Brede Hangeland opens talks with Fulham

Very good news! Roy's best signing?

 

This recent recurring theme begs the question...if they want to keep Schwarzer, Frei, Dempsey, Hangeland and whomever else have been the subject of recent contract speculation, who should they be looking to part ways with (besides AJ, of course)? Thoughts?

 

Well here we go, to stir the pot:

Sell Schwarzer (Stockdale is there). Sell AJ (well, can't b/c he's out of contract). Sell Duff (as I grind my teeth, but probably for the best as Davies can be the veteran winger). Sell Etuhu. Sell Hughes (it's Senderos' job now). Sell Dempsey (if his year brings a 'I can't turn down' inflated value, it may be best for the club).

COYW

 

I'll preface this by saying this is based on the first team roster listed on fulhamfc.com without knowing when players' contracts are up.

I still see that little weasel BHR on the roster, so that would be the first player I'd ship. I'd keep Duff and move Davies, even if Damien is a year older. Etuhu looks to be surplus.

In this 4-2-3-1 formation, AJ is actually pretty useful out wide and working the channel as one of the attack mids. I'd rather see him coming off the bench, but if you can re-sign him for the right price, he's still got value for us. Better than letting him go for free. Won't happen, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if we moved Ruiz.

I'm not sold on Senderos and less so on a Senderos/Hangeland pairing. Ideally, I think you need someone pacier and more athletic to partner Brede, not clumsier and slower. Unfortunately, Hughes looks like he's just about past it. Grygera and Halliche look expendable. I'd love to see us upgrade rb which means you'd have to look at moving Baird or Kelly. Same with lb and moving JA Riise (assuming you keep Briggs as the backup as opposed to loaning him out).

As for Mark, it would depend on how much longer he plans on playing. If he's looking at hanging up the boots after next year, I'd keep him and let him go out Fulham. If he plans on playing beyond that, then I'd go ahead and move him and transition to Stockdale next season.

I would only move Dempsey and Dembele if the money was too much to pass up (15M+). And that's still probably too low for Dempsey. Do we know when we'll find out about whether we get to buy the option on Pog or not? If we have to buy another striker to replace him, then I'd be more inclined to sell either Dempsey or Dembele, depending on who I could bring in.

 

Stockdale needs minutes, and from what I've seen, they should be for us, not out on loan again. If someone hasn't offered $20 mil for Demps by now, we should keep him as long as he's effective. Dembele's playing his way out of our budget for sure, even though he does appear to be a one footed player. They should take the money they gave Ruiz and split it to Moussa and Clint. Everybody else is expendable. Don't see them keeping Pavel.

 

Gotta agree on on your points here. Money is much better spent on Dembele and Clint. Wish we could keep Pavel.

 

Quite possibly. I can't imagine us selling both Dempsey and Dembele, but stranger things have happened. It seems odd that he would come out and say this, though, basically acknowledging that any player is fair game at the right price. It will be an interesting summer, to say the least.

 

I'm getting the uneasy feeling that Jol is going to get us relegated in the next year or two. Right now, the only thing between us and the Championship is those 3 listed and our "veteran" players. He sounds like he's all too comfortable with the idea of letting both groups go. And while he may think identifying young talent isn't a problem for him, I see no evidence from his signings to inspire much confidence.

Hopefully this is just media fodder and not indicative of what's really in store.