I've never been his biggest fan, but he never lets the team down and I think it's stupid to let him go, especially if Jones is going as well. You'd hope they aren't both going. I preferred Jones going into last season, but I think now I'd rather keep McLoughlin.
its boring, but i think maybe these restrictions are good for the future of the club acun just seems to want to spend infinite amounts of money
McLoughlin isn’t going to Blackburn for large amounts of money. Wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even 7 figures. If they were spending £4m on a centre half I sincerely doubt it would be him.
In a way, yes - but preventing us from registering Laalaoui and Puerta from deals agreed before the embargo feels unnecessarily punitive. It puts us at risk of a significant loss on those investments, means we can't even play them and does nothing to support a financially dubious club.
I was more accepting of both Jones and McLoughlin being moved on (for the right price) this summer before the transfer fee restriction was announced as I heard that we agreed a £2.5M fee with Rijeka for Stjepan Radeljić. He’s a big, left-footed centre-half so would’ve been a solid replacement for McLoughlin. Jones is dependable but with Hughes, Egan and now Ajayi at the club, he’d be even further down the pecking order. Now it just seems mad to sell both Jones or Macca. Surely it should be one or the other? If we sell both, it means signing another centre-back on a free transfer or on loan which I think would be inefficient. There aren’t many decent free agent centre-backs left that would be realistic targets and loaning one would just be a waste of a loan spot when we need forwards, midfielders and a left-back. I’d rather keep McLoughlin as even though he lacks pace and mobility, he’s a better passer than Jones, can cover two positions and is left-footed. Jones would probably net us a bigger fee as well.
I don’t get the situation with Puerta and Laalaoui either. We’ve agreed fees with their former clubs, they’ve signed contracts and we’re paying their wages. Not being allowed to register them for EFL competitions is one thing as they would’ve been registered on or after July 1st but who are the EFL to say they aren’t our players and we can’t sell them to anyone else? If they’re not our players and still belong to Leverkusen and FUS Rabat, are we still obligated to pay the transfer fees? Are we contractually obligated to continue paying their wages? If the EFL says that we can’t register them AND they’re not our players even though we’ve agreed fees and contracts then we need to appeal that separately to CAS as it’s ****ing ridiculous by the EFL. Registration for EFL competitions is entirely their jurisdiction but telling us who/what is and isn’t our asset seems like massive overreach and **** all to do with the EFL.
My understanding is that they can refuse to register them under the terms of the fee restriction but ultimately that's separate from our contractural agreements with the players themselves and their former clubs. We've effectively signed dead ducks that we can't play. Where is anything suggesting the EFL are saying they're not contracted to the club?
Radelijic has the same agent as Frigan... wonder if theres still something to be done there - I would imagine if this once is more dependant on the restrictions being adjusted.
Baz (yes, I know) said in the latest 1904 Club podcast that Puerta is still legally a Leverkusen player. If that’s true then I think City’s lawyers need to be making a separate appeal to CAS about the EFL’s overreach. If it isn’t true and we just can’t register them then we’re probably better off selling Puerta and loaning Laalaoui to Maribor or something.