Transfer Rumours JANUARY 2024 WINDOW.

It seems that Macaulay Gillesphey is on the way to Charlton on a permanent deal for a six figures sum.

I'm a little surprised...obviously out of favour this season.....but he was one of our better passers of the ball....which he proved recently by all reports.

Gillesphey wasn't in today squad....it is reported that he was down the Valley....watching Charlton lose 1-2 to Oxford.

Transfermarkt value Gillesphey at £400,000.

As I said above I am surprised.....I thought PAFC would have waited for a new manager to have had a say in players coming in or going out.

 

I have heard the little whispers that Luton are on the trail of Whittaker with a fee of around £4m being offered. I even had a conversation with a bloke on a bus today who had heard the same thing. So, here we go with the transfer window merry-go-round. Examination of this whisper must surely prove to people how ludicrous some whispers are. This is the bloke who fought his club hard firstly not to leave here last season and then to fight harder to get back this season permanently. He succeeded and boy has he been proved right with the form he is in and he clearly loves it here. I've even heard he has a girlfriend who also quite likes the place. Now having said that he obviously must have ambition to play in the top league and we all recognise that. Would be strange if he didn't and we also all recognise that somebody will come in for him at some stage if the form continues. But lets be frank about it why the feck would he agree to Luton? Already said he would have ambition but lets face it Luton will only be in the Premier League for another half a season and then thehy will be down to the Cdhampionship once more. So, if he signed he would be back where he started albeit maybe a bit better off financially. I do not believe he would go there for one minute. I haven't even thought about whether Argyle would accept £4m anyway which I think they would be mad to do. He and Argyle can do mush much better than that.

 

Checked on ...Luton's Transfer Tracker website... and there is no mention of any interest in Whittaker.

Although there is talk on pasoti of a £4 million deal with Luton to happen before the FA Cup third round.

Why would we let him go after only 6 months....he is worth more than that to us at the moment....having an understrength striker force....plus the third worst defence in the league....it is his goals that are keeping us just above the drop zone.....why would we risk everything for a mere £4 million.

And as I've mentioned earlier....why would you sell your best asset at the same time that you are trying to entice a new manager in.....surely it would be stupid.

 

Let’s not forget he signed a 4 year contract - or at least he did according to the ‘Erald. Yes. I know contracts are there to be broken but that’s a big statement of intent from a talented young footballer aged just 21.

I watched Luton on TV recently against Chelsea and was pleasantly surprised how good they were to watch. That said, they went down 2:3 after a brave late fightback and their only points in December were from a win over an injury ravaged Newcastle. They have Andros Townsend and Ross Barkley providing a lot of the know-how in their side, both talented, but veterans. Despite having left the kick-and-rush tactics behind, you would not expect them to be in the EPL next season.

It’s rather like Stephen Schumacher. Everyone expects them to go on to better things eventually but with a little patience, they can do better than Stoke and Luton respectively.

 

Things are definitely getting worse for Argyle.

Seems that Villa will be recalling Finn Azaz and selling him on to Middlesbro for £2 million.

 

Its a done deal apparently 2.5 K n

 

That’s a very serious blow.

 

What it all says to me is quite sad really.....Simon Hallett is a fan as well as the owner....and he has helped PAFC to become successful and financially viable....paying it's way without debt.

But even at Championship level Simon Hallett's financial clout is not enough for PAFC to stay afloat and hold its own without extra financial resources from somewhere and without going into debt........Simon is realistic enough to know that he cannot take us further than the Championship anyrate.....and is now seeing that money is the big god even at this level.

PAFC have overtaken their growth ability and are now in areas that they cannot control anymore.

The development of a youth set up is the right way ahead....but we're in a tail wagging the donkey situation at the moment.....our success has overtaken our ability to develop these young players to feed into our first team.....we're ahead of ourselves....and that means we're depending on quality loan players who at the end of the day we have no control over.

Our ability to find the right players to take on loan is exceptionally good.....and we have broken our transfer ceiling twice to obtain Whittaker and Mumba as Argyle owned players from that loan situation......but we're unable to hold on to all are loanees that have blossomed at PAFC.

Even last season we could hear the warning bells....when Swansea tried to make a profit by taking Whittaker back hoping to make a profit by selling him to Rangers....their incompetence cocked it all up and left Whittaker lost on their subs bench for half a season.

So we need to knuckle down and try to stay afloat in the Championship and let our youth set-up develop bringing players into our first team squad and not just that but to sell some on bringing financial success to the club.....Exeter have proved that it can work....although at the moment they have lost momentum.

Our next manager will be very important....and we trust our management team to make the right decision on who they give the job to.

How our squad looks at the end of January will be very important....will we have strengthened our leaking defence....and will we still have enough fire power to score our share of goals....only time will tell.

 

I don’t agree with a lot of that. There is a financial strategy which includes buying good young players and selling them on when the time is right. We have Luke Cundle just outside the “1st Eleven” who’ll come in and do a respectable job

We’re running at least one year ahead of where the plan expected us to be and this is a problem of loan players. We can’t stop it and Azaz probably doesn’t have a say either. He’s worth more than £2.5m and Villa are throwing money away.

 

But Luke Cundle is a Wolves player....and who is to say that he might not be "sold" on this January

 

No talk of that is there?

 

Not yet as far as I know.....but the month is young ?

 

Aston Villa have recalled Finn Azaz as a clause in his contract allows.

Goodbye Finn....it was good whilst it lasted.

 

All I can say is better now than in 3 weeks’ time.

 

Actually it’s not all I have to say and I can’t hold it back. In two recent games, Mumba has given up 2 crucial goals. For Watford’s third on Monday, he’s weak and doesn’t stop the guy cutting in from Watford’s right. I think it was against Cardiff when he doesn’t hold the line and plays the scorer onside. That’s 4 points.

I know mistakes by a defender (especially goalkeepers) can be treated more harshly than an attacker missing a chance but our problems are in the number we concede not the number we score.

I don’t suppose anyone else has £2.5m to spare?

 

The fact is that Mumba is not a defender in his heart he is an attacking player. He has never been prolific at defending but he has excited with his running with the ball, crosses and goals. He is still exciting to watch but the question is can Argyle afford him not to defend given the current standard in this league. We could last season but the standard was less. I think Mumba is better out wide and not with defensive duties as his prime concern. On another tack I have no problem with loan players even if there is a risk of losing them halfway through a season. The fact that somebody wants to buy an improved player is testament to us doing things right and therefore developing a reputation for a place you would want to send players to develope. In Plymouth we trust sounds good to me when it comes to premier league clubs.

 

I agree with the last bit and feel sure the system and the team that run it can find more good players. The manager is an important member of that team but it’s not like the old days when the manager made all the decisions on his own.

What is far from ideal is that this has happened now rather than in the summer. The window isn’t open for many weeks and fewer players will be available. Of course, we don’t know how long this has been on the cards. The way Azaz has been playing doesn’t suggest he was unsettled……

I certainly don’t think Mumba can play as a wing back and certainly not as a full back. That forces us into a front 3 if he’s in the team and even then. I think his productivity is low. I’d like to see how his stats for decisive interventions (or whatever they’re called) compare to Morgan Whittaker…..

 

It's not just the £2.5 million required to buy.....It's also the higher wages that will be on offer from teams such as Middlesboro.

Recalling now stops Azaz being Cup bound by playing for Argyle.

So it will be interesting to see if Whittaker is still with us at the weekend....or he is not in the team versus Sutton.

 

That is true but I imagine with the ground full every week with the attendant spend on food & drink and the shop sold out of shirts by the autumn and now out again after a second production run, revenue expenditure isn’t so much of a problem.

It’s the £2.5m up front on top of the summer spending and the academy and training ground spend plus whatever was already planned for the January window.

 

Bristol City also met Aston Villa's asking price for Finn Azaz....but Middlesboro won the player.