I’ve been really impressed with Diogo Jota at wolves this season. He awouldn’t be stepping up from a lower league, and wouldn’t have to adjust from a foreign one. He’s already proven he can cut it in the premier league, and only 22 years old. Great addition to the squad IMO and gives us some quality in depth. That’s a realistic signing for us if we stump up the cash.
It’s that old discussion about risk vs reward again though, isn’t it? Players in the championship come with no guarantee of success in the prem. You could find a golden nugget, or you could find a bench warmer. Players currently applying their trade abroad might not work out when they face the reality of the prem. English players are over priced. The average going rate for a player now is £25-35m, so no one is “cheap”. I think we have to bear all of this in mind and see if the pros outweigh the cons. There isn’t a perfect signing out there for us, so we’ve just gonna use some common sense. Someone like Jota would tick a lot of boxes.
Can’t see Wolves selling any of their star players. They’ve got a decent bit of dough behind them and I think their squad are really settled and happy knowing they’re on the right path. With a few top signings in the summer, they could become a legitimate threat to the top six.
The only thing I'd pinch from Wolves is their chief scout. Him or whoever it was who calculated that the likes of Jota, Boly, Neves and Jonny would thrive in the PL and signed them all for £60m. Might help the berks in charge of our own scouting realise that you most definitely do not need to spend a fortune to unearth a gem or two.
Been saying this for months! With sensible development and investment over the next few months, Wolves could become the growth club of the next decade. They have a great base and significant following already and are the only top flight club in the West Midlands.
Yeah for sure, they’ve had a lot of help on the way what with Mendes and co being on board (signing Ruben Neves when in the championship was shady as ****) but I like that they’ve come to the Prem and not played like a newly promoted side usually would. They’ve stuck middle fingers up to every top side and I respect that. They’ve really nailed their transfers too, though I suppose having a super agent with your club definitely helps!
That was nothing to do with scouting and everything to do with Jorge Mendes having a stake in the club, which The FA thinks is perfectly above board (because of course they do...)
It seems to be the Portuguese (speaking) equivalent of early era Wenger. Specifically you have far better knowledge of a certain market than others, and can benefit accordingly. We know that doesn't last very long in the current game.
I'll honestly be surprised if this little guy is with in a year or two, he wants to play Champions League and his game is more suited to it. Drifts out of form for periods of a season but i suspect that's due a) age - he's only now becoming more consistent b) lack of challenge for places. If Rafa goes I reckon he'll be off too.
TODAY. Perhaps tomorrow. And the day after ?? Of course this is all moot for any supporter who believes only in the now and not in the longer term ...
In some ways, I hope they don’t. They’re a great side and have been so impressive this season, especially against the top 6 teams. But money talks, and there’s no loyalty in football anymore.
In some ways it's the perfect storm over there. Nuno spent most of his playing and managerial career in the Portuguese and Spanish leagues and so 'gets' the players from over there. I don't think the likes of Hughton or Warnock would have a clue what to do with Ruben Neves or Jonny. Which does beg the question: given the collective knowledge and experience of our coaching staff in the spanish/latin american footballing world, why are Juan Foyth and Eric Dier the only players we've unearthed from those leagues? Too many of our signings are 'obvious' ones. The likes of Aurier and Moura for example. More or less knew exactly what we were getting. Same for Llorente. And Dave, who was on numerous radars and so wasn't cheap. Every time we've pushed the boat out and gambled on a relatively unknown (The 2 mentioned above, Dele, Gazza) it has worked beyond all expectations. So why not do it more often? Wolves spent a total of £60m on 4 or 5 players who very few people had heard of and now each of them individually is worth that. @The RDBD your argument seems premised on the assumption that inside knowledge of a market can only help temporarily as pretty soon one of two things happen: the pool of talent dries up, or the buffet table catches the attention of bigger clubs who swoop in and clear up. With regards to the premier leagues of Spain and Portugal, the former isn't a worry - there will always be talent there. And the latter is mathematically impossible. If 200 talented players ply their trade in those divisions and only 10 clubs in the world are wealthier than us and sign 3-4 players per year, there's no a hope all that talent will be hoovered up. We just need to be less arrogant. PSG rejects look nice but they aren't the way forward.
The latter. Wenger 2007-9 (and later) was unable to pick up the number of quality players at low prices from Europe that he did in 1997-9.
Unable, or unwilling? That's the one thing that always struck me about the Arshavin deal, it was completely out of character for him to sign a player for a large fee when they were at peak value - which in turn begs the question whether he was being pressured, either by the board to buy ready-made players or the fans expecting him to splash the cash now that Chelsea were doing exactly that In other news...so how about a summer move for Youri Tielemans?
Already official RDBD sanctioned. As I said, are Spurs waiting for PL top 4 to be secured (if so, WTF was that not conveyed to the team yesterday) ??
I don't think there's a way to get a competitive advantage in player recruitment. All our competitors have the same access to all the players we do. Part of the reason we are doing so well is our recruitment from 3 or so years ago. Whether that was skill or luck is hard to tell.
I've said it for a very long time now. We need to sack all our scouts...I think they are utter dross. Then we need to plough money into getting some top scouts from allover. Since we aren't spending big money on players...I see no other way forward.
