Now That's What I Call Transfer Rumours! 7

[The Prophet]

44 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I think there's a decent chance we'll fail to get our targets now. If every deal gets this slow and complicated there has to be a chance that we'll run out of time at some point.

 

Making first contact with a target with a week to go is one of the more risky ways to run the window. 

 

 

 

 

Don't forget we brought three players in during the last four days of the January market.

 

Caulkin alluded to a lot going on in the background, so contact with any potential targets has most likely already been made.

[Thumbheed]

Don't understand why we're not linked with more right wingers, Diaby aside we've been linked almost exclusively with wingers who play pre dominantly on the left.

[Hanshithispantz]

Joao Pedro came out of nowhere, we’d probably still know nowt about it if Romano didn’t have a source at Watford.

 

We’ll get business done like, there will be loads going on behind the scenes.

[The Prophet]

Just now, Hanshithispantz said:

Joao Pedro came out of nowhere, we’d probably still know nowt about it if Romano didn’t have a source at Watford.

 

We’ll get business done like, there will be loads going on behind the scenes.

 

As did Maddison. There wasn't a peep about him before Percy broke it from the Leicester end.

[SUPERTOON]

6 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Don't forget we brought three players in during the last four days of the January market.

 

Caulkin alluded to a lot going on in the background, so contact with any potential targets has most likely already been made.

We didn’t bring in our top targets in those last days in January mind and none for the money that’s being talked about currently for the ones we are in for. We may have to go down our list of targets again to get the players in now.

[SUPERTOON]

11 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, Stavely said:

 

"We are not saying we are going to spend silly money. We are not,” she added.

 

“I hope that in the next transfer window people will see we are not going to overpay for players or assets. If people think we will spend silly money, we will not.”

 

It's almost like they're trying to make a point of it...

There is silly money and then there is paying the going rate, Maddison for example at 60 million would have been fair market value imo.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

8 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

All our January signings other than Trippier were pretty much begun and finalised within a day or two, weren't they?

 

I don't really know TBH. We also failed to get quite a few people IIRC, hence having to go for Burn and Targett instead of Carlos, Botman et al. 

 

I'm not criticising really, it's normal to miss out on people. I'm just saying time will run out at some point and there's not a lot left. 

[FCB]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

I don't really know TBH. We also failed to get quite a few people IIRC, hence having to go for Burn and Targett instead of Carlos, Botman et al. 

 

I'm not criticising really, it's normal to miss out on people. I'm just saying time will run out at some point and there's not a lot left. 

First part makes no sense, we got Botman?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, FCB said:

First part makes no sense, we got Botman?

 

Not when we wanted him originally. We had to go back in the following window. 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by AyeDubbleYoo

[FCB]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Not when we wanted him originally. We had to go back in the following window. 

 

 

 

Ahh, that's understandable, now I get you.

[The Prophet]

4 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

We didn’t bring in our top targets in those last days in January mind and none for the money that’s being talked about currently for the ones we are in for. We may have to go down our list of targets again to get the players in now.

 

That's fair enough with Burn and Targett. We did bring in Bruno though, who was allegedly a top midfield target.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

We'll get some and we won't get some. I just hope we are learning what is actually required to land the players you want, and factoring that into our strategy. 

 

Also less important if all 5 or 6 of our list are acceptable, which I'm sure they are. Less of a blow if you don't get first choice. 

 

Overall it doesn't matter to me too much, since we're moving in the right direction. I would just like to see a confident swoop and successful signing of another big target or two. 

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

 

That's fair enough with Burn and Targett. We did bring in Bruno though, who was allegedly a top midfield target.

I just wonder if the desperation of staying up in January meant we went pretty low down on our list of targets just to get bodies in (worked out brilliantly) ? I’m not sure we will do the same this summer, I think we will stick to a core group of top players and younger players and if we don’t get them we will wait till the next window.

[gbandit]

Transfer rumours? More like transfer doom and gloomers, amirite? Seriously though, let’s get a signing either confirmed today or as well as 

[The Prophet]

I think our transfer strategy will change considerably once Ashworth has his feet under the table. Going forward he'll be running the show, as opposed to helping the current model along.

[Dr Jinx]

We’re not approaching this window with an air of desperation like we did in certain aspects last January.

 

Chris Wood and Matt Targett wouldn’t have been long term targets, we just lucked out on the latter being a great fit. Wood contributed as well so not gonna slag him off, the fee was mental though but then at the same time, it’s good value when you see the knock on effect he had.

 

See, we had a squad that started suffering ptsd as soon as they had control of the ball, all they were used to was lumping it forward and it coming right back at them. Chris Wood made a difference in that suddenly the ball wasn’t coming back immediately, it helped the midfield regain some confidence in pushing forward and eventually we started playing some decent football towards end of season.

 

For example, if we’d bought Joao Pedro in THAT team last January, those things mentioned above may not have happened and we could be having a very different conversation about the future of the club right now.

[r0cafella]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

I think our transfer strategy will change considerably once Ashworth has his feet under the table. Going forward he'll be running the show, as opposed to helping the current model along.

Remember, Ashworth isn’t a super scout or anything of that nature his roll is all encompassing. What we should be looking for us a hiring of a lot more scouts and continued investment in data and analytics. 
 

it looks like Nickson will remain as chief scout given all the positive noises coming from the club re him. 

[The Prophet]

Just now, r0cafella said:

Remember, Ashworth isn’t a super scout or anything of that nature his roll is all encompassing. What we should be looking for us a hiring of a lot more scouts and continued investment in data and analytics. 
 

it looks like Nickson will remain as chief scout given all the positive noises coming from the club re him. 

 

Agreed, but he ties it all together and probably has his own methods for acquiring targets.

 

This summer the strategy had already been decided before he arrived.

[Emotic]

I suspect the foundations of the Ashworth model are already evident in the names we have been linked with thus far - young(ish); often unheralded players with a high ceiling. Imagine the number of times we had to rush off to Youtube to watch videos of potential targets that we had hitherto no clue existed. Apart from a top-notch scouting network, you'd require a top-notch sports scientist and statistician too - Moneyball but targetting undervalued youth with great prospects. 

 

For that reason, we have been looking at names like Ekitike and Pedro, when everyone would have been over the moon with obvious big names like Bellotti (not least me), and Icardi (who PSG are actively touting around). I also suspect that our rivals have also cottoned on to our scouting system, hence the likes of Everton trying to gazump our targets. 

[Happinesstan]

25 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

There is silly money and then there is paying the going rate, Maddison for example at 60 million would have been fair market value imo.

Currently, but when his price is set to half in a year, it would be like buying a 80" TV the night before black friday.

[nufcnick]

The bed wetting on here is hilarious, I will start to get worried if there’s still nobody through the door at the start of next week 

[Manxst]

1 minute ago, Emotic said:

I suspect the foundations of the Ashworth model are already evident in the names we have been linked with thus far - young(ish); often unheralded players with a high ceiling. Imagine the number of times we had to rush off to Youtube to watch videos of potential targets that we had hitherto no clue existed. Apart from a top-notch scouting network, you'd require a top-notch sports scientist and statistician too - Moneyball but targetting undervalued youth with great prospects. 

 

For that reason, we have been looking at names like Ekitike and Pedro, when everyone would have been over the moon with obvious big names like Bellotti (not least me), and Icardi (who PSG are actively touting around). I also suspect that our rivals have also cottoned on to our scouting system, hence the likes of Everton trying to gazump our targets. 

In order to integrate ourselves successfully into the ffp system, we will also have to buy young players and sell them on at a premium when the right time for the club to sanction their sale comes, like Chelsea and Man City do. Bellotti and Icardi clearly have little resale value, even if their current playing value is high. 

[The Prophet]

4 minutes ago, Emotic said:

I suspect the foundations of the Ashworth model are already evident in the names we have been linked with thus far - young(ish); often unheralded players with a high ceiling. Imagine the number of times we had to rush off to Youtube to watch videos of potential targets that we had hitherto no clue existed. Apart from a top-notch scouting network, you'd require a top-notch sports scientist and statistician too - Moneyball but targetting undervalued youth with great prospects. 

 

For that reason, we have been looking at names like Ekitike and Pedro, when everyone would have been over the moon with obvious big names like Bellotti (not least me), and Icardi (who PSG are actively touting around). I also suspect that our rivals have also cottoned on to our scouting system, hence the likes of Everton trying to gazump our targets. 

 

We were looking at Ekitike and allegedly Isak back in January.

[Dokko]

CHO has always had a hard on for Germany. No surprise he's chosen a team there over staying in the PL. 

[Willow]

15 minutes ago, nufcnick said:

The bed wetting on here is hilarious, I will start to get worried if there’s still nobody through the door at the start of next week 

 

Where's the bed wetting? Any examples?