Really? That's interesting. I doubt it very much. In fact, on what I've seen so far my biggest concern is that in attempting the thankless task of replacing Eze we've scattergun overspent on a range of options who are not only miles short of his class, but also just not good enough at all.
To me, Johnson has some pedigree but has been so anonymous that we might as well play with ten men. Pino is such a liability that it's like the opposition are playing with twelve. Guessand seems incredibly hit and miss, beyond even the most generous margin for error for erratic attacking players. Esse has shown almost no sign of having sufficient quality. Uche actually seems a better bet than most of them, but that's only because of how poorly they've all played rather than the few positive things he's done. Larsen looks ok so far but it's such a lot of money that he'll have to do far more to justify it. Nketiah just hasn't happened at all. Thank God for Sarr.
Of course, I hope that they all come good. In fact, I'd say task No1 for the new manager is getting value for money out of the forwards we have bought. He'll have his work cut out, though. The signings have been such a disappointment, and shown so little sign that there is anything there to persevere with, that I'd expect the club are looking at whether they can recoup anything on some of these. Apparently we would, injury permitting, have sold Nketiah to West Ham as well as Mateta to Milan. It would be interesting to see what would happen if anyone offered us £20m for Johnson, or £10-12m for Pino. Uche won't be here. I can't see that Guessand is worth the agreed price, especially with what we've spent already.
You'd think Esse would have a greater chance of getting in given all this, yet he's been packed off on loan and not recalled even as we continue to struggle. Even if the idea was to get him up and running in some way so that he would be a genuine option for the new manager, it hasn't worked at all so far.
