Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
I said on here back in April that we needed to add significantly. We were well short in terms of numbers, cover and competition.
First things first, we retained our main players and have extended contracts. We've only lost one significant player from last season, Lloyd Dyer, and this was sensible all round.
We've then added 11 players, 3 for the U21 squad and 8 for the first team squad. The 8 being, Hamer, Simpson, Upson, Cambiasso, Albrighton, Powell, Lawrence and Ulloa. These are in for a net outlay of around £10m.
We've only seen a worthwhile contribution from one of these so far (Ulloa) and he's already looking like a terrific buy. The rest appear to be largely NPs first choice recruits with the possible exception of Simpson and Lawrence who seemed to come as a result of knock backs and late availability. Some joined early, others like Cambiasso and Powell seemed to take months of patience and negotiations.
Overall and without the benefit of hindsight, I have to say that I think NP, SW and the team have done a tremendous job here. They've added the right sort of players for who we are and where we are in our development. We've added experience, quality, potential and options.
We now have a squad capable of competing at this level and I'm genuinely excited to see how it all pans out from here on. When you see some of the absurd signings clubs made over the summer, McCormack for £11m to Fulham being just one example out-stripping our total expenditure, we've done very good business.
First things first, we retained our main players and have extended contracts. We've only lost one significant player from last season, Lloyd Dyer, and this was sensible all round.
We've then added 11 players, 3 for the U21 squad and 8 for the first team squad. The 8 being, Hamer, Simpson, Upson, Cambiasso, Albrighton, Powell, Lawrence and Ulloa. These are in for a net outlay of around £10m.
We've only seen a worthwhile contribution from one of these so far (Ulloa) and he's already looking like a terrific buy. The rest appear to be largely NPs first choice recruits with the possible exception of Simpson and Lawrence who seemed to come as a result of knock backs and late availability. Some joined early, others like Cambiasso and Powell seemed to take months of patience and negotiations.
Overall and without the benefit of hindsight, I have to say that I think NP, SW and the team have done a tremendous job here. They've added the right sort of players for who we are and where we are in our development. We've added experience, quality, potential and options.
We now have a squad capable of competing at this level and I'm genuinely excited to see how it all pans out from here on. When you see some of the absurd signings clubs made over the summer, McCormack for £11m to Fulham being just one example out-stripping our total expenditure, we've done very good business.
