Summer 21 Transfer Window

[DownUnderToff]

On 24/05/2021 at 09:26, Bailey said:

We need genuine starters and back ups at left

As well as Niels, we've (currently) got Smalls in the wings.  At some point we've got to give them an opportunity, or at least hope of progression or lose them.

[Makis]

Godfrey can also play there in an emergency.

[Bailey]

2 hours ago, DownUnderToff said:

As well as Niels, we've (currently) got Smalls in the wings.  At some point we've got to give them an opportunity, or at least hope of progression or lose them.

Niels is completely unproven in the position. Carlo clearly doesn't fancy him there.

Small may or may not come good. Its a massive jump and if Kenny and Niels were cast aside when we needed them to step up, I wouldn't be backing Smalls to come in and play.

2 hours ago, Makis said:

Godfrey can also play there in an emergency.

We don't want to be in that position again this year. If every left back in the club gets injured then fair enough, but we need a starter and capable back up so that Godfrey can learn his trade properly as a CB.

[AlbanyNYToffee]

2 hours ago, Makis said:

Godfrey can also play there in an emergency.

No thanks. He performed admirably when needed but if there is one thing everyone on this forum can agree on it has to be that he is not a RB or LB. The modern game demands two fullbacks who are adept at going forward. Also, Godfrey is our best CB - moving him to fullback in an emergency causes an emergency at CB.

Lastly, I felt this way all year about RB. Godfrey and Holgate did the best they could but it was nowhere near PL standard. It was a complete black hole. A good RB would have helped us at both ends of the pitch. Our CBs and Digne would have had a better structure and not overcompensate defensively, and a good RB would have created more chances going forward. 

[Makis]

So how much do you think a backup lb who is that good would cost? Or how much do you think the club should spend on one.

I think we have at least six positions that need strengthening more.

[AlbanyNYToffee]

3 hours ago, Makis said:

So how much do you think a backup lb who is that good would cost? Or how much do you think the club should spend on one.

I think we have at least six positions that need strengthening more.

Completely agree. 10-15m would probably be the price, unless there is a free agent out there but I'd argue what the heck are we doing with Nkounkou if we/Carlo still don't think he's ready to backup Digne after a full year on the training ground. 

[Bailey]

3 hours ago, AlbanyNYToffee said:

Completely agree. 10-15m would probably be the price, unless there is a free agent out there but I'd argue what the heck are we doing with Nkounkou if we/Carlo still don't think he's ready to backup Digne after a full year on the training ground. 

I have no idea where he stands. It seems evident Carlo doesnt trust him at the back as he only played there once in the league and when he did he went forward and one of the midfielders did his defensive work.

6 hours ago, Makis said:

So how much do you think a backup lb who is that good would cost? Or how much do you think the club should spend on one.

I think we have at least six positions that need strengthening more.

Does it matter how much that player costs? It isnt like it will break the bank. If Niels isnt good enough, then we need to find someone that is. 

I am far from convinced that this Ancellotti project will work but lets at least give the man the tools.

[Makis]

It does matter because club will pay for him and then his wages for maybe four years. If Digne stays he's probably not playing enough and if he goes club would still need a new lb.

[pete0]

Pickford

??? Holgate Mina Digne

James Doucoure ??? ???

DCL ???

 

???/youth Keeper

Coleman Godfrey ???/youth player Nkounkou 

??? Davies/Allan Gbamin Iwobi

???

King/Kean

 

Pretending to be Marcel Brands again, sorry Palf.

Any keeper on a free. Not worth using up the budget when we've arguably got the best keeper in the league. 

Right back. Max Aarons being the obvious one, but I'd settle for Clyne as a stop gap. Maybe even try our luck with Leicester for one of their two. 

Centre half. Koulibaly is the dream. I'd like someone experienced like Ben Mee to organise the defence as ours is a little wet behind the ears.

Centre mid. Really like Billing, although not watched much of Bournemouth this season. Fellaini is available on a free and wouldn't mind pissing off Moyes and going for his 'new fellaini' Soucek. We need a nonsense rather than Sigurdsson and Gomes.

Right mid. Buendia. I'd make him priority number one, he's that good.

Left mid. If the price is reasonable Zaha. If not stick with Richarlison. Ideally we could sell Richarlison and bring in Buendia and Zaha with the money.

Attacking mid. Bring back Vlasic. 

Striker. Someone with experience. Dreamland being Aguero (he went to city for the money, why not us). 

 

[Palfy]

33 minutes ago, pete0 said:

Pickford

??? Holgate Mina Digne

James Doucoure ??? ???

DCL ???

 

???/youth Keeper

Coleman Godfrey ???/youth player Nkounkou 

??? Davies/Allan Gbamin Iwobi

???

King/Kean

 

Pretending to be Marcel Brands again, sorry Palf.

Any keeper on a free. Not worth using up the budget when we've arguably got the best keeper in the league. 

Right back. Max Aarons being the obvious one, but I'd settle for Clyne as a stop gap. Maybe even try our luck with Leicester for one of their two. 

Centre half. Koulibaly is the dream. I'd like someone experienced like Ben Mee to organise the defence as ours is a little wet behind the ears.

Centre mid. Really like Billing, although not watched much of Bournemouth this season. Fellaini is available on a free and wouldn't mind pissing off Moyes and going for his 'new fellaini' Soucek. We need a nonsense rather than Sigurdsson and Gomes.

Right mid. Buendia. I'd make him priority number one, he's that good.

Left mid. If the price is reasonable Zaha. If not stick with Richarlison. Ideally we could sell Richarlison and bring in Buendia and Zaha with the money.

Attacking mid. Bring back Vlasic. 

Striker. Someone with experience. Dreamland being Aguero (he went to city for the money, why not us). 

 

Apology accepted mate

[Gwlad]

14 weeks of this thread until window closes. Probably more when expectations aren't met. Every season I swear I won't look in ...... then I do 

[Btay]

7 hours ago, pete0 said:

Pickford

??? Holgate Mina Digne

James Doucoure ??? ???

DCL ???

 

???/youth Keeper

Coleman Godfrey ???/youth player Nkounkou 

??? Davies/Allan Gbamin Iwobi

???

King/Kean

 

Pretending to be Marcel Brands again, sorry Palf.

Any keeper on a free. Not worth using up the budget when we've arguably got the best keeper in the league. 

Right back. Max Aarons being the obvious one, but I'd settle for Clyne as a stop gap. Maybe even try our luck with Leicester for one of their two. 

Centre half. Koulibaly is the dream. I'd like someone experienced like Ben Mee to organise the defence as ours is a little wet behind the ears.

Centre mid. Really like Billing, although not watched much of Bournemouth this season. Fellaini is available on a free and wouldn't mind pissing off Moyes and going for his 'new fellaini' Soucek. We need a nonsense rather than Sigurdsson and Gomes.

Right mid. Buendia. I'd make him priority number one, he's that good.

Left mid. If the price is reasonable Zaha. If not stick with Richarlison. Ideally we could sell Richarlison and bring in Buendia and Zaha with the money.

Attacking mid. Bring back Vlasic. 

Striker. Someone with experience. Dreamland being Aguero (he went to city for the money, why not us). 

 

Think you got Holgate & Godfrey mixed up mate....

Aaron’s & Buendia would be good business, maybe we can send Iwobi and Keane the other way plus £££. If not Buendia hopefully Leon Bailey.

Also guarantee King & Kean won’t be here. 

Hopefully Brands and Caro are getting stuck into their work early. 

[Bailey]

27 minutes ago, Btay said:

Think you got Holgate & Godfrey mixed up mate....

Aaron’s & Buendia would be good business, maybe we can send Iwobi and Keane the other way plus £££. If not Buendia hopefully Leon Bailey.

Also guarantee King & Kean won’t be here. 

Hopefully Brands and Caro are getting stuck into their work early. 

I think he got a lot of players names mixed up!

[DownUnderToff]

With Emerson returning to Barcelona and them still having Sergi Roberto, wonder if Sergino Dest is worth a cheeky bid. 

Long term buy and US marketing.

[dunlopp9987]

13 hours ago, DownUnderToff said:

With Emerson returning to Barcelona and them still having Sergi Roberto, wonder if Sergino Dest is worth a cheeky bid. 

Long term buy and US marketing.

Thought I read somewhere that he is one of many Barca players that might not have a future at the club and could be sold this summer. 

One thought I had about us buying an American player...Pulisic left out of the starting XI again yesterday. He's been frustrated by the lack of starts under Tuchel. I mean there's no way we'd be able to afford him, but what an addition he would make on the wing. Could even play centrally if and when James is out

[RuffRob]

 Anybody else pig sick it looks like Buendia will be signing for Aston Villa, a team who finished below us, with no 'headline' manager in charge at the club. They'll building and will be overtaking us as well.

 

 

[markjazzbassist]

No idea, gotta get a manager first.  Then manager and brands have to get together to discuss the squad and needs.  Sadly i fear the signings will be late or worse we might not get enough in/out in time.  Another bungled summer, another lost year.  2 steps forward 3 steps back.  

[Gwlad]

2 hours ago, markjazzbassist said:

No idea, gotta get a manager first.  Then manager and brands have to get together to discuss the squad and needs.  Sadly i fear the signings will be late or worse we might not get enough in/out in time.  Another bungled summer, another lost year.  2 steps forward 3 steps back.  

Everton tha'.

 

[Btay]

16 hours ago, markjazzbassist said:

No idea, gotta get a manager first.  Then manager and brands have to get together to discuss the squad and needs.  Sadly i fear the signings will be late or worse we might not get enough in/out in time.  Another bungled summer, another lost year.  2 steps forward 3 steps back.  

Thing is if we go into the season with no hope of finishing top half we will probably finish the season second - most likely leading for every game until we shit the bed against brentford at home and liverpool finish first because that is exactly how we do things.

[RuffRob]

The sad truth is that as much as we have paid for our players, along with the salary we are paying them we are still some way behind the top 6 clubs - battling 7th to 10th place is pretty much what we should be expecting based on what we are shelling out in wages (even though we seem to be throwing money around). Table below suggest that we should be looking to increase our annual wage bill by a whopping £45M (or 65%) to be on a level playing field with the self proclaimed super 6. 

Leicester City are the stand out exception of one team who have managed to consistently punch about their weight, but they are a one off (can't really count West Ham of a single season).

The depressing reality is we are just not spending enough to realistically be competitive in the top six - no matter who comes in as new manager.  I think this reality hit home with Ancelotti this passed couple of months - 

 

 

 

[Bailey]

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/

Another wages site showing different figures albeit with many of the same clubs in a similar position. It highlight how well Leicester have done.

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, RuffRob said:

The sad truth is that as much as we have paid for our players, along with the salary we are paying them we are still some way behind the top 6 clubs - battling 7th to 10th place is pretty much what we should be expecting based on what we are shelling out in wages (even though we seem to be throwing money around). Table below suggest that we should be looking to increase our annual wage bill by a whopping £45M (or 65%) to be on a level playing field with the self proclaimed super 6. 

Leicester City are the stand out exception of one team who have managed to consistently punch about their weight, but they are a one off (can't really count West Ham of a single season).

The depressing reality is we are just not spending enough to realistically be competitive in the top six - no matter who comes in as new manager.  I think this reality hit home with Ancelotti this passed couple of months - 

Quite honestly in any other industry you would be saying what a prick, but hay ho it’s his money, and sadly our club and dreams  

 

 

Unfortunately we have an owner who thought and possibly still thinks he could buy his way to the top, his first big mistake was sacking Martinez and hiring Koeman before the ink had dried on the contract, he should have given Martinez another 6 months and a little bit of money, and got him self settled in if you just give himself a bigger picture, but no the big I am attitude kicked in and millions have been spent with massive mistakes and the upshot is we haven’t improved in 5 years. 

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, RuffRob said:

The sad truth is that as much as we have paid for our players, along with the salary we are paying them we are still some way behind the top 6 clubs - battling 7th to 10th place is pretty much what we should be expecting based on what we are shelling out in wages (even though we seem to be throwing money around). Table below suggest that we should be looking to increase our annual wage bill by a whopping £45M (or 65%) to be on a level playing field with the self proclaimed super 6. 

Leicester City are the stand out exception of one team who have managed to consistently punch about their weight, but they are a one off (can't really count West Ham of a single season).

The depressing reality is we are just not spending enough to realistically be competitive in the top six - no matter who comes in as new manager.  I think this reality hit home with Ancelotti this passed couple of months - 

 

 

 

Apologies Rob I’ve edited your post when I thought it was mine, I must say though that’s no way to speak about our owner

[StevO]

7 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Unfortunately we have an owner who thought and possibly still thinks he could buy his way to the top, his first big mistake was sacking Martinez and hiring Koeman before the ink had dried on the contract, he should have given Martinez another 6 months and a little bit of money, and got him self settled in if you just give himself a bigger picture, but no the big I am attitude kicked in and millions have been spent with massive mistakes and the upshot is we haven’t improved in 5 years. 

I get where you’re coming from Palfy, but Martinez had to go. The performances were terrible (but he kept telling the media how good they were) and the results were just as bad. Goodison was a horrible horrible place to be towards the end of his time with the club. He couldn’t stay on as manager. 

[RuffRob]

47 minutes ago, Bailey said:

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/

Another wages site showing different figures albeit with many of the same clubs in a similar position. It highlight how well Leicester have done.

same site - the one I put on was for past season (20/21), link is for upcoming season (but that will change after transfer window). I am just trying to highlight that we are not a club who are actually paying a 'top 6' wage bill and are quite far from it.

As much as we are spending, it seems its only about enough to keep you in the top half of the Premier league, but not enough to realistically put you in the Top 6 or keep you in the top 6. 

I would hazard a guess that if Leicester keep being 9th top wages payers then more likely than not they will slid down from annual champions league battles toward Europa and then top half of the table battles over then next 3-4 years.  

Its no accident that, give two or three positions, most teams final league position will pretty much mirror their position on the Premier League salary table, with only an occasional outlier. What I am alluding to is that there is a significant jump in what the 'Big 6' spend on wages compared to ourselves. It is going to be tough for any manager to break in to this with a significantly lower calibre squad.

 

[RuffRob]

1 hour ago, Palfy said:

Unfortunately we have an owner who thought and possibly still thinks he could buy his way to the top,

The thing is if you actually look at the spending (compared to other teams), he hasn't actually spent anywhere near enough to buy our way to the top. Wages wise, he has spend enough to get us to around 7th to 9th. Its crazy how much you now need to spend in this league to simply tread water.  Not nearly spending enough to actually realistically expect to be breaking in to the top 6. 

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, RuffRob said:

same site - the one I put on was for past season (20/21), link is for upcoming season (but that will change after transfer window). I am just trying to highlight that we are not a club who are actually paying a 'top 6' wage bill and are quite far from it.

As much as we are spending, it seems its only about enough to keep you in the top half of the Premier league, but not enough to realistically put you in the Top 6 or keep you in the top 6. 

I would hazard a guess that if Leicester keep being 9th top wages payers then more likely than not they will slid down from annual champions league battles toward Europa and then top half of the table battles over then next 3-4 years.  

Its no accident that, give two or three positions, most teams final league position will pretty much mirror their position on the Premier League salary table, with only an occasional outlier. What I am alluding to is that there is a significant jump in what the 'Big 6' spend on wages compared to ourselves. It is going to be tough for any manager to break in to this with a significantly lower calibre squad.

 

Oh haha, thought I was being useful and instead I was being an idiot. That will teach me to rush! 

I agree though, there is only so long you can outperform yourself. That tends to be either as a result of the manager or a certain group of players. Likewise those teams spending lots are only likely to be out of those positions for a long period of time if they do the opposite.

[Gwlad]

2 hours ago, RuffRob said:

The thing is if you actually look at the spending (compared to other teams), he hasn't actually spent anywhere near enough to buy our way to the top. Wages wise, he has spend enough to get us to around 7th to 9th. Its crazy how much you now need to spend in this league to simply tread water.  Not nearly spending enough to actually realistically expect to be breaking in to the top 6. 

Uncle Alisher could come to our rescue. This from someone who found it abhorrent when the Mansours took over City.

[RuffRob]

I just feel a bit gutted somebody like Buendia looks to be signing for Villa. £33millon doesn't seem extravagant for a player of his ability and experience and wages of around £75-80K for your creative midfielder seem reasonable for a team with ambitions of top 6.  

We are not going to get the £50-60M player that go to Chelsea and Man U etc, but would have thought this sort money for a still developing talent would have been right up our street. Buendia could quite easily be a £50-60M player in a couple of years time.

 

[London Blue]

Some positions need filling regardless of who we have as manager, right back and right wing for example. We should pull the trigger on any targets we have now, while we can still get them.