Here’s my usual article with about 2 weeks left on the transfer window, to reassure myself and others that we can still improve the playing squad.
The lost targets
The likes of Rodrigo, Toure, Gyökeres, Boniface, Tete, Elanga, Sarr, Ndiaye, Kent and DeWinter have now gone elsewhere. It looks generally like we’ve lost out to clubs who can offer better financial packages to the selling club – or maybe just a more attractive home for the player concerned. All of these are good but not great players – so it’s no disaster to have lost out. There’s plenty more fish in the sea.
A few good fits now gone
We’ve obviously got such a difficult financial situation that we can only bring in the free (with low wage demands), loans and those available for a low up-front fee we can pay for on the drip. Not many such players have moved who we’d be interested in – but here’s a few:
- Tillman: loan from Bayern to PSV after a cracking 2022-23 season for Rangers
- Ampadu: Chelsea to Leeds (I’ve wanted him for years)
- Vini Souza: Lommel to Sheff Utd (he was very good on loan in La Liga for Espanyol last season)
- Faivre: Lyon to Bournemouth – but I think (hope) Harrison is a better signing
Oh well – no biggie.
The sigh of relief
A number of experienced but unremarkable players have moved – the sorts of players you might have expected Dyche to be interested in – Weghorst, Rodon, Doherty, Winks, Barkley and Trusty. Interesting that we’ve swerved the lot of them (as they’re not as bad as made out and beggars can’t be choosers). I still think we’ve gone for some more exciting targets though – of which more below…
The targets still to move
The future is still to be resolved for a few players we’ve been very strongly linked with:
Strikers
- Ekitite
- Brobbey
- Piroe
- Dia
- Iheanacho
- Daka
Wing/ forward
- Gnonto
- Sulemana
Centre-back
- Solet
- Maguire
- Chalobah
Encouragingly, the focus seems to be on the positions where we are weakest. It looks like it might be between Gnonto and Sulemana to replace Gray, and whoever we can get in to supplement Calvert-Lewin, Chermiti and Maupay. It wouldn’t surprise me for some other player to come out of left-field fairly late on. Maguire seems like a very unlikely signing unless on loan with heavily subsidised wages. Same too for Chalobah. Solet might also be a possibility on loan from Salzburg with an option to buy.
Leftfield options
There are also a few gems that the likes of Brighton and Brentford seem to bring in to the Premier League – here’s the tip of an iceberg:
- Thielmann of Koln, diligent and fast right midfielder / winger, out of contract in June 2024.
- Burkardt of Mainz, high-quality versatile forward / striker who missed much of last season with injury. He was linked with Real Madrid as a possible Benzema replacement before then. Also out of contract June 2024.
- Diaz of AEK Athens, versatile Trinidadian forward who is good in the air.
- Tresor of Genk, Belgian winger / midfielder who plays a bit like Steven Pienaar.
- Paintsil of Genk, genuine consistent goal threat and pace from the Ghanaian right winger.
- Nuamah of Nordsjaellend, latest big talent coming through from the Danish development club that brought you Kudus and Sulemana. Very fast left-footed winger with end product.
- Orban of Gent, possibly the best young striker in the world right now hitting incredible figures in Belgium and Europe.
- Flemming of Millwall, possibly the most “Dyche” type player in the Championship – an all-action attacking midfielder / second striker with aerial ability and goal threat.
- Mejbri of Man Utd, extravagantly talented French Tunisian midfield general who is out of contract June 2024 and may fancy talking about the ancestral homeland with Portuguese Tunisian Chermiti.
- Broja of Chelsea, he seems to be fit now but no closer to starting after Chelsea signed Jackson for the centre-forward slot. Would be an interesting signing given how we were so close to getting him this time last year.
Departures
This might be at least as important as arrivals.
We’ve got quite a few players we’d all be delighted to see the back of: Maupay, Alli, Gbamin and Gomes. Hopefully they will go for fees or at least on loan.
Gray, Iwobi and Keane aren’t everyone’s cup of tea – and the contract situation of the former two means they might be sold. But they make a pretty big contribution so will be hard to replace. No disaster if they go, but they do need to be replaced. Much as these players get grief, it’s by no means a given that the replacements will be better.
Hopefully we’ll keep Pickford, Onana and Branthwaite. They are all Champions League type players (if not quite consistent at that level yet in the case of the latter two). Personally, I hope we keep all three.