We have just secured Champions League football and hopefully we will finish the job at Southampton to secure 2nd place…

What a disappointing season overall: no trophy, no finals, inconsistent form, injuries and red cards….ultimately: Top 4 in the Champions League, Top 4 in the EPL, Top 4 in the Carabao Cup and jaded in the FA Cup.

The most annoying thing is that this was supposed to be our season, especially given the unusual City blip but also because we were coming out of 2 very good EPL seasons…It seems that we were unable to grind out results when needed and that our team’s shortcomings in quality in some areas and in number overall were just too much for us to handle. Of course, injuries did not help and stupid red cards either but overall, the manager and the team did not deliver to expectations and some key players actually were below par, namely:

• Saliba. He is only good with a strong CB next to him. He has yet to show he can be leading the back-linel
• Odegaard. An injury obviously affected him but he was not at clinical or effective this year. We missed his goals and assists.
• Martinelli and Trossard. Neither of them have put their shooting and assisting boots this year. It is becoming a problem for Martinelli because he does not seem to progress in the last two years.

So Kroenke and Arteta come out telling that they know how to address our issues and take the team to the next level but quite frankly, this year seems to have been a step back also given the fact that we had many injuries…

Some players will leave for sure: Neto, Tavares, Tierney, Lokonga, Jorginho, Vieira, Marquinhos, Sterling, Nelson and others may be leaving such as Kiwior and Partey.

So what are our priorities:

• Add quality in 3 starting positions: CM/DM, FWL, ST. Ideally: Zubimendi, Williams and Isak BUT you could live with Reijneiders or Koopmeiners or Baleba or Kone; Gordon or Cunho or Neto; Gyokeres or Sesko or Sorloth.
• Add depth to 3 key positions: GK, CB, AM. Ideally: ?, Branthwaithe (or Tarkowski), Mbeumo (or Gibbs-White or Eze).
• Extend contracts: Tomyasu, Partey, Saka, Trossard.
• Sell some players for cash flow purposes: Zinchenko, Martinelli.

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis Kelly – ZUBIMENDI, Rice – Saka, Ode, WILLIAMS – ISAK

? – Timber, Tomy, Branthwaithe, Calafiori – Partey, Merino – Mbeumo, Nwareni, Trossard – Havertz

+ G. Jesus, 2 other players from the academy…

We need a trophy next year. Time to address quality and depth issues.

So what is your take:

• We did well given the injuries and red cards?
• We did OK but should have done better and land a trophy?

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – Rice, MERINO – Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli – Havertz

NETO – Tomy, Kiwior, CALAFIORI, Tierney – Partey, Jorginho, Zinchenko – STERLING, Jesus, Trossard

So here are two teams with additions to the squad overall and the inclusion of one new player in the starting XI (once he will be back from his shoulder injury), namely Merino. Neto, Calafiori and Sterling have given us more depth and options. The interesting bit is related to the fact that Tierney did not leave (although he could still) and I would be happy to keep him in the team overall. He is a good player, not a starter but he could help us so why not keep him? Overall, I would have been happy with the inclusion of a player like Mbeumo, Koopmeiners, Simons, Bowen or Ivan Martin/Mason Mount/Maddisson (not ideal but oh well)…

In any case, we have 7 points out of 9 possible but clearly, we were robbed in the last game…Man City already looks ominously good but we need to make sure we march on and beat them when we meet them…

So far, Liverpool has also looked strong so it seems that we will be in a very tight race for Top 3 this year…

Let us keep pushing hard and hope for the best!

COYG!

So far, here is what we know for sure in terms of in-coming players:

• Calafiori has strengthened our defense
• Merino has bolstered our midfield

And what we know for in-terms of out-going players (on top of released players):

• Nuno Tavares has joined Lazio on loan with mandatory purchasing option if certain conditions are met;
• Emile Smith-Rowe has joined Fulham;
• Fabio Vieira is loaned out to Porto.

About to be done deals:

• Joan Garcia will join AFC as a back-up GK
• Ramsdale will, unfortunately, leave us for Southampton
• Tierney is to leave
• Nketiah is also bound for Crystal Palace

Possible other deals based on the fact that Arteta wants 23 players (20 field + 3 GKs):

• A player that can play AM/RFW/CFW is still hoped

Here is the squad as it is expected based on done or about to be done deals

• Raya, Garcia, ? – 3
• White, Tomy, Saliba, Kiwior, Gabriel, Calafiori, Timber, Zinchenko – 8
• Jorginho, Partey, Rice, Merino, Odegaard – 5
• Saka, Nelson, Havertz, G. Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard – 6

So we have 22 at the moment, and there is a spot for an attacking midfielder/CF that can play basically in 2 positions: CAM/RFW/CFW…A bit like Trossard but on the right side of the pitch. Eze, Mbeumo or a gamble on N’Doye (Bologna) are worth looking at. If we sell Nketiah to Crystal Palace, we may even be able to cut a deal for Eze…

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – Odegaard, Rice, Merino – Saka, Havertz, Trossard

Garcia – Tomy, Kiwior, Calafiori, Zinchenko – Mbeumo, Partey, Jorginho – Nelson, G.Jesus, Martinelli

This could be our final squad

Arteta said that while we still need to nurture and grow our current crop of players, we need to recruit to improve our team to reach the necessary level required to win the league. Amen to that…but where shall we strengthen and who could join us according to the current reports?

A) Goalkeeper

By activating the purchasing clause for Raya, we are definitely saying good-bye to unsung hero Ramsdale. We will need to replace him and it seems we are going for Justin Bijlow from Feyenoord.

B) Defenders.

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber as our starting back four

Cedric and Tavares leaving, Tomyasu and Zinchenko to stay while Kiwior could be let go…The rumours have us linked with Calafiori. He would definitely be a good addition to the squad so we could have Tomy, Kiwior, Calafiori, Zinchenko as our back-up back four…can’t complain although I still think we can do better than Kiwior as a back-up.

C) Midfielders

El Neny is gone, Lokonga too…We are left with

• DM/CM: Jorginho, Partey, Rice
• CAM: Ode, ESR, F.Vieira

Seems that we may have to say good-bye to either ESR or Vieira and it also seems that we are interested to get Mikel Merino from Spain with Douglas Luiz leaving for Juve. I think there are better options than Merino but Arteta seems to rate him so…Partey may be extended and kept but he won’t be starting it seems.

D) Forwards

Nketiah, RN, Marquinhos all touted to leave…

Saka, Havertz, Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard to be our main attackers but we need to add at leas 1 back-up winger and 1 Center-Forward…Williams would have been a good option but it seems he will end up in Barcelona and Toney wants to join Utd…Let us see who we can bring…

Ultimately, we are getting 1 player per line and except in the middle of the pitch, it seems we are adding quality squad players rather than starters…We hence need diversity in the profiles and impact players.

Who do you think we should recruit? Are you sad to see Ramsdale and potentially ESR, RN and Nketiah leave?

The annoying Spanish team will take on the disappointing French team tomorrow evening while England will face the resurgent Dutch on Wednesday evening.

Spain has been the dominant team in this Euro, playing an attractive brand of football with great wingers in Yamal and Williams and a solid midfield spearheaded by Rodri, well accompanied by Ruiz and now Olmo (Pedri is out). Overall, Spain is the favourite to win the tournament but the good news for the rest of the pack, and especially France, is that Spain concedes chances so it is a matter of putting these chances away when you get them. So France will not only need to block the Spanish team ability to create chances but also have to do something they have not done so far, which is to score from open play….Given the above, I think that it will not be a bad idea to change our shape again OR to drop Griezmann and eventually Mbappe to the bench and bring in Barcola instead:

• Maignan – Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez – Ngolo, Tchouameni, Rabiot (or Camavinga) – Kolo Muani, Mbappe, Barcola OR
• Maignan – Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez – Kolo Muani, Kante, Tchouameni, Rabiot, Camavinga – Mbappe

The idea is to block Yamal (Camavinga, Hernandez), Williams (Ngolo, Kounde) and to put some pressure on their right back and Laporte…Let us see

The other semi final will see the Three Lions take on the Oranje! The English should have enough to beat the Dutch. The Dutch main danger man has been Gakpo so it will be interesting to see how England blocks that Dutch’s left wing and they have also been dangerous through the middle with bursting runs from deep but I think that England is just the better team overall and is more solid. This England team really reminds me France 98, with the quality, belief and also even the way they are qualifying:

• France 98: Hard extra-time game against Paraguay to qualify for the quarters, then beat Italy on penalties…
• England 24: Hard extra-time game against Slovakia to qualify for the quarters, then beat Switzerland on penalties…

In a perfect world, England would face France in the final but it seems that we are heading towards a Spain-England and I am really joping for an England win, especially for our Starboy and Rice-Rice baby…

Allez les Bleus! Come on England!

England has not played its best football, far from it….Some players looking off form like Foden, Saka, Rice even Bellingham and Kane…

However, England finished first and now is on the right side of the draw…

England’s path to the final would include:

• Beating Slovakia
• Beating Switzerland or Italy
• Beating Romania or Netherlands or Austria or Turkey

Besides Switzerland and Austria, none of the team has played well so far but of course, Italy and Netherlands have quality players and coaches and can always pull a rabbit out of the hat…But honestly, this is the right side of the draw and if somehow Southgate finally gets the right set up, England should be in the Final.

On the other side, France has a mountain to climb:

• Beat Belgium
• Beat Portugal (or Slovenia)
• Beat Spain or Germany or Georgia or Denmark

So here is my prediction for the final 4:

• Portugal – Germany
• England – Netherlands

And for the final:

• = Portugal – England

Winner: TBD

I also think that France will lose next round and that Deschamps may be asked to leave although he just said he ll stay until 2026…

Fan-favourite Ramsdale will leave AFC this summer, not having done much wrong and feeling he has not been treated fairly…With Raya set to join us permanently, who could become our back-up GK? Do we need a promising GK or a seasoned GK? In any case, we need one that can ably deputize in case Raya gets hurt…Areola? Lunin? PiG? Bulka? Flekken? Sels? Navas?

Gabriel-Saliba are an excellent CB duo, probably the best we had in over a decade…For some reason, Arteta likes Kiwior but Kiwior has not really given us much certainty in terms of strength, pace and even positioning. We definitely need another CB, one that can really challenge Saliba-Gabriel. I like Branthwaithe, Singo, Fofana (if he gets fit again), Van den Berg, even Tarkowski. Unfortunately, Scalvini got injured so he is not an option at the moment…

So who do you think should join us in these positions?

When Ljunberg took over and when Arteta started on our bench right after, there was a sense that our team will over the years be full of Academy Players…We were very excited about Saka, ESR, Nketiah, RN, Willock AMN and there were also some buzz around Okwonko, John-Jules, M’Haland…

A few years forward and now only Saka has retained his spot in our starting XI, ESR has been relegated to a mostly unused sub and Nketiah to a sub…RN has some involvement but also limited. AMN and Willock are gone and other academy players are either out on loan or still in the academy…

Clearly, our academy does have some talent and there seems to be some type of grooming being done in terms of playing style since Arteta has joined the club to ensure that our Academy players are being prepared for first team football…

Yet, barring Saka, there does not seem to be a real spot for them in the starting XI and less and less on the bench…We could see ESR, Nketiah, RN leave this summer…It would not be a good signal to the academy players…

So is it the end of Hale End in our starting XI but also as an attractive spot for Top Talent in the UK?

Clearly, Man City could field two teams that can effectively compete for the EPL and Cups…

Although, we were close to land the trophy this year, we still fell short and many people point out our limited depth in key areas. In 2022, we missed Saliba so much in the last run-in and this year, we missed some spark off the bench to turn some games around or to finish some games off…

So what are the key areas we need to strengthen?

• We will definitely need to replace Ramsdale at GK
• We will definitely need to add a CB to really challenge the Saliba-Gabriel pair
• Partey is a very good player when fully fit and with rhythm but he has not been fully fit or game ready for many games since he joined us from Spain. We will definitely need to bring in a solid CM/DM that can play 30 games for us easily.
• RN, ESR, Vieira have not been able to contribute to our team’s effectiveness this year so we will definitely need to invest in a FW that can play on the right side, as we cannot keep on over playing Saka.
• G. Jesus and E. Nketiah have not had a stellar season by any means and we may need to offload 1 this summer so we will need to bring in a FW that can play through the center as well.

We need to invest in very strong squad players so as to match City and to a certain extent Liverpool and even Chelsea, Utd and Villa…

So that is a minimum of 5 players: 1 starter (DM/CM), 4 squad players.

Back-Up GK: Sels? Casteels?

Squad CB: Branthwaithe, Scalvini, Tarkowsky, Singo,

Starting DM/CM: D. Luiz, B. Guimares, Palhinha, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Zubimendi, Y.Fofana, Zielinski, Cook, Goretzka, Sabitzer

Squad FWR: N. Williams, I. Williams, M. Olise, L. Bailey, J. Harrison, J. Bowen, Mbeumo, Neto

Squad FWC: Zirkzee, Wind, Sorloth, Guruzeta, Gudmundsson, Solanke, Ben Yedder

The lists are long and I am sure there are plenty of other players on the radar but here are the names that come through my mind for now…

So where do you think we need to strengthen and who should join us?

Who will most likely leave AFC:

• GK: Ramsdale will not stay another season as a Nr.2. Newcastle is interested…

• Defenders: Cedric will leave for sure. Tierney and Tavares touted to leave as well.

• Midfielder: El Neny has confirmed his departure. Lokonga will most likely leave as well. Two big question marks: ESR and Fabio Vieira and one smaller one: Partey.

• Forwards: Marquinhos will also continue his development elsewhere. Two big question marks around: Nelsson and Nketiah and a small question mark around: G. Jesus.

Concerning the big questions marks –

• I won’t mind seeing Vieira leave, even on loan same for Nelson
• I think we need some cash injection so I would reluctantly let Nketiah go
• I am keen to keep ESR

Concerning the small questions marks –

• I would keep Partey but not at all costs. If we receive a very good financial offer, we should let him go. Otherwise, he is a valued squad element so could be kept.
• Same feeling about G. Jesus.

Players that are not linked to an exit but I would not mind seeing them leave: Kiwior.

…Next week, I will put a post up about incoming players and players you would like to see join.