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How much do we need to spend? Really?

JayStringer

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I'm in the early stages of Ruben Neves grief, which basically means I'm in denial. So I'm thinking out loud here.

The idea is out there that we need several new signings to reboot the team. But do we? This is, in large part, driven by context. Yes, under Nuno, and with the players in the squad that Nuno did and didn't trust, and with Nuno's philosophy, we needed a number of new signings. And they needed to be top quality, and that meant money. But...a new manager will have a new philosophy, and a different list of players he does and doesn't trust, and the context changes.

What do we absolutely need, right now, without selling anyone, regardless of which manager comes in?

A left back/left wingback.
A central defender. (Yes we can argue we need more than one, but this is the one we ABSOLUTELY need.)
A central midfielder. (Profile depends on manager's preferences, re: box to box, holding, attacking.)
A striker.

Of these, we could recall Rafa Mir and then not need to raise funds to buy a striker who would cost close to what we could get for selling Mir.
We don't know yet what the new guy will make of MGW, Ronan, Jordao, or Shabani. I feel -like the majority- we need a new midfielder but maybe the new manager seems something in these players?

We need the centre back. No way about it. We can't go on with the same defenders we had in the championship. At least one of those spots needs to change.

Left back/LWB, needs resolved. Whether it's RAN, or a free transfer, or another loan. We can't not sign one.

So it's possible that a new coach could come in, work with the players in his new system, and feel we only need a top quality centre back and left back. Or add in a new midfielder too while keeping Mir. That's three important signings needed.

Is it worth sacrificing our best players -who would in turn need to be replaced with top quality players- to raise funds for a massive rebuild that maybe only needs three immediate players? We have enough players around the edges of contention (Saiss, Vinagre, Dendoncker, Cutrone etc) who could all be sold off to raise the kind of money Spiers is mentioning for Neves. I'm not sure we need to sell our best players. Unless they want to go.
 

Black Country Wanderer

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We need 3/4 quality players no matter what system we play
So even if the market is subdued its still an £80 million lay out imo,so get ready theres someone going for sure lol
 

Matt

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When we came up we got Raul (loan), Jonny (loan), Dendoncker (loan), Moutinho (£5m), Patricio (£18m), Adama (£18m) so 6 first-team players for around £40m (I know we ended up buying the others but in terms of spending upfront in one window). It is doable.
 

Skrilla

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Debating this without considering who might be sold seems redundant to me, but as it stands, and assuming Bruno Lage comes in and instills that fluid 4-2-3-1 system he had with Benfica in his second season, I would say a centre back, defensive midfielder, and an attacking midfielder. That would be the absolute minimum I'd want this summer, without selling anyone, but I'm expecting there's going to be big turnover this summer.
 

SteveBullsKnee

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You cant really put a price on it as no one knows the state of what fees will be this summer, plus Jorge and his financial methods mean we could get two players for £20 million or pay £40 million for one.

I think we need 4 players. RAN and Vitinha plus two top class players, not players for "tomorrow"

That also depends on who goes out
 

Lycaon

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We need 2 quality defenders, 2 midfielders and 1 up top and that’s adding to the squad so conservatively that would be in the region of £100 mil.
Ain’t going to happen so we’ll be lucky to get any kind of like for like players to replace the one’s that will leave.
Suspect a papering over the cracks exercise by the new man and Mendes.
 

PolishWolf

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It depends on recruitment. We've seen people join teams for peanuts then go on to be gems. And if we do have this issue whereby there was a discrepancy over who should be bought/sold between mendes and in house suggestions. We could get a few gems in for good prices given a healthy network of scouting. Which I seem to recall we were meant to be building up.

I'll give a few examples for clubs that I can find them for.

Aston Villa:
They like to pump in cash willy nilly thinking it will get them everywhere so I don't have extreme examples but one player I think has been good value for money.
Ezri Konsa - £12m younger than max kilman, and an established CB for a premier League team. Only going to go on to get better at 23 and be worth more unless the market drops.

Arsenal: They're terrible with money. They'd over pay for a penny sweet. Don't @ me.

Spurs:
Hojbjerg- been a fantastic player for spurs at about £15m and considering he's been one of their best players despite the money they usually pump in a steal.

Brighton:
Yves Bissouma- 15m currently being touted at 30m+

Burnley: maybe brownhill at 9 m. But I don't rate their purchasing ability. They have a decent academy where they poach local teens that don't quite make the cut at the big boys.

Leicester : like most of the squad have been bought low. Like didn't Mahrez cost them less than 1m? Clairvoyant scouts. Not fair. But they tried to buy big after their foray into winning the prem, and realised quickly it isn't the way for a regional club.

Southampton: it's commonly referred to as their model. So? Idk?




What I'm ultimately trying to say, is buying some good players can be done for less than this ridiculous 30m a player crap that's been going on. 10-20m a player, carefully selected to build a team, not just be a name (I'm looking at you Chelsea) and we will do good. Sure the next level takes being able to spend those figures, but at the moment we need a good player conveyor belt to up our purchasing and spending power.

For a brilliant example of turning out brilliant players year on year from being cheap, see Lille.
 

maws

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What does everyone go we need £20m pound players? We could get 3 Coufals for one RAN. Granted we won’t get loads of cheap bargains but there’s value to be had. Look at Boly and Moutinho and Neto
 

VancouverWolf

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With a new manager coming in and revenues down due to covid, who knows what’ll happen this window?
 

Alex Rae The Substitute

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Realistically I think to become an established mid-table team we need to keep our entire first XI, plus the usual bench fillers as a starting point and then sign 3 x first team ready players.

As an average I’d say each player to walk in the team and improve us will cost £30m, so that’s £90m we’ve got to find.

Number 1 priority is a centre back, and number two is a central midfielder. The thirds player either needs to be a striker, midfielder or defender. Can’t decide the order of priorities for that one.

Either way, can’t say I’m hugely confident we’ll be keeping our first XI AND spending £90m somehow.
 

UEAwolf

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If we aspire to be a top 10 premier league team, we have the following players of that standard:

Patricio*
Semedo
Jonny
Boly
Coady
Neves*
Raul
Neto
Traore
Moutinho*
Podence

* likely to leave. Question marks about players on loan such as Mir and Cutrone.

8 players left. Quite frightening really to think that we also need to add depth to the squad.
 

Oh When the Wolves

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CB (20 million)
CM (20 million)
CAM (20 million)
Striker / wide player (10 million?)
AIT nouri (15 million?)
Vitinha (20 million?)

so 105 million

+ if we sell neves and rui for 35 and 10

CM (20 million)
Keeper (15 million?)

total of 140 million With 45 million incoming

I don’t see this level of investment whatsoever which is why we will go backwards next year once neves leaves
 

Bugsy911

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If we aspire to be a top 10 premier league team, we have the following players of that standard:

Patricio*
Semedo
Jonny
Boly
Coady
Neves*
Raul
Neto
Traore
Moutinho*
Podence

* likely to leave. Question marks about players on loan such as Mir and Cutrone.

8 players left. Quite frightening really to think that we also need to add depth to the squad.

And 2 of those are injured for most of this remaining year.

Make no mistake about it a huge rebuild is needed and that is before you talk about squad depth or covering for future injuries.
 

Golden Oldie

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This business of Neves leaving - is it a foregone conclusion? And if it is why the giveaway price tag of £35m?
I must confess I am in shock and also dismayed, but my own purchasing priority would be in defence - every time the ball gets hoofed across the goalmouth, in the air, I look for the net being brought into play.
 

jrpb-3

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Since Fosun came in we have also quite often loaned players with an option to buy, so we may go down that route again for some which would delay some of the spend for another season which may increase overall total.
 

Wolf Pack leader

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CB (20 million)
CM (20 million)
CAM (20 million)
Striker / wide player (10 million?)
AIT nouri (15 million?)
Vitinha (20 million?)

so 105 million

+ if we sell neves and rui for 35 and 10

CM (20 million)
Keeper (15 million?)

total of 140 million With 45 million incoming

I don’t see this level of investment whatsoever which is why we will go backwards next year once neves leaves
You forget the income from the potential sales of Mir, Curtone, Vinagre - £30m
 

WolfLing

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Maybe less than we think.

Nuno leaving potentially opens the door for a string of players that arguably had no future under him.

Mir, Vinagre, Toti Gomes, Sanderson, Giles, Ronan, Herc, Jordao, Campana and even Cutrone.

There's a whole team of youngsters that could come back into the fold.

One man's rubbish is another man's treasure.
 

WolfLing

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I don't think Wolves have ever brought in 2 quality midfielders in one transfer window, but that is exactly what they must do if Neves goes.

To be fair, July 2017 saw Neves and Pedro Goncalves both join in the same window, although Goncalves wasn't anything special back then!
 

Hawkguy

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How much do we need to spend? Not as much as we think because we should sell on quite a few players. If Bruno does come, we need speedier back players. Coady should bring a nice fee, among others.
 

Hawkguy

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Maybe less than we think.

Nuno leaving potentially opens the door for a string of players that arguably had no future under him.

Mir, Vinagre, Toti Gomes, Sanderson, Giles, Ronan, Herc, Jordao, Campana and even Cutrone.

There's a whole team of youngsters that could come back into the fold.

One man's rubbish is another man's treasure.
Especially if they play vastly different systems.

I always thought Jordao looked pretty good here.
 

MotorWoden

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With a new manager coming in and revenues down due to covid, who knows what’ll happen this window?
Everybodies revenue is down though, so you wont need as much this year as previous ones in my opinion.
 

WolfInSheep'sClothing

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It depends on how our new manager wants to play, and what faith he has in the young players we've got.
 

goldeneyed

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We will be trying for some loans or loan to buys. Not easy to get the better players like this but have to try.

If Ait-Nouri is signed that's £18m plus gone already. Surely Vitinha will not be signed and Jose obviously not.

A CB perhaps around £20m: a central midfielder £25m; another striker/wide player £25m: a secondary midfielder to replace Moutinho £15m say.

That's a minimum. So over £100m logically but assuming say £40m of that can be deferred we are talking about £60m in my view. £35m for Traore, Mir, £10m, Vinagre £10m, Cutrone £7m would cover most of that. Part exchange may apply if we go for Vincius with Vinagre being part of the deal. Cutrone as a makeweight for any deal with Valencia?
 

JOSWolf

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I would argue we need to spend a very large sum if they wish to challenge for a European place next season. Seeing Vile trying to sign Buendia who will cost around £35 million shows you what level of spending we will need to do to improve this squad which is in dire need of upgrades in numerous positions.

Trouble is are Fosun going to invest significantly this summer without selling any of our best players? I have my worries and doubts about this.
 

cannockwolves

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It really is difficult to say without knowing the manager and his preferred system and who will be leaving from the group we would prefer to keep. This is how I would categorise them - knowing there will be some who will leave that will break my heart :(

Keep/Sign

Patricio, Sarkic, Söndergaard
Semedo, Jonny, Boly, Coady, Kilman, RAN, Gomes, Hoever
Neves, Neto, Traore, Podence, MGW
Fabio, Raul

From that list, I do expect Patricio and Neves to leave - £45m if we are lucky by the sounds of it.

Let Go/Not Signed

Sais (£1m)
Dendoncker (£8m)
Moutinho
Marcal
Vintina (not done enough for me)
Jose
Jordao (£500k)
Mir (£12m)
Cutrone (£8m)
Vinagre (£8m)
Sanderson £2m - (only because I think we have better in the U23's)
Giles (£500k)
Campona (£250k)

If that came to pass that would be eight of the current 1st team squad leaving - Patricio, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Sais, Marcal, Vintina, and Jose.

My get rid list would generate about £38m with a bit of luck - and a big chunk of wages as well. Added to the £45m for Patricio and Neves.

So, both groups would generate a transfer kitty of about £80m - maybe we could push that to £90m - but that will have to fund a lot of new players

New Goal Keeper (Loan)
New Centre Back (£15m)
Left-Wing Back - RAN (£20m)
Left-Wing Back - Cover (Loan)
Defensive Midfield (£10m) - Replace Neves
Defensive Midfield (£10m) - Replace Moutinho
Box-to-Box Midfield (£10m) - Replace Dendoncker
Attacking Midfield/No10 (£10m)
Winger (Loan)
Striker (£15m) - Quick Jota type

There will be a lot of players in France looking for moves as financially clubs are on their knees, and with Mendes still onside (hopefully) we might pull a couple of bargains out of the hat - but whatever way you look at it we will see a big turnover of players this season.

I still maintain there are bargains in the lower leagues in the UK that could bolster the squad, yes you might be taking a punt but they may just work and could be useful if we get relegated

I would take a long look at Mallik Wilks at Hull city - 20 goals in 50 games. This season he got 19 goals and 8 assists - I know it's league one, but the lad is only 22. If we had a U23 in league one with those stats we would be calling for him to be given a chance. Maybe we can get him for £15m - Hull will be in the Championship next season, if this lad does as well there, he will be a £25m player. A risk yes, but worth a punt if you ask me.

Siriki Dembélé at Peterborough is another prospect. Ten assists and ten goals and only 24 - really rapid as well. Only a year left on his deal and turned down a contract - Celtic interested apparently. Worth a punt at £500k?

There are deals to be done, we just have to look a bit further than Mendes.
 

oldgoldheart

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We need 3/4 quality players no matter what system we play
So even if the market is subdued its still an £80 million lay out imo,so get ready theres someone going for sure lol
You are right but if rui, moutinho and neves are leaving we need 6-8
 

Chris H

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Depends what the aim is and who is going to leave.

If survival is the aim, then nothing arguably. I think without injuries and a more normal season we’d probably be around where we are now (even assuming others improve). Our kids will be a year older, more experienced and more physically developed. I suppose you’d have to pay for RAN and Vitinha (Jose replaced by Raul) but we’ve got players who will likely be sold this summer that would cover that outlay.

If we want to progress then the 3 players we need are a CB, CM, and a forward. That would improve the existing squad and push us forward. Any players sold would need replacing too.

That doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think, savvy business and a loan to buy it 2 and you could do that with a pretty low net spend.

No one knows what this market is going to be like fee wise. £35m for Neves could turn out to be a huge amount comparable to the overall prices this summer or it could be low. If it’s the former then that would indicate that money would go pretty far so who knows.

I don’t want Neves to leave, but he’s been here 4 years. He may decide it’s time to have a fresh start himself and we may decide now is the time to sell if that’s the case.
 

VancouverWolf

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Everybodies revenue is down though, so you wont need as much this year as previous ones in my opinion.
You could be right but one could say that selling clubs might want more money to help with deficits.
 
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Depends on who the new man is and what system. Regardless of system we definitely need at least one CB. RAN will sign so that's the LB sorted. Anything else would depend on system and what the manager wants from the players in that position.
 
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