CF: Jesus, Nketiah (or Balogun)
RWF: Saka, Trossard
LWF: Martinelli, Nelson
RAM: Odegaard, Vieira
LAM: Havertz, Smith-Rowe
DM: Rice, Jorginho, Partey (or Lavia), Elneny
RFB: White, TImber
RCB: Saliba, Holding
LCB: Gabriel, Kiwior
LFB: Zinchenko, Tierney
Utility Defender: Tomiyasu
GK: Ramsdale, Turner, Hein
That's the current squad plus clear incomings.
1) I expect us to keep Nketiah and sell Balogun because there's more buzz around Flo at the moment and the player is more likely to push for a move to somewhere he will start.
2) Timber will make 9 defenders. Someone has to go. I would hope we can find a good situation for Holding (somewhere he can be a successful player for the rest of his career, regardless of whether we get a fee). Rumor is that Arteta has convinced Tierney to stay, so that would mean 8 defenders, which is a lot.
3) I expect us to line up with 4 "defenders" one of whom will step into MF or "invert" - I would be really surprised to see us line up with 3 defenders and 2 actual MF in a double pivot. (I've been both surprised and wrong before.) I would think that Timber coming in rules out using Partey (or Caicedo as a Partey replacment) as an inverted RB.
4) If 3 is correct, the question becomes how much time we spend playing something like 6 = Jorginho (or Partey) + 8= Rice + 10 = Odegaard (Havertz on bench/competing w/ Trossard etc for sub time on front line) vs 6 = Rice + 8/10 = Havertz & Odegaard. If the latter is our primary formation allowing Partey to leave and replacing him with a younger player makes a lot of sense.
