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As usual, the transfer window started out with any unwanted or unhappy players leaving the club. We held firm with the likes of Lukaku, Barkley and Deulofeu all requesting to leave and having those requests denied. Arsenal were the main culprits who were determined to get hold of Lukaku and even made an offer of almost £50 million when add ons were included but that was also denied.
Out
Tom Cleverley - £7.5 mil - Watford
Eran Zahavi - £7.25 mil - Swansea
Aiden McGeady - £1.3 mil - Brentford
Arkadiusz Milik - £20 mil - Chelsea
Roman Burki - £6 mil - Ipswich
Sam Johnstone - Free - Huddersfield
Aaron Lennon - Released
Steven Naismith - Released
Gareth Barry - Retired
Once all these transfer funds were added to the pot we had a cool £72 million to spend. Looking at the squad we seemed ok on depth, especially with some promising youngsters stepping up to the first team again. What we really needed was some real, undeniable quality to try and take us to the next level.
In
Fraser Forster - £10.75 mil - Southampton
Geoffrey Kondogbia - £6.5 mil - PSG
Seydou Doumbia - £15 mil - Roma
Alessio Romagnoli - £40 mil - A.C Milan
Fabian Delph - Loan - Man City
Fraser Forster has joined the squad as first choice goalkeeper following the departure of Roman Burki. Kondogbia was unwanted and unhappy at PSG so we managed to get him on a cut price deal to challenge Besic for his first team role. Seydou Doumbia is a world class striker who is both strong and fast which will push Lukaku all the way where as Fabian Delph joins on loan just to add some more depth to the midfield.
By far the biggest signing we made was a club record £40 million deal for AC Milan centre half Alessio Romagnoli. At just 22 years of age he is already a huge talent and has been vastly successful in Milan for his former club. A lot of money, but worth
the risk.
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Some other players to watch out for this year include some of our academy products.
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Young Bozo Males looks to be an outstanding prospect. He is still extremely young but with the right training from his mentor Leighton Baines, he could be the perfect successor for the left back position. Just look at those physical stats.
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Ryan Ledson is another youngster with a big future. Gareth Barry's retirement leaves a nice spot for him in the first team and I am looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
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