Yeah I think people were mislead by the jump he seamlessly made to League Two from the National League (which as some people have said, should really be League Three given that it's now almost entirely professional and a lot of the clubs are ex league clubs). I thought he'd do better than he has though, but like I said, I think he picked up an injury early in the season.
since signing for us perm he managed a grand total of 4 league goals in as many seasons, no idea how that comes across as doing well. He was way below what we need.
At the time of him leaving he was doing a decent job, his form over his whole contract is irrelevant.
Amrabat hasn’t shown he’s better or more effective than Longman in any way. He’s barely trusted to play.
Right, but then would Longman have been in front of Gelhardt, Lincoln, Barry and Kamara? Probably not. I agree that Amrabat hasn't been in any way a useful signing other than as a body to bring on for a few minutes to eat up time, which is a role you could literally give to some free transfer from Cleethorpes Town. Presumably they wanted an experienced head in and around the group to help out behind the scenes, like with Sharp last season. Going forward, transfer movement in the wide areas will depend on how far along Millar and Belloumi are before pre season begins and whether they're going to be match fit for the start of the season. I'm not up to speed on how ACL recovery works, but if they've spent nearly every day working in the gym and building up strength in their legs, then in theory they should have pretty decent fitness levels. Not match fitness, but a solid baseline at least. It stands to reason we'll need at least one and that's assuming we get Barry back, which we've discussed with Villa already. I've already said I like the idea getting Lincoln back, but given he hasn't featured much, I'm not sure he'd want to if he got a permanent offer and a chance at first team football from elsewhere. A lot of money in the Brazilian league now, certainly enough to entice some Europe and Asia based players back home.
Don't think there'll be too much discussed until we know which league we'll be playing in next season
The whole Zambrano situation is really suspicious. Was registered as an under-21 player in the second half of the season, rather than a member of the 25-man squad, which is only possible if he’s a permanent player (loans count towards the 25-man squad regardless of age). That suggests we’ve bought him permanently already. However, that was a few months ago now and at least a whole month before his appeal. His appeal has happened and there’s been no news on the verdict for weeks. I go back to my earlier suggestion of Kyprianou. Out of contract, plenty of experience in League One, a good age, has leadership qualities and is strong, tall and athletic. Would be a good option for defensive midfield.
If Wednesday aren't paying their players I think they can leave for free. Is there anyone who'd we want?
They can't leave straight away, it's time limited. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
Yep. You realise the post I was replying to started with the words "A lot of Championship interest in ....", to which I started my reply with "nah, can't be true.."?
So when you said 'sign such players' which 'such players' are you referring to? As ST pointed out, Langstaff made a similar jump up at the start of this season and has been pretty woeful. Do you mean Championship clubs don't sign strikers from League 2, or that they don't sign prolific strikers from league 2?
I don’t know if it’s changed because of the whole Watford debacle but as far as domestic rules were concerned international loans always used to be treated just the same as permanent transfers. Also, are you sure he wasn’t just unregistered from the 25 man squad? We would still hold his playing registration obviously but that’s separate to the squad list for the league.
He was alright, when he first came in on loan he wanted to make a good impression because he knew he was leaving and he did well. He made the step up but he always looked limited for the most part. He’ll have a decent career no doubt, but his ability didn’t match our ambitions and there’s no point hanging onto him if the club wanted to get better players in (or at least gamble on what they think were better players). FWIW, I agree with Walter that Longman staying was a better idea than Amrabat coming in, but the other players that came in during January are better than him.
