Jack O'Connell
To start off, pre-season has gone quite well. We didn't drop any games and won all but won as the lads showed some really good performance levels to achieve the results. While they may not have been against the most difficult of teams, there was no room for complacency and it's good to see that we remained consistently solid throughout pre-season.
PLAYERS IN
First off in the transfer market we signed two young free agents to help out the Under-23's. Former Manchester United and Chelsea youth prospects
Callum Gribbin and
Martell Tyler-Crossdale both arrive at the club early on here. Gribbin offers a little more potential to actually develop into a first team player, but both will be of great use to my youth teams at the current time.
Then in came two loan deals, the first being in a position which desperately required improvement. Coming in for the GK spot is Manchester United's
Dean Henderson, who is familiar with the club after being on loan at Sheffield United and doing very well last year. Hopefully he can do the same for us. Next was a back-up midfielder in
Jordy Clasie, a Southampton flop who will hopefully be a solid option off the bench for us and can revive his career a little.
Our first permanent deal was for a new CAM, as I was looking to replace Mark Duffy. So, on the cheap, once Man United wonderkid
Josh Harrop joins us from Preston for just under 2 million. He looks a bargain if I'm honest and still has the potential to develop into a really exciting young midfielder. Hopefully we can continue his development and he'll become a key player for us.
What a steal here! On the updated database, Sessegnon is transfer listed by request for just 9 million! We've gotten an absolute bargain here for a potentially world class player. He's going to play as my LB instead of Enda Stevens and should be an energetic option. He wasn't in a position where improvement was required, but I'd be stupid to turn down the chance to sign
Ryan Sessegnon for so little!
Next in we smash our transfer record for a perhaps unusual deal here. Coming in from the Chinese Super League, Cameroonian
Christian Bassogog become our key player in an area (RW), where we have next to no depth. He's a player capable of magic moments and we'll need him to consistently produce for us as we try to avoid relegation. It's a big risk but one we're going to take because it'll be great if it pays off.
PLAYERS OUT
First on our departing list were three players never likely to feature for us.
Nathan Thomas,
Ben Heneghan and
Jake Bennett all go out on loan for now and I'll likely try to offload them permanently later on in the save. All the best to them, I guess.
Then there were a big amount of departures of non-important players which generated a good level of money and wage budget considering the players.
Leon Clarke, Ched Evans, Samir Carruthers and
Ricky Holmes have all departed the club. Clarke was the biggest name to leave here but is aging and lacks the ability to really be of use to us this season, especially considering we've a number of strikers already.
Two key midfield players departed next.
Oliver Norwood was a really good option for us, but when the offer came in from Cardiff for the same price which I bought Sessegnon for, I couldn't refuse.
Mark Duffy was also a key player, but with Harrop coming in, him being 32 and generating just under 5m, I think it's a pretty good deal. Difficult goodbyes but ultimately the right decision.
The final deal was back-up CB
Richard Stearman. While he's not bad for us by any means, we've got three really good centre-backs, only which 2 are starting, so I could offload Stearman as he wasn't really going to get any game time. He's off to Leeds and that concludes our transfer dealings this window. It's been pretty hectic but I think we've done really well.
Thanks for reading, please like and comment as always!
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