What did you all think of the club announcing that Fabianski, Coufal, Cresswell and Danny Ings won’t have their contracts renewed and will be free agents this summer? I didn’t think the Cresswell one was too much of a surprise, even though he’s played a few games at the back end of the season. I think there’s now a clear pathway for Ollie Scarles now to make that left-back berth his own and if not, then I think we’ve got enough there at the moment with Emerson too. I was glad that he got to play on Sunday against Forest and got the reception he did because he’s given the club a lot of service over the years.
The Goalkeeping Dilemma
I think the same could be said about Fabianski and I’m sure the club will be on the lookout for a younger keeper over the summer who wants to be pressing for that number one jersey. Or even, they might be on the lookout for a more experienced keeper who is happy to be number two to Areola. I guess it all depends on what Potter makes of Areola because he may also want to go out and get a new number one albeit that’d be harsh on the French international.
Coufal and Ings: Finding a New Home
I supposed Coufal was also a little bit expected given how well Aaron Wan-Bissaka has done this season. Vlad will be 33 in August but he’ll still feel like he can offer something to another club where he’ll get a regular slot there. As for Danny Ings, he didn’t play enough so it wasn’t a surprise, especially given the wages he’s on. Like Coufal, Ings will be 33 this summer so he too will fancy his chances of getting a contract somewhere else. If there are sides looking for experienced professionals who can do a job, these two might be in demand albeit I feel like Danny’s level might be the Championship. Coufal might be able to get into another Premier League side.
Tinkering vs. A Major Overhaul
Whether this’ll mean we sign four new players remains to be seen because there’s the money side of things. Yes, we’re freeing up some wages but how much we can go out and spend on players is going to be an important factor to how our summer goes. It might be that a couple of the younger players get a chance and that’s all you can ask for when you’re coming through – an opportunity to impress. You’ve just gotta grab it with both hands. Whether or not we see more players leave will depend on who may come in for our players and how much they are offering. Other players may be offered out at a reduced rate – it all depends on what Potter has seen in training. He’s had a while with the players now so should be heading into this summer with a good idea of what they can all do. I think we’ll end up being in the middle of a tinkering of the squad and a major overhaul. The difficulty with a major overhaul is that, like we had last year, if all the players don’t hit the ground running, you’re struggling. Like if you get eight players, how are you going to bed in them all and are they all coming in as regulars or to offer competition and squad depth?
Kudus, Paqueta, and the Untouchable Bowen
But if we need to sell to buy, I think every player’s got their price don’t they? If the club deemed that they could sell Kudus or Paqueta and the price they get is right, then they’ll go. That’s how it is, isn’t it? It’s a revolving door. I don’t think, however, that the club would be willing to listen to offers for Bowen. Or if they did, it would have to be for an incredible amount of money.
The Antonio Question
As for Antonio, I don’t know that the latest is with him, how his rehab is going. If his rehab is going really well and he looks like he can still play a part then maybe he’ll stay but if his rehab isn’t going well, he’s at the age where they might decide to part ways by mutual consent. I think if we got to see him training, we’d have a better idea but at the moment only he and the club know what the likely outcome is going to be. There will be some people saying let’s get shot of him, he’s too old and others will say if he can get back to anywhere near his fitness before, he can still add something to the side.
Old Trafford and the Potter Blueprint
As for the victory up at Old Trafford, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise because they’ve had just as bad a season in the Premier League as we have but they’ve also got a Europa League final to think about. But from our perspective, we’ve still gotta go up there and play what’s in front of us and we did that. I think how we set up helped us but the issue, going forward, is that we can’t set up and play like that at home because you want to see your side playing football albeit our first goal was good football. There’s an expectation to be on the front foot at home and go at teams so I don’t think that victory will be a blueprint we’ll be using heading into next season apart from perhaps Man City or Liverpool away.
Potter’s Prickly Response
As for some of Potter’s outbursts or prickly responses to journalists recently, I think he’s trying to take the heat off the players a bit. I think this might change come next year once he gets his own players in and then he might call some of them out if they aren’t pulling their fingers out. He might view that the new season can’t come quickly enough because he’s probably been given the longest pre-season that any Premier League manager has had. If we end the season strongly, it’d be the best run we’ve had all season so he wouldn’t really want to end it but for the players, they need to be able to go away and reset.
A Hard League to Master
We’ve been incredibly lucky this season that there were three sides a lot worse than us, otherwise we’d have been in a relegation battle. I know I’ve mentioned this before, and they’ve done incredibly well to get promoted, but Leeds, Burnley and the other side that joins them are going to have to build on what they did this season but it’s a hard league, much tougher than the Championship.
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