Originally Posted by Elyan:
“Well we will lose three midfielders in Arteta, Rosicky and Flamini. My guess is he will replace at least one of those with Jeff Reine-Adelaide. We also have Jon Toral comeing back from a decent loan season at Birmingham, and Danny Crowley from Barnsley - although I don't think he's quite ready yet. Toral definitely is though, and should be given a chance.
Isaac Hayden has had a good year with Hull, and he may be in contention to provide defensive cover. Akpom has also been up there, and had a mixed season. The strangest one has been Gedion Zelalem, who set the Scottish Championship on fire for the first few months of the season, then suffered a slight knock, and has not been able to get anywhere near that form back. He is definitely too immature yet, and should be sent on loan again.
Wellington Silva is another who has had an inconsistent season with Bolton, and doesn't look like a top rate player at all at the moment. Same goes for Maitland-Niles, on loan at Ipswich. I think both should be sold.
Of the first team players that we have, I'd like to see some shifted out permanently:
Szczesny (loose cannon. Not good enough)
Oxlaide-Chamberlain (Still no more than a good prospect - at 23. Inconsistent. Injury-prone)
Walcott (Not good enough)
Campbell (Tries hard. Not good enough)
Debuchy (Lost his place. Won't get back in the team)
Sanogo (Hasn't worked out. Not good enough)”
I certainly hope that Arteta, Risocky and Flam will be replaced by two 'proper' signings and that the youth/2nd team players that you mention are not considered for the 1st team. I dread to think what would happen if we have to rely on loan players with experience at Bolton, Burnley, Barnsley, Hull and Rangers...
Agree with your list of players to be shifted out though, but I'd like one of Walcott or Ox to stay.
Interestingly, Van Der Wiel is now a free agent and he'd be a great option for the RB position, but whether he'd agree to join as 'back up', or risk 'killing off' Bellerin is difficult. As you say, Debuchy would need shifted anyway before ODL will think of getting cover there. It would show ambition though and get us quality back up there and he'd be cheap (in terms of potential transfer fee anyway).
Time to show proper ambition and push the boat out for quality signings, ideally one in each central position. They'll all get playing time on account of our busy schedule and terrible injury record anyway.