2023 Summer transfers

So who do we keep and who do we bury?

Goalkeepers:
Henderson, Navas, Horvath and Hennessey. First two loans, doubt we will see Navas again. Henderson's injury means signing him isn't necessarily desirable. Hennessey and Horvath both with another year on contracts, though Luton may be keen on buying the latter. I think we'll be buying a couple of keepers.

Defence:
Loans ending: Lodi and Aurier. I think both have done enough to try to keep.
No others out of contract. Felipe, Worrall, Boly, McKenna and Cook out of contract 2024. I'd keep Felipe, the others are arguably holding us back.
Of the rest, Williams, Toffolo (surprisingly), Niakhate, Biancone and Richards (by default) might still contribute, Panzo, Laryea and Soh would be on my move on with thanks for not contributing list.

Midfield:
Out of contract and best of luck to Colback and Cafu, bugger off to the out of contract Lingard and Arter.
Freuler also out of contract. Worth another go.
Ojeda and O'Brien both playing over the Atlantic with time on their contracts here. Seems neither has a future with us now we are staying up. Fornah clearly going as well.
Still have Aguilera to come,who I'm not sure has ever crossed the Atlantic.
Shelvey, Kouyate and Mangala is more than enough "just about adequate", need replacing all three with better. Yates, Danilo and one other would be my central three next season.
Scarpa? Worth a preseason? I don't know.

Forwards:
Taylor and Ayew are out of contract. Great!
Gibbs-White and Johnson are on the "hold on unless crazy money is offered.
Awoniyi has 5 in 3 games, was looking good prior to injury, definitely worth another season.
Surridge I assume we kept for relegation. Move him on.
Mighten might've been better, he needs the right move now to save his career.
Dennis seemed unwanted from the start. Harsh, but replace.
Hwang. Hwo?

So ideally, I'd be looking to add to:
Horvath, Hennessey +1
Lodi, Aurier, Williams, Toffolo, Felipe, Biancone, Richards, Niakhate +1
Freuler, Yates, Danilo, Scarpa +2 one being Ward-Prowse
Gibbs-White, Johnson, Awoniyi +3

GK: I would absolutely sign Hendo as our starting keeper. We need a better and younger backup. Horvath obviously has no place here, and Hennessey is mediocre and older than dirt. Navas isn't sticking around to be a backup. Buy a keeper.

Defence: Felipe, Worrall, Niakhate are all back, I'd keep Boly for the right money, Cook goes with our gratitude, I'd listen to offers for McKenna and Toffolo. Lodi is too expensive but I don't think anyone else is paying 26M either, there's probably a deal to be done. Look forward to the return of Neco. Serge is not on loan, he was a free transfer - I seem to recall we have an option for another year, I would definitely activate it. I'm also taking Djed's call if he decides he made a big mistake. Don't care about Biancone and Richards, until they give me reason to believe otherwise I assume they're useless. So I'm probably starting the season with:

Worrall, Felipe, Niakhate, Boly, McKenna and a new signing
Aurier, Neco, Lodi, a new left back

Midfield: Freuler is not a Premier League player. I don't like Kouyate much. I don't know if Yates is good enough, but he's earned the right to try and become so. We're probably stuck with Shelvey although depending on how the whole falling out with SSC thing plays out he might just want to fuck off and we might be happy for him to do so. Haven't seen really anything of Scarpa but the pedigree is good enough to persist with. LOB has had a really rough deal and I'd keep him for sure, but he might just want a clean break. Danilo and Mangala are the only locked in starters for me next season.

Danilo, Mangala, Yates, Scarpa, one of Shelvey and LOB (I'd prefer Lewis), plus a "throw all the money at this guy" signing - my dream is Kalvin Phillips but that might be a little too ambitious. Single biggest signing of the summer is in centre mid though, for me.

Forwards: easy one this. Brennan, MGFW, Taiwo, Sam all locked in. Dennis and Ayew can fuck the fucking fuck off. Lingard is the difficult one - he has the talent and he's an awesome guy who's beloved in the dressing room, but for some reason he can't make it work on the pitch. I'll go with whatever SSC decides on that one. I'm adding two strikers in the summer.

I don't think Sam is locked in. I think we'll be looking to upgrade him.

Lingard can stay for the right wages.

To be clear: that was what I would do. I doubt the club follows my plan, although they should. I still love Sam and think he has a lot to offer, although he might want to go somewhere to play regular football as well.

Basically what Russ said with some minor differences. Wood is a good Plan B unless he gets an offer from, say, Middlesbrough or Subsequent, which we should accept without hesitation.
McKenna I think can make it.

We desperately need a keeper though. If Hendo gets a better offer (which I doubt) then we are deeply in the brown stuff. Brice might fancy a go on real wages.

Still get emotional about Djed. Possibly my favourite ever loan star.

Players I'd be interested in from clubs that are or might be going down:

Southampton - Walker-Peters, Bednarek and Bella-Kotchap have all looked reasonable when I've seen them.
Leicester - Soyuncu looks decent, but after the way that entire team has checked out for most of the season I don't think I want any of them with their shitty attitudes. Harvey Barnes might be an exception.
Leeds - Tyler Adams is excellent and would fit the way we play perfectly. Rodrigo would make a good back up for MGW but he'd cost too much.
Everton - I really like Iwobi but I'm not sure how he'd fit. DCL would be a good asset but he'd cost too much given his health record.

Assuming Man Utd aren’t cunts with the price then Henderson will sign.

Shelvey and wood I would actually sell.

Hudson Odoi. And Conor Gallagher would be lovely additions.

I would get Djed and Keinan in.

I also think we will go for Harvey Barnes.

And if we were to make a massive splash then that Ajax midfielder who just happens to be mates with his Senegalese partner kouyate would be worth the outlay assuming Liverpool aren’t in for him.

Need a back up for Taiwo.

Funny that the recruitment team who got fired got some great players in.

It’s going to be a fun summer.

Lodi and Aurier have options . I fully expect us to use them.

Chicago: splashing the cash!

And if I had a ridiculous request for a player then I would go balls out for Mitoma at Brighton who is the bees knees.

Brighton will never sell him though.

Chicago: Dreaming.

You say "actually" like this might be the tiniest bit controversial. Even I think we should sell Wood if someone's interested, I just don't think anyone would be.

Might be more fun to look at the teams that narrowly missed out on promotion. Might be some gems there.

I think there will be plenty of teams who would love to sign Shelvey and Wood. The number of teams willing to pay their wages might be somewhat smaller though.

Well, yeah. Thought that was obvious.

TBF, I got the impression that Shelvey left Newcastle because he wanted playing time. If SSC tells him he's not getting it here, he might be motivated to move.

Wood probably still has a role.