Summer transfer, gossip, speculation thread

[Dave]

I really hope the days of signing someone for their Premier League experience are long gone.

I reckon we get Gabby and Micah Richards back in.

[KRS]

"shit (and also some not so shit) experienced players" also tend to be massively overpriced and have excessive wages attached to them...there is definitely a diligent method to our transfer dealings, but also a wise cutting our cloth accordingly approach rather than spunking money up the wall on excessive transfer fees and wages.

[Steve67]

Whoever Jimmy McCann is, he's saying that the Butland deal to Villa is done.  And that the Calvin Phillips deal is progressing well.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Whoever Jimmy McCann is, he's saying that the Butland deal to Villa is done.  And that the Calvin Phillips deal is progressing well.

Jimmy McCann, isn't he Gerry McCann's long lost brother?

Google says he's either an Irish Entertainer or a drugs trafficker.

[cdbearsfan]

He's the babysitter.

He only had one job, FFS!

[hilts_coolerking]

I really hope the days of signing someone for their Premier League experience are long gone.

That’s as bollocks an approach as young and hungry was. How about we just get the best players that are attainable to fit the system the manager wants to play without a specific criteria other than he’s really quite good. I reckon that’s mostly what we are doing now.

Experience is something that is likely to help make players really quite good.  It's come to something when experience is seen as a disadvantage.  of course that will all change when Smith signs a couple of them, as I think he will.

[paul_e]

It’s good that we’re making some swift progress, especially given the size of the task. It feels to me that even if we accept Taylor, Bjarnason, Green and Hogan as squad players, and Mings and Hause are confirmed, we still need a left back, a centre back, a centre mid, and possibly another striker. Then there are the players we need to shift, Tshibola, and Kalinic (if we buy Butland). That’s all before we try to improve on Taylor, Bjarnason, Green and Hogan - which might prove too much for this window.

I'd agree on that.

Butland (Steer, Kalinic/Nyland) - 3

Guilbert (Elmo, Bree) -3
Mings, Hause (Chester, NEW) - 4
NEW (Taylor) - 2

NEW, Mcginn, Grealish (Hourihane, Lansbury, Bjarnason) - 6
El Ghazi, Jota (Kodjia, Green) - 4

Wesley (NEW/Hogan, Davis) - 3

That's the 25 I'd suspect. A few of them aren't up to the standard we'd want so I'd be happy to add a few replacements but the 3/4 new guys (along with the 3 that we're guessing will complete soon) would still be a massive summer and I think I'd stop there purely to give the squad a chance to settle.

Seeing it written down I think I'd prioritise a centre mid next as I really don't want to see Lansbury or Bjarnason in the premier league.

[PeterWithesShin]

No one has said experience is bad, it's the idea that Premier League experience on it's own is important that some people disagree with. Last time we were in the PL it was the players with PL experience that let the club down.

[Toronto Villa]

I really hope the days of signing someone for their Premier League experience are long gone.

That’s as bollocks an approach as young and hungry was. How about we just get the best players that are attainable to fit the system the manager wants to play without a specific criteria other than he’s really quite good. I reckon that’s mostly what we are doing now.

Experience is something that is likely to help make players really quite good.  It's come to something when experience is seen as a disadvantage.  of course that will all change when Smith signs a couple of them, as I think he will.

Mr Shin covered it. Experience is good if it is channeled correctly and positively. Gabby had loads of it, Micah Richards had experience as did Joleon Lescott. On its own it should never be a strategy. But get the right characters, quality players, even if experience is lacking (Mings as an example) and you can soon develop the right environment that everyone thrives. I want really good up and coming players as well a sprinkling of experience that aligns with what the manager wants in terms of attitude and desire.

[passitsideways]

I get that people aren't too fond of using Wolves as an example, but I think they demonstrate the point that some have been making: out of the players in the squad, the only ones with any meaningful Premier League experience before last season were Ryan Bennett and John Ruddy (the latter who barely played). The thing is, they signed Moutinho and Patricio, both of whom have seen it all outside of England, and maybe that helped lift the others, but at the end of the day I suspect it was everyone there pulling in the right direction.

[hilts_coolerking]

No one has said experience is bad, it's the idea that Premier League experience on it's own is important that some people disagree with. Last time we were in the PL it was the players with PL experience that let the club down.

I don't think anyone's actually floated that idea though have they?  I certainly haven't. Last time we were in the PL we were let down by a lot of players we should never have signed because they weren't good enough - they were too old, too injury prone, past their best and badly motivated.  It wasn't because they were too experienced.  All I'm saying is that experience is one quality among many others.  When I look at the team and backups that was posted a few pages ago I think one of the qualities it lacks is experience, along with perhaps a bit of pace.  And depth.

Butland's got bags of experience, top flight and international, for a lad of his age; I don't think anyone'saying we shouldn't sign him because of it.

[frank black]

Are we just being friendly neighbours and bailing out the Blues with our signings?

[ChicagoLion]

I think some are confusing experience with leadership.
You can have all the experience in the world but unless it is used to help or inspire others it is of little value to the team.

[Singapore Villa]

Agreed.  You can have bags of experience but still be shite...

What impresses me most about the recruitment philosophy is that personality/character is clearly part of the identification criteria, which hopefully will weed out the bad eggs and mean we end up with a squad that will move us forward.

[Ads]

I like Butland and think he's better than Pickford, who has two or three mistakes in him a game.

Butland's chance to get back as England number 1, Stoke will need to sell this summer. I think it would be a decent move.