As the 2016 summer transfer window enters deadline day, Richard Jolly addresses some key questions surrounding Premier League clubs.
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WHAT NOW FOR JACK WILSHERE?
Supposedly one of the greatest English players of his generation, a footballer whose talent was apparent from an early age, he no longer earns a place in his club team and was made available for loan. Not just Joe Hart, but also Jack Wilshere. The midfielder has played 37 minutes of football this season and was omitted from the England squad. He only featured for Arsenal for 141 minutes in another injury-hit campaign last year. He needs to stay fit and requires a key role in a side. Yet finding one at this stage of the transfer window, when many clubs’ plans for their first-choice side have been finalised, is no easy task.
CAN MANCHESTER CITY OFFLOAD THEIR FRINGE PLAYERS?
Hart’s probable loan move to Torino should spare goalkeeper and club an awkward situation. Yet while Pep Guardiola has declared that Claudio Bravo will be his final signing of the window, City have other business to do. Samir Nasri is attracting interest from Besiktas and, while the Frenchman emerged from exile to make an encouraging first appearance for Guardiola on Sunday, he then cast doubt on his future by suggesting he may leave anyway. Guardiola has stated that Yaya Toure will definitely stay, but Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala, who are yet to even be afforded a place on the bench by Guardiola, surely need to find new employers. Given the number of foreign players at the Etihad Stadium, there is the risk neither will even be named in the squads registered for the Premier League and Uefa Champions League, meaning they will not play until 2017.
CAN LEICESTER CITY LAND A BIG SIGNING?
The champions’ start to the season may feel unexceptional but they have already made statements of intent. Not on the pitch but in the transfer window, with additions such as Ahmed Musa and Bartosz Kapustka. More seem planned. Sporting Lisbon’s prolific Algerian striker Islam Slimani and Euro 2016-winning midfielder Adrien Silva have been on Leicester’s radar. Getting one would be impressive. Adding both, at a combined cost of around £50 million (Dh240m), would be remarkable and would give a club who kept Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez a formidable attacking armoury.
WILL IT BE ALL CHANGE AT WEST BROMWICH ALBION?
Tony Pulis’ mantra in recent weeks has been that he needed five more signings. A first, Tottenham Hotspur winger Nacer Chadli, has belatedly arrived for a club record £13m. A still more expensive player, Malaga’s Ignacio Camacho, looks to be on his way. That still leaves three more additions for Pulis, who often does late business, to complete. Plus there is the question of who leaves: Callum McManaman and Cristian Gamboa seem likely to and Rickie Lambert may while Saido Berahino, who attracts interest every window, is now in the final year of his contract and is danger of representing unfulfilled potential, is an intriguing case.
CAN HULL CITY FINALLY SIGN SOME PLAYERS?
While their Premier League rivals have been frantically busy buying this summer, Hull have had an impasse, neither appointing a manager nor recruiting any players. They began the campaign with just 13 fit senior footballers, a number that has swelled to 14. Yet their encouraging start, featuring successive wins and a valiant display in defeat to Manchester United, indicated they are not the hopeless cause many presumed. Their first XI is fine, but they require strength in depth. Many – Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Bristol City forward Jonathan Kodjia, Manchester United attacker Will Keane, Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason, Derby’s Ireland international Jeff Hendrick, Southampton winger Jay Rodriguez, Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall – have been mooted as targets. Hull surely need to sign at least three of them, if not more.
