Summer transfer thread

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Reply to Oliver’s Army post.


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“It’s understood the club [[HASHTAG]#SAFC[/HASHTAG]], whom the Sky Blues face on the first day of the new season, wanted to take Doyle back to the Stadium of Light for a second season but City have nipped in and got the defender ahead of their rivals.”


I don’t know their (Coventry) CB situation but I think Doyle would get more games for them than with us.
If we wanted Doyle he was ours
We had a two year loan agreement
We didn’t want him
 
Assuming centre half and goalkeeper are the others, feel this still leaves us a little light
Would agree. Currently the squad looks light in a few areas:

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I know the likes of Gooch and O'Nien can cover a few positions but I'd be looking for a keeper, left back, centre half and a striker as a bare minimum
 
Would agree. Currently the squad looks light in a few areas:

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I know the likes of Gooch and O'Nien can cover a few positions but I'd be looking for a keeper, left back, centre half and a striker as a bare minimum
Good post
 
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Us fans always want more players than the clubs / managers seem to. I guess part of it is keeping players happy and balancing that with having enough depth.

As of right now the only positions we have lost from our first team squad are:
  • Doyle (CB - replaced by Ballard)
  • Xhemajli (CB)
  • Burge (GK) (essentially already replaced by Pattinson)
  • Hoffman (GK)
  • McGeady (Winger)
  • Broadhead (Striker)
  • Defoe (striker)

Therefore it stands to reason that there is obvious space for 5 more players - a GK, a CB, a winger and 2 strikers. And frankly Defoe and Xhemajli barely played, so you COULD argue the CB and third Striker aren't essential (I wouldn't argue that)

Now you could (and I would) argue we need more depth in more positions than that, as we had a small squad last season anyway. But it seems pretty clear the club isn't wanting to move away from utilising versatile players effectively.

Lets face it - if Gooch was going to be here just as a wing option, he'd barely play compared to what he can do when he's also a wing back option.

Quality over quantity is the way to go.

The only two positions we desperately NEED to fill are GK and Striker, as we only have one in each position. The rest is about bringing in quality not adding back ups for back ups.
Not sure we need to replace Defoe and McGeady - neither of them really figured last season and we already have 4 wide players. Defoe was always a "luxury" signing who turned out to be absolute turd, but we never needed him as long as Stewart and Broadhead were fit
 
Hope the lad does , just don't understand lack of game time in league 1 to then suddenly being ready for the championship
I think a lot of that is down to
Finding the system that worked at at the time. With no time to work with the players he has to go in and get it right for what was needed. Now he’s had time to
Work before a season with no current “ship to steady” things may be different. Just speculating mind
 
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Re: Rudoni

I always hate the narrative we often take that if a player we are linked with goes elsewhere then "we obviously weren't in for him". It's pretty arrogant. It will often be true but not always, and we have to accept that sometimes players will choose other clubs and it will sometimes be for good, genuine reasons.

However in this instance I'd be willing to bet money on the fact that Rudoni was our number 2 choice in that position behind Clarke, and we were bidding for him in case Clarke didn't come off. It doesn't seem too coincidental that as soon as we announce Clarke, Wimbledon suddenly accept an offer. It's almost as if we told them we're not in for him any more so there's no point holding out.

I know they're not exactly the same style of player, but they're similar positions. And we don't need to be spending much more money on that kind of player when we have Pritchard, Embo, Clarke, Roberts, Gooch, Dajaku and perhaps Neil and Diamond fighting over 2 or 3 attacking midfield positions.
 
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Not sure we need to replace Defoe and McGeady - neither of them really figured last season and we already have 4 wide players. Defoe was always a "luxury" signing who turned out to be absolute turd, but we never needed him as long as Stewart and Broadhead were fit

Agreed.

IMO the only players we will be focusing on immediately now are GK and Striker. A fourth centre back that can also play left back would also not go amiss.

That's perhaps the 3 players Bob referred to previously.

This is why I'm strangely relaxed about transfers. All three positions we NEED to fill are frankly for backups / squad options as I'm happy with what we have as first choice.

Beyond that we are likely looking at wanting outgoings before we sanction incomings. Or perhaps definitive news on whether Huggins will be back before Xmas.

I share the concerns others have with Evans, Matete, Winchester, Neil and O'Nien being our midfield options. Personally I'd like to see a new statement centre midfielder coming in that essentially makes Evans redundant. But thats possibly the fan in me rather than the pragmatic football manager in me.

I also am slightly concerned that we haven't really IMPROVED our team, other than arguably Ballard. That perhaps isn't a bad thing as its pretty clear Neil has this team playing well together. And cohesion is massively underrated in football. So easy to just come in and rip it up to try to improve. Can't remember the last time we tried to have continuity in our playing squad.
 
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With the a lot of young lads developing and moving up a league we need to see how they respond. Also to see how Huggins recovers from his injuries. I suspect there is a certain amount of keeping powder dry for January when we know more about the squad. Where we think we want to spend may look very different in a few months time.
 
Just playing devil's advocate here but maybe the squad doesn't need that much adding to it. Remember we played QPR and Arsenal in the cup and didn't really look out of place against either - except when Arsenal had that purple patch when Broadhead went off and that was with Johnson's all out attack. Yes we seen to be a bit light on certain positions but you have to hand it to the recruitment team up to now - whisper it quietly but they've done ok <cheers>
 
Re: Rudoni

I always hate the narrative we often take that if a player we are linked with goes elsewhere then "we obviously weren't in for him". It's pretty arrogant. It will often be true but not always, and we have to accept that sometimes players will choose other clubs and it will sometimes be for good, genuine reasons.

However in this instance I'd be willing to bet money on the fact that Rudoni was our number 2 choice in that position behind Clarke, and we were bidding for him in case Clarke didn't come off. It doesn't seem too coincidental that as soon as we announce Clarke, Wimbledon suddenly accept an offer. It's almost as if we told them we're not in for him any more so there's no point holding out.

I know they're not exactly the same style of player, but they're similar positions. And we don't need to be spending much more money on that kind of player when we have Pritchard, Embo, Clarke, Roberts, Gooch, Dajaku and perhaps Neil and Diamond fighting over 2 or 3 attacking midfield positions.
Agreed.