I hate early July. It’s long enough after the end of the season for withdrawal symptoms to have kicked in but the big kick off on August 6 still looks awfully distant.
It’s also the point where the transfer market starts to get into top gear with the inevitable plague of rumours ranging from the plausible to the downright ridiculous and those of us with a serious addiction to social media finding ourselves constantly checking Twitter, Facebook and the Pink Un for any hard news.
Inevitably as players sign for other clubs there are moans that another one has slipped through the net, but of course none of us has any real insight into the club’s agenda or who their real targets are.
The reality is that City aren’t in the same financial position as the likes of Newcastle and Villa who can pay top dollar for the players they want (and need to do more rebuilding than City) and that means that a certain amount of patience is necessary as players with excessive wage demands or clubs looking for inflated transfer values are unlikely to be on the recruitment team’s shortlist.
A good example of that is Aaron Tshibola, who may or may not have been a City target, but who was reported last month as having been the subject of a successful bid of £2million, but has now signed for Aston Villa for £5million.
While the lad is highly rated he has started just six Championship games in his career and suffered two major injuries last season, one sidelining him for three months and the second for four.
He may well turn out to be a great player but £5million is a lot to spend on potential and I don’t believe that City can afford to take that sort of chance, particularly when they are already overstocked with midfielders.
Of course we want to see good players coming in but I would suggest that whereas last season was defined by the players that City bought – given the weakness of the squad in Premier League terms – this year will be defined by those that they retain, especially given that most of them have won promotion before.
Limited finances mean that we are not going to see a string of marquee names coming in but as long as City can recruit sensibly and keep their key players they will be in with a shout.
I think we all realised that, having stalled on a new contract, Nathan Redmond would be off this summer, so the key thing was to get a good price for him and that was achieved – which incidentally provided further evidence that the club’s inner workings haven’t been too badly impaired by David McNally’s departure.
Inevitably, had he still been in post, the eight figure fee for Redmond would have been hailed as further evidence of his hard headedness, but clearly someone is doing a good job in his absence.
The arrival of a like for like replacement in Sergi Canos (albeit after a process akin to the gestation period of an elephant) offers grounds for excitement – given his high standing with Liverpool and Brentford fans – but the real indicator of how realistic City’s ability to bounce straight back again will be how many of their experienced players they can hold on to, with Timm Klose and Robbie Brady at the top of the list.
It appears that City have slapped a prohibitive price tag on Brady (another hint that the club isn’t desperate to sell players to shore up the finances) but, while it would be nice to think that that will deter suitors, in modern football a player who really wants out usually gets his way and Brady is reportedly keen on playing Champions League football.
I therefore suspect, although I hope I’m wrong, that City are simply ensuring that if the inevitable happens they will get top dollar.
Klose is another matter with every sign that the Swiss is happy in Norwich – although it’s still early days – but I would hope that he would give it at least until January before reviewing his future given his limited time in a City shirt so far.
Add to that players who are likely to flourish at Championship level in Naismith, Pinto, Bennett, Howson, Dorrans, Odjidja-Ofoe, Ruddy, Jarvis, Tettey, Olsson, Jerome and Maddison (even the much maligned Martin and Whittaker have been outstanding there before) and there is every reason to be optimistic, although the arrival of a quality striker and another centre-back would appear to be a minimum requirement, as well as replacing any others who may be tempted away.
While new faces would freshen up an ageing squad its experience that will be vital as we approach a long, tough season. The Championship rewards tenacity over style and a blend of those who’ve done it before and some exciting youngsters should be a recipe for success.
Sound summary Robin at this frustrating time of year for any football nut.
Canos ticks all the boxes – young with pedigree but also proved last season in the blood & thunder of the Champ., that he can deliver with assists and goals – exactly what we needed to replace Redderz.
I think we have got an excellent squad for this division – doesn’t guarantee success, but with a new striker added (no shortage of effort on that by the looks of), we’ve got a good shot at a strong challenge.
Our defence of 2 years ago was the best in this league in the second half of the season – those guys took plenty of flak last season but didn’t become bad players overnight. With Klose there (hopefully) to command and inspire, I’m looking for a tight ship with plenty of firepower.
The Geordies seem to have been handed the title before a ball has been kicked. I suspect they are in for a tougher time than they had last time at this level.
Canos a direct replacement for Redmond? Hardly, from what I’ve seen and heard, Canos can chase back, disposses without fouling and rarely puts his hands on his hips. Redmond was immense at the end of season 2014/15, but that aside, I thinks it’s an excellent upgrade from what we had….
Young and hungry, well schooled from Barcelona and Liverpool. Ticks a lot of boxes and I can’t wait to see him play.
Goals came from three sources last time; Jerome, Grabban and Hooper. At the moment we’re looking short of options, but I’m sure that’s being worked upon.
Gary – I’d make that four. Bradley Johnson scored 15 goals for us in our last Championship season.
Gary I agree totally with your first paragraph – Canos looks like Redmond did when he came in: young, proven championship ability, and moving to play football.
The second paragraph is not strictly true in 14/15 we scored 88 league goals and tehre was a good mix of scorers: CJ (20) BJ(15) LG(12) GH(12) and JH (9) is a good balance between strikers and midfield.
This year our front line looks potent (assuming 4-2-3-1) we have Jarvis (or Murphy), Wes (Maddison), Canos (Murphy) with CJ and AN Other(s).
I expect us to defend on the front foot a la the early AN games – we’ll see goals this year (poss at both ends!)
I broadly agree that who we keep for continuity will be very significant.
The most interesting line is about Brady wanting to play Champions League football. If he can get that good for him – presumably that would only be with Leicester. If that also suggests that it’s the only thing he’d leave for that’s good for us. After all putting aside the money why would he swap a season winning games in the Championship for a third successive relegation scrap with someone like Sunderland or WBA?
The key for me is Olssen – if he gets itchy feet, as he has before, we must find a top notch replacement.
I have a hunch that Klose will stay at least until January, but I wonder if exposure in the Euros might attract a sneaky bid for Wes from a lower Prem team – if so, given the arrival of Canos and Maddison, I’d let him go.
@4 pab – I was really thinking just about frontline attackers – you’re right, Bradley did manage to put the ball in the net on more than one occasion
Other than a new striker, Robin’s clearly right that we’ll stand or fall by our existing squad.
Some haven’t yet fulfilled their potential for City; if Alex Neil can bring it out this season, we’ll be well placed. I won’t put RvW in that category – any contribution from that quarter would be an unexpected bonus – but Naismith, Odjidja-Ofoe, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Pinto and Ryan Bennett could be big factors if their fitness and mentality are right.
It’ll be interesting.