[NoSkillz]

Transfer Window Opens

-- The Premier League transfer window reopens and I may be under fire a bit, with some of my better players as likely targets. Right away, Tottenham and their sugar-daddy new chairman approach me to ask about Salim Loucif and I tell them he's not for sale. Remember, I negotiated a new contract with Loucif last year, increasing his minimum release clause to £18.5 million - if they want him, they know the price. Another target is likely going to be star winger Gianluca Bolis but he does NOT have a minimum release clause so I can choose if he stays or goes. Manchester United is rumoured to be preparing a £20 million bid, which would be insane.



Transfer Market - Needs

-- Okay, what are we looking for this year? At the moment, we have only about £5.8 million in our transfer kitty but that total will surely increase when my chairman finalizes our budget for the upcoming year.

STRIKERS: One thing I'm definitely looking for is a big, world-class striker to play a "target man" position - there are two that are on my short-list right now: one is 23 years old and the other is 26 and my scouts feel both would be interested in coming to Dover. I'm always on the lookout for pacy strikers too and with Paul Moses heading back to United on July 1st, I may look for a young player to groom.

GOALKEEPER: With Youssouf Sylla heading out, I'm down to only one viable option in goal in the always dependable Ingo Wilke. Wilke is only 28 so he's heading into the prime of his career but while excellent, he's not world-class. In fact, he may be my weakest starting player by skill level so if I can either upgrade here or find a good young player to come in and learn the position as a backup, I will. Either way, I need to find somebody at GK.

CENTRAL MIDFIELDER: Mancini and Shaun Spall are fine but it would be great to have a third excellent option in the middle along with Andrea Rocca and Neil Cairney.

DEPTH: I'm still a bit worried about our central defence, as Claudio Contreras and Paulus Tjiuoro both had trouble taking hold of the second starting spot alongside Rayane Hamon so adding a great starter could help. I'm also looking for depth at fullback and on both wings.



Transfer OUT

-- As previously discussed, we bid adieu to GK Youssouf Sylla after only one year at Dover. Sylla had trouble settling in to the club and played so poorly in the early goings that I basically couldn't put him in any games that mattered. He finally started coming around near the end of the year but by then, he was already demanding more playing time and with Wilke outperforming him, it made little sense to disrupt our chemistry so Sylla is gone to Paris Saint-Germain in a £3 million deal. Good luck to the Ivory Coast international.



Transfer List

-- I decide to place three players on the transfer list and I have offers accepted for MF Samir Nasri and young strikers Carlo Cerbone and Dennis Kunz. None of the three are in my plans for this year and Nasri is earning entirely too much considering his worth to our team.



World Cup Update

-- Neil Cairney plays well for Scotland but they lose 1-0 to Brazil. Striker Giorgos Gesios comes on as a substitute in Greece's 1-1 draw versus Russia while fellow forward Shanon Andrea scores the only goal in a 1-0 Holland win over Slovakia! Salim Loucif also plays well in a 2-1 Algeria loss to Mexico.



Transfer Talk

-- Remember the name Cheikh Bocande in the future. He's a 23 year old Senegal international striker who I tried to buy from Sporting CP in Portugal. My £18.25 million bid was accepted but Liverpool also offered the same amount and I would end up losing the bidding war. He's a 4.5 star player already and a monstrous 6'6 tall. He is going to be something special and now I'll have to deal with him in the Premier League. A work permit is granted for him shortly thereafter and now I see why I lost the bidding war - he gets a contract worth a whopping £155,000 per week, which was about £75K more than I offered. I'm not looking forward to playing against this beast!



Transfer OUT

-- Carlo Cerbone accepts a contract with Norwich and we move him out for £1.6 million, a tidy profit after buying him for £35,000 two years ago. He spent 2020/21 on our U18 team and he scored goals by the bushel load but he struggled with our reserves last year and was never in our long-term plans. He's a 2.5 star prospect and we wish him well with Norwich.



European Club Rankings

-- We move up 36 places (!) to 45th on the European Club rankings list with 54.192 coefficient points. Manchester United somehow is still in first but Man City, who have won four Champions League titles in a row, will take over first place next year without question.

-- Despite finishing third on the table last year, it looks like we'll be forced to once again take part in the Best Placed Playoff as opposed to getting a bye into the Group stages. This is because 4th placed Liverpool has more coefficient points than us.



Contract Extension

-- We come to terms on a new deal with midfielder Neil Cairney, where he gets a nice signing bonus and £3,000 more per week, bringing his weekly wage to £62,000. Why did I do this, you ask? Well, in addition to getting an extra year on the deal (taking us to June 2026), I get his "Match Highest Earner" clause taken out so if I get a big fish or two, I won't have to worry about having anyone on the team with that clause!