I've defended the Prince by in large on this window and as always I'll wait to the end to make a judgement. Well unless something spectacular happens now we know that it is over for us now in terms of the window. So according to my maths skills, admittedly limited (grade C after two years of resists from an initial grade E) we've spent the following give or take, and I've gone top heavy where they has been varying parameters on a fee, granted some are guesses, such as loan fees:
1 Trusty £5m
2 Slimane £3m
3 Larouci £1m loan fee
4 Thomas £1m loan fee
5 Hamer £15m
6 Souxa £12m
7 Davies Free but we'll go £500,000 for signing on fee and an allowance for high wages just to go to go top heavy again
8 Archer £18m
9 Traore £5m
10 McAtee £2m loan fee
So that's a total of £62.5m. If we say that Ndiaye went for £20m and Berge £12m then that's £32m meaning we've got a net spend of £32.5m. Now that is more than the £20m we thought may be the case but that's because we sold Berge and Ndiaye and as for the Archer deal we know that he may well be off next summer if he does well and we go down. Of course maybe he won't too. I would just say for the sake of another loan signing from abroad such as Balde or King, whoever Hecky wanted, going up by another few million on a loan fee and wages may well be the difference of staying up. I'm not saying we go silly but we definitely needed another up top given the injuries to Jebbo and to Brewster.
I wonder if Jebbo was set to be sold to fund another in but he's got ill/was injured and maybe this hasn't helped too. Either way I worry we've not got enough depth of quality up top and also to an extent in centre mid because I can see Norwood being a starter this season and who would have thought that would suffice when Doyle took his place and we saw the difference. Fair play to Norwood, he's started reasonably well, I love his attitude and he's been an amazing player for us as a signing, same as Fleck, but we needed another in there too. Hopefully Davies will be that man.