Four new faces
Plus: Tarks could have done better
Hello again - I was bunking off at the end of the cricket last week, but plenty of stuff to talk about as pre-season kicks into gear and a raft of new signings arrived.
Four new faces
Four signings, Alan? That’s insane.
Among the things I had on Vincent Kompany’s to-do list after finally being confirmed as our new manager was to sign some players. It is fair to say we have made a start!
Scott Twine was first through the door. Having lit up League One last season, Twine looks like a fantastic signing who could have a transformative impact on our attack.
Where Twine plays remains to be seen. He has featured wide and as a number 10 for MK Dons, but we might opt to use him further forward as part of a front two.
Twine has a couple of qualities that immediately make him stand out. His shooting from long range is a serious weapon and he is a genuine threat from set pieces.
Half a dozen free kick goals last season alone show the range of his ability from dead balls. Twine signing means we will hopefully never again watch Josh Brownhill line up a free kick in a promising position only to whack it hopelessly into the stand.
Kompany has also brought in Luke McNally from Oxford United. Another making the step up from League One, McNally will help to address the loss of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, with the 22-year-old defender also bringing down the squad’s average age.
The chase for McNally seemed a curious one, with reports suggesting we initially baulked at Oxford’s asking price and lined up Dan Ballard from Arsenal instead. Then the Ballard move was off and we were back in for McNally, who cost about £2 million.
It was strange to watch it unfold, but it’s unclear how serious we were about Ballard, who has now joined Sunderland. The good news is we didn’t hang around with a move for McNally, who could play with his compatriot Nathan Collins, swiftly concluded.
Manchester City defenders CJ Egan-Riley and Taylor Harwood-Bellis then came in on the same day. Kompany was always likely to use his contacts at City and the duo look like solid additions. There was some speculation Harwood-Bellis could come on a permanent deal but his move is an initial loan. Egan-Riley has signed a three-year contract, which was initially announced by the club as four years… which is odd.
Harwood-Bellis has experience of both the Championship and for playing under Kompany, having been on loan at Stoke City and Anderlecht last season. Egan-Riley, meanwhile, has captained City’s youth teams and offers handy versatility. Able to play at right-back, centre-back and in defensive midfield, he will be ideal to have on the bench, even if he may take a while to break into Kompany’s team on a regular basis.
THB and CJER are 20 and 19 respectively, so it is clear there has been a huge shift in transfer policy at Turf Moor. That will be partly for financial reasons and partly due to strategy. With plenty of older pros still around at Turf Moor - Jack Cork signing a new deal was very welcome news - there should be a good blend of youth and experience.
The squad is now taking shape. We still need a pacy new striker - a move for Standard Liege forward Jackson Muleka has apparently hit the buffers over the weekend - but the mooted deal for his team-mate Samuel Bastien is still seemingly on track - and probably at least one new winger, especially if interest in Dwight McNeil is firmed up. It seems like the goalkeeper Arijanet Muric could soon be the third signing from City.
Much depends on outgoings, of course. It has gone weirdly quiet on Maxwel Cornet of late - Chelsea are supposedly keeping an eye on the Ivory Coast international - and I’m pretty sure we will get some bids for Collins over the course of the summer.
But Kompany’s rebuild has made a very positive start, though there is still much to do.
Tarks could have done better
As well as the arrivals, since I last wrote Nick Pope has joined Newcastle in a deal I actually predicted (no, I don’t have the lottery numbers, and even if I did I would not be sharing them) and James Tarkowski’s move to Everton has been confirmed too.
Nobody can begrudge Pope staying in the Premier League, especially with a World Cup just around the corner, although the reported fee does sound quite low. I had guessed the market for Pope would be small, given his contract status, age and the question marks over his distribution, but had still hoped we could get £20 million.
We knew Tarkowski was going on a free, with Newcastle having long been thought of as his likeliest destination. It was Everton who swooped, though, and I can’t help but feel it is not a good move for the centre-back. After all, Everton were only marginally less rubbish than us last season, needing moments of brilliance from Richarlison and Jordan Pickford during the run-in to claw their way out of relegation danger.
Frank Lampard’s teams tend to be very weak defensively and, while Tarks will help to stiffen up their leaky back line, the former England midfielder has no track record to speak of when it comes to setting a strong foundation for his sides. Tarkowski is likely to need to do a lot of defending, as he did with us, with a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders as a result of his high wages, reportedly in excess of £80,000 a week.
I would guess Lampard is not going to be at Everton very long - gone by Christmas if I had to bet on it - and despite the impending move to a shiny new stadium it could well be another relegation battle. I don’t see Gareth Southgate going back to Tarkowski despite duffers like Tyrone Mings and Conor Coady getting picked, so his England chances are unlikely to improve, but I get why first-team football was high on his list.
It might also be the case that Tarkowski wanted to stay in the north-west, with our location having been cited as one of the reasons why he forced a move from Brentford.
I can’t help but think both Manchester clubs have missed a trick with Tarks on a free. United were a shambles at the back last season and only the injury-prone Raphael Varane is a better defender than Tarkowski at Old Trafford right now. City have a wealth of options at the back but Tarkowski is as good as Nathan Ake, for example.
Maybe I’m wrong - and the chances of Tarkowski staying after relegation were absolutely nil - but I really think he could have done much better than Everton.
That’s it for next week - as always, share any of your views by replying to this email.