SAVVY_MONKEY takes a look at who may and may not make the cut when Paul Lambert submits his 25-man squad to the Premier League
It has been said that ‘clearing out dead wood generates more value than striking gold.’ Well, although ‘dead wood’ is far too strong a term, it’s clear that the careers of certain players would be best served elsewhere as we look ahead to the first top flight season for seven years.
The spirit and atmosphere at any club are as important as the talent on show – just ask Manchester City Boss, Roberto Mancini. Keen to preserve a hungry team and remove any negativity, Mancini has felt the need to exclude £68m worth of players including Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz, Shay Given, Wayne Bridge, Nedum Onouha and Michael Johnson – all of whom could walk into most Premier League sides.
Whilst Paul Lambert doesn’t have that luxury (the whole squad cost less than £15m to assemble), the removal of any negativity remains extremely pertinent to success.
With Matthew Gill and Jens Berthel Askou already having moved on, there will be a few players who didn’t have the greatest of impact last season taking a cautious glance at their mobiles for any calls from the club.
In fact, there are still a large number of players with first team experience for whom the future remains very uncertain; namely Steven Smith, Luke Daley, Tom Adeyemi, Owain Tudor-Jones, Stephen Hughes, Anthony McNamee, Chris Martin, Aaron Wilbraham, Oli Johnson and Cody McDonald.
I’m not expecting any of these players to feature regularly next year. However, removing all ten of these names from the first team equation means the numbers look thin on the ground.
Lambert has to submit his 25-man squad at the end of the transfer window and with the under-21 rule; this is not as easy as it sounds.
We are still a little short on numbers and it would be suprising not to see a goalkeeper (Forster?), defender (Kyle McNaughton?, Cardiff) and midfielder (Lansbury?) all join in the next six weeks and slot into that all important elite 25-man squad.
Possible 25-man Squad
1 Ruddy, John
— 2 Extra Goalkeeper–
3 Barnett, Leon
4 Ward, Elliott
5 de Laet, Ritchie
6 Drury, Adam
7 Tierney, Marc
8 Whitbread, Zak
9 Martin, Russell
— 10 Extra Defender–
11 Johnson, Bradley
12 Crofts, Andrew
13 Fox, David
14 Hoolahan, Wesley
15 Lappin, Simon
16 Surman, Andrew
17 Pilkington, Anthony
18 Bennett, Elliott
–19 Extra Midfielder —
20 Holt, Grant
21 Jackson, Simeon
22 Vaughan, James
23 Wilbraham, Aaron
24 Martin, Chris
25 Morison, Steve
Under 21’s
Rudd, Declan
Steer, Jed
Francomb, George
Daley, Luke
Dawkin, Josh
Adeyemi, Tom
Smith, Korey
Moving On?
Steven Smith
Owain Tudur Jones
Anthony McNamee
Oli Johnson
Stephen Hughes
Cody McDonald
Premier League Rules:
– 25-man squad submitted 1st September
– Clubs can supplement squad with unlimited number of players under the age of 21 (Defined as ‘born on or after 1st January 1990’)
– Eight home-grown players to be included
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