Transfer Window Opens
-- The Premier League transfer window reopens and for the first time in my career at Dover, I have a boatload of money to spend in JUNE, before I'm even given my budget for the upcoming season. After some adjustments made in order to increase my wage budget to £450,000, I still have over £16 million available to spend before July hits. I may make one more adjustment to my wage budget if I can't spend that whole amount just to set myself up better for next year and to accommodate some contract extensions that are hopefully forthcoming.
-- Here's my conundrum and it's a good one to have I guess - I have an extremely young and talented team and my preferred starting eleven from last year all return. The question is: do I look for BETTER first team talent or do I continue to ride the wave with a young team that was already good enough to finish 4th last year and just add depth and maybe some young talent for the future? If I stay the course, I'm sure there is a cohesion benefit to having the same group going out together for another year. But with so much money to spend right now, plus the added transfer budget that is assuredly coming in July, it's awfully tempting to go out and make a big splash or two.
If you're me…where do you look to make improvements? I still think a STUD, pacy centre half back may be in order after I was forced to sell Cristian Rodriguez last year.
Claudio Contreras is a stud in the making but he's still 18 and a bit raw while
Paulus Tjiuoro is capable but not exactly star material. I've got a great amount of young talent at the position too but it would be nice to have a core player near his prime.
As it stands right now, we have one player that comes in right as the window opens, something I announced in an earlier post…
Transfer IN
-- We welcome midfielder
Shaun Spall to Dover, a former England U21 International, who we pick up from Peterborough in the Championship for £500,000.
Spall has solid intangibles and a very nice skill-set and I envision him to be a great backup option at the centre of the park. He's been VERY productive throughout his career and last year scored 4 goals with 16 assists in 38 appearances in the Championship.
International Update
--
Giorgos Gesios is at it again, scoring a hat trick in a 3-0 Greece win over Denmark in World Cup qualifying.
Neil Cairney also played well representing Scotland as they defeated Malta 3-1. Both Greece and Scotland are looking good right now in their respective groups to move on.
Scouting Update
-- I've made re-working my scouting system a priority in the offseason and in the process, I let two of my long-term scouts out of their contracts a few weeks before they expired. In their place are scouts that I hired from top European clubs to take their place, as I look to scour the top leagues in the world with scouts that are born and reside in those particular areas. I'll have two scouts permanently entrenched in England, two in Spain, one in Germany, two in Italy and two in France. Their sole responsibility will be to unearth prospects and other talent in their countries. I also have two scouts randomly patrolling "Tier 2" leagues (Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil and Holland) and I'll have three scouts roaming the rest of the world. I'm hopeful that by having more structure in my scouting program that it will help deliver more information from all of the best leagues in the world. I also have an "advanced scout" checking out my next opposition (his sole job) and a chief scout who will act as a cross-checker for any information that comes in and will also head to any key tournaments across the globe.
-- I have a few teams that have made Bosman contract offers to DC
Gareth Mace - I picked up this youngster on a free back in 2017 after he was dropped by Man United and he patrolled the backline for our U18 team for awhile. He's essentially useless, with "decent" potential (1.5 stars) but here's the kicker: he's a home-grown talent and I just received word that I *may* be in a bit of trouble fielding a proper team for Continental play this year, as I'll need FOUR home-grown players and EIGHT players trained in England. I've gone very much in an "International" direction with my first team, with only two of my starters having trained in England, those being
Arsene Bamba and
Zoltan Bardi. I may have to concentrate on bringing in one or two top English-trained players before the start of the year. Thankfully, newcomer Shaun Spall qualifies.
-- Man CIty makes a £1,500,000 offer for young DC
Abdallaye Kokaina and I immediately reject it and that's followed by a £2,300,000 bid from Arsenal, also declined. The 19 year old will graduate from our U18 team and likely play a backup role for us this year. He's a four star rated prospect by pretty much all of my coaching staff.
European Club Rankings
-- Manchester United moves to #1 on the newest European Club rankings list, with Real Madrid 2nd and Man City 3rd. We aren't on the list but I assume we'll finally be on it at this time next year, as we'll gain our first coefficient points due to our Continental play. Speaking of which…
-- England retains its allocation of Champions League places and it looks like we're officially in the competition, entering in the Best Placed Playoff stage! EXCITING!