Rating the 2023 Summer Transfer Window

[Kid Icarus]

44 minutes ago, jonny1403 said:

Eh? He’s been dropped several times recently 

Bailey is in hot form tbf, 9 g+a this season 

[The College Dropout]

Diaby’s a good player. But so far… he just looks good.  Leon Bailey has taken his place in the side with some great performances.  
 

In Villa’s setup he’s essentially a second striker. He doesn’t have to chase fullbacks defensively from what I’ve seen.  So his G/A record is good but unspectacular considering his position and the quality of the team.  
 

At this point I would rather Cole Palmer for his playmaking abilities.  

[jonny1403]

13 hours ago, Whitley mag said:

Apart from Tino serious question marks against the rest. Don’t think Barnes or Tonali look like what we needed, just more pace on the wing without any craft in Barnes and Tonali looks another midfield workhorse to me.

 

Our 2 blue chip signings don’t bring anything different to the table and that’s without even getting into how Tonali comes back from ban.

 

Give me Kone, Thuram or Diaby over the signings we made. 
 

Big pressure to get it right going forward or PIF will rightfully start asking questions.

 

 

 

Incredibly harsh on Barnes given he's played five games for us. The same was being said about Gordon in January...

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

The Hall situation is another factor that’s really soured my verdict on the window as a whole. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get about our strategy, the summer just feels like a really missed opportunity.

[Aiston]

Too late to change my 8/10 to a 3/10 ?

 

 

[ponsaelius]

Again you've got to look at the Hall deal as a bonus. We only signed him because we could do it as a loan deal. He doesn't count towards the PL squad because of his age and he's versatile. I think if Hall doesn't come in we just sign 3 players this summer.

[r0cafella]

8 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

Again you've got to look at the Hall deal as a bonus. We only signed him because we could do it as a loan deal. He doesn't count towards the PL squad because of his age and he's versatile. I think if Hall doesn't come in we just sign 3 players this summer.

Given the segment of players we target I think you’re right. So a left back a cb and a rw?

 

still leaves us short. Btw I expect big outgoings if we miss out on champions league. 

[SUPERTOON]

13 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

Again you've got to look at the Hall deal as a bonus. We only signed him because we could do it as a loan deal. He doesn't count towards the PL squad because of his age and he's versatile. I think if Hall doesn't come in we just sign 3 players this summer.

Get what you are saying, but it’s not been a bonus at all when he isn’t even trusted to come of the bench for a few minutes.

[ponsaelius]

Well agree with that. I expect they thought he'd contribute more than he has done.

[Whitley mag]

1 hour ago, jonny1403 said:

 

Incredibly harsh on Barnes given he's played five games for us. The same was being said about Gordon in January...

I rated Gordon he’s got a bit X factor, never seen anything in Barnes that makes me think he’s an upgrade for the level we want to get to.

[jonny1403]

47 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

I rated Gordon he’s got a bit X factor, never seen anything in Barnes that makes me think he’s an upgrade for the level we want to get to.

Gordon didn't show anything from January until the summer. Maybe afford Barnes the same amount of patience? 

[BShearer]

Certainly it looked a better window end of August than what we made of it since than.

 

Even then I thought we only really signed 1.5 starter, Tonali is a start but Barnes I wasnt sure if he is displacing Gordon or Almiron most of the times will be in rotation with them.

While Hall and Livramento are subs to offer better rotation that what we had behind Burn and Trippier.

 

Barnes out injured big time, Tonali transfer so far looks horrible, we got played here, he did need a club to spend his ban, I can only hope he digs deep next season and repays us big time, there is also a chance he will cite being homesick and ask for a Serie A return in a year or two, going the "lon with option to buy" with us paying his salary, of course thats worst case scenario.

Hall have not got much chance yet despite our horrible injury record. find that a bit strange, not even sure the it is a mandatory buy end of the loan.

 

rivals had much better windows unfortunately, Villa for example, Spurs too.

there was lots of talk of Maddison, Szoboszlai and Barnes, Maddison was quite good until his injury. Szoboszlai fitted in well with Pool too, not extreme good numbers but he has to play more of an 8.

Rice added a lot to Arsenal, Mc Allister to Pool too.

 

Villa, Pool, Spurs were all behind us last season, this season they have all good chance to be above us, most of it is down to good changes (Postecoglou) and good changes.

 

 

 

 

[Whitley mag]

9 hours ago, jonny1403 said:

Gordon didn't show anything from January until the summer. Maybe afford Barnes the same amount of patience? 

Gordon showed enough at Everton to suggest he was a talent, I’m judging Barnes on what i’ve seen at Leicester. 
 

You either the like the look of a player or you don’t, never rated Barnes and found it a strange signing.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

On 14/12/2023 at 21:06, Whitley mag said:

Apart from Tino serious question marks against the rest. Don’t think Barnes or Tonali look like what we needed, just more pace on the wing without any craft in Barnes and Tonali looks another midfield workhorse to me.

 

Our 2 blue chip signings don’t bring anything different to the table and that’s without even getting into how Tonali comes back from ban.

 

Give me Kone, Thuram or Diaby over the signings we made. 
 

Big pressure to get it right going forward or PIF will rightfully start asking questions.

 

 

the type of player we bought is down to the manager. Howe has us playing a certain way and the players we brought in (in theory) fit that style. 
 

Jan and the summer will be the same. I’d love a proper number 10 or real tricky winger but they just won’t be on the cards unless the style of play is going to change

[The Butcher]

Hall will count as a club grown player in 2.5 seasons. That means quite a bit tbf.

 

He'll sign on a permanent deal.

[Yorkie]

12 hours ago, TheInfiniteOdyssey said:

The Hall situation is another factor that’s really soured my verdict on the window as a whole. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get about our strategy, the summer just feels like a really missed opportunity.

 

It's a tough argument from my point of view because of what's happened, but I couldn't disagree more.  The summer window was characterised entirely by opportunities taken imo. Tonali was incredibly highly rated and coveted - we sensed a deal, swooped in and made it happen. With Barnes, it's rare you get a player of that profile available from a relegated team and again we struck. Likewise Livramento. Hall seems like a punt on potential at this point. 

 

It's only because of miserable misfortune that it hasn't worked out so far. 

[madras]

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

Hall will count as a club grown player in 2.5 seasons. That means quite a bit tbf.

 

He'll sign on a permanent deal.

Never thought of that.

[SUPERTOON]

Obviously a lot of hindsight, but is the summer window the biggest reason for our struggles now ?

 

Not placing any blame at the club for the Tonali or Barnes situations either.

[r0cafella]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Obviously a lot of hindsight, but is the summer window the biggest reason for our struggles now ?

 

Not placing any blame at the club for the Tonali or Barnes situations either.

It’s a massive factor without a doubt. We needed to improve our starting 11, we needed a left back and a right winger and didn’t bother. 

[SUPERTOON]

Aye the decision to not upgrade right wing looks worse every game currently. Although at the time I thought they saw Gordon RW and Barnes LW.

[Ronson333]

Going forward we need the majority of our signings to be players that improve the first 11. More Botman’s, Bruno’s and Isaks etc

[r0cafella]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Aye the decision to not upgrade right wing looks worse every game currently. Although at the time I thought they saw Gordon RW and Barnes LW.

Yeah I think a few others do as well. Personally I think we want inverted wingers so ideally we wouldn’t be starting Gordon and Barnes together. 

[toon25]

We need a top class player in Jan 

[The Prophet]

8 hours ago, r0cafella said:

It’s a massive factor without a doubt. We needed to improve our starting 11, we needed a left back and a right winger and didn’t bother. 

 

"Didn't bother" seems a bit harsh given we've pushed FFP to the limit, by all accounts.

 

Knowing the way we operate, either our primary targets weren't available or we considered other areas to be a priority.

 

I do want to see the right wing upgraded in the near future though.

[Fezzle]

8 hours ago, r0cafella said:

Yeah I think a few others do as well. Personally I think we want inverted wingers so ideally we wouldn’t be starting Gordon and Barnes together. 

There's a very obvious way to play them both as inverted wingers mind