye trophy. I like the way Caballero throws to his own players. Novel.

I think Denayer should be straight in all the squads next season, as a potential def mid as well as a cb & I can't imagine why he wouldn't be able to play right back either. I think we should find him a position or two, & play him, regularly.

Same for Lopes imo. Bring him back & play him, even if he has to play out wide like Navas.

It's time we started attaching importance to actually playing some of our kids. Not just for their benefit, but for the whole club & the 'project'. If we could fill up the squad places with kids, we can then sell one or two seniors & just sign real top players, rather than makeweights, in the future.

I would test out Devante Cole soon as poss. Get him on the bench for experience, then on the pitch next time we are comfortable in a game. If he shows promise, stick at it & keep using him, if he's clearly not got it, sell him in the summer.

Ted Hughes wrote:I think Denayer should be straight in all the squads next season, as a potential def mid as well as a cb & I can't imagine why he wouldn't be able to play right back either. I think we should find him a position or two, & play him, regularly.

Same for Lopes imo. Bring him back & play him, even if he has to play out wide like Navas.

It's time we started attaching importance to actually playing some of our kids. Not just for their benefit, but for the whole club & the 'project'. If we could fill up the squad places with kids, we can then sell one or two seniors & just sign real top players, rather than makeweights, in the future.

I would test out Devante Cole soon as poss. Get him on the bench for experience, then on the pitch next time we are comfortable in a game. If he shows promise, stick at it & keep using him, if he's clearly not got it, sell him in the summer.

Everton is a possibility for DC surely?

Wonderwall wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:I think Denayer should be straight in all the squads next season, as a potential def mid as well as a cb & I can't imagine why he wouldn't be able to play right back either. I think we should find him a position or two, & play him, regularly.

Same for Lopes imo. Bring him back & play him, even if he has to play out wide like Navas.

It's time we started attaching importance to actually playing some of our kids. Not just for their benefit, but for the whole club & the 'project'. If we could fill up the squad places with kids, we can then sell one or two seniors & just sign real top players, rather than makeweights, in the future.

I would test out Devante Cole soon as poss. Get him on the bench for experience, then on the pitch next time we are comfortable in a game. If he shows promise, stick at it & keep using him, if he's clearly not got it, sell him in the summer.

Everton is a possibility for DC surely?

If he doesn't play for EDS tonight he must be in with a good shout.

Got a feeling Ross Barkley is going to be our number one summer transfer target so leave a space for him ! ;-)

Denayer and Lopes have to be certs imo. They've done well out on loan and are definitely good enough as squad players. Denayer could play anywhere from centre mid to anywhere across the back line, and likewise Lopes can play in any attacking position.

nottsblue wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:I think Denayer should be straight in all the squads next season, as a potential def mid as well as a cb & I can't imagine why he wouldn't be able to play right back either. I think we should find him a position or two, & play him, regularly.

Same for Lopes imo. Bring him back & play him, even if he has to play out wide like Navas.

It's time we started attaching importance to actually playing some of our kids. Not just for their benefit, but for the whole club & the 'project'. If we could fill up the squad places with kids, we can then sell one or two seniors & just sign real top players, rather than makeweights, in the future.

I would test out Devante Cole soon as poss. Get him on the bench for experience, then on the pitch next time we are comfortable in a game. If he shows promise, stick at it & keep using him, if he's clearly not got it, sell him in the summer.

Everton is a possibility for DC surely?

If he doesn't play for EDS tonight he must be in with a good shout.

Fingers crossed for Saturday then

We do seem to have backed ourselves into a corner on this one