I do wonder where we are going to spend most of our transfer budget, if there is much of one. Laalaoui only cost six figures and we’ve signed two free agents. We’re also trying to sign McBurnie, who is also a free agent. Ajayi and McBurnie’s wages would probably be a decent amount but we’d be saving a few million on transfer fees. If we do sign McBurnie, I can’t see us spending loads on another striker. Maybe this summer we’ll make more from transfer fees than we’ll spend, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. I think we could get at least £3 million for Alzate, plus a few more million from selling the likes of Mehlem, Ömür, Drameh, Jacob and Racioppi.
Just looking at Ajayi’s bizarre start to his footballing career. He came through the youth academy at Charlton before breaking into the first team, except he never actually played. He then signed for Arsenal where he never played. He went on a seemingly successful loan to Cardiff where he never played, before joining them permanently at the end of his loan spell, where he still never played. He did have a few short loans throughout that period where he made a handful of appearances but none for any of his parent clubs until signing for Rotherham at age 23.
Maybe, but why not try to get a fee for him? Anyway, pointless questions, pointless answers! None of us know what goes on in the first, second or third place. So all just speculation, doubt & defence of the people running the club!
I guess he isn't really worth much, hence the reason he was a free agent when we got him and his value won't have increased much since. If his wages are high and the manager that wanted him has gone then its a smart move to release him.
I'm not expecting us to pay huge transfer fees. But I think we'll be offering generous contracts and utilising loans again.
I don’t have a problem with that. There’s a lot of decent players that can be picked up on free transfers this summer. There’s a few who played under Jakirović at Rijeka and Dinamo Zagreb that would be decent signings.
Do you know if we are targeting high profile loans again? I would hope for permanent transfers to build a longer term team.