Bury FC: Thinking About The Future, Pre Season, Season 12

Hi everyone, welcome back to my Bury story. After winning a ‘weird’ treble last season, i call it weird because the PL wasn’t part of it but the CL was, we had another pre season to look forward to, but where could we improve this time? First of all:

Pretty annoying that we’re going to build a new stadium for the sake of an extra 9000 seats. I was expecting around a 40k capacity. Oh well. Some you get, some you don’t.

After evaluating my squad, I saw that:

1 – We had a good defence.

2 – We had a good midfield.

3 – We had a good attack.

4 – No RW problems. (lool)

5 – No CF problems

6 – Strength in depth through the squad.

But…

There was once concern and that was the age of my back 4:

Krivic (24) – Petrache (23) – Ze Carlos (26) – Kusters (24)

Richards (31) – Pedersen (28) – Meliani (20) – Alvarez (26)

Not a worry at the moment but if you think a few seasons down the line, I will have to think about replacements. So.. We might as well think about them now, while we have no other headaces. Ze Carlos’ replacement has to be bought this season though…

What these new replacements will do is replace Richards, Pedersen and Alvarez in the second team and when the time comes, they will promote to the first team eventually.

PS: I don’t think I will ever sell Ze Carlos and Kusters, they have been excellent servents and Ze Carlos is regarded as an Icon at the club!

So, with that in mind we bought:

Only three players will be in the first team, Rafael (2.8m), Cano (10.5m), Jesus (10m). Yes Jesus cost 10m not 18m! 8m will be paid to Deportivo if he scores 50 league goals which is very unlikely for a CB!

Rafael – RB – £2.8m

Future replacement for Krivic. When Krivic turns 28, he will be 22, enough time for  him to full develop. Needs to improving marking, pace (slightly).

Jesus – CB – 10m

Future replacement for Ze Carlos! Just turned 18 and should be ready in a couple of years. Needs to improve positioning and pace. 6ft 3″, second tallest in our squad Good thing about him is that he can play RB and LB which is very handy!

Ignacio Cano – 10.5m – RB, CB, DM, RM, CM

Another right back but signed for versatality mainly. Can play CB, DM, RM, CM also! I also think Rafael is too young at the moment so Cano will be second choice for now.

Start of season expectations came after all the signings, as they were done before the 1st of July.

OMG! 375k budget! However we did spend 25m before the announcement and with a new stadium to be built, i do understand the 375k budget.

I then looked at my finances and we were 15m in debt. Time to sell!

With a new RB and CB signed, I didn’t hesitate to sell Mathias Pedersen. I do feel sad though, as he was an excellent servent. Making 198 apps in total. But at 28 years of age, 11m was a good price to recieve after spending 5.75m to bring him to the club.

Jack Wilshere also left the club, the England man was 29 years old and went down in the pecking order over the course of last season, so he was sold for a good price of 6.5m to Rangers.

George Ford was also sold to Rangers, the England man went on loan to Leeds last season and shined. So Rangers were prepared to pay a big fee of 9m for his services. Thats an 7.8m overall profit.

Validimir Rusev was bought to the club 3o months ago for 250k. After developing a bit and going out on loan, I offered him to clubs for 15m. Quiet a high price but Braga came knocking with a 10m and I accepted it with a smile on my face.

It would have been a similar story with Luiz also, but he didn’t want to move to a club who offered 10m! Instead we had to let him go to a club who offered 6m less :-(

After the summer outgoings, the bank balance looked healthy, as did our squad :D

Squad for the upcoming season

Anyway, thanks for reading!