Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

I just can’t see Richi going there for money just yet. I suspect he may after the next World Cup but not just yet.

 

Richy has 11 goals and 4 assists in 28 PL appearances for us this season. And he’s 26 and playing regularly for Brazil. I very much doubt he’s got Saudi on his mind and if he leaves us I think he would, probably rightly, expect to go to another team playing at a good level.

 

He’s never really gonna be a key player at a big club so it’s whether he wants to be a backup here or a main man at another Everton type in or around Europe, alternatively he can go Saudi with his idol, Neymar, probably pick up £400k a week and be a main man out there.

 

Nah, still can’t see it plus there are reports that Neymar is not happy out there!

 

Neymar is probably creeped out by Richarlison after seeing the back tattoo.

That’s beyond weird to do that.

 

Ideally I'd like a more technically gifted player than Palinhina (although there is much, much more to his game than just kicking people), but the going rate for a player of that profile is circa £100m and goes by the name of Rodri or Rice.

Like any team playing progressive football, we need someone to do the dirty work. Currently no one is doing it and it is making us far too easy to score against. It's a good thing we tend to dominate possession (albeit lots of sideways passes) as every time the opposition have the ball, there is a real danger that they'll score.

In the same way as Palacios, Parker and Wanyama in their times unlocked the potentials of much more creative players around them, I think we need that profile of player to operate in the gaps between defence and midfield and proactively stop counter attacks before they become dangerous.

What interests me in Pauliniha, aside from the fact that I spell his bloody surname differently every time I write it, is that he has been the best in the business in the PL for two years, leading in tackles won by a distance.

Ideally we'd get someone who can tackle, pass, dribble and shoot but as I said, I can't see anyone in the PL who does that well beyond Rodri and Rice, and we aren't signing that profile of player even if we could afford the fee.

Paulinha is PL proven, in his peak years and Fulham seem open to hearing bids.

Maybe what you can't put your finger on is that he is an absolute bastard on the pitch and we tend to be quite gentlemanly and timid. It's high time we utilised the dark arts imo. All the best teams do it.

 

Imagine someone at work barely 5 years older than you gets a great big tattoo of you on their back.

I'd file for a restraining order tbh.

 

Like you my concern around dropping (for us) big money on Palinha is his technical profile and his age. With that said I think we can find solutions in the buildup to make up for any perceived issues with his play there. He’s got a nice passing range, is 6’3 which will help in set pieces at both ends of the pitch, and he seems like a good character on the pitch which will only help us.

 

I think he's a lot more technically sound than many give him credit for. Miles off of Rodri but the latter is never coming to Spurs we just have to accept that.

I don't see his age (29 this summer) as an obstacle. If anything, we're desperately lacking experience already (third youngest squad in the PL, only missed out on second thanks to Grandpa Forster, only regular starter over the age of 30 is Son, etc.). And wit rumours that Hojbjerg and Davies could be on their way out this summer, we'd be losing two of our only experienced players left.

 

Agreed. I also think while of course you want your 6 (and every player!) to have the first touch of an angel it’s as much about consistency and movement in that pocket, and the players around you, as it is being able to control the ball like Messi.

 

It’s not even the being of a bastard, I’ve long been a fan of dark arts and picking up smart yellows and I’ve mentioned before that I loved how Poch turned us from bullied to the bullies for a few years.

I just really don’t know what it is that stops me from being 100% sold on Paulinha… it’s a weird one on my part to say the least.

 

We need a player who can read the game well when the opposition turns over possession.

Not sure if you saw my breakdown of Liverpool's goals, but in all four of them you can visibly see that the three CMs haven't got a clue what to do on the back foot. They are either out of position, too close together or marking thin air ball watching instead of spotting late runs.

It's been a problem all year and while I'd hoped starting 3 in the middle would make us more solid, it had absolutely no effect. At the end of the day, we could start all 5 of our senior CMs against City, if they don't have the nous or anticipation to snuff out danger, we'll still concede plenty.

Paulinha hit the ground running when he joined Fulham and has probably quietly been one of the best signings in recent history, pound for pound.

 

I think it's his surname.

Not even his father spells it the same way twice in one sentence.

 

Paul O’Keefe says Tosin has rejected an offer from us.

1 - Tosin has said for ages he didn’t fancy joining us so why we’ve chased him I have no idea.

2 - Even excluding point 1, I’m not surprised we’ve been seemingly rejected by a CB, players won’t have been oblivious to Dragusin’s lack of game time. Makes no sense to join when you could get even less minutes than him. Just utilise Phillips or Dorrington as 4th choice whilst the other heads on loan. Do half a season for each or something.

 

Given the reports the Saudis offered him £100k p/w, him rejecting us likely falls somewhere on the "mercenary ****" scale

 

My mate who's a lifelong Fulham fan reckons he's the dog's ball's! Raves about him week in, week out.

 

Naturally, he is the player Nuno wanted yet Paratici couldn't get it across the line...

 

Is that so? Interesting if true.

So did Bissouma become a cheaper Plan B?

 

Bissouma would have been a cheaper Plan B in 2018, as we were looking at him as an alternative to Ndombele, but Brighton beat us to the punch (or Poch was sulking, delete as appropriate)

It is odd how players who were rejected under one manager always seem to come back into rotation
- Santini rejected Andy Reid, Jol signed him
- Vertonghen was linked with us under Redknapp, Villas-Boas signed him
- We were habitually linked with Perisic under Poch, Conte signed him
- Kulusevski was linked with us under the ubermensch, Conte signed him
- Richarlison was linked with us under Poch, Conte signed him
- Bissouma was linked with us under Poch, Conte signed him
- Werner was linked with us under Poch, Ange loaned him in
- Bergwijn was linked to us under Poch, the ubermensch signed him
- The ubermensch passed on Eze, he's currently being linked with us under Ange
- Nuno chased Palhinha, he's being credibly linked with us under Ange
- Conte rejected Maddison, Ange signed him

 

TipsBladet claim we had scouts watching FC Midtylland vs Brondby at the weekend

Dario Osorio is the most likely player we were scouting, as we were linked with him in January last year when he was still with Universidad de Chile