KaKa

Yeah, I noticed a lot of people want more of a left footed creative technician in that position. And there aren't too many of those around. Not worried about that Trincao Wolves loan at all really. That was two years ago and he was coming in from Barca where he hadn't really got the playing time and was still trying to figure stuff out. It was also that COVID season I believe, which would have been awkward. Seems to have come together the last two years for him. That Marcus Edwards is really small, think he's actually smaller than Neto.

Was Nickson around when Carr was here?

Why do you say that?

Francisco Trincao has had back to back really good seasons with Sporting. Think he comes the closest to providing the same kind of attributes as an Olise would have. I think he gets my vote for that right wing slot.

We've brought in a number of players in the 16 year old range for the youth teams, as they are either on frees or for much lower fees. Think any kind of significant money right now needs to be on the first team, before we then start making more of these kinds of signings. We'll get there though.

Bit of a Thiaw update. Player is keen. https://www.calciomercato.com/news/milan-thiaw-e-il-retroscena-sulla-premier-league-tra-newcastle-e-52904

Yeah, they seem a complete mess behind the scenes, and he'll sort that all out for them. He'll also get a recruitment guy in eventually too. I'm just happy we got a change to be honest, because I think we needed something different, in someone that also had more of a background in scouting and recruitment to strengthen and modernize that area.

I appreciate Nickson. Apparently Bruno, Botman and Isak where some of the higher rated players in his database that he had been following for a while. I think he won Howe over pretty early on too. We had lots of stories early on about how the new owners recognised his value early and we're keen to retain him. It does seem his current setup is more traditional scouting though, and so there's definitely a need for someone to modernize things a bit, and Mitchell in one of the videos talked about aligning the data driven approach with traditional scouting for a more data informed approach. All seems to make sense.

Mitchell is just a better fit for us I think. We needed someone with more experience on the recruitment side that could better navigate that with Nickson and Howe, and direct the whole thing. From everything that has come out, I get the impression that Ashworth wasn't as strong in that area, and there wasn't alignment there with the manager and Nickson.

Ashworth will be great as far as sorting out all the departments at the club that play a role in the footballing side and ensuring they work together and the whole structure is cohesive. That's what he does. He's not a recruitment guy though, which is why you are after a head of recruitment. The players you mention we're driven by Nickson who was our recruitment guy, and Howe. I believe the friction with Dan came because it seemed he was looking to address the PSR issue by moving on key first teamers, and there was some dissatisfaction with his work in selling or moving on players that the manager was happier to let go. In the end it worked out because we kept all our key players and we've brought in someone that is more recruitment focused that can better deal with overseeing that whole side, which we need.

Another jammy Southgate run to the final, coinciding with a dodgy ten Hag start to the season, and reality will hit him like a ton of bricks.

From one of the videos posted earlier he spoke about the work he did at Monaco to ensure talents at the club were being nurtured, and provided with a pathway into the first team. I think the academy is going to see a big improvement. This makes me wonder if there is any tie in with the news that broke yesterday of the two guys leaving Chelsea. Could that be tied into our hiring perhaps? Saw the below earlier, but not sure how seriously to take it. Possible Paul Mitchell hirings?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3251818/2022/04/23/paul-mitchell-innovator-workaholic-organiser-one-of-the-most-wanted-signings-in-football/

Woah. Now that is interesting. I like that

Hasn't been covered much on here, but we've brought in a number of young players this summer already. That side is definitely being focused on a fair bit.

Yeah, they seem to be looking for a recruitment guy to work under Ashworth. They were also going to go for Freedman in this role, when we were after him for our DOF role, before he then signed a new deal to stay at Palace.

Yeah, he would have been involved in finalising the deal. However, from listening to Howe talk about how he had been watching him for a while and really appreciated the player, I didn't at all get the impression Ashworth had recommended him. Don't think Ashworth had much involvement in that side. Definitely seemed to be the case for Minteh though.

Ashworth wasn't really about identifying players for us. Seemed to be only really involved in the Hall and Minteh deals. Most of the others were before he arrived or players Howe was particularly keen on and liked. I remember reading that despite the Ashworth hiring, you were also looking to get Dougie Freedman as head of recruitment. I think that probably tells you everything. Ashworth seems to focus more on organising the whole structure.

It was Thiago Scuro the guy that took over from him last summer. https://www.sportsmax.tv/football/international/item/127970-monaco-will-help-balogun-reach-the-next-level-says-sporting-director-scuro

Was about to ask if his time at Southampton coincided with that really promising period they had. Looks like it did, as well as Spurs too. This is looking like a really good move.

Just reading through the announcement, didn't realise he'd been at Leipzig. His experience looks really good. Good stuff.

I remember reading he was really keen on the job, which is always a great sign. He's the one that was at Monaco right? That French market is so good, so that experience would be huge.

If that's what we paid, why are people saying it was an inflated fee?

Do we even know how much we paid for that keeper?

Said it before on here already (and even showed the images), but all these clubs also lean a lot on football data analytics, and Anderson comes out very well on them. It's based on him playing in the Premier League too. That would be a huge part of things.