I reckon we may take the risk of not signing another fullback. I hope we have a contingency for an injury crisis. Even if we sold Ekwah and Anderson and loaned out Pembele, we've still got immense depth. We could do slight formation changes, change the tactics. We've got a real modern defence, given they can play multiple positions, there's only really Ballard you'd say is an out and out centre back, maybe Seelt, but he's done jobs elsewhere. Then O9 can cover most of the team, Huggins both sides, Hume both sides, Cirkin and Alese on the left, with Hjelde. Alese obviously a centre back option, Triantis is a centre back that could potentially play as an anchor. I'm probably missing someone, it's mental how many defenders we have.
Aye some strange return agreement with Sheffield not having to pay the rest of the transfer installments. Class archer. Been good for villa in pre season. Way out of our league.
Agree. Striker is,and must be,our priority. Difficult to make a case for any other signings,depending of course,on potential departures.
The last few seasons have proved you need depth in defence, we’ve played about ten lads at centre half. Last season Hume, O’Nien, Seelt, Triantis, Ballard, Hjielde all played there- possibly Alese and Cirkin as well, can’t quite remember. Consequently I like having 5 CB’s and at least four fullbacks. If Alese is primarily a CB this season him, Ballard, O’Nien Hjielde and Triantis is okay for that position until January, we probably won’t see Seelt before then and Anderson will probably leave. Another loan for Johnson I imagine. That really only leaves us with Hume and Cirkin as proper fullbacks if Pembele is away on loan and Huggins is long term injured. I’d like us to at least sign a LB. The midfield three of Browne, Neil and Jobe looks good. I think Ekwah, Rigg and Aouchiche can compete for those spots but wouldn’t mind one more that’s more defensively minded. Roberts and Poveda on right and Clarke and Mundle on left are good options. It’s really only CF that it starts to look problematic. In an ideal world Hemir gets a loan and we bring in two. Probably makes Rusyn surplus to requirements.
Didn't cirkin have an operation that is supposed to stop all the niggles he got recently? An underlying problem they got sorted. I might be getting confused with someone else
Had no idea about the Archer transfer shenanigans. Thought he was on loan at Sheff Utd last year Must pay more attention !!
Big risk putting all our egg’s in the Mendy basket mind, I still think it happens like but feels like we’ve been here before doesn’t it…
To be fair to the club, I don't think all our eggs are in the Mendy basket. It was fairly well reported that we had an egg in the Ugbo basket. And if there was Ugbo, which was clearly leaked to get the Sheff Wed move done, then there could well be several others. I think what's more likely is we have 4 or 5 "targets", with Mendy being the preferred option. A bit like with Still as Head Coach. We are being patient in trying to get Mendy but at some point we have to move on. I just hope we move on soon (or have already). Or we put our money where our mouths are and make it happen.
Nice summary from Dan Neil about the core of the team and most of us agree is fine for now. Sunderland's win at Cardiff City highlights depth of quality in squad | The Northern Echo Transfers I'm hoping there's names out there we haven't heard of and the strikers will be a surprise. Sure RLB said something in Fridays pre match about waiting until the end of the window ? Sounds like Mendy of course but you never know .
Yeah I defo think it’ll still be Mendy. He’s clearly our number 1 target. Terms aren’t an issue. He wants to come. surely Caen won’t want to keep an unhappy player and I’m sure they are working on another striker. also the fact he followed an English learning coach for French athletes (that’s a stretch but still) just think he ends up here
Compared to some of the nonsense stuff like Instagram "likes" which we often go off, its actually a pretty clear sign IMO. Of course he could be learning English anyway. But its actually a meaningful action from him that points towards relocating.
Depends - new Caen owners might want to set their stall out and give the message that they won't be held to ransom.
If you were selling a car for £5k and I came to you and offered £2.5k would you sell me it? However if I offered you £5k straight up would you sell me it? Really is that simple and yet again it’s being over-complicated. If you want/need a player just f*cking pay what they’re asking and move on instead of squabbling over a million quid or so.
Anything can happen. I think they'll cave on deadline day, Caen is a relatively small club, it's never been a powerhouse in French football and the leagues over there have recently lost revenue, Mendy is 30 and wants away, for me everything points to a reluctant sell and all parties move on.
We don't know for sure but we could have had a deal in place with the previous Caen owners for say £2m and now Mbappe and Co have taken over the keys and are demanding double that, maybe more who knows. Transfers aren't as simple as video games make it out to be, I'm sure there are multiple moving parts.
That's isn't really how it works though, typically successful businessmen (or simply businesses) are that way because they are scrupulous and meticulous over money. That's why they're successful. Traits come in clusters.
Normally i would disagree but this striker situation has gone on for so long now that i would offer £4 million for Grigg again.
