Now That's What I Call Transfer Rumours! 7

[Whitley mag]

I can understand targeting players in January with PL experience  if you want them to make an instant impact. No excuse in the summer though with a full pre season.

 

I think a summer signing spree for example of Tierney, Gallagher, Barnes and McTominay would really set us back long term. They simply wouldn’t push us into the top 4 and would all be on long contracts. 
 

I would seriously question Ashworth if this transpired in the summer and you’d have to question if he was the driving force of Brightons transfers.

 

I like Gordon and think he’ll be a decent acquisition but be interesting to see if he’s the start of a new approach to transfers with PL experience.

 

 

[gbandit]

55 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Shit source so hopefully bollocks but this makes no sense if it's true. Bruno, Isak and Botman have been amongst our best players this season, none of whom played in English football beforehand. The clubs we want to be competing with, the 'big 6' hardly ever take this approach either and with good reason. Hope it's a load of shite.

 

 

I’m clinging to the fact he’s basically a blue-tick version of Cwarr07

[80]

5 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

I would seriously question Ashworth if this transpired in the summer and you’d have to question if he was the driving force of Brightons transfers.

 

As I understand it, he wasn't. But he was the driving force behind the team that drove Brighton's transfers. So make of that what you will regarding his influence on McTominay and others.

 

Personally, I'd imagine his main influence on this would be around yaying or naying the financial considerations - of this and any other transfers that might or might not be affected by it.

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

If the club’s strategy is to target British players with Premier League experience, then fair enough, but don’t continue to brief the press about FFP concerns when you’re actively buying in the most inflated bracket possible.

[Menace]

Isak and Bruno transfer happened completely out of the blue. Botman was one of a few players the media knew about. I bet the club are keeping their cards close to their chest.

[STM]

So far their transfer strategy has been top notch. They aren't changing it FFS.

 

Funny how I saw Howe talking about FFP constraints again..... for the 4th window in a row.

[SteV]

Whether we like it or not, they definitely have to give consideration to getting more home grown players into the squad for the long term.

 

You need a minimum of 8. At present I think we only have two who I would say are already at the required level and would feel confident of them being at that level or (hopefully) better in the long term (4+ years):

 

Willock

Gordon

 

There’s another handful who could be, but for differing reasons I’m not as confident as I am with the above two:

 

Longstaff

Murphy

Anderson

Targett

Ashby

 

Then we have older players who clearly are of the required level, but age would dictate it’s unlikely they will be in the long term:

 

Pope

Trippier

Wilson

Burn

 

Leaving the rest that aren’t at that level and very likely won’t get there:

 

Lascelles

Dummett

Ritchie

Darlow

Gillespie

Fraser

Lewis

 

Now this doesn’t need to rectified in the next window, or even the next two or three windows, but it’s got to be a gradual process starting away really.

 

*In hindsight, this would have been far better in the Squad thread, but fuck it, I’ve typed it all out now.

[Mountain]

46 minutes ago, SteV said:

Whether we like it or not, they definitely have to give consideration to getting more home grown players into the squad for the long term.

 

You need a minimum of 8. At present I think we only have two who I would say are already at the required level and would feel confident of them being at that level or (hopefully) better in the long term (4+ years):

 

Willock

Gordon

 

There’s another handful who could be, but for differing reasons I’m not as confident as I am with the above two:

 

Longstaff

Murphy

Anderson

Targett

Ashby

 

Then we have older players who clearly are of the required level, but age would dictate it’s unlikely they will be in the long term:

 

Pope

Trippier

Wilson

Burn

 

Leaving the rest that aren’t at that level and very likely won’t get there:

 

Lascelles

Dummett

Ritchie

Darlow

Gillespie

Fraser

Lewis

 

Now this doesn’t need to rectified in the next window, or even the next two or three windows, but it’s got to be a gradual process starting away really.

 

*In hindsight, this would have been far better in the Squad thread, but fuck it, I’ve typed it all out now.

 

I mildly agree except Pope, he could play for another 5 years easy, barring injuries. Had his wobbles of late but he's been the best keeper overall of my lifetime imo, which includes Given.

 

Also I think Anderson could develop into a great player.

 

 

[Kid Icarus]

Talbot and Bailey belong in the Twitter bollocks thread like.

[Disco]

19 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Talbot and Bailey belong in the Twitter bollocks thread like.

Bailey is amongst an elite group of Sonia Sodha and Yoan Gouffran to have blocked me on Twitter. He’s only in a job because he’s Steve McClaren’s mate.

[Ben]

I think the premature sales of Wood and Shelvey along with the the majority of our bench warmers going in the summer means we will spend big in the window, add to that European or even Champions league football and we could see a record spend.

[Charlies]

5 hours ago, Disco said:

Bailey is amongst an elite group of Sonia Sodha and Yoan Gouffran to have blocked me on Twitter. He’s only in a job because he’s Steve McClaren’s mate.

He blocked me for asking where he hides the bodies, the bastard.

[ExiledGeordie]

I think the club can be afforded some respect in terms of the transfer business they’ve already done. They do a lot of analysis into players and decisions come from all angles of opinion from Nickson, Howe and Ashworth. I’m not overly fussed about McTominay but if they think he fits our system and they can improve him then so be it. Someone like Gallagher I could also see Howe moulding into a better player. Tierneynand Barnes are good quality players. 
 

I think they’ll look at a mix of some ready made premier league players with experience and then still go to the continent for certain key positions as they’ve done with Bruno and Botman. A number 6 such as Thurman or Alvarez certainly makes sense and would be cheaper than a Cacaido, Phillips or Rice for example. 
 

As a few have suggested they keep their cards pretty close to their chest so there may be some out of the blue signings too. People should probably just wait to see what happens and enjoy the fact we’re actually looking to progress than panicking or casting judgement in March before the summer window has even opened.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by ExiledGeordie

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

@Disco why did Gouffran block you

[Holmesy]

Could this be the year we dip into the free transfer market to balance out the FFP stuff? There's some top talent available, the likes of Tielemans, Jonathan Bamba, Asensio, Zaha, Ndicka etc.

If we could fish in that pool I can see us signing 6-7 in total, with the same number leaving

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Holmesy

[SUPERTOON]

Also linked to us:

 

 

[Mikky]

For someone entering final 12 months - I think 50m is way too much 

 

closer to 30m I would say 

[Disco]

2 hours ago, Shays Given Tim Flowers said:

@Disco why did Gouffran block you

Was after the Southampton game where Neesy and Carver had a set too (such great days) at FT and I may or may not have suggested he shouldn’t be on Twitter immediately after playing shit. Was like 15-20 mins after FT too, great discipline to get straight on your phone.

[Shearergol]

31 minutes ago, Mikky said:

For someone entering final 12 months - I think 50m is way too much 

 

closer to 30m I would say 

 

Even that's too high given his contract situation.

[sushimonster85]

We appear to be in a situation now where the financial upside of staying in the PL is so vast that teams calculating a players importance in keeping them in the division v potentially losing them on a free are taking the PL survival figure into account and still slapping prohibitive fees on their best players. Obviously this applies more to well run sides without financial/FFP issues than maybe a team that play in blue who have a certain attack minded midfielder we may be after....  

[The Butcher]

56 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Also linked to us:

 

 

Think he's really good, but him and Bruno would probably be the slowest midfield duo in the league. Rather sign a CM with a bit of pace.

[Holmesy]

58 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Also linked to us:

 

 

He'd be a great signing, a huge upgrade on Longstaff. What he lacks in pace he makes up for in 5-10 thunderbastards per season

[BoSelecta]

3 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

He'd be a great signing, a huge upgrade on Longstaff. What he lacks in pace he makes up for in 5-10 thunderbastards per season

He's never scored more than 5 in a top flight season (He averages 4). Still an upgrade on Longstaff of course who averages <1. I personally don't think we need to prioritise goals from any prospective 6; get an athletic duel winner who recycles possession well and let Bruno + the 3 forwards bring the goals.

[Holmesy]

1 minute ago, BoSelecta said:

He's never scored more than 5 in a top flight season (He averages 4). Still an upgrade on Longstaff of course who averages <1. I personally don't think we need to prioritise goals from any prospective 6; get an athletic duel winner who recycles possession well and let Bruno + the 3 forwards bring the goals.

Fair enough, but Wolves barely score any at all so his contribution is significant. Given how toothless we are from crosses and corners, i'd say adding goals from another area of the field should be a priority. We're almost completely reliant on our strikers to score every game. If they're well marked we're all but out of ideas

[BoSelecta]

4 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

Fair enough, but Wolves barely score any at all so his contribution is significant. Given how toothless we are from crosses and corners, i'd say adding goals from another area of the field should be a priority. We're almost completely reliant on our strikers to score every game. If they're well marked we're all but out of ideas

Yeah if Howe decided to go for Neves I certainly wouldn't be disappointed (depending on the fee) - I'd be a lot happier with him than McTomminay. I just think they might go for a Caicedo/Lavia type in the 6 and buy goals further up the pitch. Would Neves work in a midfield 3 with Bruno & Maddision for example? Feels a bit shy on athleticism and bite although there's clearly a huge amount of technicality, creativity and goals in that trio. Really interesting to see what route they go down to balance the midfield.