NUFC Transfer Rumours

[Armchair Pundit]

We needed depth in the squad, to assist with a push on all fronts next season. As it stands, our squad is weaker than last season, when it needs to be stronger. Therefore, minimum, we currently need a replacement for Wilson and potentially Longstaff to break even (Elanga has replaced Miggy), anything else 'should' be additions to the squad to add depth in quality. If we hit up next season without the additional bolstering of quality to squad depth, we're going to struggle and over-stretch the team, likely ultimately affecting the league position at the end of next season and how far we get in all competitions.

 

We've added what seem to be a handful of low-key players, like Park Seung-Soo and Antonio Cordero, though it's unclear on whether they're to be loaned out for future use.

 

So, it looks like, a back-up quality striker and a back-up CM for current depth (unless we're planning on using Miley more), along with a quality CB, with BDB and Schar getting older. Do we need a new GK? Pope does seem a bit inconsistent, sometimes making great saves, other times howlers ala the Celtic game. Anything else would be to add the much needed depth, perhaps another attacking CM and a utility defender -  that's five players.

 

And all that, assuming Isak stays, if he goes we'd need a marquee signing striker to replace him, all with three weeks before the season starts and most widely known decent strikers having already been sold to new clubs.

[Displayname]

1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

They're not unrealistic targets, but trying to get all of our targets under valuation when other clubs are sniffing about is incredibly naive. I have no issue with Howe's targets, it's how we've gone about trying to get too many of them that's the problem, as well as the seeming lack of scope and imagination in our plan B and the snail's pace we work at.

 

 

 

Agree that the management deserve some (or a lot) criticism for how they have acted this transfer window, but I also think a lot of the criticism is undeserved/exxagerated.

 

We don't have the financial muscle to just pay the asking price both in terms of transfer fees and player contracts. We need good deals. Think we never really had a chance to get most of them anyways after their head got turned by what they perceive as bigger clubs.

 

Moving at a snails pace is a criticism i wholeheartedly agree with though.

[KennyUtd]

Why hasn't anyone gone in for Jarred Bowen man? He'd be class here, I'm convinced of it. 

[Kid Icarus]

9 minutes ago, Displayname said:

Agree that the management deserve some (or a lot) criticism for how they have acted this transfer window, but I also think a lot of the criticism is undeserved/exxagerated.

 

We don't have the financial muscle to just pay the asking price both in terms of transfer fees and player contracts. We need good deals. Think we never really had a chance to get most of them anyways after their head got turned by what they perceive as bigger clubs.

 

Moving at a snails pace is a criticism i wholeheartedly agree with though.

 

This is where I fundamentally disagree basically. You cut your cloth accordingly.

 

Our budget means we can theoretically stump up the fee for nigh on any player in the world. Obviously that's unrealistic because it would leave us short in other positions and doesn't factor in wages, but there has to be a happy medium whereby we target fewer players than we are right now, meet the valuation and pay the wages, instead of this method where we're clearly spreading our budget too thin across too many targets, coming up short on the valuation of nigh on all of them, and ending up with one signing.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Displayname]

10 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

This is where I fundamentally disagree. You cut your cloth accordingly.

 

Our budget means we can theoretically stump up the fee for nigh on any player in the world. Obviously that's unrealistic because it would leave us short in other positions and doesn't factor in wages, but there has to be a happy medium whereby we target fewer players, meet the valuation and pay the wages, instead of this method where we're clearing spreading our budget too thin across too many targets, coming up short on the valuation of nigh on all of them, and ending up with one signing.

And here I'm thinking we have been focused on too few targets And nearly all of them stand out players in the PL clubs a tier below that was bound to catch the eye of our competitors.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by Displayname

[St1pe]

14 minutes ago, KennyUtd said:

Why hasn't anyone gone in for Jarred Bowen man? He'd be class here, I'm convinced of it. 

Age+cost. 
 

I sort of agree though. He’s got a bit of Harvey Barnes about him though in that he doesn’t seem to do much until he absolutely does 

[Ben]

I don't think we can afford to let any players leave this window because of the horrific ineptitude of our transfer team.

[Heron]

3 hours ago, Shearergol said:

Which of those players did Andy Howe bring in?

I don't know but either way, that's not to say he's got a bad track record either is it.

 

Whatever the current set up is, has been working is my point. People just looking for random scapegoats. Boring as shit.

[Sibierski]

33 minutes ago, Ben said:

I don't think we can afford to let any players leave this window because of the horrific ineptitude of our transfer team.

I understand reason why we can’t and it’s like winter 23-24 season all over again, but if there’s offers for likes of Willock / Targett etc. we would normally accept coming in, we have to accept them.

 

Rather bank the PSR headroom for January / next summer, then keep hold of someone who won’t contribute much. A youth player is not ideal, but we have to take money for our fringe players when they’re there. 

[Hanshithispantz]

.wrong thread

 

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by Hanshithispantz

[Lush Vlad]

1 hour ago, Pilko said:

 

To my knowledge, nobody is saying that going in for those players is a bad idea, in fact quite the opposite.

 

The issue is the tunnel vision on the miniscule list of targets, the lack of contingency plan and the slow way we operate.

 

Yes, you'll say the market is tough and PSR is bullshit. And I agree. We knew that last summer and got next to nowt done. We knew it this summer, and have still got next to nowt done. We've put all our eggs in the one tiny basket, it's failed badly, and we're now firing out bids for any Premier League striker we can think of because clearly we've almost entirely decided to write off looking overseas, possibly/probably at the behest of the manager who loves British and/or PL experienced players. Again, fine to prioritise that but the lack of contingency or ability to change direction effectively is a joke and I don't know why so many are keen to defend it.

This is kind of where I’m at now. I have been defending the club plenty as I think some of the stick has just felt like moaning for moaning’s sake and a bit wet TBH. 

 

But the pace we move at is horrendous and we seem incapable or not interested in giving up on a player when we’ve been fucked about or the cartel have swooped in. To move onto the next target on the list. 
 

We used to scout on the continent and had some decent success doing it even under Ashley. Especially true in recent times with probably what? 4 of our 5 best players coming in from Europe? 
 

Yet we seem really set this window on PL only and this ready made approach. Which is understandable to a point. But Botman, Bruno and Isak hardly needed bedding in much and Tonali would probably have been alright if not for the gambling. 

[nwopnufc]

1 hour ago, KennyUtd said:

Why hasn't anyone gone in for Jarred Bowen man? He'd be class here, I'm convinced of it. 

Won’t move north 

[southernmag]

8 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

This is kind of where I’m at now. I have been defending the club plenty as I think some of the stick has just felt like moaning for moaning’s sake and a bit wet TBH. 

 

But the pace we move at is horrendous and we seem incapable or not interested in giving up on a player when we’ve been fucked about or the cartel have swooped in. To move onto the next target on the list. 
 

We used to scout on the continent and had some decent success doing it even under Ashley. Especially true in recent times with probably what? 4 of our 5 best players coming in from Europe? 
 

Yet we seem really set this window on PL only and this ready made approach. Which is understandable to a point. But Botman, Bruno and Isak hardly needed bedding in much and Tonali would probably have been alright if not for the gambling. 

 

Yeap. I think the majority of us would agree we've been narrow minded and naive in our approach to transfers. That's why we are where we are today.

 

I actually don't mind the club making mistakes - we're all human at the end of the day and can only do our best. But this is at least two summers in a row now. It's getting embarrassing. At some point we must change how we do things.

[MagPar]

3 hours ago, Tiresias said:

 Even though want really get job

 

 

 

 

We all make keyboard mishaps, but this one has me really baffled. It's after an editing too.

[Ben]

Is Howe forceful enough, does he complain, or just accept what he's given ?

[TRon]

2 hours ago, Pilko said:

 

To my knowledge, nobody is saying that going in for those players is a bad idea, in fact quite the opposite.

 

The issue is the tunnel vision on the miniscule list of targets, the lack of contingency plan and the slow way we operate.

 

Yes, you'll say the market is tough and PSR is bullshit. And I agree. We knew that last summer and got next to nowt done. We knew it this summer, and have still got next to nowt done. We've put all our eggs in the one tiny basket, it's failed badly, and we're now firing out bids for any Premier League striker we can think of because clearly we've almost entirely decided to write off looking overseas, possibly/probably at the behest of the manager who loves British and/or PL experienced players. Again, fine to prioritise that but the lack of contingency or ability to change direction effectively is a joke and I don't know why so many are keen to defend it.

 

 

Who's that on though? We heard Howe in his interview yesterday repeating the mantra that he only wants to buy from a very small pool of players who will improve the squad. Most of the people moaning about our lack of success in the transfer market are putting it down to the board not backing Howe. Not sure it's on them if we are chasing targets who are beyond our reach. 

[toon25]

Would be nice to get decent fees for Willock and Targett

[Vaj]

I think we need to spend now as if Isak is going. If he stays then great, do a new contract with a release clause that is lower if he goes before 30th June 2026 because I think we all know he will be gone next summer at the latest. 

 

We are four players away from having a very good squad, a GK, RCB, CM and ST and then another striker at the end of the window if Isak goes this summer and we can recover from this shit show of a summer. 

[SUPERTOON]

 

[wong989]

4 hours ago, Displayname said:

Agree that the management deserve some (or a lot) criticism for how they have acted this transfer window, but I also think a lot of the criticism is undeserved/exxagerated.

 

We don't have the financial muscle to just pay the asking price both in terms of transfer fees and player contracts. We need good deals. Think we never really had a chance to get most of them anyways after their head got turned by what they perceive as bigger clubs.

 

Moving at a snails pace is a criticism i wholeheartedly agree with though.

Thats why I blame management, we needed to develop the best scouting and recruitment in world football immediately. Its been obvious the last 2 years with PSR, it seemed we were going to but Ashworth and Mitchell did nothing in that regard. Have we been scouting South America, Club World Cup, European u-21 leagues, where all the superstars develop? How many scouts do we even have. Buying them after they develop is not a level we can compete at.

[Kanj]

Back you to the depths of hell, Eddie. Signings or not. 

[madras]

1 minute ago, wong989 said:

Thats why I blame management, we needed to develop the best scouting and recruitment in world football immediately. Its been obvious the last 2 years with PSR, it seemed we were going to but Ashworth and Mitchell did nothing in that regard. Have we been scouting South America, Club World Cup, European u-21 leagues, where all the superstars develop? How many scouts do we even have. Buying them after they develop is not a level we can compete at.

We had been linked with a few South Americans. We've also recently picked up youngsters from Georgia, Spain, Ireland and South Korea so unless we're just taking random punts I'd say we do have some scouts working out there. 

[southernmag]

1 hour ago, toon25 said:

Would be nice to get decent fees for Willock and Targett

 

It'd be nice to win the lottery. Not gonna happen though.

[wong989]

43 minutes ago, Vaj said:

I think we need to spend now as if Isak is going. If he stays then great, do a new contract with a release clause that is lower if he goes before 30th June 2026 because I think we all know he will be gone next summer at the latest. 

 

We are four players away from having a very good squad, a GK, RCB, CM and ST and then another striker at the end of the window if Isak goes this summer and we can recover from this shit show of a summer. 

If a good squad is the level of our competitors in the cartel, we are 7-8 players away from being close. They have 22 good premier league players. Aside from our 11, which doesn't match the cartel clubs, our bench is shocking. Osula, Dubravka, Krafth, Miley, Barnes, Murphy, Botman and Willock (always injured). Some decent backup, but its not very good. Barnes/Gordon are the only top class bench options. No breakthrough youth yet, aside from Miley who we need to become a superstar this year. Mitchell may have been a total wanker how he came in here and start yapping, but he was right about our recruitment not being fit for purpose CURRENTLY. Don't know if he had any solutions 

[southernmag]

26 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

 

 

I don't find those words very encouraging. He sounds pretty downbeat. "We know what we wanted."