[Albion] First Game Starting Line-Up Prediction 25/26

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Full back has been talked about a bit

But centre back? There's likely to be a few in a few out here

Dunk - Stays of course, but clearly sucession planning needs to be in place.

Webby - 50/50 whether he says, but even if he does then he'll only play half the games. Put him down as a quarter of a player

Van Hecke - This is the big risk of the summer. The player we least want to lose, but if the right offer comes in we probably will.

Cashin - Unlikely he'll be here. Will be loaned out initially is my guess.

Igor -Does he want to stay as a perma back up? Does the club want him? I personally don't think he's done enough to realistically show he should be starting in a top half half PL team. I think we'll cut our losses on him.

Remodelling our defence is going to be the story of the summer in my view. I expect plenty of activity at centre back

Still have to ask why we signed him.

 

[Right Back]

Interesting that many are going with Wieffer and Baleba in midfield. FH always goes with one of them this season and doesn’t seem to see them as a pairing.

 

[Silverhatch]

It’s JPvH that I fear losing most. What with the blessing/curse of getting POTS, I fear it’s almost inevitable that a club with a pedigree above our own comes in for him. I was delighted to hear that he had no plans to leave, but I suspect that position will be tested before the end of the transfer window.

Meaning no disrespect to Lewis, who’s clearly had to play through injury for parts of this season, JPvH has been incredible this year.

There are very few PSR compliant clubs that’ll be able to meet the Albion’s (internal) valuation of Van Hecke. The footballing ecosystem is a different beast currently and player representatives know that plenty of the big hitters are financially hamstrung (unless they ‘play’ the rules).

 

[singing4seagulls]

Interesting that many are going with Wieffer and Baleba in midfield. FH always goes with one of them this season and doesn’t seem to see them as a pairing.

Not sure if that's down to injuries and guiding a new player into a new team/league.

Since Matts has been getting regular starts, we've had Beleba as a centre back, or Matts has been at right back. Not had the chance to see them both in midfield yet.

We'll find out next season I guess.

 

[ricky marlowe fan club]

I don't think we'll be signing many players in the summer but I think they'll be a lot of churn with some loaned players gaining a squad place and some big, big sales. Mitoma to the Europa Cup winners, Pedro to Liverpool/Arsenal/Europa Cup winner/Chelsea, Adingra to Marseilles, Enciso to Atalanta/Napoli etc.

I suspect we'll start with something like this.

Players like Wieffer, Baleba, Kadıoğlu and Minteh could have massive seasons for us.

-------------------Verbruggen----------------------
New RB----JPvH-----------Webster----Estupiñán
------------Wieffer-----------Baleba---------------
Minteh------------Georginio-------------Kadıoğlu
---------------------Welbeck-----------------------

Rest of squad:

Steele
McGill
Veltman
Igor
Dunk
New CB
Buonanotte
Tzimas
Yalcouyé
Gomez
Hinshelwood
Ayari
O'Riley
Gruda
March
Osman

Sold:
Pedro
Mitoma
Enciso
Adingra
Sima
Barco
Sarmiento
Moran

Loaned:
Ferguson
Watson
Cozier-Duberry
Scherpen
Doyle

Edits:
Rushworth
Beadle
Do-Young
Cashin

Released - end of contract:
Offiah
Lamptey
Duffus

Retired:
Milner

Still missing , Jackson, O,Mahoney, Vickers, Cahill, Flower, Barrington, and Chouchane , Any others?

 

[North Carolina Supporter]

-------------------Verbruggen-----------------
Veltman —- - JPvH-----Webster---Estupiñán
-----------Baleba---------Ayari———-
Minteh------------Georginio-------- Mitoma —————— Joao Pedro ———————

Rest of squad:
Hinshelwood
Ferdi
Weiffer
Dunk
Rushworth/McGill ?
Buonanotte
Yalcouyé
Gomez
O'Riley
Gruda
Osman

Sold:
Igor
Enciso
Adingra
Sima
Barco
Sarmiento
Moran
Steele

Loaned:
Ferguson
Tzimas
Watson
Cozier-Duberry
Scherpen
Doyle
Beadle
Do-Young
Cashin
Duffus
Offiah
Lamptey?

Retired:
Milner (overdue)
March (sadly)

 

[Hugo Rune]

Still missing , Jackson, O,Mahoney, Vickers, Cahill, Flower, Barrington, and Chouchane , Any others?

They'll be a few more. Difficult to keep tabs on the enormous amount of playing staff!

 

[Machiavelli]

This despite the fact that he has played 24,27,37,37 and 35 games so far in the last 5 seasons, his best run in the whole of his career.

Who makes this bollox up, and worse still, what idiots believe it

*edit* I was only quoting league matches, I've now added the cups

It's not just believing it. It's also confidently trotting it out on a public forum. I've lost the will to try and explain what constituted the turning point in Welbeck's fitness/appearance because those that need to read it won't bother.

 

[Machiavelli]

The club is going to have some surprises in place for us this summer as they always do.

That said, I think the summer is more about which of our existing players can we get to sign a new improved deal than how many new players can we get in the door. For example, I think Lamptey will sign on for another few years.

If we can do a deal with at least one of Van Hecke and Baleba along the lines of, "sign on till 2030, you'll be right up with our top wage earners and if anyone offers £60m+ you'll be free to go" I think we'll have done well.

We'll need full backs on both sides. I really think we need to see what is happening with Kadioglu. The way this is going, is he even going to be fit for the start of pre season?

FH said a few weeks back that he could potentially play this season so, on that basis, I'd say that pre-season will be fine.

 

[Withdean South Stand]

Beadle
Kadioglu
Van Hecke
Dunk
Estupinan
Hinshelwood
Baleba
Minteh
Rutter
Sancho
Welbeck

I think we'll have sold Verbruggen and Rushworth to freshen up our GK options, for starters. I also suspect we'll sell Mitoma and Joao Pedro's as good as gone. I would like to see Bounnanotte given his chance to play, but I do suspect we're going to go out and sign an expensive winger. We were linked to Sancho before, I think we'll go get him.