Chapter 30
A Usual Summer Of Plenty Of Transfer Business
Saturday 12th August 2028
My first signing of the Summer is 26 year old German central midfielder, Eric Martel. I activated his £12 million minimum fee release clause to bring him here from FC Koln and it has already proven to be a good bit of business as he is immediately worth more than double on his arrival. Martel has been a constant in Koln's first team for a few seasons now and recorded an average rating of 7.07 in the Bundesliga last year across 27 appearances.
Next in the door is a youngster who should be able to feature immediately as a squad player, but may well just improve to be a star at the club. 19 year old, Federico Steffanoni cost us £9.75 million from Atalanta and the attacking midfielder has a keen eye for a pass in the final third that we will be looking to exploit.
The absolute bargain of the Summer, not just for us but possibly any club, is the free transfer of £43 million rated Rodrigo Zalazar. The 28 year old Uruguayan ran down his contract at Braga and swaps Portugal for England, where he will bring his incredible determination and work rate to the Premier League. A very good signing for us and a potential game changer!
There were a couple of players that were released from our club this year, that were pretty big figures during our promotion season in my first in charge. Number 2 keeper, Egil Selvik deserves a mention as he was the main man between the sticks during our Championship winning season - but playing second fiddle to Aaron Ramsdale isn't for him and he has decided to leave in search of a more important role. Marc Bola was also a player that has featured 55 times for me in the league during my time at the club, but he is a clear backup for the left back position and I feel we can find better.
Then another teenager joined the club, this time from Rosenborg. Aleksander Borgersen is another player with a very high work rate, but he combines it with some serious flair, a great pass and the vision to pull it off. This young Norwegian could develop into a very good player and at just £5.25 million, he has to be considered a bargain.
Time for a big departure next as Kwadwo Baah leaves for Saudi in a move which sees us bag £17.5 million from Al-Hilal for him. There is no doubt Baah has served me a good turn since I took over at the club and has 26 goals and 23 assists to his name as a Watford player, but that amount of cash was just too good to turn down when I feel we have better options at the club on the wings now.
I needed another left back for the squad and with no decent ones available (at a fair price), I turned to the loan market and bring in PSG's 19 year old, Saba Kharebashvili. The young Georgian is looking for an opportunity to show his parent club and we can give that to him, without him pressurising me too much for regular first team football. It's a good fit all round.
There were still a couple of areas that needed addressing and the most prominent was the need for a backup goalkeeper to Aaron Ramsdale. I have managed to bring in an international keeper who is happy to play backup, which seems like a coup to me. Kostantis Tzolaskis is the Greek number 1 between the sticks and joins us for £14.75 million from Olympiacos.
I went for a slightly longer pre season this year and it has to be said that it was a pretty successful campaign, with zero defeats to our name. We toured China in a bit to increase our profile in the far east and that was sandwiched between some good wins over lower league English clubs, before rounding things off with an entertaining 4-2 victory over Sturm Graz.
We are fancied to steer clear of the relegation spots this season with a 14th placed finish predicted. Man City are the usual favourites for the title and it's no wonder as 6 of their players make the media dream 11. I still dream of the day we have a player in there but feel it may still be a while away.
We kick off our new season against Sunderland and this is how the team lines up on the opening day.
