We’re only a couple of months into the season, and already we’ve encountered some serious squad depth issues that will need to be resolved as soon as possible.
Mainly, the injuries to Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall have left Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier as the primary fullback option available to Eddie Howe, with neither Emil Krafth or Alex Murphy getting a chance to shine.
But there’s still calls from the fanbase for some real competition to Nick Pope, as well as younger, big game ready options for Fabian Schar and Joelinton.
And with one eye on the upcoming January transfer window, Eddie Howe has dropped a slight hint of what, if anything, we can expect to see in the new year…
Eddie Howe isn’t expecting major business to take place in the January window, but has hinted at some “small outlays” should the right deals emerge that allow us to strengthen mid-season
After some big acquisitions this past summer, including the £69m spent on Nick Woltemade, £55m on Yoane Wissa and another £55m on Anthony Elanga, we’ll want to still exercise some caution on spending too much and putting ourselves at risk of violating PSR.
Howe seems very content with his current crop of talent, though he does admit that a few tweaks and minor additions will always be welcome.
“Every transfer window for me is an opportunity to invest. We will look at it and try and make the best decisions for the future of the club knowing what we have available in that window and then the following windows.
“We will try to make the best decisions in that way. I would love to get to a situation where we can invest in every window.
“Not necessarily big outlays, sometimes small outlays to keep the fluidity in the squad and keep building forward, but we haven’t had those discussions yet.”
Howe made it abundantly clear at the start of the season that he planned to go as far as possible in every competition we play in, including the Champions League.
After injuries woes and a lack of squad depth decimated our last campaign in the competition, Howe will feel a lot more optimistic about chances of progressing through the league phase now he has better, more experienced players at his disposal.
“It’s massive for us that you have players that can come in, and I wouldn’t say make the team play better, but bring their own qualities to the team and in some ways might make the team play better.
“That’s crucial for us. We need the depth. We arguably didn’t have that two years ago and paid the price for that.
“It was a great sign for the squad that the two players [Miley and Ramsey] came in and performed as they did (against Benfica)”
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