Now That's What I Call Transfer Rumours! 7

[KaKa]

Just now, r0cafella said:

Your mental

 

Zaha has consistently been one of the best players outside of the top 6 for years. 
 

It’s cool kaka I think you just like those hard working players. 

 

I think his time at Man United and no further moves to any of those top 6 clubs since then, probably tells you all you need to know.

[r0cafella]

Just now, KaKa said:

 

I think his time at Man United and no further moves to any of those top 6 clubs since then, probably tells you all you need to know.

He’s on huge wages and Palace have always wanted big money for him. 
 

Also come on, he went to Man United at the worst possible time and he was young. 

[Kimbo]

McTominay will probably be a fine (but overpriced) signing for a bottom half team that expects less possession, like Palace for example. If you’re looking to dominate the ball and put together quick passing moves he’s nowhere near what you should be looking for. He’ll also probably get a few red cards a season at a different club.

[KaKa]

3 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

He’s on huge wages and Palace have always wanted big money for him. 
 

Also come on, he went to Man United at the worst possible time and he was young. 

 

His wages would not be a hinderance for any of those clubs.

 

Even with his contract running down the past two years there has been no move.

 

He'll be on a free this summer. Lets see where he ends up and what he ends up doing.

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

 

His wages would not be a hinderance for any of those clubs.

 

Even with his contract running down the past two years there has been no move.

 

He'll be on a free this summer. Lets see where he ends up and what he ends up doing.

Spurs supposedly getting him, not sure if that will change with Conte likely to leave.

[GeordieDazzler]

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

 

His wages would not be a hinderance for any of those clubs.

 

Even with his contract running down the past two years there has been no move.

 

He'll be on a free this summer. Lets see where he ends up and what he ends up doing.

strongly rumoured to be joining Ronaldo in Saudi I think 

[r0cafella]

4 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

His wages would not be a hinderance for any of those clubs.

 

Even with his contract running down the past two years there has been no move.

 

He'll be on a free this summer. Lets see where he ends up and what he ends up doing.

He’s past his peak now. If he wanted to win things he definitely hung at palace far too long but pair play to him for that. 

[LFEE]

3 hours ago, 80 said:

I won't pretend I know a lot about João Pedro, but I think people are living in the past still dreaming of players like him. I think he was what we were looking at pre-Isak when we were aiming to step up from relegation candidates to Europa League spot contenders.

 

This summer, I think the club will be looking to make significantly bigger strides forward than relatively expensive 2nd Division forwards, as I doubt players of that calibre will be the key to creating wins out of the draws that are currently strangling our potential. Happy to be proven wrong if the time comes..!

It’s finding someone who will want to grow with the club and also accept some bench time due to lack of profile. Along with fitting into a modest wage structure by EPL standards.

 

Who do you think we will be targeting?

[Tisd09]

Seeing Brennan Johnson again today he has a lot of quality about him, I think he would fit right in. Be nice to see another* Welshman in our squad..

 

 

[Nine]

1 hour ago, Geordie Ahmed said:

The thing with McTominay that the numbers won't really show is the cowardice in his play, fbref doesn't have a stat for hiding and that's where stats don't really show the full picture when it comes to judging a player

 

Now is that something Howe can coach? Possibly but you shouldn't need to coach an almost 27 year not to hide from the football

 

I love Howe and trust him (I was among the few defending him in Jan 2022) but think signing McTominay would be a mistake

To be fair there is no way a player would get games under a coach like Ten Hag if they actively hid from the ball, just not happening.

[80]

36 minutes ago, LFEE said:

It’s finding someone who will want to grow with the club and also accept some bench time due to lack of profile. Along with fitting into a modest wage structure by EPL standards.

 

Who do you think we will be targeting?

In terms of specific forwards, I won't pretend to have a clue, but if we make Europe, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for Osimhen and his ilk. Whether we get them is totally another story. But ultimately to grow the club we're probably going to have to sign players who are bigger than the club - even if they or the rest of the world don't realise it yet. See Bruno or Botman as examples of that. If we're too humble and don't stretch ourselves we'll largely stay where we are and tick over.

 

My point isn't against Pedro per se; he might come in and be great and I'll back him from the start if it's the club's choice. It's just striking to me that people think our targets will remain static after 12 months of significant progress on and off the pitch. It's reminiscent of wanting to still be in for Jesse Lingard last summer. 6 months earlier than that he was a sensible option, but come the next window he wasn't.

[BoSelecta]

27 minutes ago, 80 said:

In terms of specific forwards, I won't pretend to have a clue, but if we make Europe, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for Osimhen and his ilk. Whether we get them is totally another story. But ultimately to grow the club we're probably going to have to sign players who are bigger than the club - even if they or the rest of the world don't realise it yet. See Bruno or Botman as examples of that. If we're too humble and don't stretch ourselves we'll largely stay where we are and tick over.

 

My point isn't against Pedro per se; he might come in and be great and I'll back him from the start if it's the club's choice. It's just striking to me that people think our targets will remain static after 12 months of significant progress on and off the pitch. It's reminiscent of wanting to still be in for Jesse Lingard last summer. 6 months earlier than that he was a sensible option, but come the next window he wasn't.

Agree with what you’re saying but it’s such a difficult balancing act as unfortunately we need quantity & quality. 

[80]

19 minutes ago, BoSelecta said:

Agree with what you’re saying but it’s such a difficult balancing act as unfortunately we need quantity & quality. 

Yeah definitely. If we end up in serious Europe, there's an argument to be made for signing an extra player in every position. Not saying we will or should, but I do recognise quantity has a role to play.

 

Normally I'm quite pro a budget signing, but I think last time around we were talking £25m+ for Pedro which isn't nothing. The more limited our finances are, the more I think we should be aiming above or below that level of talent (i.e. Maddison or Burn).

[LFEE]

2 hours ago, 80 said:

In terms of specific forwards, I won't pretend to have a clue, but if we make Europe, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for Osimhen and his ilk. Whether we get them is totally another story. But ultimately to grow the club we're probably going to have to sign players who are bigger than the club - even if they or the rest of the world don't realise it yet. See Bruno or Botman as examples of that. If we're too humble and don't stretch ourselves we'll largely stay where we are and tick over.

 

My point isn't against Pedro per se; he might come in and be great and I'll back him from the start if it's the club's choice. It's just striking to me that people think our targets will remain static after 12 months of significant progress on and off the pitch. It's reminiscent of wanting to still be in for Jesse Lingard last summer. 6 months earlier than that he was a sensible option, but come the next window he wasn't.

We are nowhere near players in high demand like Osimhen. Outside chance at best if we finish Top 4. 
 

Im possibly in the minority but the signings of Bruno & Botman are the level I’d expect a normal mid level EPL team showing some ambition to make. Admittedly when we signed Bruno we were in relegation trouble but in general we have been just that just without any great ambition. As great an impact both have had I don’t rate them as highly as most. That’s not to say I don’t think they are very good and will get even better but I’m not expecting either to become elite due to physical deficiencies that can’t be developed.

[Manxst]

5 minutes ago, LFEE said:

We are nowhere near players in high demand like Osimhen. Outside chance at best if we finish Top 4. 
 

Im possibly in the minority but the signings of Bruno & Botman are the level I’d expect a normal mid level EPL team showing some ambition to make. Admittedly when we signed Bruno we were in relegation trouble but in general we have been just that just without any great ambition. As great an impact both have had I don’t rate them as highly as most. That’s not to say I don’t think they are very good and will get even better but I’m not expecting either to become elite due to physical deficiencies that can’t be developed.

Not sure what you’re trying to say. You think both are very good and will get even better but won’t ever be elite? IMO, very few players can ever be classed as ‘elite’. Even if both won’t quite make that level (and they might well do so), they’ll both be very very good (and are indeed already so judging by their performances for us this season). Both are FAR better than a “normal mid level EPL team”- as evidenced by Madrid currently scouting Bruno (even possibly ahead of Bellingham, allegedly), and us beating Milan to Botman only seemingly because they wouldn’t pay the fee that we would. Botman has been instrumental in us having one of the best defences in the league this season. Bruno’s ability and quality is evidenced by how much we miss him when he doesn’t play, and that Arsenal wanted to sign him. 

[80]

7 minutes ago, LFEE said:

We are nowhere near players in high demand like Osimhen. Outside chance at best if we finish Top 4. 
 

Im possibly in the minority but the signings of Bruno & Botman are the level I’d expect a normal mid level EPL team showing some ambition to make. Admittedly when we signed Bruno we were in relegation trouble but in general we have been just that just without any great ambition. As great an impact both have had I don’t rate them as highly as most. That’s not to say I don’t think they are very good and will get even better but I’m not expecting either to become elite due to physical deficiencies that can’t be developed.

Agreed about things being an outside chance, but that's what we're here for frankly. There are some players who for whatever reason are up for it, up for 'the project', and we should be ambitious about gunning for them as it'll improve both our recruitment and retention.

 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on how Bruno and Botman are rated. I somewhat agree with what you say about a mid level PL club showing ambition should go for such players though, that's kind of my point. At their age and stage, they were players who could bridge the gap and, as you said earlier, grow with the club. Coming from the Champion's League tier of a mid level league to the sub-CL tier of the top league to make their mark. I get that logic; that's why the pining for a 2nd Division Watford forward who'd cost 2/3rds of their fee seems odd to me.

[The Prophet]

Bruno is good enough to play for pretty much any team in the league.

 

[STM]

It's fucking nonsense. Both are already elite. Even if they don't improve they are already elite. What is elite? Just a term used to ring fence certain players, in order to formulate an argument.

 

Our issue is that we ONLY have 4/5 "elite" players; Pope, Botman, Bruno, Tripper (32 now) and possibly Isak and Joelinton. Sides regularly competing have something like 14. We need more, more, more.

 

Just look at City yesterday, they have Akanji, Ake, Laporte, Stones, Ruben Diaz, for 2 positions (possibly 3 depending on formation) and we have Botman on his own. Schar is a good player but doesn't quite reach their level.

 

Or look at Liverpool: Salah, Firmino, Diaz, Jota, Gakpo, Nunez, Carvalho all competing for 3 spots. It's honestly a miracle what Howe has done.

 

We just don't have enough, it's really that simple. We will get there, it might take 4 years though.

 

 

[Sempiternal]

God I’d love Osimhen here, he’s built for the PL. 

[LFEE]

45 minutes ago, Manxst said:

Not sure what you’re trying to say. You think both are very good and will get even better but won’t ever be elite? IMO, very few players can ever be classed as ‘elite’. Even if both won’t quite make that level (and they might well do so), they’ll both be very very good (and are indeed already so judging by their performances for us this season). Both are FAR better than a “normal mid level EPL team”- as evidenced by Madrid currently scouting Bruno (even possibly ahead of Bellingham, allegedly), and us beating Milan to Botman only seemingly because they wouldn’t pay the fee that we would. Botman has been instrumental in us having one of the best defences in the league this season. Bruno’s ability and quality is evidenced by how much we miss him when he doesn’t play, and that Arsenal wanted to sign him. 

In a nutshell I’m saying we shouldn’t be shocked or flattered that we signed Bruno or Botman as both are at the right level for us. I don’t see either as a massive coup. I appreciate like I said that I might be in the minority with this thinking but I’m justifying it by says they are not without flaws and don’t see either of them outgrowing us.

[LionOfGosforth]

1 hour ago, Sempiternal said:

God I’d love Osimhen here, he’s built for the PL. 

 

Gonna be puke-inducing when he lines up for Man Utd or Chelsea. Honestly think they're the only two who could and would pay what Napoli would want. 

[kingxlnc]

Isak was elite level when he signed, he was being spoken of in the same breath as Haaland and Mbappe, slightly below that tier, in the Vlahovic or even Osimhen level.

 

Bruno was less known but known amongst the bigger teams, Liverpool in particular were absolutely shocked he went when he did as we caught everyone unaware. He would have been unattainable in the summer had we tried. 

[toon25]

28 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

 

Gonna be puke-inducing when he lines up for Man Utd or Chelsea. Honestly think they're the only two who could and would pay what Napoli would want. 

Osimhen is a nailed in Chelsea overspend if ever there was one.

 

150 mil plus.

[Skeletor]

McTominay would be grim as fuck.

[KaKa]

It's all about timing.

 

Bruno, Botman and Isak are all elite level players, which they will continue to show more obviously as more quality is added to the team, but we just bought them before it was as obvious as it will continue to be going forward.

 

Osimhen is likely going to be the number one striker target for any of the top clubs in the world that are looking for a striker, so any conversation cannot even begin below £100 million. We will not be in for him.

 

I think we'll again look to get a player in that position that is an elite level talent, but one that we've perhaps identified before it has become so obvious that it rockets their price up.

 

I think the likes of Goncalo Ramos, Evanilson, Kolo Muani and Jonathan David will likely be considered. Those ones have all shown a lot of very strong signs of being special, and I'm sure there are a few others out there.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by KaKa