Transfer Rumours Arrivals / Departures lounges, Summer 2023.

OK, got it. In which case I don’t understand that measure, given that Pukki has triple the assists (and should have quite a few more if only we could have others who could finish ruthlessly - eg just Dowell at the weekend…) I’ve watched a bit of Villa play as my brother in law is a fan, and do think Watkins contributes, but he doesn’t seem so creative.

 

No it isn't.

 

Robbie, when you are digging a hole there comes a point when to dig any more will mean being unable to climb out of the hole. At that point it is a very good idea to stop digging. Unfortunately you have gone way past this point so keep on digging.

 

Who says?

 

Bournemouth looking shaky for the autos. Game coming up against Forest who are on fire. If Forest win they probably go ahead on GD. Squeaky bum time at Dean Court....yes I know

 

So when TC returns in a few weeks he either sits down and negotiates a new contract or we sell him on the cheep (sic).

 

I suspect we leave contract negotiations until he's shown something on the pitch in a City shirt.

I think we'd take £5m for him this summer. If such a deal doesn't materialize, we'll wait and see what he does on the pitch for Norwich before considering another contract.
I don't see the club committing to the multi-year £25k + p/w deal he'd want before we've seen something from him. We could easily end up committing more funds in wages than we'd recoup from selling him, unless he starts to perform regularly like we know he can.

 

City have been linked with a raid for Villa duo Cameron Archer & Jaden Philogene Bidace.

Archer is a striker, 20 who is on loan at Preston and has scored 7 goals in 18 appearances since he signed for them on loan in January, can also play right wing. Gerrard considers him as a big bright prospect, England U20

Philogene Bidace is a winger, 20 who worked under Smith when he was at Villa, and is now on loan at Stoke, however a knee injury has slowed his progress but he has made 10 appearances, scoring once. Plays mainly as a left winger, but can also play on the right & as an attacking midfielcer. Was handed his debut as a late sub against Spurs in May 2021 in a 2-1 win for Villa by Smith.

 

Don't we have enough 20 year olds on our books already? Idah scored three goals AGAINST Preston and that was in one match.

 

Also, don't we have enough left wingers?

 

Apparently Archer is seen as an upgrade on Danny Ings by Villa, so could be worth trying to nab him off them if he's that good.

 

If this happens, it's more likely to be loans IMO. As with Gilmour, there would be an obligation to play them rather than our own players. They then return to Villa and our own players don't develop. Next season should be about developing our own players, especially the young ones like Sargent, Tzolis, Rowe, Sørensen, Dowell and Placheta.

 

Agree with this. I've never seen the point of loan agreements with conditions to play. It's not good for either club or the development of the player. Loan players should be good enough to justify their place in a team on talent alone. If we are interested I would hope it would be a case of buying rather than loaning. We need to do something about cover for Pukki, at present, if he get injured and is out for any length of time we will struggle in the Championship, assuming we get relegated. I may be wrong, but I don't see Idah as the answer.

 

Do we know we were obliged to play Gilmour? If so that’s not good negotiating.

 

I believe Chelsea had a January recall clause if he didn't play a certain number of games, and the loan fee was reduced the more he played. I don't believe the finances are so tight that Farke/Smith couldn't afford to not play him, but equally once relegation is confirmed I wouldn't be surprised to see him play to reduce the cost of the loan, even though he won't be back.

 

Just taking a look at the shape our squad will be in next season, I was struck by how shallow (and poor) the midfield options are going to be. McLean and Sorensen are likely to be our only genuine CMs on the books who could play in a midfield pairing, with PLM able to play there in a three. So we could play all three in a 4-3-3, but I'm not sure that exactly screams "promotion midfield". We're going to need at least 2 if not 3 additions in that area, with the intention of them being first choice.

We're also ridiculously overloaded with left-sided midfielders. Rashica, Tzolis, Placheta, Rowe, Hernandez, Cantwell, Martin is far too many. Can Rashica play on the right?

I wonder whether the 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2 from earlier in the season might be the blueprint. In terms of using the players we have and making a small number of positive additions, I think it makes sense? Two really good central midfield signings would set us up strongly and would have to be the main focus of the summer, but an extra striker would also be necessary. If we could use the Villa link to get Archer or Keinan Davis, that would be handy.

Leaving on Frees/expiring loans: Kabak, Normann, Gilmour, Williams, Rupp
Returning: McCallum, Mumba
Sold: Aarons, Hugill, Hernandez, Cantwell
Purchases: New DM, New CM, Striker.
Out on loan: Placheta, Martin, Adshead

Squad plan:



That's a 24-man squad, less essential signings beyond that would be another CM, CB, RB....

 

Norwich among 1 of 3 clubs (others being Watford & Middlesborough) keen on signing out of contract attacking midfielder Jean-Paul Boetius from Mainz. He can play either as a central attacking midfielder or on either wing. Once dubbed as the Mainz Messi due to his creative capabilities and work on the ball, also takes penalties

 

Genuine question: why do we need to sell players after a season in the EPL and a large pot money from parachute payments?

 

Maybe the new signings who will stay - Rashica, PLM, etc, work out a bit more expensive overall than what we had before. So we end up with a net bigger wage bill and therefore need to sell to be able to bring in more.

 

I think Rob has answered well, it is not essential for us to sell players this summer. The loanees depart when their terms expire, and the remaining squad is affordable for us next season thanks to parachute payments. That's the same situation as when we came down last time, which I believe Webber has confirmed. We didn't have to sell Godfrey and Lewis in order to balance the books. I think it's reasonable to assume we'll be in the same situation this summer.

But whilst we didn't have to sell Godfrey and Lewis, doing so funded our summer transfer business. The likes of Skipp, Dowell, Quintilla, Gibson, Giannoulis, Hugill couldn't have been signed had we not sold Godfrey and Lewis.

So whilst we may not have to sell Aarons this summer, it might be a necessity if we want to rebuild our midfield (for example).

Equally this might be the first window where Smith has an opportunity to retool his squad to suit his thinking, so we could see other players depart to mould the squad to whatever "Smithball" ends up being. Zimmerman, Sorensen, Cantwell, Placheta, Tzolis, Giannoulis have all seen limited playtime under Smith, so perhaps might be moved on to fund more suitable players.