I was hoping we had got rid of more than the above, in fact I was hoping to sell the above but we only ended up loaning players out instead.
TRANSFERS IN
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Now I was extremely happy with the business done during the transfer window except this has now left John Toshack with no transfer funds and wages are £123k in the red! I was hoping yo offload some contracts to help reduce this deficit but did not go as planned.
Firstly I knew we had to improve in goaltending and defence. I did have a few players shortlisted for these roles, however due to transfer restrictions I wasn't able to pick up all those wanted. Firstly goalkeepers. I had two players listed for this spot (Itumelung Khune was the other) but I thought out of the two, Predrag Rajkovic was the better of the two and has the most potential to grow and to pick up the players for only £2m was worth the investment.
Now onto the defence. This is a position I invested in heavily signing 5 players. Free agents Antonio Valencia and Jordan Lukaku were hard to not go for an arrive to fill our full back roles. I also used my other EXP position to pick up Dedryck Boyata on a free from Celtic paying on £11k a week and an £8.5m value. He will partner Lamine Kone who returns from Strasbourg. I wanted to sign Ross McCrorie on a permanent deal, however due to restrictions and wanting to other FGN signing, we were restricted to a loan for the season. He will provide back up to our main two. The final signing was a big one and definitely an investment in the future. And this was the signing of 16 year old Arsenal Centre Back Josh Dobson who looks like an amazing prospect. Andres Rodriguez was the final player we brought in with us looking to the future against and will likely partner or challenge Dobson.
Moving onto my midfield and I feel I didn't invest enough in the central position especially after losing out on Andreas Pereira to West Brom. Brahim Diaz was brought in to player the AMC role best suited to Toshack's favoured tactic and will likely take this spot over from Honeyman. We also brought in Trevor Clarke from Brentford in a deal for £100,000 which we believe to be a bargain as he has amazing potential if he gets games. The other is Eddy Salcedo from Genoa who is one for the future but actually looks to be prominent in Toshacks side keeping out Clarke who was dropped to the U23's with Maguire.
Lastly was the forward position and I felt we needed to replace Charlie Wyke who we ended loaning out to Bolton. First I targeted Jan Mlakar of Maribor who we manged to signed for £1,950,000. We felt a third was needed and when Zach Clough was available at £250k, it was definitely worth the fee.
RESULTS
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Now I am very happy with the start we have had as we find ourselves in 6th place. An amazing start saw us almost have a 100% record throughout the month of August bar the draw against Middlesbrough. We then struggled a little in September which was a tough month for us drawing 2 in the league and losing 2. But we find ourselves in the 4th round of the Carabao cup with a home tie against Everton coming up.
Hopefully we can keep this from October to December then have a look to see how things financial looks as I think the focus will be to try and get rid of some of the dead wood in the U23's like Cattermole, Maguire etc.
