No More Signings Needed
Last week I wrote an article that attempted to calm the nerves following a somewhat difficult start to the transfer window. At that point no new signings had arrived, Arnie wanted to leave home and many Stoke fans were seemingly on the edge of losing their sanity.
Since then Monday 25th July happened. A Monday that I will now denote as the Manic Monday to end all Manic Monday’s. Sobhi was confirmed, Allen and his chickens signed on the dotted line and Arnautovic had found his potential new club in the form of Everton FC. In the aftermath of all that Arnie has realised that the Toffees finished a whole two places below the mighty Potters and a whole 8 places below his desired Champions League spot, so he may as well stay at home with us. Mission accomplished.
And now, after 151 words, I can finally come to my point. We don’t need to sign anyone else. Why bother. The main issues going into the window for me were holding down Arnie with a long term contract, a defensive midfielder to cover and takeover from the ever present Mr Whelan and another winger to take the pressure off Shaqiri and our favourite Austrian. Sorted.
Some have said that a centre back is absolutely vital but Tom Thrower goes into detail here about how that is not a necessity. Many will argue that Berahino is a crucial cog that if signed and deployed will help solve our goal scoring woes of the past. Whilst I would concur that Saido would be a lovely addition to our burgeoning squad, is it necessary to spend another 20 plus million pounds on a player when we have the likes of Diouf and Joselu itching to make the lone striker position their own? I would tend to disagree. For any other position that needs cover there is a strong youth setup within the club that someone needs to let Mark Hughes know about. Maybe this is the year we find our own Marcus Rashford.
11th August was the day that Shaqiri shook the footballing world to its core by becoming one of us. And although meme creators around the globe had a field day it could be assumed that it was Xherdan himself that suffered most from this late switch. Swapping to the Premier League is famously difficult. Without pre-season training and the integration into the squad that allows making an immediate impact on this ever competitive league must be that much more difficult. Giving Allen and Sobhi time to settle gives them a massive advantage for settling down and making a real impact on the first team squad.
We have our squad now. Talented players in every single position yet still space for youth team players to make the step up if needed. Allen and Sobhi don’t seem like players that will come in and disrupt the good vibes that continue to flow through the club, so why should we need to spend more money on players that we don’t particularly need and could upset this balance? I think by this point you can probably tell that I don’t think we need to do that.
Of course it would be nice to spend money on players as if life was a career mode on FIFA but for me at least, it just isn’t necessary. Let me know if you agree at @bajcartwright or if you disagree who else do we need to bring in?
Written by Ben Cartwright
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