Transfer Rumours Summer 2022 Transfer Window

Please no.

 

They'll give him a new contract as player/coach because we haven't got enough goalkeepers on the coaching staff

 

Offering McCarthy a new deal has kind of hamstrung us with the GK situation, now that FF has been putting in some top performances. We can't keep both and sign a new no.1 which we all think we need. Only way I see us offering FF an extension is if we are only bringing in a young future no.1 type (though I swear that never works for us, Gazza and Gunn as examples) and besides, really think we need a new no.1 for next season anyway. Or we sign FF on reduced terms, sell McCarthy and bring in a new no.1. But not sure we would find it very easy to sell McCarthy. Look forward to our GK saga being over with.

 

I think what we need is Fraser McCarthy or Alex Forster - would be a great all round keeper

 

I wouldn’t be offering him anything, Forster and McCarthy haven’t been good enough to claim the number 1 spot over a long period of time, if McCarthys already signed up then Forster has to go, we need a new first choice keeper regardless.

I know Forster has had some good games recently, but he has also made way above the normal amount of howlers during this period too, it really wouldn’t be the end of the world if he leaves.

 

If we end up still having both McCarthy & Forster on the books next year it shows we really haven't moved on from the piss poor way the club was run towards Les Reeds final days. We have known for a couple of seasons that neither are good enough, both are towards the end of their careers and both have high salary demands for bench players.

We need one of them as a back up, IMO it should be whichever has the lowest wage demands, then sign a clear 1st choice keeper.

 

Forster and McCarthy have both been great this season.

 

McCarthy is 32, Forster is 34. Both are in the prime age for keepers.

 

I'd say 28-32 is the prime for a keeper, look at the top keepers in the world today and most are 28-30 interestingly. But yeah, either way, these 2 are certainly towards the end of their careers at 32 & 34 so won't be getting any better from this point.

 

I'm dubious about keeping them, but it may reflect the fact that we have a squad that needs overhauling at several positions, and even with a significant injection of cash, we'd still have limited resources to do so. Retaining Forster and McCarthy means that we'll have at least mediocre goalkeeping at an affordable price, whereas ditching one gives us the possibility of having better, but also a distinct possibility given the capricious nature of goalkeepers that we're no better off.

Meanwhile, we need to do real work to even be mediocre at other positions. Our strikers under contract next year consist of one part decent support player in Che, and one part abject failure in Armstrong. Our wide players are just frankly awful for this level, Stuart Armstrong is the only one I can confidently say is Premier League standard, and he hasn't had a very good season. Our midfield is alarmingly short on quality depth. Our central defense is uneven, to put it gently.

We can't fix all of that in one summer, so it might be understandable if they're opting to put resources to other use...for the time being.

 

And yet all that logic won’t stop some thunderous moaning occurring!

 

Yes please!

 

I would be happy to see both our senior keepers depart this summer but looks like I am going to be bitterly disappointed as we won’t be getting Johnstone or Henderson who are considerably better than both of them

 

I'm much more concerned about the quality of our current starting centre backs than I am about the keepers. Their performances have been alarmingly bad and if it wasn't for good form of Fraser's the negative goal difference would be even bigger.

 

Yeah it’s just weird. Frazer was so out of favour I think Ralph would rather have Kelv between the sticks. He’s sat on his contract for so long. I thought when he signed the last contract about 10 years ago it was a puzzling decision. He puts in a few good performances and he’s suddenly given a new one. Odd.

 

Why is that? Bedders and Sally picked themselves most of the season, they were solid if not spectacular.

 

Bednerak has been awful for months now, and I'd even go as far as to say, he hasn't been great all year.
Baffling how he gets picked ah3ad of Stephens tbh.

 

Mostly because Stephens is himself really bad. Therein lies the problem...at CB, we have:

Salisu - mostly quite good, though with a late-season downturn in form.
Bednarek - mostly fairly good in the past, having a bad half-season (or more).
Lyanco - three wolverines on meth in a burlap sack. is that good or bad? No idea! Also injured.
Stephens - seems to regularly (like, almost invariably) forget that the guy with the ball is not the only person on the pitch.

Choosing which of the two to deploy at any given time is not an easy choice.

 

You forgot Valery as well. Feels like there's a player there but I can't be arsed to wait any more. I would ideally like to see Bednarek Stephens & Valery shuffled along, one proven CB and one young player come in. Simeu brought to the bench. Lyanco/Salisu/Proven player competeing for the 2 starting places with the two young guys developing and rotating.