January Transfer Thread 2024

[manmountainbutters]

According to....?

Various well-informed interweb reports. Come on, Levy has clearly been on the sauce getting business done in the first half of Jan, but there are limits

 

[citizenabel]

Gallagher would be a really good signing at the right price.

Even if you don't think he's good enough to dislodge any of our first choice CM 3 (which is debatable) having the option to bring him on at 60 minutes would go some way towards helping maintain the intensity of our play.

He certainly fits the genre and would fulfil the role Ange sees as an area that is wanting atm i.e. a tenacious ball winner who doesn't stop running and gets in the face of the opposition.

I can see why we would be interested in a player of his(CG) ilk but am mystified why we are wasting our time on a target where neither party is going to agree on a fee when the differential is probably £20m -£30m apart.

 

[Spursidol]

Skipp's a difficult one because he's club trained. A swap for Eze loses us a CT spot and overloads the association trained quota.

I suspect that any sale of Skipp would highly depend on how our other academy products step up. Donley and Devine are 2 potentially close to that step up, but probably not straight away.

We'll be lucky if Scarlett, Devine or Donley are ready to step up this summer, more like Summer 2025 as best case

 

[Malibu]

Some were calling for Phillips to start in recent games. It doesn't work that way.
If we are holding on to a 1-0 lead in the last stages of a huge UCL game you can't expect a kid who has never started a game to come on and help us.

I understand your point, but I think that PEH will be leaving , either this month or in the summer. I don’t see us not getting an upgrade on PEH / Skipp when PEH leaves. That would leave Skipp behind a few other players in his position (excl. the youth players).

The chances of using any inexperienced youth players in any huge UCL game would be very small though.

 

[Micky Bubbles]

It should always matter to anyone who cares about the club. It's not just about FFP, we also have to make best use of our financial resources, as overspending on any given player will necessarily reduce the funds available to buy the next player. It is in all our iterests for the financial side of the club to be run well, irrespective of FFP.

I added the caveat in the next line saying that we know the club aren't going to put itself in trouble with transfers - if we buy a player we can be sure that we can afford what's being paid and what the knock on effect to our remaining budget is.

 

[manmountainbutters]

Ndombele
Reg
Sess
Rodon (What happened here? Word was Leeds a were to make him perm. No word since.)
Tanganga
Spence (First step Genoa loan, but still......)

The above are all a higher priority to get off the books before worrying about Skipp & Gil.

........Arguably selling PEH is too if we're worried about maximising his remaining trf value (It'll start to drop come the summer).

Agreed, but no-one wants them. Actually, I'd have thought Rodon is worth something.

Gil OTOH, faces a second half of the season on the bench depreciating. He won't make it. Get rid for max value while we can.

 

[scarletjim]

Love Neto or the other wolves speed merchant who’s always injured.

If only Adama Traore was still there...



(Joke obviously, but i did enjoy the debates he caused on here, all for nothing in the end as he never came. Personally I thought he could have been a great asset under Conte, but would definitely be a complete disaster under Ange - Conte wants programmable robots, Ange wants intelligent thinking footballers, and b god aren't we just a million times better for that... )

 

[nicoclaesen]

He certainly fits the genre and would fulfil the role Ange sees as an area that is wanting atm i.e. a tenacious ball winner who doesn't stop running and gets in the face of the opposition.

I can see why we would be interested in a player of his(CG) ilk but am mystified why we are wasting our time on a target where neither party is going to agree on a fee when the differential is probably £20m -£30m apart.

Or we could just go and recruit another brilliant up and coming talent,loan them back and have them in about it next season. I don’t dislike Gallagher as I think he’d do a great job as a squad player but no chance should we be paying £50 million for him and helping that lot out too.

 

[Matt1882]

Jesus, all this not taking a Chelsea player is ridiculous. We sold Jennings to Woolwich of all teams.Anybody hate him?

I think it's ridiculous how some of our fans have built this hatred of Chelsea. I was just trying to highlight what sort of mentality you're getting from a player who is willing to change between us and them.
Because of that OTT fan hatred, it takes a character.

 

[scarletjim]

I added the caveat in the next line saying that we know the club aren't going to put itself in trouble with transfers - if we buy a player we can be sure that we can afford what's being paid and what the knock on effect to our remaining budget is.

Well, "put itself in trouble with transfers" is very vague - but however you dress it up, a £10m overspend on one player is £10m less to spend on another player, that's just maths.

 

[citizenabel]

Or we could just go and recruit another brilliant up and coming talent,loan them back and have them in about it next season. I don’t dislike Gallagher as I think he’d do a great job as a squad player but no chance should we be paying £50 million for him and helping that lot out too.

Except they don't satisfy the same criteria.......one is for the here and now the other is for the future/maybe.

 

[Spursidol]

We'd be better off focusing on whether the 7 defenders, 6 midfielders and 6 attackers we can field from Association Trained and non-homegrown are good enough and flexible enough than hanging on to a club trained player who hasn't established himself. Skipp deserves a fresh start if he wants one.

Great thinking.

Now look at the ManU thread where people are trying to figure out a quality starting X1 ad bench - but struggling because we have 5 injuries plus 3 art Asian Cup/AFCOM - so 8 out .

That's why we need to get as close to 25 man squad as possible (which requires 4 Club trained players of whom we have 2 currently - Austin and Skipp).

Which should explain why your idea is doomed to failure

 

[dondo]

And the littlest hobo.

Always reminds me when I was ill and having a day off school

 

[manmountainbutters]

He certainly fits the genre and would fulfil the role Ange sees as an area that is wanting atm i.e. a tenacious ball winner who doesn't stop running and gets in the face of the opposition.

I can see why we would be interested in a player of his(CG) ilk but am mystified why we are wasting our time on a target where neither party is going to agree on a fee when the differential is probably £20m -£30m apart.

I think he's worth more than that TBH. Think about what we paid for Johnson. Who is the better player? Appreciate length of contract etc, but that doesn't imply Johnson is worth c2x Gallagher

 

[Airfixx]

Agreed, but no-one wants them. Actually, I'd have thought Rodon is worth something.

Gil OTOH, faces a second half of the season on the bench depreciating. He won't make it. Get rid for max value while we can.

To whom?

All the teams across Europe you're assuming would want to pay 15-20m for Gil are the same one's that are too skint to buy any of our other players I just listed. Not even Barca can afford to pay a fee for GLC or Juve for PEH.

Various well-informed interweb reports.

Such as?

.......The jumped up twats at The Athletic say the same thing about us every window. It's just a lazy meme.

They don't know our cash position and Levy certainly isn't inclined to leak it to "the interweb" either.

 

[Spursidol]

More that if players we let go are back on our radar, perhaps we shouldn't have let them go.

I appreciate that Cirkin may have been let go before the new approach was put in place.

Cirkin wanted to go due as much as anything to family circumstances.

Had a run of injuries lately and currently out, someone to consider in summer though

 

[kingdawson]

More that if players we let go are back on our radar, perhaps we shouldn't have let them go.

I appreciate that Cirkin may have been let go before the new approach was put in place.

ah ok.

maybe there was a reason we included a buy back clause rather then a sell on clause that we usually do with other youngsters?

 

[nicoclaesen]

Except they don't satisfy the same criteria.......one is for the here and now the other is for the future/maybe.

We are ok just now as I still trust Hojbjerg to do a job till Sarr,Madders and Biss are back. Biss’s team are hopeless and he’ll be back before Sarr and madders by all accounts will be on the training pitch next week. I think spending £50 million on someone who isn’t going to start every week is not clever. Go get a Vermereen type who’s playing regularly but has massive potential. As I said before I think Gallagher is a decent player and I don’t think Chelsea use him right but not for me at that price.

 

[citizenabel]

I think he's worth more than that TBH. Think about what we paid for Johnson. Who is the better player? Appreciate length of contract etc, but that doesn't imply Johnson is worth c2x Gallagher

Think you misunderstood or I may not have been clear enough....I'm saying the valuations appear to be £20m-£30m apart e.g. we say £35m-£40m they say £45m-£60m.

 

[Airfixx]

ah ok.

maybe there was a reason we included a buy back clause rather then a sell on clause that we usually do with other youngsters?

By financial function of a player returning; they are much as a muchness as far as the selling club is concerned.... And the player still gets a say. We don't get to strong-arm them back to WHL either way.

......But as per Murphy 's comments about them being "back on our radar"...... These kinds of arrangements serve to get a player out in the world and playing in scenarios where we couldn't necessarily otherwise trust a club to play the lads if they're merely loans.

If contractually they are said club's players they will be more committed to playing them for their own gain rather than feeling like they're just developing our player for us.

Let's be honest.... If we felt inclined any of Clarke, Edwards & Cirkin would find their way back here pretty sharpish if we saw fit, but in the meantime everybody's happy.