Stick or Twist?

With the Summer transfer merry-go-round nearly upon us, and the red tops already going into overdrive, it’s the time of year where we, as fans, think about what players we’d like to see join our club.

After a couple of seasons with very high player turnover (April 08 – March 09: 14 players in, April 07 – March 08: 11 players in), my hope is that we finally “do an Everton” and stick, largely, with what we’ve got.

As I suggested in an earlier article, one of my concerns with Harry Redknapp being our manager is his reputation as a tinker-man. He showed in January what he’s capable of, bringing in 5 “new” faces and getting shot of 8. I’m hopeful that that’ll be the majority of his transfer dealings for the year.

My reasons for not wanting change are three-fold:

1. I think we already have the 6th or 7th best squad in the PL, and I am happy for year-on-year improvements.
2. I think a consistent approach – like Everton, or Wigan, or even Arsenal/Man Utd is the only way that we are going to get close to Champions League qualification.
3. History shows us that multiple changes can do more harm than good.

Harry has said recently that he’ll be targeting more established players (“The players that I have in mind are playing very well and are in their prime”), and according to a lot of the speculation on various forums, he has identified Sulley Muntari (Inter Milam), Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers), and Matthew Upson (West Ham United) as his three key targets.

Personally I would like for us to make minimal changes:

• Central midfield – some competition for Jenas and Palacios. My choice would be Manchester City’s Michael Johnson – a technically gifted player who has had some “off the field problems”, but will be a future star in my opinion.
• A left-sided midfield player if Harry doesn’t fancy Bale there (although personally I’d be happy with Bale as Modric’s back-up, particularly after his excellent showing against Everton)
• And a left back to compete with Assou-Ekotto (Warnock?).

Clearly Bent would need to be replaced if, as expected, he moves on and, if that were the case, I’d like us to try to snatch Jô from under Everton’s noses. He would give us the physical presence that we do tend to lack at times, and also has a decent scoring record since being in a settled side

I for one hope that Harry opts for stability over another transitional Summer.