In that case Milos Veljkovic should count as HG, as he joined us when he was 16 and left just before his 21st birthday...but IIRC he doesn't
He definitely would count. Joined in 2011 when he was nearly 16 and left in 2016. Why do you think he doesn't?
Mainly because the Premier League never listed him as HG even after he left, unlike Bentaleb or Pique who they did
I'd guess it's because he never was homegrown for us during his time at the club, due to being U21. I can't see any reason why he wouldn't count. He'd be club-grown, too.
Spot on mate. I live near Wolverhampton and I've Been to the molineux quite a few times recently as my good friend is a season ticket holder. Always been very impressed with Doherty. He's a juggernaut down that right flank. Would really welcome this signing ( if it happens) and gedson could be a really good back up.
Doherty at 15-20m is shrewd business in this market. If it happens and we also managed to get Wilson or another backup ST over the line, I think we’d have had an excellent window within the bounds of what’s possible considering we don’t have Uncle Roman behind to scenes to make the most of FFP being relaxed.
I can’t say I’ve ever really watched Doherty extensively but he’s always struck me as a solid and consistent player and I think bringing that level of stability to a backline that’s been all over the place for a while is huge. I think he’s at the same sort of quality as Trippier which I’m happy with. Tripps had a poor final season for us but he was generally a very decent player and so it’s an upgrade on Aurier which is key.
If we do get Doherty, there's an obvious question to ask about our system If the plan is for one attacking FB and one sitting FB, Doherty would count as the attacking RB which presumably puts an end to any talk of Zeki Celik, Timothy Castagne or Tomas Tavares as we have somebody in that role so instead the talk is about who the sitting RB will be If the plan is for the RB to always be the free role, that obviously puts Celik/Castagne/Tavares back on the table I have to say, if it's the latter, Tavares being (reportedly...) available for £9m sounds like an absolute steal
The other thing of course is that if we get Doherty and Aurier leaves, it means we can look at a wider range of strikers given our problems balancing the HG quotas.
The club can’t operate like it did with Poch and expect to go from 6th to 4th again. I’m guessing the wages of Hojbjerg, Hart and Doherty won’t be massive so there’s no reason not to ‘splurge’ on a marquee
They're trying to. He's more of a utility player though and his best position is supposed to be in midfield. They also need cover for right-back as Doherty is their only senior player in that position, IIRC.
I don't think that we'll be spending any serious money in this window with the current corona situation. Levy's too cautious to take a big risk while the future of attendances is so up in the air.
Another way to look at it: if we sign a HG backup (i.e. Wilson or Watkins) that means we can look at a using the non-HG spots at CB or CM ...and right on cue the Ndombele to Inter rumours have started once again, which potentially gets Skriniar or Brozovic back on the table
if you pull off doherty for 15m that'd be a great dear. Solid professional with a big engine from what i can see. I'll be surprised if wolves did it though, he's one of their stalwarts and is a regular 1st team member and i don't believe he even has proper right back cover (they sometimes stick traore there i think) plus wolves are bankrolled by some moneybags.
I can’t see us getting a big, marquee signing tbh. I think Levy has been badly burned by NDombele and he’ll go back to being cautious. Plus our record of spending ‘big’ money is poor. For arguments sake these days let’s say for us thats £30m plus. GLC I think will be a major success and has already been influential but when you pay that kind of money you expect a player to establish themselves as a consistent, influential starter, and I don’t think any of the others have. I know fees have inflated over the years and arguably £20-30m isn’t that much now but, still. It is for us, especially in this market. Our best players in recent years, by and large, have come from the academy or have been clever, slightly off-beat business in the £10-30m range, not the marquee signings. Realistically it’s where we have to shop because other clubs can blow us out of the water if they want to financially. It’s what I suspect happened with Tanguy - everyone probably knew about his training and fitness issues, but we took the punt when bigger clubs he was linked to decided he wasn’t worth the risk, as he was a long term target for us. Levy knows this, I think, and I think he also believes that building a hard working group of good footballers with a smattering of world class talent, headed by a coach who can instil a winning, ruthless mentality in them, is what will win us trophies. Poch couldn’t do that. It’s now Jose’s task.
You do know that our net spend over the last 5 windows (ie including the two with no signings) is exactly the same as Chelsea currently. They are simply spending the Hazard and Morata fees. Covid has cost us more than any other club as the revenue from the new stadium is so high. Around £4m per match I reckon. Chelsea is only half that.
