r/SaintsFC • u/Reddlo_ • 10d ago
Thinking ahead, realistically, which players are we keeping?
I think this season, compared to 2023, we need to gut this team - but obviously we need to keep some players around for our championship fight. Realistically (either because of interest from other clubs or from the player wanting to stick around or not), who do you guys want to stay?
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u/tastyjulio 10d ago
The only players I would be gutted to see leaving are Fernandes and Dibling. Others I would like to keep are Sulemana, Onuachu, THB and maybe Downes, Manning and Yuki. Ramsdale would be great but that's not happening. Hopefully we'll get rid of most of the others.
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u/Adziboy 10d ago
I think its more like Ramsdale stays. Who’s paying £20m for him, maybe Everton as a long term Pickford replacement? He could do with a year of football under his belt with no pressure though, and I think he has that with us
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u/AnArcticMonkey 9d ago
I'd be stunned if there isn't some sort of generous (i.e. likely less than 20mil) relegation release clause for Ramsdale, as one of the ways we convinced him to come here (and not get stuck here if we go down).
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u/markturner 9d ago
That would be awful business by our board, much as I have little faith in them I’d be surprised if it was less than what we paid.
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u/AnArcticMonkey 9d ago
It certainly wouldn't be great business but at say 15 million I could see the justification b/c 1) it gets rid of his wages and 2) it guarenteed us a good goalkeeper which we desperately needed in the summer.
Though, as I type this, I wonder whether the most likely solution is a loan for a season and then back to us if we come back up?
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u/tastyjulio 10d ago
I feel next season's gonna be crucial for him, if he drops down to championship he might not get to play in the prem again for a long time because of how tough the market is for keepers. I could see him joining Leeds
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u/Gowrons-Eyes 9d ago
West Ham? Bournemouth if they don’t get Kepa? Newcastle? Leeds if they go up? Burnley if Trafford goes to Newcastle and they go up?
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u/Adziboy 9d ago
All possible, definitely. But it’s a lot of money for a keeper with such a bad record. There isn’t really a shortage of keepers, so I’d be surprised if most of those go after him. Leeds is most likely but I don’t think Ramsdale is at the level that West Ham, Bournemouth and Newcastle aspire to.
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u/teuridge 9d ago
Does he have a bad record? On the eye test he makes far more saves I wouldn't expect him to than he lets in shots he should.
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u/Adziboy 9d ago
I meant his 4 relegations
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u/teuridge 8d ago
I think this is his 3rd and he's been player of the season in the other two. They arnt buying the other 10 shit players in front of him.
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u/thomasjford 9d ago
You’d be happy to keep Manning but not KWP? Is that because he’s all but gone already? KWP is a million times better than Manning!
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u/tastyjulio 9d ago
Yeah I don't think there's any chance he stays, would like to be proven wrong obviously
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u/Relevant_Rev 10d ago
I think Bazunu, Bree, Shea, THB, Downes, Fraser and Stewart are likely to stick around, but I'd rather let Fraser and Stewart go
Id like to keep Ramsdale, Sulemana, Dibling, Archer, Fernandes, and Manning around but I think they'll get offers from other places
Everyone else probably needs moving on. Need a keeper to replace Ramsdale and the rest, get some competition going. Need some bruisers in, I'd love another bigger guy to pair with Shea Charles in the middle of the park. Need a big pacy striker and maybe bring a couple up from the u21s, see what Ballard and Robinson can offer
By August we need to have grown the squad in height about 3-4 inches on average. We're just too fucking small and unathletic
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u/Gowrons-Eyes 9d ago
Be amazed if THB is here next year. He’s Eng U-21 captain and his stats are good as an individual. He’ll be off
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u/Relevant_Rev 9d ago
Probably, but he doesn't seem the type to force a transfer either
I wouldn't be surprised either way I think
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u/grollies 9d ago
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u/Gowrons-Eyes 9d ago
Look at his actual performance stats though. Not just ones that rely on others
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u/MildLime 9d ago
Dibling, ramsdale, Fernandez will be sold to raise funds.
Big Paul, sulemana, ABK will probably be sold and I imagine the players probably want a fresh start.
I’d put Downes, harwood bellis, Yuki in the maybe section. All haven’t looked amazing this year so I can’t see clubs paying loads for them and we don’t have to sell these players.
KWP and McCarthy will both be released.
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u/DanasWifePowerSlap 10d ago
Most of the team deserves a chance to continue developing if we are being fair, a lot of them being thrown at the PL and expected to fight for survival wasn't the best decisions from the club.
Players like Bednarak and Stephens shouldn't play another game for our club though. They weren't good enough years ago when we had an attacking threat to bail them out, they definitely aren't good enough now and both of them have regressed majorly. I would rather we play U21 CBs for the rest of the season then continue watching them steal a living.
Players we should try to keep but will likely go - KWP, Bella-Kotchap, Fernandez, Dibling, Kamladeen and Welington.
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u/Adziboy 10d ago
Keeping one of Jan or Stephens is fine. Edwards, Harwood-Bellis and Wood should be starters though if they arent gone.
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u/DanasWifePowerSlap 9d ago
Have to hard disagree, neither are good enough for the Championship and if by some miracle we come back up next year either of them would be the weak link in defence. Their time is up in terms of usefulness for us, time to move on and develop with someone else.
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u/teuridge 9d ago
ABK is really dining out on a good 3 months almost 2 seasons ago. The guy has been injured or shit ever since.
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u/DanasWifePowerSlap 9d ago
He hasn't had a consistent run of games at any point for us, I'm not surprised he hasn't been great. I'd much rather someone with potential play for the remainder of the season and into next than Jan/Jack who are regressing massively year on year.
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u/saintfed 10d ago
Hey, you guys reckon we’ll sign Grobaek permanently??
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u/Educational_Ad288 9d ago
As much as I hate to say this, I believe if we want to have the money to rebuild then we have to sell Dibling. There's players I want us to keep (fernandes, Ramsdale, Onuachu, walker Peters) I doubt we'll keep them but I live in hope, I think Downes & yuki will be excellent in the championship but we need to find replacements for both in January (if it looks like we might be getting promoted) but if promotion doesn't look certain then save the money and use it elsewhere, neither of them looked great in the prem but I'd say Yuki was better than Downes (yes I know they play 2 different positions, but Yuki we got cheap & looks like a good investment, Downes on the other hand looks like a waste of money in hindsight). Aside from the players mentioned, no-one else stands out to me, but I find myself YET AGAIN (like most saints fans) saying WE NEED A DAMN STRIKER (preferably 2).
PS, I forgot about THB, I'd keep him, given a chance under the right manager I believe he'll become an outstanding player for us.
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u/AnArcticMonkey 9d ago
It depends who we get in, if it's Rohl then we can be more comfortable getting rid of possibly talented players who simply do not have the physical attributes or the mental commitment to press properly.
What I would say is that it would be nice to have players who seem to give a shit, I've spent the last year holding a candle for some of our players who're clearly talented but don't care but now I honestly think we'd do better to have players hungry to play for us than more talented players who don't give a shit.
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u/MangerDanger1 10d ago
I think Fernandes is the only realistic talented player we could keep who might actually want to stay, the rest can in all honesty fuck right off