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

[ADVILLAFAN]

Could we not offer Jota to Brentford for Benrahma, plus about 18M? Jota is well thought of there

and Lansbury - that should knock about 39p off the transfer fee.

Yeah but Brentford are good at spotting talent, so that's a no-goer.

Looked at their Forums and bone of them wanted to touch Hogan with a barge pole either unfortunately.

[N'ZMAV]

can't blame them.

[algy]

Don't see a problem bringing in a couple of players from the Championship if they look like they'll comfortably make the step up & are reasonably priced. Jack, SJM, Tyrone Mings, & Tammy were all Championship players 12 months ago.

The criticisms of Lange are odd, i find. He's good at buying players cheaply who then get sold at a huge profit ... in what world is that a bad thing? He'll be looking at a different bracket of player now, but i think the jump from buying £500k players and selling them for £5m, to buying them for £5m and flogging them for £50m is quite small - it's the same skills, just applied further up the food chain. I'd rather that than him be used to buying players in the £20m bracket then not developing them.

I think generally we need to be realistic about where we can attract players from, then become very good at buying those players.

Yes but having brought such players in why would we need to sell them if we were trying to hit top 6 places?  We would be starting to act like one of the top teams so no need to sell players unless we really wanted to.

Everyone sells players - even Barcelona, Man City, PSG, Juventus, Bayern Munich. Making a profit on those is a huge FFP advantage.

Besides which, if we buy £5m players, make them £50m players and don't sell them ... that's no bad thing either.

[Nii Lamptey]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Ollie Watkins was awarded Championship Player of the Season, even with Brentford failing to get promoted!

https://www.brentfordfc.com/news/2020/august/ollie-watkins-efl-player-of-the-year/

[maidstonevillain]

Fee for Watkins just gone up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53929973

[OCD]

Don't see a problem bringing in a couple of players from the Championship if they look like they'll comfortably make the step up & are reasonably priced. Jack, SJM, Tyrone Mings, & Tammy were all Championship players 12 months ago.

The criticisms of Lange are odd, i find. He's good at buying players cheaply who then get sold at a huge profit ... in what world is that a bad thing? He'll be looking at a different bracket of player now, but i think the jump from buying £500k players and selling them for £5m, to buying them for £5m and flogging them for £50m is quite small - it's the same skills, just applied further up the food chain. I'd rather that than him be used to buying players in the £20m bracket then not developing them.

I think generally we need to be realistic about where we can attract players from, then become very good at buying those players.

Yes but having brought such players in why would we need to sell them if we were trying to hit top 6 places?  We would be starting to act like one of the top teams so no need to sell players unless we really wanted to.

If we could become very good at recruitment though, then if somebody wanted to throw money at us for a player and we had already lined up a younger replacement, then selling isn't such an issue. Clubs abroad do it all the time.

[brontebilly]

Don't want to sound too much alarm but our starting team v Sheff Utd in a few weeks is likely to be

-----------------Nyland
Guilbert, Konsa, Mings, Targett
-----McGinn, Luiz, Hourihane
Trez, Samatta, Grealish

Keeper?, Elmo, Hause, Taylor, Nakamba, Davis, Jota, AEG, Lansbury....

[Dante Lavelli]

You’ve still got Jack in the team so it’s not all bad news then. Pretty sure we’ll have a couple of extra players before then so no need to panic. 

[Pat Mustard]

Toney confirmed for Brentford, so would guess that means Watkins will be moving very shortly.

[SoccerHQ]

ozzjim didn’t we try that approach with Lescott, Richards, Holt etc in the past with poor outcome?

So because those three (and Drinkwater) didn't work out (and I think we knew Holt would offer little) we should never sign a player over 30 ever again? What about Reina who's experience and communication at the back was much needed in last few weeks? Richards was only 26 when he got him in.

Different league but Whelan did a good job in our promotion season and Jedinak also was great behind the scenes even if he declined on the pitch, Chester aswell.

There's no guarentee with under 25s either. We signed Scott Hogan when he was 24 and now can't give him away despite him scoring  a few goals back in championship last season. Kodj was signed when he was 26 and left on a free transfer.

There's no right or wrong way with any transfer strategy but generally a mix is for the best. In our excellent early 90s teams we picked up God, Kevin Richardson and Andy Townsend when they were 29 or older so seems bizarre now just to rule out experienced players because we can't sell them for 10m + two years later. We can't do that with many of the younger players we sign.

Anyway saying all that I draw the line at Daniel Sturridge who hasn't done anything for years at top level and would be another Richards type.

[Londonvilla]

I think much of it depends on who you buy from the championship. For example, you buy Cantwell and Buendia, they have both just done a full season in he prem and not looked out of place. In a similar vein, Watkins scored as many four Brentford as Tammy did for Villa the season before, Tammy then scored goals for Chelsea in the prem, there is nothing to say Watkins won't either. In about half the games, the defences they are up against are not vastly better than the Championship anyway.

Nketia was in and out the Leeds side, but starts for Arsenal a fair bit now. By keeping Jack, Luiz, Mings, McGinn who now have that season under their belt, new players do have the chance to settle in a little more.

Our best bet of good experience of the prem is to target loans or players that have left the prem but could be got back. Soccer HQ suggested Rondon, that's a great shout. We should have been all over Cahill last summer, and despite the injuries a pay as you play for Sturridge wouldn't be so foolish now in my opinion for us as a cheap experienced striker option.

Any how, let's hope this week brings 3/4 new faces.

Not sure why you were up at  05:57:15 AM but this was a well considered post well done 10 out of 10

[Damo70]

Toney confirmed for Brentford, so would guess that means Watkins will be moving very shortly.

The Birmingham Live website seem to think we have Watkins as good as in the bag.

[eamonn]

Up early with the kids on a Bank Holiday

[Percy McCarthy]

I think much of it depends on who you buy from the championship. For example, you buy Cantwell and Buendia, they have both just done a full season in he prem and not looked out of place. In a similar vein, Watkins scored as many four Brentford as Tammy did for Villa the season before, Tammy then scored goals for Chelsea in the prem, there is nothing to say Watkins won't either. In about half the games, the defences they are up against are not vastly better than the Championship anyway.

Nketia was in and out the Leeds side, but starts for Arsenal a fair bit now. By keeping Jack, Luiz, Mings, McGinn who now have that season under their belt, new players do have the chance to settle in a little more.

Our best bet of good experience of the prem is to target loans or players that have left the prem but could be got back. Soccer HQ suggested Rondon, that's a great shout. We should have been all over Cahill last summer, and despite the injuries a pay as you play for Sturridge wouldn't be so foolish now in my opinion for us as a cheap experienced striker option.

Any how, let's hope this week brings 3/4 new faces.

Not sure why you were up at  05:57:15 AM but this was a well considered post well done 10 out of 10

Ah, lie-ins. I remember those.

[ozzjim]

I don't. I'm in the park walking the 2 idiot dogs at 6.30 every morning, even though the kids are quiet. Lie ins ended nearly 13 years ago, I don't think I can go back to the place I was before now.

I do wonder if we will sign a centre half this window. Linked to Vida and Lyindama (sp) in Jan, I reckon Smith with want a more experienced head in that back line.