Transfer Rumours JANUARY TRANSFER THREAD

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
Status
Not open for further replies.
Schad said:
The problems arise when you start looking for "proven" 15-20m players. If a player is currently at a sizable club in one if the big four leagues and available for that price, it's because they have been deemed surplus to requirements. No one is selling players they want for that sum anymore. If you're looking for someone who has demonstrated that they belong on a big stage, yeah: you're going to have to pay 30-40m, and even then there are no guarantees.

Now, players deemed surplus can certainly come good, but they are also more likely to be on fairly substantial wages. They represent more of a gamble for the simple reason that they become extremely difficult to offload if they come up short, and suddenly you're paying four people (two of whom aren't at the club) to do one job.

It's also worth noting that our individual wages are perfectly in line (maybe even on the lower side) with the norms for an established club in the Premier League. The problem is that we've bought poorly, handed out generous extensions to older players, plus whatever the hell we were doing with Forster. If we merely trim our squad size and continue to backfill with youth, we can actually increase the wages handed to our best players without too much difficulty. That was Cortese's idea: before PL revenues exploded, we were handing out some pretty juicy contracts as an inducement to the likes of Wanyama to join a newish PL club, but our wage bill overall was perfectly reasonable. It's only after we started to pile up backups that things got a bit chancy.

So, overall, I agree: we need to get back to what worked. Target young players in the Championship, in Scotland, in the Eredivisie, in Portugal, in Switzerland, etc who are clear standouts...with the latter four, perhaps with an emphasis on players who have performed at the European level. Ones who are on the radar of the big clubs, but just a little too inexperienced to be expected to slot in there immediately. Such players are going to be more affordable in general, we'll be a more attractive financial option without spending 100k p/w straightaway, and it gives us access to talents of a level that we really have no other route to acquire. I mean, we had one of the best attackers in the PL and one of the top three defenders in the world, at the same time! Granted, it won't always work out (Elyounoussi ticks all the boxes and hasn't exactly lit the world afire) and our scouting and recruitment will need to be top notch, but those things are trivially cheap compared with the benefits.
Click to expand...
Get Paul Mitchell back in and I’m sure him and his team around him will identify those players you described ie Mane
 
I know we’re not exactly short of midfielders.... but Danny Drinkwater anyone...? We’ve got willing runners in PEH and JWP and a re-emerging Romeu.... but to be able to get in someone who could hold our midfield together might be a result. Having said that, he may well be pants....!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Che’s Godlike Thighs and Dark Lord SFC
Not at all.... wang is a multi purpose word.... can be used as an insult, a noun.... pretty much any way you want....!
 
Saintharry13 said:
I know we’re not exactly short of midfielders.... but Danny Drinkwater anyone...? We’ve got willing runners in PEH and JWP and a re-emerging Romeu.... but to be able to get in someone who could hold our midfield together might be a result. Having said that, he may well be pants....!
Click to expand...
I would certainly be interested in DD, we need to concentrate on strengthening our spine
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saintharry13
Schad said:
The problems arise when you start looking for "proven" 15-20m players. If a player is currently at a sizable club in one if the big four leagues and available for that price, it's because they have been deemed surplus to requirements. No one is selling players they want for that sum anymore. If you're looking for someone who has demonstrated that they belong on a big stage, yeah: you're going to have to pay 30-40m, and even then there are no guarantees.

Now, players deemed surplus can certainly come good, but they are also more likely to be on fairly substantial wages. They represent more of a gamble for the simple reason that they become extremely difficult to offload if they come up short, and suddenly you're paying four people (two of whom aren't at the club) to do one job.

It's also worth noting that our individual wages are perfectly in line (maybe even on the lower side) with the norms for an established club in the Premier League. The problem is that we've bought poorly, handed out generous extensions to older players, plus whatever the hell we were doing with Forster. If we merely trim our squad size and continue to backfill with youth, we can actually increase the wages handed to our best players without too much difficulty. That was Cortese's idea: before PL revenues exploded, we were handing out some pretty juicy contracts as an inducement to the likes of Wanyama to join a newish PL club, but our wage bill overall was perfectly reasonable. It's only after we started to pile up backups that things got a bit chancy.

So, overall, I agree: we need to get back to what worked. Target young players in the Championship, in Scotland, in the Eredivisie, in Portugal, in Switzerland, etc who are clear standouts...with the latter four, perhaps with an emphasis on players who have performed at the European level. Ones who are on the radar of the big clubs, but just a little too inexperienced to be expected to slot in there immediately. Such players are going to be more affordable in general, we'll be a more attractive financial option without spending 100k p/w straightaway, and it gives us access to talents of a level that we really have no other route to acquire. I mean, we had one of the best attackers in the PL and one of the top three defenders in the world, at the same time! Granted, it won't always work out (Elyounoussi ticks all the boxes and hasn't exactly lit the world afire) and our scouting and recruitment will need to be top notch, but those things are trivially cheap compared with the benefits.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better. Our main focus should be the players the big clubs don't want because they aren't a sure thing, or need a bit of TLC and they can't give them the gametime. I'm sure every big team had a scouting report on Mane, and their conclusion pretty much was that he was far too raw and they couldn't give him that first season we gave him to bed in, and hope he grows. Players like Wanyama and Van Dijk were bandied around plenty for bigger things before us, but the worry was the level of competition they were mostly playing at.

I'd rather try and find the hidden gems, even if I can't keep them forever, than go down the pawn shop and buy the best looking ones and end up with a bunch of unfulfilling tat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OddRiverOakWizards, latviandream, Le Tissier’s Laces and 2 others
No idea what the state of our recruitment team is now? Not sure if anything has changed there except for Reed leaving, who presumably overlooked it. I'm assuming in January they might be more willing to listen to the managers wish list.

No reason not to go back to that old tried and tested method. It was good for the team because it got quality players who were keen to impress. It was good for the coffers because we would then duly sell them for x3 what we bought them for. It was good and bad for the fans because we saw some talented players playing good football, but it was hard to take when they left so quickly (mainly to Liverpool). Having now seen the alternative, I think we'd all take that again now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OddRiverOakWizards
Yeah the model worked, which was why I was disappointed we seemingly ditched it after 1 poor season (last year, appointing Hughes).
 
RSS said:
No idea what the state of our recruitment team is now? Not sure if anything has changed there except for Reed leaving, who presumably overlooked it. I'm assuming in January they might be more willing to listen to the managers wish list.

No reason not to go back to that old tried and tested method. It was good for the team because it got quality players who were keen to impress. It was good for the coffers because we would then duly sell them for x3 what we bought them for. It was good and bad for the fans because we saw some talented players playing good football, but it was hard to take when they left so quickly (mainly to Liverpool). Having now seen the alternative, I think we'd all take that again now.
Click to expand...
Our problems started when the board listened to all those people saying that you can't keep selling all your best players....and we switched to nailing a large squad down on top wages. A decision made at the wrong time. There is nothing wrong with a turnover of good players being sold for top whack...if you get a couple of years from those players. This is who we are and need to be again: A flourishing team playing good football, able to talent spot and put players in the shop window....players will be knocking down your door to come here. That doesn't mean that you will never win anything because a golden season could easily come your way as it did for Leicester.

At the moment we are in the doldrums and we just have to hope to ride it out and exchange some of our players for the type that we really want. Hopefully we have a manager able to ride it out with us and leave us in a better position than when he arrived and back on course.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back