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3 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Going into it targeting Ekitike, Botman and Carlos and coming out of it with Wood, Targett and Burn was a bit of a hash of it. As I said, also reported the same way by most journalists and Staveley herself.

 

You think wrong. Never once suggested we do that. 

We were bottom of the league, and so not being able to sign those players in that predicament, and having to get in viable backups that still managed to get us safe is not a hash up. Not to mention they still also managed to get one of the best midfielders from Ligue 1 in at the same time.

3 minutes ago, Stottie said:

fwiw, it sounds like Maddison is on around 100 to 110k, so potentially no hit to our salary structure just yet. Presumably Paqueta would want much more. Management wise, the dream value for money approach is to get to top six/seven without paying any player more than the 130k or so Bruno gets. That strikes me as just about achievable. Once it becomes a case of competing for Top 4, the money bazooka has to come out because we'll need Son, Kane, Saka, Foden level performers. Not buying a massive salary just yet buys the commercial folks time to set up sponsor deals and for us to climb the table without being weigned down by the Ashley/Bruce bugger all points start to last year.

 

40M is a decent first bid if Leicester want nearly 60M. Meet in the middle and get it done.

It's funny that you mentioned Son, Kane, Saka and Foden like talents because none of those players were signed via money bazooka.

I imagine we'll end up with top talents in much the same way those 4 came to be just that. Decent young players coming through and a clever signings that were brought along well by the manager.

1 minute ago, elbee909 said:

It's always striking how some with relatively bugger all are such experts at how much wealthier people should spend money.

I really appreciate that we are playing hard ball when it comes to the signings we make.

It's been good enough to land us two top tier young talents in Bruno and Botman, and so we will get there eventually with others too, and we won't be taken for mugs.

Just now, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Yes, but because it took us so long to agree to the terms as we were haggling over the structure for weeks, Ekitike didn’t want to make a decision on deadline day and it lost us the deal.

 

 This isn’t tough to understand.

If he was 100% up for it he would have come, but I'll give you that one.

I don't think based on that you could say that we made a hash of things in January at all, considering where we were going in and where we ended the season.

I think you're getting carried away because you think we should just pay whatever any club asks for a player we want, but you'll have to get over it, because we aren't going to be operating that way whether you like it or not. 

3 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Going from Botman and Carlos to Dan Burn and failing to sign Ekitike, yes.

 

 

 

My goodness ...

You know Reims accepted our bid for Ekitike in January right.

And Dan burn was instrumental in keeping us up, which allowed us to ultimately end up getting Botman this summer anyway.

2 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

We’ve consistently underbid for every player so far. Made a hash of January because of it.

 

If we’re going in for players like this we need to return to the table with a bid that’ll get him, we clearly have the ability to do so.

 

An initial low ball offer isn’t too bad, but we can’t drag them out trying to haggle too far like we did in January.

 

Sensible to not get totally ripped off but when you’re dealing with players like Maddison, you’re going to have to pay a sensible price.

You think we made a hash of things in January?!

Just now, gdm said:

As I said I’m so baffled at our valuation and bidding of players . Never a hope of getting Maddison for anywhere near as low as £35m 

Yeah, it's strange, but it seems Leicester are desperate to move players on before they can do anything in the market, and so maybe we wanted to see just how desperate they were perhaps?

8 minutes ago, Lotus said:

According to the Dortmund subreddit, Bild is absolute shite for transfer rumours. Not being a German speaker I can’t corroborate that by comparing them to other sources but Bild’s reputation on there is pretty poor. At least where Dortmund are concerned anyway.

I tHink it’s the speculated price that makes me suspicious.

Ah, okay. Well Dortmund have made him available, that much seems clear, and he has two years left, and so I can't imagine they'd be looking for much more than what they paid for him at the most, and they paid 25 million Euros.

2 minutes ago, gdm said:

Random as in we haven’t and probably won’t be linked to them 

Ah, I see. But I'm basing it on other similar types of players that are top tier, and realistic for us to get.

There'll be loads of players discussed that haven't leaked yet. The Maddison news only just broke for the first time today due to a bid after all. 

3 minutes ago, Lotus said:

Comparing Brandt with Maddison is not a bad shout.

Are you sure he’s available though? And for less than they paid for him? I’d be dubious about that…..

https://bulinews.com/news/12446/report-brandt-heading-for-the-exit-door-dortmund

Just now, Bompeter said:

You're “pretty certain” that the club will be looking at two players that literally nobody has ever linked us to? How odd.

Yes, based on adding goals and assists through the middle of the park. And they are both top players available at great value this summer.

It would be pretty weird if they only had Maddison on the list, and if you think only players that have been linked have ever been under consideration , then I don't know what to tell you really.

5 minutes ago, Dokko said:

 

We talk about getting the right characters then rock up for this smary arse. He's Grealish lite. 

 

Every time he thinks he's hit the next level, his form falls off a cliff. If he signs for us, does well he'll be looking at a bigger club whilst playing like he's in pre-season. Any time Arsenal have been mentioned to be in for him his head goes walkabouts, its the same when he gets an England call up, starts playing like billy-big-bollocks and inevitably doesn't get selected.  

 

£50-60m. No thanks.

When the club talks about right characters, it's more to do with off the field issues and then their professionalism and commitment to working on their game I imagine. Don't think Maddison has those kind of concerns.

Now having said that, I fully understand why some folks aren't thrilled about him joining, because he's a bit of a prat and not the most likeable guy, which is very different from all the guys we have at the minute.

4 minutes ago, gdm said:

Not a dig at you but I love posts like this that offer up random alternatives like our scouting team and Ashworth haven’t poured over mountains of footage, stats and reports on our targets 

Random targets

I'm sure we'll always go for the Prem experienced options first and foremost, due to the quicker adjustment.

Just saying if they don't budge on their valuation these two should be alternative considerations, and I'm pretty certain they will be, amongst others.

Maddison's cool, but don't think we should go anywhere near £50 million.

Both Houssem Aouar and Julian Brandt are on the market for less than £20 million if we are looking to upgrade and add goals and assists through the middle.

And those two are right up there with Maddison talent wise, if not more so.

4 minutes ago, 54 said:

Remember when we got constantly told there wasn't much money left, and were actually skint by Luke Edwards. Good times that.

This is how much we bid for Diaby though, and so unless we sign another couple at this type of fee then it's still in line with our reported budget.

Very interesting. He's really good, but if we are now looking at adding goals and assists to the side via an upgrade to one of the CM spots, I actually think we can be a lot more savvy about it.

Julian Brandt is a great alternative (not to even mention Houssem Aouar also), and both are available for less than £20 million this summer. Not Premier League experienced, but is an elite level talent. I hope he's considered because I don't think Leicester accept anything less than £60 million for Maddison even though they appear to need to sell players.

20 minutes ago, Bompeter said:

Say goodbye to ever seeing north of 45% possession with Almiron in a midfield three.

Such a nonsensical statement.

6 minutes ago, Alberto2005 said:

Also quite exciting that reading between the lines we're going after players better than Cornet/Sarr etc.

You guys are just assuming that he doesn't rate those guys.

Cornet does have a clause and so there is reason to believe we are not in for him as that would be very straight forward.

However, regarding Sarr and Dennis, apparently the Watford owner has been asking for around £30 million for Sarr and £25 million for Dennis, and so there is a chance we have been trying to get the price down for either of those two.

Lets wait and see. Don't convince yourself it's none of those and then end up being disappointed. They are all good players anyway, and would do really well for us.

Thought he looked fantastic as one of the number 8 central midfielders today. 

If we get in a top right winger, I would not be adverse to seeing him in that role with Joelinton, and with Bruno playing in the middle of the pair of them.

That trio would be a menace pressing and recovering the ball and breaking forward to counter.

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

His versatility would be absolutely key as well, and his numbers in a poor Watford side where brilliant tbh 

Yeah, for sure. Still just 24 years old too, so there will be room for further development for him.

At Brugge he also got some decent Champions League experience, and had some nice moments, specifically at the Bernabeu. He can handle a big stage that's for sure. 

14 minutes ago, bowlingcrofty said:

Get him in the midfield alongside Linton and Bruno and he’ll develop ridiculously quickly.

7 minutes ago, Toon No9 said:

This!

Anderson looks really promising.

The midfield 3 should be Bruno, Linton and Anderson.

 

Longstaff's in for a shot after todays game aswell.

Loved him tonight, but this is a hell of an over reaction. My goodness.

He should get some starts and come off the bench regularly, especially with the 5 subs.

That and training with the first team will be great for him.

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

I think them stopping him from going to the AFCON really effected him.

Yeah, he was in a big sulk about that as he's quite a key member of the team. Watford shouldn't have done that really.

Dennis will need managing as he can be moody, but we've got the type of manager and atmosphere that will be really good for him.

On 17/05/2022 at 22:53, polkaDot said:

I can't help but like Murphy, think he thought he was passing that chance yesterday to someone other than Fraser and wasn't expecting it back. It just hasn't quite clicked for him but there has been moments, unlike that total waste of space Obertan, what a donkey that bloke was. 

 

 

I agree. Murphy can be frustrating but you never wonder if he's out there. Guy doesn't go missing and always manages to get into threatening positions even if he doesn't always capitalise. A lot of times it disorganises the other team's defence and we end up with a chance due to that alone.

3 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

I don't think Anderson is that far off adding goals to his game, strong in possession, hard to get off the ball, has the composure of a player 10 years his senior and gets himself into great positions. Really think we should keep hold of him this season and bleed him in late in games and see how he comes on this season.

 

 

 

After seeing him in there for the full 90, and also seeing how good Almiron was in there too, we should be fine as far as central midfielders go.

2 minutes ago, maze said:

 

Not sure hitting the posts behind the goal and further up in the stands counts

You could release a chicken out on the field instead of him, and it would cause more nuisance

Murphy is fine for where he is in the pecking order man. Chill out.