Summer transfer, gossip, speculation thread

[SheffieldVillain]

That wasn't really the point I was making. I wasn't thinking either/or more that it'll make a bigger difference and therefore getting those right is more important. On top of that in terms of timescales I'd rather the outfield players in earlier to get a full pre-season and the goalkeeper can come once those key signings are sorted, if we don't have time/staff to negotiate the lot at once. Of course this is also assuming that Mings is pretty much sorted.

What about if the outfield players take longer i.e. the other club needs to sell first, the player is on holiday but the goalkeeper is available now?

[LeeB]

He's better than all of them.

Put together.

[Ads]

The Phillips is staying at Leeds comes from one of those Jackanory TeamTalk Twitter accounts, ran by a Leeds fan.

If we make an acceptable bid, he'll leave. Jack never had a choice to make as Spurs made a bid of £3m plus Onomah and then £25m post take over, both of which were obviously rejected.

Phillips has a chance to;

Play for a bigger club
Premier League football
Significantly increase his wages
Push for an England spot in a tournament year in a position England are weak in

Make a bid that Leeds accept and he will come.

My feelings exactly.

There's also the incentive of not having to play for a bunch of snarling Neanderthals in a tin pot shack of a stadium.

My mate is a Leeds fan and reckons Bielsa only agreed to stay on if assurances were given that certain players would not be sold - Phillips was the main one apparently. So I don't think he'll be coming here.

Ads, the same reasons for Jack to leave last summer for Spuds (apart from a bigger club bit), and he stayed. Just something to consider

As I said, Jack never had to make a decision, as Spurs thought they could box clever and got it wrong.if they'd have bid something sensible, like £35m, then Jack would have gone.

[Ads]

Webster is a very good player.

[Fred Crump]

Webster is a very good player.

He was good on FIFA soccer ( I think ) 96 , in the early Nintendo days where they didn’t have all the teams’ permission to use players names , so Man U had to have made up ones. Their front 3 of Webster, Roper and Harper were unstoppable. Shame I was Villa and my son was Man U. I never beat him but Webster regularly racked up 70 plus goals a season.

[aj2k77]

Fifa Internation Soccer. Matt Webster and Bruce McMillan up front for England and Kevin Sharpnell on the bench.

[Fred Crump]

Thanks - your memory is better than mine! I’m sure there was a Roper in there somewhere - was he a midfielder? Very impressed with your knowledge!!

[Toronto Villa]

You're right but I think paul e is making the point that while Butland would be an upgrade, there's potential to make bigger upgrades elsewhere.

So make those upgrades as well. It's not one or the other.

Quite, but there must be priorities if you have a limited budget, as I presume we have.

How does anyone know what the budget is though? Purslow said we’re not going up to tread water and survive. That comes with a price which I have no doubt they have discussed at length. Given the gaps in our squad it will cost us £100 just to get to a decent level. I reckon we will be closer to £150 when the summer is done.

[Toronto Villa]

Spurs tried to take advantage of our situation and Grand Master Negotiator Levy royally fucked it up. Not only will they very likely never get him now I hope Jack bags a brace while setting up the other 3 in romp on the opening day. Fuck Spurs.

[Dave]

How good is Butland? For £20m you could with one or two exceptions, sign almost any goalkeeper in the world.

I would doubt that, as insane as it is.

Yup. I reckon there are twenty or so keepers that would easily cost £20m+

[Dante Lavelli]

Buy Butland and I doubt we’d be looking to purchase a keeper again for 5 plus years.

With player cost inflation as it is, having one position locked down for that period of time must be a good thing.  Yes it is a lot of money, and I’d agree GK is not our biggest priority, however I think there’s definitely merit investment wise.

[West Derby Villan]

Buy Butland and I doubt we’d be looking to purchase a keeper again for 5 plus years.

With player cost inflation as it is, having one position locked down for that period of time must be a good thing.  Yes it is a lot of money, and I’d agree GK is not our biggest priority, however I think there’s definitely merit investment wise.

I agree definitely a wise investment which will become more valuable every season. Recognised England international with premier league experience

[rob_bridge]

Is Butland that good? Can't notice any improvements in him in the last 3-4 years.

[SoccerHQ]

How good is Butland? For £20m you could with one or two exceptions, sign almost any goalkeeper in the world.

I've never been overly impressed, I must admit.

The English premium - for anyone even vaguely near the national squad.

Johnstone, Heaton or Pope, if we must go the Ingerland route.

Same for me. Butland does make excellent reaction saves as the numerous YT videos show but I've also seen Stoke games when his kicking has been as bad as Guzan at his worst here so dosen't strike me as a building from the back keeper at all tbh. Not great on crosses either.

For half the price I'd rather have Etheridge who is similar standard imo.

[SoccerHQ]

He's better than all of them.

Not better than Heaton for me (Pickford had a poor season but picked up over the end).

Burnley were a joke defensively with Joe Hart in up to xmas. Heaton recalled for West Ham on December 30th, they keep a clean sheet and suddenly from that point Burnley become a much more difficult team to score against for rest of the season.

Keeping isn't just about making camera friendly saves, it's also the confidence you install in back 4 and communication which Heaton scores very highly on.

Now it isn't all Butland's fault but haven't Stoke conceded over 100 goals last two seasons? It's not like they even have a bunch of kids at the back, mostly experienced international players like Williams and Martins Indi. They always seem to be getting dragged out of position.