I was personally really sad to see Dennis Cirkin leave this summer. Not only because he’d been with us on our journey to European football, but because whenever he seemed to be looking like he could go to the next level, an injury would find its way to him.
After the 24-year-old finally hung up his wrist brace on Wearside, and with the seemingly imminent departure of Arthur Masuaku, it leaves Reinildo Mandava as the Lads’ only true left-back. That is, barring a Lazarus-esque development from Leo Hjelde or Aji Alese.
Similarly to Xhaka, who I looked at in my prior piece, the Mozambican is the wrong side of 30 and will need rotating to be at his best next season. On the surface, this looks to be the one area of squad planning that has seemingly been neglected since last year’s promotion.
Melker Ellborg seems to be the heir apparent to Roefs. The January additions of Angulo and Ta Bi strengthened our depth on the wings. Should Ghisolfi decide to stop playing hard to get with Geertruida, then we have plenty of options at right-back. I’ve been really impressed with how the recruitment team have been proactive in fleshing out our squad so far.
I’m going to try to do my part for Florent here and discuss some potential options at left-back that could learn from, and cover for, Mandava next year. We’re going to look at this from a numerical point of view, but also try to identify some potential market opportunities if they’re out there.
After the 24-year-old finally hung up his wrist brace on Wearside, and with the seemingly imminent departure of Arthur Masuaku, it leaves Reinildo Mandava as the Lads’ only true left-back. That is, barring a Lazarus-esque development from Leo Hjelde or Aji Alese.
Similarly to Xhaka, who I looked at in my prior piece, the Mozambican is the wrong side of 30 and will need rotating to be at his best next season. On the surface, this looks to be the one area of squad planning that has seemingly been neglected since last year’s promotion.
Melker Ellborg seems to be the heir apparent to Roefs. The January additions of Angulo and Ta Bi strengthened our depth on the wings. Should Ghisolfi decide to stop playing hard to get with Geertruida, then we have plenty of options at right-back. I’ve been really impressed with how the recruitment team have been proactive in fleshing out our squad so far.
I’m going to try to do my part for Florent here and discuss some potential options at left-back that could learn from, and cover for, Mandava next year. We’re going to look at this from a numerical point of view, but also try to identify some potential market opportunities if they’re out there.
3 months ago
