Checko

Could we at least be Sainsbury's in the analogy?

From Chelsea's perspective I imgine it will be: 1. Sign him on a free, freeing up some transfer budget to: 2. Sign more footballers 3. Sell one of their other CBs 4. Buy more footballers 5. Next year or two, sell him for £15/20 million and an FFP profit. 6. Buy more footballers

Dummett one year extension in 5...4...3...2...1...

I don't think you're being new money arrogant tbh. The higher up the football pyramid you get the fewer players are going to be able to take you to the next level and we need to be really quite discerning as to who's going to get us there.

He'll have great fun starting new manager threads!

Be disappointing if he does go to Chelsea as he would add pace at the back, which we lack, and would beef up our squad at a good value. His ability to pass the ball forward would fit us well. Still, for a bit of copium, here's a short thread on him leaving on a Fulham board: https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?topic=93853.0 General consensus seems to be he was a good value signing, & premier league quality player but not as good as he thinks he is. Good enough for them and mid table but he'd be on the bench in a Europe chasing team. Can be good on the ball but can also be careless and has a mistake in him defensively (from FB ref his short and medium passing completion is well below average, though his long passing is good). 22/3 he only played 61% of the time even though no injuries so often wasn't first choice in a mid table fulham, though largely first choice this year. Obviously if he does end up signing for us all this changes & he's unequivocally amazing, but I don't think we've missed out on the next Jaap Stam at least.

He's 0/2 now it seems - better hope Lloyd Kelly comes off!

They can offer more money, immediate European football and he won't even have to move. Not particularly suprising. Obviously they'll be looking to sell him for an FFP profit in a couple of years but hey ho.

Had a little look at some club badges and found Barrow AFC: It's got a nuclear submarine on it, a Richard Osman's House of Games clue (bottom left), and an old-school football. Love it.

Fuck me they're dragging this out now though to the point where even if it's really good it's still going to feel underwhelming.

Think Jack needs to start a thread on him just so we have a template for his name to copy. 'e' before 'u' if you're Bryan Mbeumo.

Part of it is also an issue where our DM is also our best AM. Bruno basically plays both roles when he can.

Can't we just buy some random young foreign lad I've never heard of from a team I've never heard of for a pittance? I love those signings. Just find some random 20 year old in the Chilean second division and bring him in just for the mystery!

The possible hint about it comes from this quote from Ashworth, but only a possible hint: On the more serious note of Bruno Guimaraes having escape clauses in his new deal, Ashworth added: "I'm not going to confirm whether there is or isn't any release clauses in Bruno or any other of our player's contracts. "They're all private and confidential. "I can say to you about the principles of release clauses and you can have a situation where a player may have a dream country or club that they want to play for and you can make it specific to them, you can make it specific that it can sit outside of your competitors in the Premier League. "Sometimes players view the fact that they're happy to sign a long-term contract but if family situations change they may want to experience something different..." - https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/dan-ashworth-laughs-off-manchester-united-link-and-answers-bruno-guimaraes-release-clause-poser/ar-AA1jtiVV?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1

I think Brentford would be silly to sell Mbeumo this year. Having a look at a forum thread on him they seem to think he's their most important player, more so than Toney. Their form certainly went to shit when he got injured. Toney's likely being sold this year, in which case they absolutely shouldn't sell their other best player. Clubs get relegated doing shit like that. If I was Brentford I'd say to him 'we're not selling this year, but if an offer from a club in Europe over x amount comes next year we won't stand in your way'. Something like that. For price, they think he's worth significantly north of £50million. Which is probably fair for an established premier league team's star attacking player. He's got 2 years and an option year left on his contract. I think Ikon' nailed it re: style for me, as I really think we need another elite passer- Mbeumo looks like he'd be a v. good signing (though likely at a high price). Fast, hard-working. Can cover striker as well. I agree with Kaka he looks like he'd fit in with our press/quick transition style well. His stats are a bit weird with bit poor pass completion, high miscontrols. Brentford forum did say he could to do great things and then might mess up something simple at times. They say one thing he's lacked to be really elite is consistent finishing. Apparently missed a lot of easy chances (though then might bury a more difficult one), though sounds like he's been consistently improving.

As someone who used to work in Brentford, if he came out and said his dream was to continue living and working there as long as possible I'd find it even more sus tbh!

Had a quick look at Brentford forum and they masively rate Mbeumo tbf, think he's improving still and could be top 4 quality, even if he can be a bit wasteful in front of goal. Though as fans we can overrate our own players a bit so there's that to take into account. He has 3 years left on his contract so I can't see him being cheap, particularly if they lose Toney this window.

Is fine what we're aiming for though? Also he's only 5' 7" - would we be able to play him and Lewis Hall at the same time?

We really need a top class guy for the right wing, is that him? Even if £34 million is a good price for him in isolation, that's then money that can't now be put towards a real elite. From instinct he feels like a solid, Barnes level signing, rather than a more transformational Bruno/Isak level guy. That said, people who've seen him play a bit will have a better idea. Missed a few months this year wih an ankle injury but his injury record is otherwise exemplary as far as I can see.

Yeah I tried to keep an eye on him when we played Brentford due to the rumours. Looking at his stats, can't see anything too remarkable to be honest. His initial headline stats look really good: https://fbref.com/en/players/6afaebf2/Bryan-Mbeumo But looking at advanced stats: https://fbref.com/en/players/6afaebf2/scout/365_m1/Bryan-Mbeumo-Scouting-Report His goals are padded a bit by penalties - still has pretty high xG, so I imagine he gets himself into dangerous positions. Takes set pieces, which indicates good technique, can pad some of the assist stats as well. (eg. his Shot creating actions is average but his set piece SCA is very high & open play well below average - this could be due to Brentford's play style of 'get in the opposition half and fall over and try and get a free kick'). Passing stats are very comparible to Jacob Murphy, and the Murph has dreadful passing stats. (Main difference is Mbeumo has better long pass stats, while Murphy is in the lowest % for long pass completion) Dribbling stats are pretty poor - bottom 5% for successful take on %, gets tackled a lot. Defensively got some blocks but tackles and interception numbers are dreadful (5th %). Very high no. of miscontrols (8th worst %) and high no of times dispossessed. Obviously some of this stuff is affected by a team's style of play and it's usually easier to have good offensive stats in a stronger team, rather than a bottom half team, but I can't see anything there that indicates he's an elite, takes us to the next level kind of player. That said I haven't really done any eye test on him. EDIT: I do like his beard though. Gives off a slightly piratey vibe.

Fuck me he'll probably cause a civil war over there.

Not sure I'm following, Isak had missed 5 games through injury in 3 years for Sociedad when he signed for us. Willock's been injured for most of the year and played about 700 minutes total, less than 8 full games, and had multiple setbacks. (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alexander-isak/verletzungen/spieler/349066)

Even if you want to sell Willock, with all his injuries he's barely played this year so will have a relatively low value right now. Longstaff played 46 games and scored 8 goals so might be at a high value point. Alternatively, if there are no suitable offers keep both and loan out Anderson so he can actually play a year as a starter at a decent level and we can see if he's likely to be good enough long term.

I feel like we should have topless photos of our hottest players (past and present) up in the away dressing room. Opposition takes their shirt off the peg and there's a topless Schär, or Wilson, or Ginola looking at them. Can't help but sow a little seed of inadequacy in their minds pre-game.

He's definitely got some making up to do, but that's probably above even his pay grade.