Clearly a move made more from necessity than a real desire, but he fits a positional need, has decent championship experience, and if he wants stability I wouldn't be surprised to see a slightly longer contract but hopefully at a sensible wage. Familiarity with JHT is nice too. I think when you look at the demographics of our squad, a slightly more experienced player on a free could make sense. In the summer, Barnes, Hanley, Onel, Long, Fassnacht, Gunn, Sorensen are all out of contract, potentially leaving our senior pros as Duffy (currently 32), McLean (32), Stacey (28) and Sargent (24!) as our oldest 4 players. No matter how much we want to invest in youth, they need some experience around them to learn from and occasionally takes some flack/responsibility. If we're on a dire run of form, Carrow Road is restless and Crnac hasn't scored in 6 months, is it better for his development to keep playing him 90 mins each week, or to be able to shelter him occasionally?
https://x.com/cjsouthwell1902/status/1842155391586557954 Looks like Marcondes joining til the end of the season with an option for another year. That feels pretty sensible really.
He might not want to move on, but he's currently a good (but not exceptional) 'keeper we're unlikely to turn into a saleable asset, and he's on a reasonably high wage. That's not exactly what our player recruitment has been looking for lately. I do wonder if we'll look to sign someone a few years younger, on a lower wage, who we can potentially turn a profit on. In particular, goalkeepers who are adept with their feet fit our current style and are quite fashionable right now, so could showcase a player and find there's quite a market for them. Gunn's goalkeeping stats have dipped a bit this season too (early days, but are trending down the longer we stay in the championship), so he's not making a case for being a real bargain contract. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gunn extended and save our limited funds for another position, I don't think it's the biggest priority, but equally I don't think he's untouchable. Stats (FBRef) for the last 3 seasons for those curious: PSxG (Post-shot expected goals): +8.2, +4.6, -1.3 Save percentage: 71.9%, 71.1%, 66.7% Long pass sucess rate: 48.7%, 45.2%, 38.9%
Marcondes has signed and will possibly be on the bench tomorrow. He’s been training with the team for a few days this week.
Looks like we're about to raid Ipswich: https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/i...t-to-make-move-to-bitter-rivals-norwich-city/
Thorup said in todays presser, his name “wouldn’t be miles away from the likely appointment” and suggested that timing is the final hurdle. Possibly announced Thursday or Friday
If we get Jack through the door then, bearing mind the impact he could have on the younger players, I will be even more optimistic than I am now.
More from Thorup on Wilshere: https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/norwich-city-johannes-hoff-thorup-provides-jack-wilshere-update/
Sorry if this is a really ignorant question, but what is the excitement about re Wilshere? I mean beyond the fact that he played football at a decent level and had a nice style? If that’s it, that’s fine - I’m just wondering if I’ve missed something there.
He was an Academy Coach at Arsenal but Arteta was so impressed with his ability that he was promoted to the Under 18's Head Coach. Arteta has openly praised his ability especially the way he brings on young players. Just what we need
