Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

Several sources are all saying that we need to bring in players during the January transfer window. Here's my question, and it has to be said the main problem with the January window: how many players who would enhance our team would be available in January?

While there's no denying that our lack of activity in the January window has been remarkably poor, to the point that since 2010 the only players signed in January who actually enhanced the first team squad were Kaboul and Alli, that in itself highlights the problem: Kaboul was signed because we needed to bolster the back line and Pompey were in no position to negotiate when we made a bid, while Alli may have been signed in January but was loaned back for the remainder of the season - and it's unlikely that anyone could have seen him stepping up in the way that he did

It's even more clear when you see the players we are being linked with...
Franck Kessie - won't qualify for a work permit until the ACoN ends, so if he were signed in January he wouldn't arrive until the summer
Ante Coric - Dinamo have said he can go, and although he looks talented he'd likely understudy Eriksen
Ryan Sessegnon - would understudy Rose, and likely would be loaned back to Fulham until the summer
Milan Badelj - has 18 months left on his contract and apparently wants to leave
Saido Berahino - there's eighteen months of reasons not to risk it
Morgan Schneiderlin - Man Utd say he can leave
Memphis Depay - Man Utd want rid of him
Ross Barkley - sounds suspiciously like his agent trying to force a new deal rather than interest from us
Wilfried Zaha - see above

So of that list, the only player who could improve the team is Schneiderlin - and the odds of Man Utd selling a player to us knowing full well we could potentially qualify for the CL at their expense is pretty far-fetched.

 

Tony pulis has confirmed that west brom have made a bid for Schneiderlin. - could see that one going through. West brom did some good business in the summer and look like a club who are really trying to progress.

As for us, I don't think there'll be anyone. Maybe 1 or 2 sales/loans, but that'll be it. - I mean, GKN has been here for 4-5months and supposedly isn't ready to play. So signing players in January to play for us this season isn't gonna be enough time to bed them in to this clearly complexed poch system, is it?
Sadly though we need a couple of attacking players. But the sort of players we need are just extremely unlikely to happen in a January transfer window.

 

Agreed. I don't think we'll be seeing much activity at all. Isco on loan with a view to permanent remains a tantalising pipe dream but probably won't happen.

I wouldn't mind seeing a few of the youngsters heading out on loan, perhaps to a Championship side. Josh Onomah for instance is currently wasting away his career. His past few cameos weren't particularly impressive, and he strikes me as the type of player whose career will badly stall if he isn't given the chance to learn the ropes.

Perhaps a move away for Tom Carroll? Swansea are reportedly interested but would he want to join a club who look inevitably doomed?

 

Vorm's the latest to sign a new contract. Who does that leave? Toby? Anyone else?

 

Lamela, since he's the only first teamer who hasn't signed a new contract this year

 

Funnily enough, the two names I was thinking of were Carroll and Onomah.
Carroll can stick around at the club forever, as far as I'm concerned. He's just a lad like any of us who supports spurs but has the talent to make the first team squad. If I was in his position, I'd be doing all I could to stay. But from a career point of view, it may be time for him to go and get playing elsewhere, and I think he'll probably be moved on.

As for Onomah, I agree with a loan. He's never impressed me and I don't know what he offers, where as someone like Winks has seized the opportunity. Onomah had that in the past and hasn't progressed. Hopefully he'll show something playing week in, week out and grow in confidence.

 

Has Alderweireld then?

 

The only other first teamer who hasn't signed a new contract this year

 

In answer to your question, not many. We're in a weird situation in that our first XI is extremely difficult to improve on without spending circa £40m+ on top class players who are likely already playing for more established sides.

In the list you've mentioned there's a few of players I'd take but none would get into our first XI right now in my opinion.

Kessie - would make sense as a long term Dembele replacement.
Coric - super talent and you can see why he has Modric comparisons, would definitely have him at the club.
Sessegnon - similarly to Kessie for Dembele, would make sense as a long term replacement for Rose.
Badelj - Think he's a good and neat playmaker, problem is where would he fit? At his age I'm not sure he'd be keen on a rotation role.
Berahino - I'd take if dirt cheap, Peace had his chance to make a fortune from us but that boat sailed long ago, with just over half a year on his deal, I wouldn't want the club to pay any more than £7m.

The rest are either not good enough or are in positions we're already well stocked in in my opinion.

As CK mentioned, the deal for Isco is one we'd all love but realistically we know the odds are against. That is one player who is legitimately better than our attacking midfield options and so to acquire him would not only be great for the team but also send a message out that we mean business.

Great news about Vorm by the way, very, very good number two keeper and seeing as he's the oldest member of our squad, keeping a few older heads around the place is vital.

 

What was the news about Vorm? I've grown fonder of him after some top displays this season as well as his reaction after the Chelsea bloodbath when Poch got shoved by some **** in blue and Mich went absolutely nuts - it took 4 players and Poch himself to calm the Dutchman down! Reminded me very much of Sebastian Bassong's reaction after Gattuso shoved Joe Jordan. Sometimes fringe players who you'd assume were pretty neutral on their feelings towards the club have a surprising amount of passion and loyalty.

I agree about Berahino: There's a top, top quality player in there somewhere. If we'd gone for him in the summer instead of Sissoko I actually would've been much happier. The fact that we cooled our interest entirely despite West Brom: A) Having a new chairman (hence the good piece of business we did for Chadli) and B) The player's price tag rapidly shrinking, I can only assume that Poch has been completely put off by the player's attitude. As HBIC pointed out, Berahino has had well over a year to straighten things out, work the tantrum out of the system and get his head down and play the game he supposedly loves. His recent exile to a specialist fitness camp is probably the cherry on the cake for Poch. If a player's attitude is that bad, don't bother picking up the phone.

I think we're well enough stocked in most areas, especially with the deluge of players now returning from injury and the emergence of Winks as a fully reliable option in the center of the field. The only area we are still shockingly thin is up front. Janssen has already made it clear that he'll need quite a while to settle in to the PL. Kane has already made it clear that, contrary to evidence gathered over the past 2 seasons, he is not made of teflon and can suffer injuries like the rest of us.

 

Vorm signed a new deal today mate, until 2019.

Such a shame with Janssen, really thought after the pre-season he had and the impressive start to the first few games of the season that he'd instantly come good. Work rate is still brilliant and he brings players into the game nicely but his finishing so far looks utterly woeful, hopefully that should improve with time though.

Berahino for a good fee I'd still take, if he has attitude problems or doesn't get in shape here then Poch won't have any problems sticking him in the U23s.

Shane Long is someone I've banged on about for a while now since Poch took over, he's the perfect Poch-type striker and yet is completely different to Kane & Janssen.

Alternatively, there's a couple of lads that used to play for us who are/ will be available as short term options and would also be able to help pass on their experience to the likes of Kane, Janssen, Harrisson amongst others - Berbatov and Keane. Keane's deal with LA expires this month and he said he won't be renewing while Berba has been without a club since the summer and is now supposedly training with Utd to keep up his fitness. They won't bring any pace to the side but my god even at their ages they still know where the goal is and their knowledge of the game would be invaluable to some.

 

Mourinho has confirmed that Morgan Schneiderlin has asked to leave Man Utd.
West Brom have bid £13m, which would probably upset them a lot if it was the other way round.
Everton are also supposed to be interested.

Given the obvious link, I'm surprised that we've not been touted for a move, yet.
How would people feel about the possibility and what would be the right price for him?
Counts as homegrown IIRC, which is a bonus.

 

He's a good player but any money we spend needs to go on players who can score goals. Players of that type are more expensive than midfielders or defenders but we'd be better off saving up to buy someone who can do that for us, rather than buy a good player who isn't going to address our main problem. How many holding or deep-lying midfielders can one team utilise?

 

Waste of money in my opinion, doesn't offer anything that Dier/ Wanyama can't do, isn't as good as Dembele and his signing would only stunt Wink's growth and I wouldn't like that, Winks has more than proved himself as well so he justifies his game time at the moment. Schneiderlin is also likely to be on massive wages at Utd so it just puts me off even more.

 

£100k p/w according to Football Manager.

 

Obviously we'd all like to get hold of a player like Isco, or someone like Peresic at Inter. But I fear they're a bit 'pipe dream' especially in Jan.

Realistically, I would take Gylfi off Swansea if we could. He's a perfect fit - knows the club, many of the players, would adapt to the system perfectly and his arrival would serve to give Eriksen and Alli the kick up the arse they have looked like needing at times this season. He scores and creates. Whether he'd want to come back is another question, as is what we'd have to pay in order to prize Swansea's best player away from them while they're struggling.

I reckon we'll be linked to Defoe but I don't think it'll happen. Schneiderlin would do nothing for me. I was raving about him when he moved from Southampton but he's never pushed on at United and I wouldn't want to see the necessary outlay from us. Ultimately the selection questions for us are in the '3' so its players for those positions we should be targeting.

We could do with another striker too but with Kane the clear 1st choice and Janssen still deserving the chance to stake his claim its a very particular kind of player we'll be looking for in that position.

 

Because the papers love the idea of a swap deal, even though those are remarkably rare and always have been, that hasn't stopped the Mirror reporting that Everton are interested in a swap deal where Barkley heads our way while Sissoko heads theirs - a deal which, in theory, bilks Everton out of £29m of their valuation for Barkley. Funnily enough there isn't a single quote from either manager, player or player's agent supporting this...

Meanwhile we're also linked to Max Meyer, who has eighteen months left on his contract at Schalke and is stalling on signing a new one, yet somehow this would still cost us £25m. To be honest I'm not convinced, as Meyer doesn't seem a good fit for Poch's system: sure he's good at creating chances, but when Schalke don't have the ball he makes Mesut Ozil look like Gennaro Gattuso - and that's something which would raise a few flags for Poch.

 

Merry Christmas for tomorrow guys and girls. Hopes it's a great one.

 

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is that, according to La Repubblica, Fazio has fulfilled the number of matches needed to make his loan move permanent.

The bad news is that we can't convince a Chinese club to pay £20m+ for him...

 

It wouldn't surprise me if we go back for Sigurdsson at the end of the season. Especially if, as currently looks likely, they get relegated. M.P. has already expressed regret that he was sold.

As far as Schneiderlin goes, Pochettino has denied that he was ever interested in signing him.