Transfer Rumours Winter 2025 Transfer Thread

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Boro are in talks to sign Samuel Illing Junior and Kelechi Iheanacho on loan. That's a real statement for their playoff push.
 
Boro are in talks to sign Samuel Illing Junior and Kelechi Iheanacho on loan. That's a real statement for their playoff push.
Out of a lot of dross, they absolutely looked like one of the best sides I've seen this season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go up.
 
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But the defense was good enough last week.

EDIT. Against a much better team than stoke
It was, thank goodness. But it's about consistency. Games like a week last Friday are outliers that happen every now and then, when for whatever combination of reasons, things just go right for a team. It's what happens during the vast majority of games that really matters, and as we saw again yesterday, in a game of more importance than the Sheff U win (as enjoyable as that was), they were nowhere near good enough defensively or offensively.
 
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It was, thank goodness. But it's about consistency. Games like a week last Friday are outliers that happen every now and then, when for whatever combination of reasons, things just go right for a team. It's what happens during the vast majority of games that really matters, and as we saw again yesterday, in a game of more importance than the Sheff U win (as enjoyable as that was), they were nowhere near good enough defensively or offensively.

Before the transfer window opened the talk was all about needing pace, wingers and goal scorers. If we lost it was only by the odd goal. Now we have gone all in at the top end of the pitch it turns out we need at least 3 new players in the back four.
 
Before the transfer window opened the talk was all about needing pace, wingers and goal scorers. If we lost it was only by the odd goal. Now we have gone all in at the top end of the pitch it turns out we need at least 3 new players in the back four.

I don't think we do, we've kept three consecutive away clean sheets. The issue isn't necessarily with the defence.
 
Whilst we may be on the lookout for some last minute surprises on Monday, they may just stall due to our inability to shift our own players out to make way in such a short space of time.

Omur, Fleming, Vaughn, Simons and Bedia should have been shipped out by now.

if one or two defenders are coming in, then one or two of Jacobs and McLoughlin would also need sorting given Burns seems to be staying and Hughes is on his way back.
 
Whilst we may be on the lookout for some last minute surprises on Monday, they may just stall due to our inability to shift our own players out to make way in such a short space of time.

Omur, Fleming, Vaughn, Simons and Bedia should have been shipped out by now.

if one or two defenders are coming in, then one or two of Jacobs and McLoughlin would also need sorting given Burns seems to be staying and Hughes is on his way back.
Unbelievable that Fleming still here.
 
Before the transfer window opened the talk was all about needing pace, wingers and goal scorers. If we lost it was only by the odd goal. Now we have gone all in at the top end of the pitch it turns out we need at least 3 new players in the back four.
I guess most would agree that those probably were the priorities (plus some steel, height, nous, leadership,...), but the fact is that our defence has been pretty much neglected for too long. Sods law we bring Hughes in, a promising signing but still very much developing, and he too gets injured (again); he won't be match fit for another month or so and I don't think we can even then really rely on him being ever present for all the run in. Drameh has disappointed massively, and the LB saga is beyond a joke. We pose next to zero threat in the opposition box from our defenders, whether from set pieces or from bombing forward - ironically the one who does pop up unexpectedly is Jacob, but, although I like his commitment, he just isn't good enough atm in his overall game. I suspect Selles, Dublin and Acun concluded we are ok with what we have to at least see us through to the summer when I have little to no doubt we'll see significant changes there, but maybe, hopefully they are now rethinking after yesterday's reminder, and as we are in such real danger of going down.
 
I guess most would agree that those probably were the priorities (plus some steel, height, nous, leadership,...), but the fact is that our defence has been pretty much neglected for too long. Sods law we bring Hughes in, a promising signing but still very much developing, and he too gets injured (again); he won't be match fit for another month or so and I don't think we can even then really rely on him being ever present for all the run in. Drameh has disappointed massively, and the LB saga is beyond a joke. We pose next to zero threat in the opposition box from our defenders, whether from set pieces or from bombing forward - ironically the one who does pop up unexpectedly is Jacob, but, although I like his commitment, he just isn't good enough atm in his overall game. I suspect Selles, Dublin and Acun concluded we are ok with what we have to at least see us through to the summer when I have little to no doubt we'll see significant changes there, but maybe, hopefully they are now rethinking after yesterday's reminder, and as we are in such real danger of going down.

Thats the thing
In the last year

We brought in two rated fullbacks
And a centreback

Dramehs not lived up to it youd say
Giles, well we know that

And hughes has barely been available

But if you look at our goals conceded to our rivals
Its low

Weve only been hammered once
Portsmouth get hammered every other week

We just dont score enough and when we make defensive errors
It leads to us narrowly losing by 1 goal so often
 
Thats the thing
In the last year

We brought in two rated fullbacks
And a centreback

Dramehs not lived up to it youd say
Giles, well we know that

And hughes has barely been available

But if you look at our goals conceded to our rivals
Its low

Weve only been hammered once
Portsmouth get hammered every other week

We just dont score enough and when we make defensive errors
It leads to us narrowly losing by 1 goal so often

Yep, but it's not just about the defending. I don't slate them particularly, like some do, for the defensive errors (having lived through Shota's era :emoticon-0101-sadsm) as all defenders make occasional errors. They are just about ok collectively from that point of view; not great, but ok. We could do better. And they are part of the reason we don't score enough as they are not that good with the ball, offer next to no threat at set pieces, offer little quality / output in terms of overlapping & delivery, etc etc.