Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[jwarry]

Mail suggesting we after James MCarthy for £5m.  Underwhelming if true, but fits what Dean said about PL experience

[Gareth]

Good Premier League player & if we are sticking to 5 from 9 subs we will need 2/3 reliable experienced players for the squad

[Mister E]

So supposing there is something in that theory ...

... a spurious link, IMHO, footy.

[Mister E]

maybe he's got something lined up already ?
think he would be a huge asset to any lower prem league club / top level club abroad
his teams play the right way
if VAR worked they might still be in the prem !

If VAR worked, we may not have been in a relegation scrap. Or at least, out of the running before the last day.  Bournemouth were poor, they couldn't defend and went down.  Howe was unlucky with injuries and some poor decisions from a couple who chose not to play after their contracts ran out, but he should do the right thing and make an effort to bring them back up.  It's not as if he won't have money to spend.

Defensively crap but beat us twice and their main CB has just moved for £41m ...
... but I do take your point that their attacking capabilities let them down this season relative to their propensity to let in goals.

[Mister E]

£30m certainly gets you prem.players and quality is better than quantity but Championship midfielders like Swift or Grimes for 6-7m would be an upgrade on Hourihane and Karlan Grant,prolific  Huddersfield striker at £15-17m,would be better than our current fit strikers.Aaron Hickey,Scottish 18 yr old full back will be better than Neil Taylor at 2-3m and have 30m to spend on someone else.Or if Brentford don't get promoted buy Benrhama and Watkins at 40-50m and get Swift/ Grimes and Hickey.The essential is to back your judgement and experience means already conditioned to English football.
People have decried buying from the Belgian league,Lille bought a 20 yr old striker,Osimhen, from Charleroi last year, for £13m and have sold him to Napoli for at least £45m.

You may be right, RF, but all the players you mention need to be integrated and to get their 'EPL legs'; we know all about that from last season.
I think we'll end up with a mixed strategy, where we get 2-3 experienced players in from the EPL and 2-3 from elsewhere.

[Steve67]

Hickey, Scottish 18 year old left back being linked for £1.5m.  Worth the punt at that price.  Supposed to be a real talent.  McCarthy would be an upgrade on the likes of Angela and Jota, bags of experience in the Premier Division and a bit of a bargain.  Probably not true but would make sense.  Spend the big money on the winger and striker we need.

[mr underhill]

A few clubs chasing Hickey looks a promising player - a no from me to McCarthy.

[cdbearsfan]

McCarthy as squad player would be fine.

[olaftab]

McCarthy as squad player would be fine.

at Kidderminster Harriers.

[algy]

McCarthy as squad player would be fine.

I'd rather we didn't buy squad players, it seems a bit pointless - you either buy players for the first team, or you bring in youngsters who are expected to be first team regulars in a few seasons. We need to put an end to buying players to maintain the status quo or trying to persist with youngsters who are at best going to keep us standing still. Until we're reigning champions of Europe, of course - then we sign players to maintain the status quo.

[Ads]

We have squad players. They're occupying our first XI.

[Bobby Boy]

Howe is a coward.  He took them down, he should be a man and take them back up.

That's a bit strong. I thought that we were troubled by calling folk out as 'cowards'.

He did a great job at Bournemouth. Maybe he thought he had taken them as far as he could, who knows?

[RichardBatchelor]

Would anyone take Sokratis as a CB option?

Ironically not the thinking man's CB.

Ha ha, very good.

[RichardBatchelor]

Howe is a coward.  He took them down, he should be a man and take them back up.

That's a bit strong. I thought that we were troubled by calling folk out as 'cowards'.

He did a great job at Bournemouth. Maybe he thought he had taken them as far as he could, who knows?

Yes, coward is absurd. Last time I quit a job because I’d had enough of it/been in it too long I don’t remember accusations of ‘cowardice’.

[Lastfootstamper]

If we want to progress, every player has to be good enough to start. Genuine competition for places is what we want to have, not a 25 where the majority are sub-par covers who'll only ever get a game in extremis.