Transfer Rumours January '23 Transfer Thread

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
We used to be, right up to the point where Ehab sacked Mike Phelan. Stan Ternent was already knobbed off that Bruce had gone, apparently that pushed him over the edge. The recruitment since then has been pretty ****, if I'm totally honest.

Lee Darnbrough brought in Stuart White as the Chief Scout, who up until that point was the chief scout at Wigan (who had just gone down to League One). I mean, look at the players we've brought in since Stan left:

17-18 (18th)

Fraizer Campbell
Kevin Stewart
Ondrej Mazuch
Stephen Kingsley
Seb Larsson
Jon Toral
Nouha Dicko
Jackson Irvine
Angus McDonald
Eric Lichaj
Ola Aina
Michael Hector
Fikayo Tomori
Harry Wilson

18-19 (13th)

David Milinkovic
Reece Burke
Jordy De WIjs
George Long
Liam Ridgewell
Todd Kane
Tommy Elphick
Chris Martin
Marc Pugh

19-20 (24th - R)

Matt Ingram
Tom Eaves
Danny Lupano
Ryan Tafazolli
Sean McLoughlin
George Honeyman
Callum Elder
Leo Lopes
Josh Magennis
Callum Jones
Norbert Balogh
Elliot Bonds
Martin Samuelsen
James Scott
Mallik Wilks
Festus Arthur
Josh Bowler
Matthew Pennington
Herbie Kane
Marcus Maddison

20-21 (1st in League 1 (P))

Lewie Coyle
Josh Emmanuel
Richie Smallwood
Greg Docherty
Alfie Jones
Thomas Mayer
Jordan Flores
Max Clark
Hakeeb Adelakun
Regan Slater
Gavin Whyte
Dan Crowley

21-22 (19th)

Andy Cannon
George Moncur
Randell Williams
Tom Huddlestone
Tyler Smith
Regan Slater (permanent)
Ryan Longman
Nathan Baxter
Di'Shon Bernard
Matt Smith
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
Marcus Forss
Liam Walsh

This season isn't over so I won't put up the lads from this season, but picking through that lot, how many would you say (out of however many that is) you saw and thought "wow, what a player we've got here). Wilson? Irvine? Honeyman? Doc? Slater maybe? Allahyar? There's a hell of a lot of dross there and most of them are bang average at best. I liked Lichaj and Larsson, but they were hardly stand outs for us. The players signed in League One were much better given our division, but it's quite easy to see why we've been so mediocre the past few seasons and why we haven't kicked on, our recruitment has been nothing short of ****.

Christ there’s some ****e on that list.

Liam Walsh was personally one of the worst signings for me. It’s as if he just forgot to get on the Swansea team coach back to Swansea and we said **** it, we’ll sign him.
 
We used to be, right up to the point where Ehab sacked Mike Phelan. Stan Ternent was already knobbed off that Bruce had gone, apparently that pushed him over the edge. The recruitment since then has been pretty ****, if I'm totally honest.

Lee Darnbrough brought in Stuart White as the Chief Scout, who up until that point was the chief scout at Wigan (who had just gone down to League One). I mean, look at the players we've brought in since Stan left:

17-18 (18th)

Fraizer Campbell
Kevin Stewart
Ondrej Mazuch
Stephen Kingsley
Seb Larsson
Jon Toral
Nouha Dicko
Jackson Irvine
Angus McDonald
Eric Lichaj
Ola Aina
Michael Hector
Fikayo Tomori
Harry Wilson

18-19 (13th)

David Milinkovic
Reece Burke
Jordy De WIjs
George Long
Liam Ridgewell
Todd Kane
Tommy Elphick
Chris Martin
Marc Pugh

19-20 (24th - R)

Matt Ingram
Tom Eaves
Danny Lupano
Ryan Tafazolli
Sean McLoughlin
George Honeyman
Callum Elder
Leo Lopes
Josh Magennis
Callum Jones
Norbert Balogh
Elliot Bonds
Martin Samuelsen
James Scott
Mallik Wilks
Festus Arthur
Josh Bowler
Matthew Pennington
Herbie Kane
Marcus Maddison

20-21 (1st in League 1 (P))

Lewie Coyle
Josh Emmanuel
Richie Smallwood
Greg Docherty
Alfie Jones
Thomas Mayer
Jordan Flores
Max Clark
Hakeeb Adelakun
Regan Slater
Gavin Whyte
Dan Crowley

21-22 (19th)

Andy Cannon
George Moncur
Randell Williams
Tom Huddlestone
Tyler Smith
Regan Slater (permanent)
Ryan Longman
Nathan Baxter
Di'Shon Bernard
Matt Smith
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
Marcus Forss
Liam Walsh

This season isn't over so I won't put up the lads from this season, but picking through that lot, how many would you say (out of however many that is) you saw and thought "wow, what a player we've got here). Wilson? Irvine? Honeyman? Doc? Slater maybe? Allahyar? There's a hell of a lot of dross there and most of them are bang average at best. I liked Lichaj and Larsson, but they were hardly stand outs for us. The players signed in League One were much better given our division, but it's quite easy to see why we've been so mediocre the past few seasons and why we haven't kicked on, our recruitment has been nothing short of ****.
Definitely, all I’d say that period really sums up the direction the club was going in. Albeit Christie aside the domestic recruitment has still been pretty cack since Acun took over
 
That's the difference, they wanted those player and their wages off the book and out the club at that point in time. They have run their academy very differently over recent years. Some agree with it, some don't... But that's the way it is ATM with them. Vale especially is extremely highly rated and I was genuinely surprised and excited to see him come to us. Has a 3yr deal on 26k a week gone to his head and he's stop putting the effort in.... Who knows. It's best for all parties that they all go back imo, including Baxter ( although it's not been decided fully on him as far as I know )

I seem to remember Baxter being interviewed and he said he preferred to play out from the back, he trained and played this way with Chelsea. Only I watched him earlier this season and he didn't look happy with the ball at his feet playing out from the back and looked dodgier than Ingram. I don't think I would miss Baxter, Simons, Vale and even the invisible man - Mr Oulad M'hand if they all returned back to their parent clubs. As it appears we are paying nearly £50K per week for players not to play for City, I can't see Acun enjoying bleeding cash week after week.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NewcastleTiger
I seem to remember Baxter being interviewed and he said he preferred to play out from the back, he trained and played this way with Chelsea. Only I watched him earlier this season and he didn't look happy with the ball at his feet playing out from the back and looked dodgier than Ingram. I don't think I would miss Baxter, Simons, Vale and even the invisible man - Mr Oulad M'hand if they all returned back to their parent clubs. As it appears we are paying nearly £50K per week for players not to play for City, I can't see Acun enjoying bleeding cash week after week.

I think Baxter just said what the management wanted to hear so he'd get signed.

Salah is as good as our player, I don't think he's going anywhere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chazz Rheinhold
i think, if we don't beat wigan
rosenior has to resign, gosh they are absolutely woeful
 
Christ there’s some ****e on that list.

Liam Walsh was personally one of the worst signings for me. It’s as if he just forgot to get on the Swansea team coach back to Swansea and we said **** it, we’ll sign him.

See, I'd feel at least some sympathy for Darnborough if the other clubs of a similar size and operating budget weren't making much better signings than we were. In the 2018/19 season, while we were signing the likes of Milinkovic, Todd Kane, Ridgewell and Martin, Boro signed Aden Flint, Djed Spence, Jordan Hugill, Muhammed Besic, Danny Batth and George Saville.

We had both come down from the Premier League at the same time, so we weren't short of cash so to speak.

The Liam Walsh signing I think was to replace Matt Smith, I don't think Acun thought anything of it other than "ooh, sign him, he scored against us" and it just so happened that he was available. I mean he's gone on to make a grand total of zero appearances for Swansea this season. In fact, he's made SEVENTY EFL appearances across SIX Championship clubs in EIGHT years. What the **** were we thinking?
 
Salah I’m fine with as it seems we have an option to sign him permanently and he’s not on 5 figures a week. Vale though… Cannot believe we’re paying him his £25k-a-week wage in full and he’s played maybe three times and only one of those was a start. Absolutely shocking. I’d expect that to be what Seri and Tufan are on.

I must say, Acun’s almost maxed our FFP headroom and he’s spunked a fair share of it on dross and dead rubbers in one window. I think the club got recruitment massively wrong. We should’ve replaced Smallwood with a younger, more talented defensive midfielder, even if it meant offering wages equal to what we offered Seri and Tufan. We should’ve utilised our loan slots more efficiently. Injuries haven’t helped but we’ve ****ed ourselves with how we recruited in the summer.
 
I seem to remember Baxter being interviewed and he said he preferred to play out from the back, he trained and played this way with Chelsea. Only I watched him earlier this season and he didn't look happy with the ball at his feet playing out from the back and looked dodgier than Ingram. I don't think I would miss Baxter, Simons, Vale and even the invisible man - Mr Oulad M'hand if they all returned back to their parent clubs. As it appears we are paying nearly £50K per week for players not to play for City, I can't see Acun enjoying bleeding cash week after week.

Salah will be fit in a few weeks (barring yet another setback) and we've agreed a fee for him as part of his contract. If he can put this injury hell behind him and crack on, that fee will be an absolute bargain. He's not costing us much at all, in fact he's probably the lowest paid first team player (outside of our academy products) we have.
 
And people wonder why we are close to FFP .....
I don’t think a loan player will imperil us in terms of FFP. It’s the longer term signings on big contracts that are the main problem, in 2 or 3 years time when the influence of the previous owners’ tight finances disappears.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SydneyTiger14
Another season not utilising that loan market very well. Patino for Blackpool would be a great partner for Seri we don’t seem to be very good at identifying premier league youngsters ready to make an impact at this level.
Patino was absolutely shocking in the match at their place. Obviously a good player but evidence that loan players are rarely anywhere near the finished article. Woods at least offers consistency.
 
See, I'd feel at least some sympathy for Darnborough if the other clubs of a similar size and operating budget weren't making much better signings than we were. In the 2018/19 season, while we were signing the likes of Milinkovic, Todd Kane, Ridgewell and Martin, Boro signed Aden Flint, Djed Spence, Jordan Hugill, Muhammed Besic, Danny Batth and George Saville.

We had both come down from the Premier League at the same time, so we weren't short of cash so to speak.

The Liam Walsh signing I think was to replace Matt Smith, I don't think Acun thought anything of it other than "ooh, sign him, he scored against us" and it just so happened that he was available. I mean he's gone on to make a grand total of zero appearances for Swansea this season. In fact, he's made SEVENTY EFL appearances across SIX Championship clubs in EIGHT years. What the **** were we thinking?

That one wasn't even bad in hindsight, it was bad at the time. As you say, he'd barely made any appearances because he was ****, and I think it really was a case of "Yeah he scored against us" which worked so well with Dicko..
 
I don’t think a loan player will imperil us in terms of FFP. It’s the longer term signings on big contracts that are the main problem, in 2 or 3 years time when the influence of the previous owners’ tight finances disappears.

Yes, as FFP is judged over a three year window, a one year (or six month) loan will have very minimal bearing on FFP.

But I suppose anything to try to bring that chestnut up again..
 
I see that the Enzo Fernandez release clause from Benfica is a mere £106 million. Come on Acun, put your money where your mouth is.
 
Christ there’s some ****e on that list.

Liam Walsh was personally one of the worst signings for me. It’s as if he just forgot to get on the Swansea team coach back to Swansea and we said **** it, we’ll sign him.
Walsh had about ten minutes at Peterborough when I thought he might have something, but that was it. Shocking signing.
 
Yes, as FFP is judged over a three year window, a one year (or six month) loan will have very minimal bearing on FFP.

But I suppose anything to try to bring that chestnut up again..

He's only been on the payroll since the end of August too, so it's a 4 month loan assuming it's ended in the next few days. FFP wise, it shouldn't do much damage

I know in hindsight it's been a horrible deal for us, but he was very highly rated and if he'd have turned out to be another Mount, Abraham, Gallagher or James level of player at this level it would've been a great deal.
 
He's only been on the payroll since the end of August too, so it's a 4 month loan assuming it's ended in the next few days. FFP wise, it shouldn't do much damage

I know in hindsight it's been a horrible deal for us, but he was very highly rated and if he'd have turned out to be another Mount, Abraham, Gallagher or James level of player at this level it would've been a great deal.
They had a great crop over recent years, the crop he falls into however just isn’t that great. He and Simons are the best that age group has to offer and they’ll have football league careers but are hardly destined for the top unlike others in recent years. I’ll never forget Reece James at 18/19 pocketing Turbo with ease when he played for Wigan
 
  • Like
Reactions: SydneyTiger14
He's only been on the payroll since the end of August too, so it's a 4 month loan assuming it's ended in the next few days. FFP wise, it shouldn't do much damage

I know in hindsight it's been a horrible deal for us, but he was very highly rated and if he'd have turned out to be another Mount, Abraham, Gallagher or James level of player at this level it would've been a great deal.

I still can't agree with that. Even if he was the leading scorer in the league I would think 25k for a kid is too much to be paying. The only way I don't think it matters is if we're top of the league and we know we're heading into PL money. The fact we turned down signing a player in a role we needed because of a wage dispute but then happily agreed to paying this is just a massive head scratcher.