Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

I think it’ll need to be activated by the end of the of the next summer window. So I guess a lot depends on how he performs this coming season. Was great in the first half of last season but not so great in the second. He’s a really good player in the making in my opinion though so I hope Madrid steer clear.

 

Don't they have 2 windows? This close season and next?

 

I’m almost certain the deal said the buyback clause was active until the summer of 2022. Essentially two seasons worth of football for them to decide if they want him back or not.

I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they do activate it - providing Reguilon doesn’t have a terrible season - and then likely sell him straight back to us (providing we still want him) for a small profit. Makes sense for them to do so, I’d do it if I were in their shoes.

 

Hopefully with Sessegnon back as well he will push Reggie as he was a better player when Ben Davies was fit and pushing him. And who knows maybe Sess will take his chances and we won't be worried if Reggie does go.

 

Yeah I said a few months back that I think we’re pretty well stocked at LB. Cirkin will hopefully get a loan deal this season and then if Reguilon (or Sessegnon) were to depart the following summer we won’t be too badly damaged with Cirkin able to return and backup whoever is here.

If Nuno is indeed our next manager then I think Davies may become an important player assuming he goes with a back three, because he’ll make a very good option for that LCB role.

 

Speaking of Davies there was actually a rumour that Napoli wanted him but Paratici quoted them a fee of €30m+. In normal circumstances, as much as I quite like Davies, that’d be a silly fee to ask for someone like him but if Paratici does supposedly want the new manager to play with a back three (which Nuno likely will) then Davies as a LCB option makes a lot of sense and any decent defender we’d get to replace him for that role would cost us upwards of £35m I’d imagine, so if that is the plan, asking for a high fee for Davies (with the intention of trying to put people off) would make sense.

 

We supposedly put Napoli off buying Sissoko with the quoted price sometime last week as well

Just a suggestion: don't put teams off buying the likes of Sissoko, Dier, Aurier, Sanchez...

 

If Nuno comes in, been trying to think about which players might benefit and which players might not. Assuming it’s a 343 not a 352 as I believe Nuno favours the former.

Good news for:
Rodon - having a good Euros and could be putting himself in prime position to own the central CB role in a back 3, as he’s also good on the ball
Davies - would expect his versatility to be a boon here as he would primarily play as a left-sided CB but could also cover LWB in a pinch. Would still want us to recruit at CB though.
The Kane/Son partnership - in a 343 you’d continue to see Kane and Son, assuming they’re both at the club, still linking up, both in transition and during period of sustained possession.
Doherty - flourished under Nuno and should be over any lasting effects of his Covid infection by the time pre-season starts.
Sess and Regulion - both more attacking LBs, you think would benefit from the LWB role.
Skipp - Nuno likes a more conservative midfield duo which could place Skippy in prime position to partner Højbjerg in the midfield pivot.

Bad news for:
Tanguy - can’t see where he fits into a Nuno team. Not defensively good or disciplined enough to play in the pivot, not the player to play as a winger/inside forward.
Gio - another who perhaps doesn’t fit in as Nuno doesn’t typically play with a no.10, though I believe he’s been playing deeper for Argentina during the Copa America when he’s been fit, so perhaps he will transition to a deeper role.
Dele - difficult to see where Nuno would play him unless we do something funky with him as an inside forward.

There’s others as well, players like Winks (who is a very budget version of Neves or Moutinho in this context) who may just find others ahead of them in the pecking order, and Sissoko. Realistically both should just be moved on. I feel like the CB most likely to be sold is probably Dave but realistically I’d want to sell Dier too and recruit 2 CBs, one of whom is left sided. But I’m not sure we’ll be able to shift two. Toby likely to stay I reckon, as the senior head, as we’ll probably look to recruit young. What happens with the forwards in anyone’s guess and depends entirely on outgoings, not least the future of Kane.

 

Spot on with that assessment mate.
We would need 2 CB's RWB and another inside forward.

Would love Ramos, Anderson, Dumfries and Sabitizer but that's probably wishful thinking.

 

Don't think Davies has been the same player since two bad injuries in 2018 followed by double surgery in 2019. That said, can we trust the consistency of a player who has spent large chunks of the past few seasons out injured?

 

At this point in time, can anyone name a manager who Ndombele would be a good fit for?

He wasn't a good fit for Poch because his fitness is appalling and he's a passenger when the opponents have the ball
He wasn't a good fit for the ubermensch because he's disappears from games when we don't have the ball...which was 80%+ of the match
He likely won't be a good fit for Nuno because of...well, all of the above

We really need to try and claw back £40m for him this summer, because not only could that be put to use patching up other parts of the team, but also because the meltdown from the section of our online fanbase who are convinced he's the second coming of Pirlo would be distracting for a few days

...and bloody insufferable if it's still going on come November

 

I think he’s lost a yard of pace, not that he was ever the quickest anyway but defensively I generally think he’s sound and makes little mistakes. In a back three I think he’ll look very good. He’s the one defender at this club that defensively doesn’t give me a heart attack (Rodon and Tanganga are excluded due to age/ lack of games).

 

The biggest advantage of Davies in a back three is he's a reliably unfussy passer

While he doesn't pull off the 40 yard chipped passes Toby can (or the through balls out of defence Foyth is capable of...) last season he was very good at creating triangles with Dier and Hojbjerg to get the ball under way, so if he's doing likewise with (for the sake of adding names) Skipp and Reguilon he'll be very useful in the transition from defence into attack

Now we just have to work on that whole "defence" thing. Anyone bidding for Dier or Sanchez yet?

 

Davies looks fit enough playing for Wales in a back three or four outside Rodon. The two seem to work really well together as well.
PL is a different pace, but if money is tight then there are a lot of other areas more in need of new blood.

 

CB Watch
Marca report that we've opened discussions with Sevilla over Jules Kounde, with a fee of between £60-70m being mentioned

But...

Some of the weasel words in their article suggesting this are doing a lot of legwork, and I'm going to suggest this isn't due to Google Teanslate

 

Twitter's search algorithm just chucked somebody saying we offer Sevilla Sanchez + £15m and we're guaranteed to get Jules Kounde

Right, do I need to get out the poster that says where Reality is and where Football Manager is?

 

Bit of an out of the blue one but according to ReluctantNicko on Twitter (who first broke the news we were signing Alfie Devine from Wigan), he believes we’re confident of signing Bologna defender, Takehiro Tomiyasu, for around £15m. 22 years old and being 6’2 he can play both CB and RB, primarily playing RB last season. Supposedly highly rated and thought of back in Japan, can’t say I’ve ever seen him play but a good few on Twitter seem really happy with his potential signing.

 

Which of your prospective managers want's him ?

 

Managers are overrated. We went into the 18/19 season with no new signings, we’ll be going into the 21/22 season with no manager.

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