I can’t think there can be anyone who isn’t happy at the business the club has done in this transfer window. Since the end of last season we have added 1 goalkeeper, 1 centre back, 1 right back, 3 midfielders, 2 wingers and 1 striker and if you include loan fees, we’ve spent around £34 million. Massive congratulations, not just to the joint chairmen and Karren Brady, but also to Slaven Bilic and Tony Henry for making the club so appealing to new signings. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you sign players who aren’t represented by Mark Curtis, isn’t it? Make no mistake, few of these players would have been signed if Sam Allardyce had still been the manager.
So take a look at the new WHTID Squad Page and you’ll see that when you take the Development Squad out of the question, we have a first team squad of 34 players. Every position has at least two top quality players covering. Take a look…
GOALKEEPERS: Adrian, Darren Randolhp, Raphael Spiegel
LEFT BACKS: Aaron Cressell, Stephen Hendrie, Lewis Page
RIGHT BACKS: Carl Jenkinson, James Tomkins, Joey O’Brien
CENTRE BACKS: Angelo Ogbonna, James Tomkins, Winston Reid, James Collins, Reece Burke, Reece Oxford, Doneil Henry
MIDFIELDERS: Alex Song, Cheikou Kouyate, Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang, Reece Oxford, Diego Poyet, Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, Josh Cullen
WINGERS: Victor Moses, Michail Antonio, Morgan Amalfitano
STRIKERS: Andy Carroll, Enner Valencia, Mauro Zarate, Diafra Sakho, Mikica Jelavic, Elliot Lee, Martin Samuelsen
Surely that has to be the strongest squad we have ever had. Slaven Bilic will have a real selection headache for the Newcastle game. If I were him, I’d stick to the eleven who beat Liverpool, assuming Mark Noble has his red card rescinded.
But of course, we will all have in mind what is actually our strongest side. Here’s mine…
Adrian, Cresswell, Jenkinson, Ogbonna, Reid, Song, Kouyate, Noble, Payet, Moses, Carroll
I guess you may disagree…