(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Bear with me…indulge me for a moment whilst I assume that we buy Lobotka and Gomez from Celta Vigo which may or may not happen of course!
Despite reports from all over – and whilst assuming these things are never a given – there are no other clubs in right now and both Pellegrini and Husillos are widely believed to have made these two their top priorities.
Fingers crossed and hopes high anyway whether they he is after these or others!
Should he manage to clinch those deals or others he would have an awesome squad assuming we can keep everybody fit which I understand is a pretty big ask given our recent history.
The plan – as mentioned previously – as I understand it would be to play Declan and Lobotkov as a dual defensive midfield partnership although the Celta Vigo has a very creative and attacking side to his game when required.
Felipe Anderson, Manu Lanzini, Robert Snodgrass, Mark Noble, Jack Wilshere, Arthur Masuaku and Andriy Yarmolenko will aos be scraping it out for the other middle of the park berths.
Indeed Antonio – who was in incredible form as a striker towards the end of the season – could also be involved in that situation should Gomez arrive and partner Arnie up front although I don’t think the Austrian will be his automatic No 1 partner.
What the boss intends to do at the back remains a mystery but one assumes there will be some loan signings appearing which could help out.
Meanwhile, youngsters Conor Coventry, Nathan Holland and Xande Silva are pushing through from the under 23s.
I understand that many want to see millions spent but when taking a step back and looking at what we will have should the two Celta Vigo boys join this looks a pretty impressive team to me.
Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Balbuena, Cresswell ( that needs looking at for me); Rice, Lobotka Anderson, Lanzini, Gomez Antonio or Arnie. Bench: Roberto, Zaba, Ogbonna, Noble, Yarmolenko, Wilshere, Snodgrass.
On top of that I reckon we can expect to see another back up striker probably arrive on loan.
Assuming we get what we want I reckon we will be looking in very serious shape for that top seven (dare we say six) challenge.
COYI
Like your team but no goalkeeper on the bench worries me a bit!
TBH, look how many people said Fabiański was a bad signing. Just proves money is not everything.
Roberto is the keeper on the bench.
Roberto
Roberto is the back-up goalkeeper on the bench.
Not in Hugh’s original selection, he changed his team after the error of his ways was pointed out to him
Sounds good to me hugh…….Fingers Crossed 🤞
I thought Pellegrini was dead against loan signings?
I would like Sanson if possible. Jordan looks good too and cheap, but I agree Gomez and Lobotka would improve us. I still think we should get another left back. It’s suicidal to just have Masuaku who is poor defensively and as you suggest, may be playing further up, that just leaves Cresswell who has been picking up a lot of injuries in recent seasons. Unless Pellegrini knows Ben Johnson can do a job on the left, I would suggest a decent left back needs to come in.
In terms of saleable assets. Arnautovic is the obvious choice to leave if a deal can be done. Antonio could bring in decent money if Pellegrini doesn’t think he’s be a regular, makes more sense to cash in on a player pushing 30. Palace may have money to burn and 20-25m doesn’t seem far fetched.
Maybe it’s Ben Johnson time to push on
. He looked very comfortable at Citeh. .like him
I would rather we had less players of higher quality and injury free than 10 average signings, Fornals, Lobotka and Gomez would be a very good window.
I’d settle for a left back who can defend. Or give Ben Johnson an extended run.