ponsaelius

I thought he was good. Given his lack of that little yard of pace I've always felt like he'd end up as more of an all round central midfielder rather than a wide player. He is pretty strong, manipulates and uses the ball well, and is technically sound. Don't think he'll ever be a top player but pretty much convinced he'll play his entire career in the PL tbh. If he would bite the bullet and declare for Scotland he'll get 50+ caps as well.

Going on loan to Newport.

Still think he'll end up being a very decent PL midfielder in the long term.

So poor.

I'd 100% let him go for £15 million even if we couldn't get a replacement. We could get by without and we'd be able to move for a replacement in January.

Just posting for sake of it

They need to sign two CBs before Friday to let him go. It's simply not happening. Don't think it's bedwetting or unreasonable to say it's been a complete shambles of a window.

meltdown

I don't think Parish is too arsed whether he goes or not. I think if they could get replacement lined up they'd do the deal at the max value, but otherwise he will stay and they'd be fine with that too. It is pretty clear now I'd say that we have no other alternatives lined up, and we've put our entire transfer window eggs one basket. It is looking pretty shambolic to be honest

Tomkins left on a free in the summer as well if you're looking purely at squad numbers.

That actually makes a lot of sense, surprised it took this long to happen

Personally given the state of the market I'd have taken whatever we got offered for Almiron by Charlotte and moved for two players in the £30-35 million bracket from Europe rather than focusing entirely on Guehi. I'd have trusted Mitchell/Nixon to pick good players and for Howe to elevate them. Overall I think that would have put us in a stronger position across the squad going into the season. While I don't believe the dynamic between the two is terminal I can't help but think it must be awkward. There's no way that Mitchell, who has a track record of building teams, will have wanted our entire window to be based around negotiating for a single (overpriced) UK based player.

Yeah great post Haydn, I'll allow the plagiarism in the second paragraph go . Totally agree with your summary. We've really lacked creativity and ruthlessness in the transfer market for me over the last 12 months. We all know we're basically bunged up with PSR but you have to find ways around it to keep moving forward, and I think we've lacked the dynamism and bravery to do so and things have become very stagnant. I definitely think Howe for as good as he is as a coach is potentially an issue with us navigating the next stage due to his approach to recruitment and playing style. We are in an awkward position.

I still think it comes down entirely to them getting replacements. I think they'd need two CBs in to sell him.

RIP. The Amazon documentary is worth a watch, although I would have enjoyed more about his early career pre-England.

Clubs still have room for those players in their squads they just won't pay any money for them. Brentford will sign Ben Mee on a free transfer but they'd never pay actual cash for a Callum Wilson, as a blunt example. Like you say every single club is basically circling the same market for the exact same kind of players, just at slightly different levels. Data driven recruitment means every club basically has the same information available to them, and coaching philosophies have narrowed to want to play largely the same style of play.

Ideally I'd agree but it's clearly proven extremely hard to find a market for these players - particularly with PSR. Lower PL clubs are just far more sensible with their money than they were 5-10 years ago.

Again this is why part of me actually wishes we had just got a big fee early on for one of blue chip players tbh. We'd have got breathing room to go straight out and buy 4-5 first choice players to address all the major positions. Instead we're kind of scrambling around unsure which gaps to plug, and waiting to the last week of the window to see which opportunities arrive for how best to allocate the funds we do have. It may be that we've moved for this purely because the right wing options have all closed up, and this one has become a potential goer on favourable payment terms ala Hall. Controversial maybe but I hope we just bite the bullet and sell somebody big next summer. It's shite that PSR encourages this but it's probably our best bet of getting value from our new recruitment set up.

Yeah when you look through the noise we do definitely still need a either a long term or immediate Pope replacement (which is why we have looked at both Trafford and Mamardashvilli). That hasn't changed from the start of the window, it just seems bizarre because we signed that Greek lad for accountancy and haven't been able to shift Dubravka.

Called this yesterday when I saw our bench. It is a classic of the genre if we go for him and don't upgrade other more obviously crucial positions. We are obsessed with long term planning and securing targets we want when the opportunity arises rather than addressing immediate issues in the XI. Generally I appreciate the calculated nature of it all - but it feels particularly jarring right now.

He's a great goalkeeper in a lot of ways but his ball playing ability is truly atrocious for the top level.

Semenyo a player fans would probably turn their noses up at if linked but would be a massive improvement on our options there. Maybe we really need to stop letting perfect be the enemy of good in that position.

We're stuck between a rock and a hard place though IMO because we do massively need to refresh things across the park and look to the future. I think Tino would be far better with a more creative right winger ahead of him.

He looks like a Bournemouth utility player who ran his contract down and they weren't that bothered about losing. Definitely a significant upgrade on Dummett. Not sure I could say much more though.