Balogun has now left and appears to be on his way back to Scotland.
Another good call from the club.
I note the club have brought over 2 youth defenders to join the tour which also suggests (as if there was any doubt) that JCS is going to be missing for a while too.
The central defender positions have been problematic areas for many seasons and after a dodgy start we seemed to find a stalwart in Yoann Barbet. The subsequent decision to not renew his contract after he'd established himself as probably the first name on the team sheet was farcical.
With JCS constantly in the medical room and the loss of Dickie and Balogun we are now desperate for a couple of experienced and reliable central defenders.
Letting Balogun go, at the age of 35 years, seemed to make sense but it is JCS who is the more problematic! As has been said above, the club now finds itself with only Dunne and Gubbins (assuming JCS is still injured). Bringing over two extra defenders from the Development sides can only be a stop-gap move because if they had been good enough they would have already been there! The club does want to bring development players through, as they are financially the best option, but only Gubbins seems likely to me. Media indications are we are looking at a younger CB to come in and develop (instead of Gubbins or as well as Gubbins?) and a more experienced CB (so a loan?). All looking a little fraught....
Can we just be honest here too and say Gubbims is miles away from where he needs to be.
He's not really 'young' anymore either, he made his debut 3 years ago and had barely been seen since, his loans have been low down the league.
Feels to me that by now he should be better than he is.
Can we perhaps find a defender from League One aged 24-28 who played 40+ games last season?
I agree northwesthoop, from what he's shown in recent seasons there is no way that Gubbins is currently good enough for Championship football.
Somewhere over the last few seasons the promise he showed has been stunted and whilst others were loaned out to League 1 or League 2 teams he has only managed a few games for National League teams. Whilst he's been with us for 6 years he's still only 21yo (he's 22yo in August) and he has shown promise. Maybe they can get him a loan to an EFL team to get the experience he needs.