Going back to the mystery player who said he wants to sign now after we bid £7 million last summer, I thought of Vinícius Souza. Defensive midfielder currently on loan at Espanyol from Lommel in the Belgian second division. Lommel are part of the City Group.
There's quite a few players who we were apparently in for last season who turned us down.. Berat Ozdemir, Rıdvan Yılmaz, Miha Zajc, Vedat Muriqi, Haji Wright Yilmaz at left back would be fantastic but cant see why he'd leave Rangers after only 1 season. We've more chance of Wright who we went back in for in the January window. I think he was happy to join us but his team pulled the plug on the deal last minute. I can see us going back in for him in the summer.
Shame it didn't work out for the lad. Put the effort in which is all you can ever ask. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.
You can see he had the ability and he had a lot of composure on the ball, but I think the injuries just got the better of him and he never really came across as fully fit. Good luck to him, he’ll get a good gig somewhere else, I suspect back in Greece.
I think he has the air of having ability without ever actually proving he has it. His efficiency in converting good positions to goals was terrible really. It's another one of those funny ones where he has this identity of being exotic and talented so we assume it's true and it's rarely questioned but in practice someone like Slater has been far more reliable in finishing off a chance or making the final ball and yet intrinsically we think of him being this scrappy, rugged player, not a talented one like Pelkas. I go on about this a lot but I do think there are really different standards based on preconceived notions sometimes.
I know some people view foreign players as having that flair about them, but I genuinely found him to be a good player. Greece might not be the international powerhouse of football, but to consistently get called into their national team, even during his time at City shows he has quality. I think his injury was a big factor in his ability to flourish here and like some of the other imports we have had, he just wasn’t up to the modern English game. Interestingly, the Dutch leagues seem to produce players that do well here and the physicality of the game in both countries allows an easy transition. I’m thinking of Zian Flemming in particular who looks a great acquisition for Milwall. I know we have the obvious Turkish connection, but there are a fair few Turkish/Dutch players and I think getting players from there (and Belgium) would suit us better.
100% correct. The main problem with the Turkish league is that out of the top 10 leagues in Europe it’s probably the least professional.
Portugal is a good league to look at too. There’s a few decent players there in our budget. I quite like Loreintz Rosier. He’s out-of-contract this summer and was linked with Blackpool in January as well as clubs in Ligue 1, La Liga and Eredivisie.
I reckon Pelkas has ****ed up more key chances - whether that’s playing someone else in or taking the shot on himself - than Slater had all season, in less than 1/3rd the amount of minutes on the pitch. Wouldn’t you say?
He was playing well at Estoril but stopped being called maybe because the contract ends and he doesnt want to sign another. He's a decent player.
Do you remember Morita? Japanese player we supposedly were signing in january 2022? Signed for Sporting now is a certain in the starting eleven and shined in the champions league.
Yeah, I read that he refused to sign an extension after January and the club decided to make him train with the under-23s as a result. Seems a bit harsh.
