Heading into a season where consistent European football looks likely, one thing which is essential is having great squad depth. To a large extent, Slaven Bilić and the board are preparing incredibly well for this. Players are coming in while few are leaving and almost every position has at least one back up. There is an anomaly within the squad though, and that is at left back.
Surprisingly, in my eyes, this is also probably the only position where fans have not been questioning why a signing has not been made. I see this as surprising because it is the only position in the entire squad where we only have one capable first team player: Aaron Cresswell.
Since we signed him two seasons ago from Ipswich, he’s been the player who’s most consistently been in the side, unbelievably missing only one game in that time. He is also incredibly reliable – both through lack of injuries and being able to consistently be one of the best performers in the team. However, in the upcoming season, our total number of games could likely exceed most other teams in the division and you simply cannot expect one player to play every single one of those games – it’s not feasible.
If for example, we reach the round of 16 in the Europa League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and Capital One Cup, we will be looking at 60 games in a season – a ridiculous number – and one player cannot be expected to play all of them.
This is why us recently being linked with Walsall left-back Rico Henry is great news. Granted, Lewis Page is coming through the Academy, but he is yet to be tested at any level apart from the U21s while the younger Henry has played over 40 times for Walsall and been capped by England U19s, something Page has not achieved. Henry would be a perfect understudy for Cresswell and take a lot of the weight off his shoulders. He could also learn a lot, with the West Ham fullback being one of the best in the league whom many believe should be in the England setup.
So, while the majority of fans are petitioning for the signing of a top class striker and for more weight to be added to the attacking options, we must also keep in mind that defence wins games and depth in that area is crucial if we are to have a successful season and, in my eyes, the addition of support for Cresswell in the shape of a player like Rico Henry will be essential to that end.
