It’s getting busy up at the Cottage for the last fortnight of the summer transfer window. Mark Hughes is hinting that he might be about to splash some more of the Chairman’s cash. On speaking about yesterday arrival of Dembele, Hughes said;
I look forward to working with him, and to hopefully, a few more additions before the window closes.
No hints about who it might be, so we’re back to relying on the back pages of the national press. First up, us and Arsenal are leading the chase for Shay Given who has been granted a green light by Mancini to leave Eastlands, no doubt on the basis of Joe Hart’s performance against Spurs last weekend. This is good news for us either way: if Arsenal get Given, we (I assume) get to keep Schwarzer. Or we end up with a shiny new goalkeeper who’s not bad at all actually. Everyone’s a winner.
According to some of the press, Hughes is still playing hardball and asking Arsenal for striker Carlos Vela plus some cash in exchange for Schwarzer’s services. This would further bolster our attacking options along with Dembele.
No news (rumoured or otherwise) on any more defensive or midfield cover though, which is a shame as I think we’re looking a bit thin in those areas now. No offence to poor old Senderos but we can’t wait for him to recover from his injury. Still, much can happen in 2 weeks and clubs are still pondering who will make their 25-man squads – whether or not there will be any more “victims” of the new rules remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Captain Dan has been urging Hughes to consider the existing squad, several of whom are into the last year of their contracts. Eeeek. Danny rightly says;
Strangely enough, and I don’t know why the club has let it happen, but seven or eight of the squad are into the last year of their contracts.
I don’t think that’s particularly healthy, and not many clubs allow that to happen. I think it’s important that we get it sorted as a club because it is difficult for players to be having a year left on their contracts.
He added;
New additions are all very well and good, but I think we need to get the players with a year left tied down and keep as many of the squad together as possible.
Wise words indeed. It may be that Hughes is concentrating on transfer activity now, and will look at extending contracts once the immediacy of the transfer window has passed. Let’s hope so anyway.
I figure the transfer busy is a tricky one, also added to the fact that Spaky got a late start to the process this summer. I too hope that once it closes the current crop is still around and their contracts (those who should be extended) are extended.
We know that Schwarzer and Konch are on their last year, and I believe Davies was another before he put pen to paper at the weekend. Who else is looking at being a f ree agent* at years end if they don’t get a new deal?
*Pardon the term, stateside here…but I think that is more civilized for the parties involved than saying they are *out of contract*.