Team for next season?

[Classic94]

I've noticed that a lot of players are out of contract in the summer. All of Schwarzer, Etheridge, Somogyi, Hangeland, Senderos, Baird, Davies, Diarra & Duff's deals expire in a couple of months. Even Reither, Karagounis and Petric are only on short-term deals.

Unless we start tying some of these down to new contracts, an awful lot of rebuilding will have to be done come the end of the season. What I find most concerning is that, of the above, there are many who I'd be reluctant to keep hold of. Most are either injury-prone, ageing or simply not good enough. All will have to replaced at some point in the near future. There are even question marks over the ones I'd like to keep. Riise, Kasami etc. also look to be on their way out.

I have my doubts as to whether Hangeland will stay with us beyond this season. Additionally, Diarra's injury problems and Duff's dip in form are big concerns. Nevertheless, I'd like to think that Reither, Karagounis and Petric will have earned extensions. Either way, this would leave us with a threadbare squad going into the summer because if it were up to me, Schwarzer, Somogyi, Senderos, Baird, Diarra and Davies would all be allowed to leave. Diarra's a tough one. I'm not questioning his ability. However, he has not featured regularly enough to justify keeping him, and a club of our size cannot afford to carry passengers. We are better off finding a replacement - preferably this month. In this sense, Huddlestone would an ideal signing. We are crying out for a Dembele-esque, creative midfielder to sit alongside Sidwell.

This leaves us with a possible starting XI of:

Stockdale?

Reither   Hangeland?   ?   Richardson

Sidwell   ?

Dejagah   Ruiz   Kacaniklic

Berbatov


I imagine that Hughes and Duff will still be with us, but neither should be regular starters next season. As it stands, it looks like it's going to be a very busy summer for us. On a side note, it will be an ideal opportunity to give youth a chance. Improvements made to our academy in recent years have been well documented by the club, time to see the results. Burn, Grimmer, Williams, Mesca, Donegan, David, Minkwitz, Banya, Woodrow, Tankovic etc. sound like good prospects, perhaps we should give them a run over pre-season? Regardless, depending on the nature of our business this month, at least 5/6 players will have to be bought in just to make up the numbers.

Food for thought.