NUFC Transfer Rumours

[ohmelads]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

I don’t mean do what they’re doing forever.  But we’ll need to sell players for big money at some point to continue to invest.  If we can’t inflate sponsorship, hack FFP in some way or continue to outperform our wage budget we’ll need to sell.    
 

Liverpool sold Suarez and Coutinho and used that to reinvest. Our reinvestment will only be limited by FFP not the actual sale value. And like Liverpool once our revenues are up there with the elite we won’t need to sell.  
 

Villa are able to invest at a massive rate (beyond the fees received for the players) because of selling academy products for big bucks is great for FFP. 

 

Agree that Liverpool have had periods of selling very well (Torres, Suarez, Coutinho etc), but let's not forget market inflation. Torres cost 26.5 in 2007 and left for 50 million 4 years later as a proven player. It's good business, especially in hindsight as Torres didn't work out for Chelsea, but in that period fees went up a lot for top players. Suarez was at Liverpool from 2011 to 2014 and went from 26 to 65 million. Amazing business regardless of inflation but prices did rise again in that period and he left in his prime. 3 or 4 years from now, prices will be higher again... if we get 80 million for Bruno 3 years from now, it's a huge profit but that'll probably be the going rate and it's only a good sale if he turns out shite for the buying club. I guess the lesson is to go for players around Tonali or Szoboszlai's age and not players like Maddison who are at their prime. Age-wise, I think that's a big point and we seem to be targeting that age group.

 

If we're taking Liverpool as an example, they have shown it's not easy. They've done plenty of shite deals too but are insulated from the effects because they can spend their way out of a bad year or two, just like the other super league six. Soon we won't be able to speculate, since FFP measures your recent past and the frugal Ashley years won't be counted. We'll be hamstrung by FFP in a way Liverpool aren't, so we have more pressure to find more hits than misses.

[nemtizz]

Top 2 AM targets gone within a week is pretty shit but ‘cheaper’ options could allow us to strengthen elsewhere. 
 

[The Prophet]

Is there any actual evidence that Maddison or Szoboszlai were top targets?

 

Caulkin seemed to think we liked Maddison, but it wasn't a priority deal.

[TRon]

2 hours ago, Matt1892 said:

We arguably have the best squad out of Pots 3 and 4, so to say the squad isn’t CL quality seems harsh.

 

A squad good enough to win it is a different thing altogether.

 

I should have phrased it better, when I said our squad isn't CL quality, I meant in terms of qualifying season after season. We massively overperformed to do it this season, but I don't imagine it will get easier next season if the Hallowed Six are buying up the best players. They will be getting stronger, and if they are buying the players we want, then it becomes a more difficult proposition again.

 

Not that I would write our chances off at this stage, buying players is only part of the puzzle. Other teams like us and Villa can punch our weight through shrewd recruitment which suits our methods. Chelsea outspent us 3x over last season but they had no idea what they were doing.

[LV]

5 minutes ago, nemtizz said:

Top 2 AM targets gone within a week is pretty shit but ‘cheaper’ options could allow us to strengthen elsewhere. 
 

We have no evidence at all they were top targets. Just some journo talk.

 

We bid for Maddison last year, that’s known. That’s about it though. 

[Kimbo]

3 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Is there any actual evidence that Maddison or Szoboszlai were top targets?

 

Caulkin seemed to think we liked Maddison, but it wasn't a priority deal.

 

Just media talk, but then it's the same media that didn't see Tonali coming and then started saying he's our first choice as if they were ITK.

[SUPERTOON]

4 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Is there any actual evidence that Maddison or Szoboszlai were top targets?

 

Caulkin seemed to think we liked Maddison, but it wasn't a priority deal.

Only media gossip, but in fairness what else can we go off ? 

[The Prophet]

3 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Only media gossip, but in fairness what else can we go off ? 

 

What media gossip though? Back in May Sky Germany said we'd made an enquiry. The Athletic have since verified this. His name has then been mentioned in passing by the usual as being on the list, but too expensive. 

 

It sounds like we asked about him, thought he was too expensive and moved on. A lot of assumptions were made that it was a straight choice between him and Maddison because we don't know who else the club are targetting.

[The College Dropout]

2 hours ago, LFEE said:

I predicted around the £120m mark. Can’t see us going beyond £150m but it all means nothing. All about getting the right players not more/new players for the sake of it.

 

Personally think we’ll sign one more £50-60m type player in midfield. Then some cheaper defensive cover in 1 or 2 positions.

Spurs will spend more than £120m. Aston Villa will spend more than £120m. IMO we will need to keep pace with them to keep our momentum. We don’t need to outspend them, we can be smarter. But there’s only so long you can do that before you neee to genuinely keep pace with wage budgets and transfers. 

[The Butcher]

Tbf I'd be really surprised if we spent big on two midfielders. Fully expect us to sign another CM, but probably a cheaper one.

 

Hope we go heavy in on a RW and a LB, especially the former.

[SUPERTOON]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

What media gossip though? Back in May Sky Germany said we'd made an enquiry. The Athletic have since verified this. His name has then been mentioned in passing by the usual as being on the list, but too expensive. 

 

It sounds like we asked about him, thought he was too expensive and moved on. A lot of assumptions were made that it was a straight choice between him and Maddison because we don't know who else the club are targetting.

Yeah what I mean is  if we aren’t discussing players linked in the press at some stage then we don’t have rumour thread. Is there any ever real evidence of interest outside of media speculation?

[The Prophet]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Yeah what I mean is  if we aren’t discussing players linked in the press at some stage then we don’t have rumour thread. Is there any ever real evidence of interest outside of media speculation?

 

I agree, my point was I don't think anyone has reported that Szoboszlai is a top target, it was an assumption made by fans.

[The College Dropout]

28 minutes ago, ohmelads said:

 

Agree that Liverpool have had periods of selling very well (Torres, Suarez, Coutinho etc), but let's not forget market inflation. Torres cost 26.5 in 2007 and left for 50 million 4 years later as a proven player. It's good business, especially in hindsight as Torres didn't work out for Chelsea, but in that period fees went up a lot for top players. Suarez was at Liverpool from 2011 to 2014 and went from 26 to 65 million. Amazing business regardless of inflation but prices did rise again in that period and he left in his prime. 3 or 4 years from now, prices will be higher again... if we get 80 million for Bruno 3 years from now, it's a huge profit but that'll probably be the going rate and it's only a good sale if he turns out shite for the buying club. I guess the lesson is to go for players around Tonali or Szoboszlai's age and not players like Maddison who are at their prime. Age-wise, I think that's a big point and we seem to be targeting that age group.

 

If we're taking Liverpool as an example, they have shown it's not easy. They've done plenty of shite deals too but are insulated from the effects because they can spend their way out of a bad year or two, just like the other super league six. Soon we won't be able to speculate, since FFP measures your recent past and the frugal Ashley years won't be counted. We'll be hamstrung by FFP in a way Liverpool aren't, so we have more pressure to find more hits than misses.

The actual ‘profit’ doesn’t matter to FFP. If we sell Bruno G for 80m next season, he’ll only have £18m left on the books cost. That would be a £62m boost in FFP for a year.  That would cover the cost of £120m worth of transfer fees for a season assuming they all got 4 year contracts.  
 

If we are going to stick to FFP and not find loopholes - we’ll be forced to sell until we our revenues catch-up.  That’s a major reason for the Garanf and Minteh purchases. 

[Scoot]

7 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Tbf I'd be really surprised if we spent big on two midfielders. Fully expect us to sign another CM, but probably a cheaper one.

 

Hope we go heavy in on a RW and a LB, especially the former.

 

Yeah this is pretty much what I think. Another younger CM, plus a LB with the majority of the remaining budget going on a RW. 

[The College Dropout]

23 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

I should have phrased it better, when I said our squad isn't CL quality, I meant in terms of qualifying season after season. We massively overperformed to do it this season, but I don't imagine it will get easier next season if the Hallowed Six are buying up the best players. They will be getting stronger, and if they are buying the players we want, then it becomes a more difficult proposition again.

 

Not that I would write our chances off at this stage, buying players is only part of the puzzle. Other teams like us and Villa can punch our weight through shrewd recruitment which suits our methods. Chelsea outspent us 3x over last season but they had no idea what they were doing.

It’s that spending gives you a greater margin for error isn’t it? We have to better than them 

[TRon]

12 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Tbf I'd be really surprised if we spent big on two midfielders. Fully expect us to sign another CM, but probably a cheaper one.

 

Hope we go heavy in on a RW and a LB, especially the former.

 

Yep, that's my read on it as well. I think the RW will be the next big money spend, then we'll hopefully have enough left to bring in the LB as well as a few squad fillers.

[SUPERTOON]

A top class RW would still be the most important singing we could make this window imo. 

[Geordie_once_removed]

37 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Tbf I'd be really surprised if we spent big on two midfielders. Fully expect us to sign another CM, but probably a cheaper one.

 

Hope we go heavy in on a RW and a LB, especially the former.

I'm see the priority as RW, RCB and then LB. If Schär is injured the drop in quality to our next RCB is bigger than from Burn to Targett. I know a more attacking LB would give us a better balance, but due to his age and propensity for knocking himself out on a football pitch I feel relying on Schär is too much of a risk. Obviously I want both but if we can't have it all...

 

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Geordie_once_removed

[Andy84]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

A top class RW would still be the most important singing we could make this window imo. 

Centre back for me 

[Dr.Spaceman]

1 minute ago, Andy84 said:

Centre back for me 

 

And there's me thinking a good left back would be ideal 

[RS]

I think we’ll get exactly who we go after. These “lost” signings are nothing but noise. 

[timeEd32]

35 minutes ago, ohmelads said:

 

Agree that Liverpool have had periods of selling very well (Torres, Suarez, Coutinho etc), but let's not forget market inflation. Torres cost 26.5 in 2007 and left for 50 million 4 years later as a proven player. It's good business, especially in hindsight as Torres didn't work out for Chelsea, but in that period fees went up a lot for top players. Suarez was at Liverpool from 2011 to 2014 and went from 26 to 65 million. Amazing business regardless of inflation but prices did rise again in that period and he left in his prime. 3 or 4 years from now, prices will be higher again... if we get 80 million for Bruno 3 years from now, it's a huge profit but that'll probably be the going rate and it's only a good sale if he turns out shite for the buying club. I guess the lesson is to go for players around Tonali or Szoboszlai's age and not players like Maddison who are at their prime. Age-wise, I think that's a big point and we seem to be targeting that age group.

 

If we're taking Liverpool as an example, they have shown it's not easy. They've done plenty of shite deals too but are insulated from the effects because they can spend their way out of a bad year or two, just like the other super league six. Soon we won't be able to speculate, since FFP measures your recent past and the frugal Ashley years won't be counted. We'll be hamstrung by FFP in a way Liverpool aren't, so we have more pressure to find more hits than misses.

 

The whole "frugal Ashley years won't be counted" thing is a bit of a misnomer. FFP is on a rolling three year basis, but we'll still be including players signed 4/5/6 years ago depending on their contract length. Almiron (because of the extension), Joelinton, Wilson, and Willock's transfer fees are still being counted, while the limited outgoings of players like Perez, Merino, etc. would have been fully booked in years that are no longer being looked at. In 2020/21 and 2021/22 we had one (1!) outgoing that produced income:

 

Dan Berlaser - £236k

 

That alone could explain how terrible of a position Ashley left us in. This is why selling Wood and Shelvey in January was an incredible piece of business. Without that and qualifying for the CL I'm honestly not sure what we'd be doing this summer. Our biggest issue on the cost side is the players we have that are just making up numbers in the squad have no resale value. Even worse is someone like Jamal Lewis, who we are likely still having to count £3m for his transfer fee and another £2m for wages. That's £5m for a player who will not play and who no one wants. If we can get Fraser, Dubravka/Darlow, Lewis, and/or Hayden off the books it should be celebrated the same as bringing in Tonali. 

[Oregon_Geordie]

Flog ASM and get to business!

[Geordie Boyo]

4 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

I think you're reading into my semantics a bit too much.

 

I think that emotionally investing in a football player that doesn't play for my football club because they were linked by a journalist or an ITK, then having a meltdown when they don't sign isn't particularly healthy behaviour.

 

We all have our shit though, so if people want to do that crack on. Just don't expect others not to comment when their enjoyment of social media or a forum is impacted by that. That isn't a dig at anyone on this site, but the mood music on Twitter is grim and you can see it starting to seep in here too.

 

 

 

Reading into your semantics a bit too much? Aye, you’re definitely not condescending 

 

You’re saying your enjoyment has been impacted on here because of the odd person expressing their disappointment of a player they’d like to play for us, whose obviously been linked a number of times, hasnt prevailed. Is that not expected? You’re gonna get people who might not express things the way you do and to call them weird or odd without any recognition on that when it’s being pointed out says more about your own behaviour. 
 

Anyways, we’re clearly not gonna agree and are probably doing peoples heads in so I’ll just crack on eh 

[The College Dropout]

I just wish Saudi would buy Lewis, Hendricks and co. for a combined £30m.