Spot on. The recruitment team are bound to have plan A, B, C and any letter up to Z. This has to include players we'd like to sign but also a contingency if clubs don't want to sell the actual player e.g. Maddison and Newcastle. It will also contain a prioritisation on the outfield position e.g. a left back. We have spent an awful lot of money on players that haven't been good enough to displace first XI players plus they are on good contracts. In reality, we may have to wait till those out of contract free up the budget in the summer.You have no idea what is going on behind the scenes in terms of recruitment and that is exactly as it should be. We're on the 8th of the month and already we've got ****ing hysteria because we haven't yet signed anyone. Get to the 28th and that's a different story. As for outgoings, what would you like us to do? We have players on big wages that nobody wants or can afford. If there isn't the demand, they won't be going anywhere. That is a problem of our own making of course, but there is the square root of a Joey Essex braincell we can do about it now. Nobody is going to want Vestergaard, Nacho, Praet, Perez, etc simply because they either aren't good enough or because their wage demands will be too high for the types of clubs that might be interested in them.
Yes, we've painted ourselves into a corner but if you're expecting us to be able to wave a magic wand and get rid of a host of overplayed dross, well, it simply isn't going to happen. My guess is, if someone doesn't come in for Tielemans so we can get his wages off the books, then there may be one or two in at the very most. That deal could open up others.
We are fortunate to have the owners we do, as opposed to those from the Middle East. They try to run the club equitably, fairly and on a financially stable footing. That, long term, is a far better place to be than monetising Saudi Arabian oil.