It is common knowledge that we do not have the transfer budget of the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and even Tottenham and yet somehow we are expected to challenge these teams for silverware in the coming seasons.
One of the ways we can do that is by being very clever in the transfer market and targeting players that are set to enter the final year of their contracts is an approach we simply must consider.
By doing this you can land a player for less money than he would usually cost because most clubs would rather cash in than see a quality asset leave for nothing.
There are three good quality defenders, all under the age of 30 that have just one year left on their contracts, they are
Mario Hermoso – Espanyol – Central Defender – Age 23
Sergio Reguilón – Real Madrid – Left Back – Age 22
Stefan Savić – Atletico Madrid – Central Defender – Age 28
There are two attacking midfielders in the same boat, they are
Pablo Sarabia – Sevilla – Attacking Midfielder – Age 26
Nabil Fekir – Lyon – Attacking Midfielder – Age 25
And finally, two forwards whos contracts are running down, they are
Lucas Ocampos – Marseille – Winger – Age 24
Stephan El Shaarawy – Roma – Forward Age 26
There are also players that would be unattainable to us like Christian Eriksen and Eden Hazard and of course some elder statesmen like Giorgio Chiellini and Edinson Cavani but I do not see the latter two as viable considering their ages, not when we want to build for the future.
Clearly, some of the listed players will not be suitable, some will sign extensions and some may never consider signing with us but you have to think that out of those seven players I listed that there are one or two that we can make a concerted effort to sign.
They are young, they are experienced, for the most part, they play with top clubs and they will be affordable, though wages could be an issue I will admit.
Point is, we can still land top quality players if we get creative and do not allow budgetary restrictions to overly handicap our attempts to build a competitive side.