I find this quite interesting because when Marco Silva came in, he did the same thing regarding the throw-ins etc and it was applauded as a high attention to detail. The top sides have throw-in coaches too, which I'd imagine would do the same.
So Greaves in Team of the Season, does that add any to his price? Are we resigned to losing him or do we think there's a chance we keep him if we get a good fee for Philogene? Greaves seems to be loving it here, no indication he's pushing for a move away, I'd hate to push him out for the sake of balancing the books. Reminds me a bit of when Chester was told he had to go following relegation and he was in tears.
I met a fan yesterday who still doesn’t rate Greaves , but I think he prefers the old fashioned get stuck into them type . I’d like him to stay but there’s a part of me who would want him to go to somewhere decent who will improve him - not Rome low level club in the Prem .
Particularly strange as Greaves is quite physical and wins a lot of contests. He's just come back from a two game ban because he picks up so many yellows getting stuck into the opposition..
Personally I’d prefer to keep Greaves due to the local connection and you can’t really put a price on that! Hopefully it’s not both of them that would be a bit ****
Think I’d want Greaves to stay more than Philogene now but if we get bids of £20 million+ in the summer, it will be hard to turn down. With that sort of money, we could get a decent replacement like Cashin from Derby for a quarter of that price or less whilst still being flush to invest in other areas. Still would like a athletic defensive mid, even if it means spending £4-5 million on one (like we planned to with Ndayishimiye in summer 2022) but the only way we can realistically do that in the summer, on top of signing whole new strikers, is if we sell one or both of Philogene and Greaves, like how Cov sold Gyökeres and Hamer.
Yeah that's the contrast, as TB says, you can't put a price on that local connection, but.. 20m+ would be very hard to turn down.
From what I’ve heard, Philogene will actively push for a move in the summer, whereas Greaves will not. However, Greaves isn’t daft. He’s seen what KLP has done, massively increasing his salary and also getting game time this season. I’d be sad to see Greaves go, not just because he’s a local lad and an academy product but because how good he is. Philogene’s also brilliant but good wingers at this level come and go and are fairly common. Left-footed centre-halves with Greaves’ skill set are more rare.
Yeah after that Athletic article I definitely get the sense Philogene will push for a move, so I'd be happy to accomodate him, and sounds like there should be a sizeable bidding war for him. Glad he's scored a couple more goals to finish the season so there'll be less questions in the backs of clubs' minds about his output and consistency. Greaves isn't daft but he'll have also seen how his own game has improved exponentially under LR, he's just made team of the season, he'll be the matchday captain relatively often (may even become club captain if that's a sticking point in keeping him), his salary won't exactly be tiny after the runs he's put on the board. I'm sure if his agent approached the club about an improved deal the club would be relatively happy to accomodate him. I don't know if the lure of the PL will be as strong for him as Philogene who has no. ties to the club. I would imagine we'll try to get sales sorted prior to 30 June in order to improve this year's FFP situation if we can, but hopefully we aren't going to be forced to do so at the detriment of money we could get for either of them. If we can get a sizeable fee for Philogene I'd hope it would mean we hold onto Greaves for another season to really give promotion a crack.
Re Tufan, it feels possible that just having that connection with Ömür has given him more confidence with his play in the final third, particularly as they already share a cultural connection.
Me too. If we can keep Greaves for one more season I’ll be over the moon. Chris Willock is out-of-contract in the summer. We attempted to sign him in January but I think the FFP situation meant getting Zaroury on loan was healthier for our finances this season. I think we’ll definitely try to sign Willock in the summer, regardless of whether we sell Philogene or not. If we get Willock in on a free transfer, it makes selling Philogene for big money a lot more easy early on in the summer window. We can then use that money to reinvest in the squad knowing we already have a like-for-like replacement in the building. We could then even sign a younger winger with potential as the ‘next Philogene’ in addition to Willock.
Yeah agreed. Willock plus another winger puts us in a healthy position to use the bulk of Philogene's sale to either just fund the squad with a few smaller additions, or bring in someone like Delap and really go for it next season. I think a lot will depend on what sort of fee we're looking at for Philogene, but there's no doubt in my mind he'll be the 'priority' sale.
Still like Smythe the QPR right winger , v quick , neat feet - small and willing as an extra winger .
Ultimately as a young man, he's a future to think of. I have no idea how much City pay him but a premiership team would double/triple that with a signing on fee etc?? He would surely have to consider that despite his love of the club. From the clubs perspective, if they find an ideal replacement and it allows them to move forward with the project the unfortunately as much as Id love him to stay... its just business and we are a business..
Willock will no doubt be a target. I'd take a serious look at Tyler Goodrham from Oxford United, only 20 but has 8 goals and 4 assists from the left wing. His team mate Josh Murphy has 6 goals and 4 assists from the right hand side and both have been key to Oxford's play off push this season. All of that is working under the assumption that Philogene leaves, which I don't think he will do. But those are three players which would provide good depth, especially if we were to get Willock as first choice. I was pondering the striker issue as well, because although we will probably try and work something out for Delap to come back, Macaulay Langstaff at Notts County has had yet another brilliant season at Notts County. He got 42 in 45 in the National League when Notts County won the playoffs, and he has 26 goals and 6 assists this season despite his team being mired in mid table. If we wanted somebody on the end of all these crosses, get him. He's not going to break the bank for us if he turns out to be a Tom Eaves style signing. We were linked with Davis Keillor-Dunn last Summer from Mansfield, he's had a stormer of a season as well, 21 goals and 10 assists.
And should be priced accordingly... Its got to be north of £25 million for me... I was just looking back and that Mawson left Swansea for £17 million 7 years ago!!!... and Souttar was £17 million from Stoke to Leicester and he's right footed..
