Once again, you base an argument on spurious ideas you assume to be true without any real knowledge of how the transfer dealings have worked under this manager at all. Let's say, for argument sake, you're wrong. Let's say these are the players that Puel identified as ones he felt he could use to carry the club forward. Would it still make sense to pull the rug from under his feet so soon?
It would be utter, utter madness. I know, I know, you'll no doubt tell me that every club uses identified targets, the manager has nothing to do with it, look at club A or here's a website about club B but the fact remains neither you nor I have any idea of the circumstances of these signings under this manager.
Okay, I'll bite with three examples to illustrate why I think that it's utterly bonkers to pretend that the way we sign players isn't the way I described.
Remember us signing Kante? Ranieri didn't want him but we signed him anyway. That is because our DofF had identifed him and he was brought in in spite of the managers concerns.
Or how about Maguire. Signed under Shakespeare but we'd offered £500k to Sheff Utd for him three years earlier and had tried to sign him again from Hull. I think there is an interview somewhere where Maguire states that he knew we'd been after him for years. He was 'on our list'. The recruitment team may well have had a conversation with Shakespeare and said that 'we think we can get Maguire now do you like the sound of it?' but that would have been about it.
This summer, was it a complete coincidence that Puel wanted Evans - the self same player that we'd offered big money for last summer? Wouldn't it be amazing if so many of our managers share this trait of liking the same players?
I'm not saying that the manager has no role whatsoever in recruitment. He is consulted and sometimes takes part in conversations to persuade a player to come to the club. He may also identify a type of player or position that he wants strengthening.
But the key part of our recruitment is our 'list'. This approach has been well publicised in the past, especially after our title win. Given the fact that several names identified by Steve Walsh (such as Slimani, Ndidi, or Maguire) were recruited after he left us, this list is even partially independent of the person in charge of recruitment.
It seems like managers are permitted to make occasional requests for players themselves - hence Benaloune for Ranieri who was only ever identified by him or Ghezzal now who (if you believe those that appear to know these things online) was also signed against the wishes of the recruitment team. They are very much the exception to the general rule though.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that Puel had even heard of people like Ward or Benkovic before we told him that we were signing them? I'd seriously doubt it.
