RB with 8 goal contributions last season. I mentioned him a few days ago on our board. He can cover in midfield too. I didn’t know he was available but I’d like to think we are in for him. Solid experienced player and could do a job for a team like us in the premier league.
Not a Leeds related transfer rumour but bear with me. I read yesterday (something like the Sunderland Echo) that Middlesbrough have accepted an offer from Ipswich for Haydn Hackney for around £20 million. It caught my eye because Milky has mentioned him lots of times as being a great prospect. The first thing that sprang to mind was how surprised I was Middlesbrough would sell their prize asset to a direct competitor but, maybe that just highlights perfectly how the gap is gradually widening all the way down the pyramid. Now, because of my location, I genuinely know two ex Ipswich players. One does match day hospitality and the other commentates on their games so both are in and around the club constantly. They both said when they got promoted it was probably too soon. The club had a five year plan and achieved it in two. They deliberately recruited younger players whose value should rise (such as Delap) knowing relegation was likely and they would have to sell but hoping that they pulled off survival. This is year four of their plan and, signing players like Hackney is probably where they dreamed of being at the beginning of the plan. It will be interesting if they go up this year to see how they get on next year and if this becomes a bit more of a template for achieving lasting Premier League status. We sold our most valuable assets last year but not to our competitors and rebuilt a team good enough to win the league. However, the consensus is we haven’t got a lot of high value assets left to sell, especially “surplus”. We also seem to be buying solid players in their prime, none of which strike as being likely to dramatically increase in value. Interestingly, the guy that does the commentary (and therefore watched every Ipswich game in the Premier League) said he thought we had enough to survive and that was before we bought any players. I wonder which model will work out best?
Boro fan I know up there on Teeside was speculating that they're skint. I don't think.they have a chance of getting up anyways when you think there's Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton and Sheffield United.
Good points there. As regards to us being good enough to stay up without any signings, hopefully that is the case. With the loss of Firpo and Soloman and Byram a year older we are possibly no better yet. Hopefully the next couple of signings though will be the ones to make a real difference. Would really like to see our surplus players out the door asap as their hanging around the club might yet hamper transfer activity
That seems a bit defeatist from Ipswich, if true. They’re the biggest spenders ever to go up and not stay up. You don’t spend that much money and expect to go straight back down. The reality is their signings were generally poor as they were mainly championship players that they bought. The best thing they could do now is widen their scouting network because evidently, it looks very poor. I can see them being like their rivals bouncing up and down between the divisions for a while. They don’t seem to be building up the club on all levels to sustain premier league status. Hackney looks good in the championship but I’d say it’s 50/50 whether he’ll be good enough for the premier league. They’ve sold one player in the last two seasons for good money (Delap), nobody else has left for more than 1m. It doesn’t look like a good sustainable model, to me.
Spanish would beg to differ although he also reckoned Ipswich would be playing in Europe this season haven’t seen the twat on here for a while - wonder why that is
I’d actually say providing they’re as good as expected that we are way stronger defensively and in midfield than last year as we’ve gained Bijol & Perri which should be massive improvements on Rodon or Struijk and Meslier/Darlow. We’ve lost Firpo for Gudmundsson (international with lots of experience in a top league), Wober for Bornauw (played in a better league than Wober and although has an injury record he’s surely going to be more available than Wober was), lost Goulivogi but gained Stach (supposedly our best CDM now and experienced in a good league), lost Rothwell but gained Longstaff (Very experienced PL player). The fact we might have Ampadu and Tanaka on the bench for some games this season shows massive progression. Will obviously need a Schmidt replacement if we sell/loan him but think we’re looking at Justin from Leicester which would be a decent upgrade. I do however think we’re possibly weaker in attack as we’ve lost Solomon but not yet replaced him however we do have Harrison back who technically is a experienced PL winger, his stats are skewed as he’s been playing right wing and when he was getting good assists/goals in the PL he was on the left. Plus you can rely on Harrison to track back and help his wing back which would be useful in away games and harder home games. Nmecha is an upgrade on Bamford as Bamford has been too injury prone. It feels like we’re willing to spend around 70m on a winger and attacker so as long as we get some decent options in those positions I’d be happy. In an ideal world I’d get rid of Harrison and get another left winger or Solomon back, that Leicester number 10 to upgrade on Aaronson and either Beto, Muniz or that Roma striker then we’re good to go.
Vladyslav Vanat gaining pace. Hopefully a Joseph replacement and not our first choice striker Can't say I know too much about him, but a risky punt for that reason
We were linked to Vanat earlier this window. Don't know alot about him cos he plays in Ukraine. Would be a gamble as he hasnt played anywhere near PL level. He looked a bit weak to me. Think he'd get bullied over here.
