I'd be quite happy with this on a season long loan. Feel he'd fit the system well and bring some much needed experience and bustle. Hope it doesn't mean Tella is leaving but feels like a shrewd signing come what may
Confusing one. Potentially points to an outgoing on the wings. We have Tella, Edozie, SAA and Sulemana. Sulemana hasn’t featured really so perhaps he’ll be off and Fraser one of 4? Odd choice though. At least he adds the height we need
He's very different to all those players though in terms of his style, can play on either wing and has well over 100 PL appearances under his belt as well as having played at this level before. Also could free up one of the above to play down the middle when needed.
When do they need to be signed by in order to feature at the weekend? Is it lunchtime? So probably too late then?
Was there a rumour about Fraser earlier this summer, or have I dreamt that? Even if there was, this has come a bit out the blue. Don't think it's a bad signing, but I'd be disappointed if he's coming in because either Tella or Sulemana are off. Holgate will probably be solid at this level, but can't see Wood and Johnson also coming in now.
I’d assume at least one was off just due to numbers. Unless Sam is going out on loan. But impact role off the bench is perfect for him
I can still see Johnson for sure, but I struggle to see Wood (I'm not sure there's enough minutes to feed him, Holgate, Bednarek and Stephens) so I think you'd need to see ABK and Bednarek go for Wood to come back on the table this window.
You don't loan out special players like SAA while you are in the Championship. That would have been like us loaning out Walcott or Bale. Insanity. True insanity.
Well I don’t see us moving forward with 5/6 wingers (Djenepo is being left out of discussions). And Edozie has started the games. Maybe he goes out on loan if Sulemana stays but I don’t see it I think looking at this as Fraser for Sulemana is potentially an error as he hasn’t featured and never seemed like he was going to. I’m assuming it is not Tella because although Fraser and Tella can both play on both sides I’d say Fraser was primarily left and Tella right. Which is why I’m talking about Sulemana
And I am adamant that if this leads to SAA moving out on loan it is up there with some of the worst bits of business in our history. Not only does it move our most talented prospect out of our club in the one period we are in a league he can play regularly in, but it shows all the youth players that no matter how good you are, you won't get a fair shot. I don't think the club is capable of that level of insanity.
My two penneth on Wood from a swans fan. He reminds me of a young Ashley Williams when we first signed him from Stockport. Strong, decent with his feet, but clumsy and very prone to a cock up. If he develops anything like Williams did then you'll have a hell of a defender on your hands. Obviously the coaches and scouts would be more equipped to judge a players potential than what we would so all this interest in him from various clubs must be because he's highly regarded. But then we've had young defenders such as Rodon, Ben Davies and Guhei and they looked streets ahead of Wood at that age. None of them really went on to be 'elite' (apart from possibly Guhei given time). As it stands, losing Wood wouldn't be a blow to our immediate team. If anything it will help balance us out as we are currently playing with 5 at the back when we operate so much better with 4. Last year we were the 4th highest scorers in the league which is why its seen as such a blow to lose Piroe. But we had the 3rd or 4th worst defensive record in the league. Our midfielders were decent with Fulton and Grimes playing in the holding role, it was our defense that was an absolute shambles. Wood, Darling and Cabango specifically. Manning was player of the season at left back, latubediere at right back was good defensively, poor going forward (which as a wingback isn't great). But for the amount of possession we had and the amount of attacks the opposition teams had on us, we never should have conceded as much as we did. Personally I'm surprised we have rejected the offer. More surprised we didn't come back with an over-the-top counter offer which is generally how the yanks operate. But I suspect the summer dealings with Martin have probably had an affect with that. There has been no shortage of interest in Wood, mainly from lower to mid prem teams. But this was all back in Jan and nothing concrete materialised. Could be they are hoping to reignite some of that interest. But I think the true reason people aren't bothered about losing him is because we've gotten used to selling players before they hit their potential. We know we will never experience the best of them so there's not really that much to look forward to with a certain player. It's a case of, "well I know he will go, he isn't great now, no big loss." Gone are the days of us signing young players and watching them develop into club legends ala Leon Britton, Ashley Williams, Rangel and Nathan Dyer!
I don’t care about the player. I do care that whoever we seem to want gets a stomach bug over it and tries to go somewhere else…
Honestly, I'm still burned by Onuachu and Djenepo and find it hard to get too excited about players from the Belgian league at this point. A lot of our fanbase seem to be tweeting about him as if he's a sure-fire star though, so either I am missing something and we have a lot of fans watching the Jupiler Pro League, or they are just catastrophising.
To be fair Tall Paul has probably told him "they will buy you but you will never get to play football".
The rumour was that he would be part of the original Tino deal. His blatant refusal to play for Bournemouth in their Premier League relegation fight despite being contracted to them was shocking behaviour. I can’t help but think if he couldn’t be bothered to play in the Premier League why will he bother to turn up for us in the Championship? I can only see this signing as having the potential to have a negative impact on the dressing room which we absolutely could do without at such an important time.
Short of spending 15m on some top player who realistically wouldn’t join us in the championship there will always be a negative / catastrophising angle to every bit of our transfer business. Without fail For example: Manning - part of a **** Swansea defence Charles - another unproven city youngster. More likely to be a Larios as a Lavia Downes - he won’t sign. His stomach bug is him looking for another move. Oh he has? But there is no option to buy? What a bad deal Holgate - he is bad in the premier league (we aren’t in the premier league) Fraser - see Holgate above. Also he had one period where he was unprofessional. And his signing definitely means a better player will leave. Even one who hasn’t made a match day squad Wood - fee too high. Part of a bad Swansea defence Johnson - bad for West Ham last season. Automatically means KWP (rather than another RB) is off Strangely this rarely extends to players we fail to sign and go somewhere else - especially on places like Twitter Here is a little different. As pointed out - we have be burnt before by attackers from the Belgian league. Including very recently I do get that him rejecting us an accepting Leeds seems galling and doesn’t make sense - and no doubt some are assuming Piroe is the same. But maybe it was actually Paul that sunk the joint deal. Or insufficient first team guarantees? Twitter is a mess. You only need to look at replies to Fab’s tweets. Whenever he tweets about a player moving the top reply is nearly always a fan of one of the big six saying “Rejected x” where X is a rival big six club (or euro rival if it is a non PL transfer). Usually followed by a bunch of daft emojis.
I think people are blowing this way out of proportion TBH. For a start, he's probably desperate to play regularly after being frozen out at Newcastle. I don't think what happened several years ago will have any impact on the dressing room. It's what he does in a Saints shirt that I care about.
Because he is signing for us to play in the Championship? Seriously. What kind of question is this? There is taking a negative view on things and then there is what ever this is that takes it to the next level
