Ross Wilson (Sporting Director)

[Kilcline]

17 minutes ago, McDog said:

 

I assume you are using that term loosely.

Very much so, I should perhaps have said "back on the radio telling listeners how long it is until the Cheltenham Festival and how wasted he's going to get" 

[r0cafella]

Listening to the athletic podcast anatomy of a transfer episode and they have Peter Ramage on starts about 40 minutes in. And I do wonder if our processes are mirrored at other clubs. 

[Ben]

If we were seriously in for Rayan and missed out to "Bournemouth" Wilson needs to take a long hard look in the mirror, huge fuck up that like.

[SUPERTOON]

4 minutes ago, Ben said:

If we were seriously in for Rayan and missed out to "Bournemouth" Wilson needs to take a long hard look in the mirror, huge fuck up that like.

I’d be amazed if we were in for him, we aren’t spending big money on another RW. 

[TBG]

Sold us Elanga, never forgive or forget 

[johnny36]

Big Summer ahead for him, Hopefully the groundwork is been put in now and that we are not waiting for World Cup to end before making moves..

Ideally the majority of signings would be in for pre season..Lessons need to be learned from last season

 

 

Edited February 22 by johnny36

[The Prophet]

In an ideal world Tino and Tonali decide to stay, then we get a GK and CM in nice and early. The latter might be tricky with the WC though.

[500bhp]

Unless Gordon has a full Thierry Henry transformation I'd say we need another CF. Might have to sell Woltemade back to Germany to fund it though. 

[Loki679]

GK, CB, LB, CM, RW and ST needed.  Gonna be a busy summer for this lad.

[The Prophet]

16 minutes ago, loki679 said:

GK, CB, LB, CM, RW and ST needed.  Gonna be a busy summer for this lad.

 

That's way too much surgery for me like, particularly if we don't qualify for Europe.

 

Get a GK and a CM and pad out the defence to allow rotation.

 

I think a settled pre-season will do us more good than anything else.

 

 

Edited February 22 by The Prophet

[Minhosa]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

That's way too much surgery for me like, particularly if we don't qualify for Europe.

 

Get a GK and a CM and pad out the defence to allow rotation.

 

I think a settled pre-season will do us more good than anything else.

 

 

 

Our RW department needs serious surgery and we need a striker that can press. 
 

I’d put up with another year of Pope as number 1 to have a competent right winger tbh. 
 

 

[TRC]

30 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

That's way too much surgery for me like, particularly if we don't qualify for Europe.

 

Get a GK and a CM and pad out the defence to allow rotation.

 

I think a settled pre-season will do us more good than anything else.

 

 

 

If we don’t get qualify for Europe we are going to have a very bloated squad, apart from in defence 

[Pixelphish]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

In an ideal world Tino and Tonali decide to stay, then we get a GK and CM in nice and early. The latter might be tricky with the WC though.

 

Think Tino is more likely to stay based on nothing at all.

[stozo]

I'd be pretty surprised if we get a RW in the summer. I think people are massively underestimating how close to shot at this level Trippier, Burn and Schar are. Even if Schar renews, this is the summer where probably have to buy younger replacement. I'd be very, very surprised if Tripps renews. So you're already looking at needing a LB, RB and a CB. That also assumes Tino doesn't go to City which is very possible. If that happens you need 4 new defenders. You're then looking at a new goalkeeper (whether to replace Ramsdale or Pope, preferably the latter) and almost certainly at least one midfielder as we'll sell Willock in the summer as our last chance to make some money on him. So you're at 6 new players before you even touch RW, and given we know how long it takes players to bed in under Howe I can't see us going for more than 6 new players. That all also assumes Tonali doesn't go, which would take us to 7 new arrivals before RW. And also assumes we don't choose to cash in on Osula - which would probably mean 8 new arrivals before touching RW. 

[TRon]

19 minutes ago, Minhosa said:

Our RW department needs serious surgery and we need a striker that can press. 
 

I’d put up with another year of Pope as number 1 to have a competent right winger tbh. 
 

 

 

We might just have to bite the bullet and sell some of our summer 2025 signings at a loss to fund replacements who are fit for purpose. Those guys still have the rest of the season to show they can fit the bill, there won't be the same pressure to make UCL qualification in the remaining games because that's probably already gone. 

[Colos Short and Curlies]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

In an ideal world Tino and Tonali decide to stay, then we get a GK and CM in nice and early. The latter might be tricky with the WC though.

 

Wissa to Saudi, even if just to break even.

Osula to Germany.

 

That would give more headroom than anything we could get for Wolt, before you even start thinking about respective abilities and fit

[stozo]

2 minutes ago, stozo said:

I'd be pretty surprised if we get a RW in the summer. I think people are massively underestimating how close to shot at this level Trippier, Burn and Schar are. Even if Schar renews, this is the summer where probably have to buy younger replacement. I'd be very, very surprised if Tripps renews. So you're already looking at needing a LB, RB and a CB. That also assumes Tino doesn't go to City which is very possible. If that happens you need 4 new defenders. You're then looking at a new goalkeeper (whether to replace Ramsdale or Pope, preferably the latter) and almost certainly at least one midfielder as we'll sell Willock in the summer as our last chance to make some money on him. So you're at 6 new players before you even touch RW, and given we know how long it takes players to bed in under Howe I can't see us going for more than 6 new players. That all also assumes Tonali doesn't go, which would take us to 7 new arrivals before RW. And also assumes we don't choose to cash in on Osula - which would probably mean 8 new arrivals before touching RW. 

The two additional points are we're assuming in the above we don't replace Krafth (I'm guessing Shahar takes his place in the squad) and also worth observing that potentially someone like Osula leaves without a replacement if we miss Europe altogether. 

[stozo]

Just now, Colos Short and Curlies said:

 

Wissa to Saudi, even if just to break even.

Osula to Germany.

 

That would give more headroom than anything we could get for Wolt, before you even start thinking about respective abilities and fit

Wissa to Saudi doesn't work as would be an associated party transaction under UEFA rules. So you need to find a non-Saudi club to give us £45m for him. 

[Toon No9]

1 minute ago, stozo said:

The two additional points are we're assuming in the above we don't replace Krafth (I'm guessing Shahar takes his place in the squad) and also worth observing that potentially someone like Osula leaves without a replacement if we miss Europe altogether. 

Neave could be Osulas replacement.

[SteV]

3 minutes ago, stozo said:

Wissa to Saudi doesn't work as would be an associated party transaction under UEFA rules. So you need to find a non-Saudi club to give us £45m for him. 

Not if it’s a non-PIF club, as was the case with ASM.

[stozo]

7 minutes ago, SteV said:

Not if it’s a non-PIF club, as was the case with ASM.

ASM went to Al Hilal, which is PIF owned. You are absolutely right we could sell to a non-PIF club but spend levels are falling in Saudi (particularly among the non-PIF owned clubs) and they are generally pivoting towards younger players. So I think a purchase from a non-PIF club at £45m+ is wishful thinking probably. 

[The Prophet]

39 minutes ago, Minhosa said:

Our RW department needs serious surgery and we need a striker that can press. 
 

I’d put up with another year of Pope as number 1 to have a competent right winger tbh. 
 

 

 

A keeper who isn’t chucking one in every other game and is alright with the ball at his feet will save us a lot of dropped points.

[stozo]

13 minutes ago, Toon No9 said:

Neave could be Osulas replacement.

Possibly but in a non-European football scenario I imagine we’ll loan Neave out with a recall option and just go with Wissa, Woltemade and Gordon as the strikers. 

[SteV]

1 minute ago, stozo said:

ASM went to Al Hilal, which is PIF owned. You are absolutely right we could sell to a non-PIF club but spend levels are falling in Saudi (particularly among the non-PIF owned clubs) and they are generally pivoting towards younger players. So I think a purchase from a non-PIF club at £45m+ is wishful thinking probably. 

I think at present a purchase of £45m+ by anyone is wishful thinking.

 

We need to get him fit and contributing.

[johnny36]

Villa did it with selling Diaby and Malen after 1 season..We just have to bite the bullet and hope someone come in for Elanga or Wissa though. Wissa we would jave to accept a huge loss on ..It really was bad business spending 55 million on a 29 year old striker