SEASON 2
Summer Transfer Window and Pre-Season
Welcome to season 2 guys, after last years great showing in the league we will have high hopes for this coming season as we also test ourselves against Europe's very best in the Champions League. It was a very interesting summer, with the World Cup and a number of loan players coming back we had a busy few months preparing for the new season.
Transfers - IN
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As you can see we were extremely active in the transfer market as we looked to add quality, depth and youth to both the 1st team and U19s. A number of young players were bought in, with a number of the deals being done near the end of last year. 9 of the 17 were for the youth squad and I want go into too much detail about them as I'll save that for the Youth Intake/Youth Update.
In terms of first teamers, he is who we got:
Davy Propper, Sebastian Rode and
Benjamin Siegrist all came on frees and I am thrilled with the Rode signing. He is quality. The others are likely to be back-ups but are very good. Other key additions are
Ben Davies from relegated Swansea and
Pjanic who we got from Chelsea, a year after they paid about 18mil for him.
Jordan Ayew comes in and
Casper Sloth is a gem found from Denmark.
Transfers - OUT
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As you will see 2 MASSIVE outgoings! A load of players left on frees or loans and these were the only notable exits from the club, but arguably 2 of our best players. Let me talk you through them though! First off I NEVER wanted to lose Volland, the board agreed to sell him last season to Atletico Madrid but I protested and he stayed and once again this deal was one over my head. The money was too good to refuse and it could rise to 21.5mil, though he absolute quality and was the reason Ayew came in.
Roberto Firminho was slightly different. As I said before, he only had a year left on his contract and was asking for 88k+ a week and it just wasn't happening, so I tried to get as much as I could. To be fair, 17mil is pretty good though going to Dortmund really hurt. Pjanic comes in to replace him.
Pre-season Friendlies
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Nowhere near as many friendlies this year, but another successful pre-season. No major teams there but we scored plenty and only conceded 3 in 6 games, plenty of positives! As you can see Eren Derdiyok is back with us after a loan spell with Bayer Leverkusen, hopefully he can chip in with some goals this years.
Bundesliga Results
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What a start to the season!! Brilliant to see the loss of 2 big players hasn't affected us as we storm the opening 5 games. I played a fairly strong team in the cup as we ran riot, and followed it up with 4 wins from 4 games, including Dortmund and Schalke. We haven't even conceded a goal yet as the defence looks well reinforced with the addition of Davies. Also nice to see new recruits Pjanic and Ayew getting some goals!
LEAGUE POSITION - 1ST
Again, as I'm catching up on the story a bit I don't have a league table so sorry for that. However, after our great start I'm sure you won't be surprised to see us sitting top of the league with 100% record. Long may it continue!!
Key Player
After a great month, it wasn't easy to choose one but I think I'll go with Miralem Pjanic, who had big boots to fill with Roberto Firminho leaving and he's stepped up to the plate. A couple of goals and controlling the games as we look to push on this season.
So let me know your thoughts, was I right to sell Roberto Firminho? Can we maintain our position at the top? Will the new signings settle in?
Thanks again for you all following, stay tuned as I'm sure this season will be a big one!