Summer Transfer Thread and Gustavo Cisneros Type Rumours.

[sickbeggar]

maybe not but, the point i'm making is an equivalent now like a Giroud would expect a bit more than 10 minutes at the end of game and a run in the cups

[Smithy]

The problem we have, as I see it, is that any prospective signing is going to look at Ollie, look at his goalscoring record since he joined, his recent call-up and think "he's going to be tough to displace in the side", which really narrows the type of player we can realistically attract, and be better than what we have behind Ollie already.

If we're looking for someone who is first-team ready, it'll either be someone absolutely top-notch who genuinely believes he can be the first choice (and will likely be very, very expensive), or someone with a mercenary element to them who would be happy to come and take a big wage knowing they likely won't play much.

The alternative is to find someone on their way up, to supplement what we have, but then they might not be ready/good enough on day one to fill in if they were needed in case of injury.  It's difficult, because we're not quite at the level yet where we can afford to have two equally excellent options for every position, especially with no European football and therefore less rotation.  I mean "afford" as in "keeping them happy", rather than monetarily.

[Mister E]

I wonder how many of these players are on Lange's 'must buy' list?
Perhaps Conor H has done a Martinez-type job on Ben Cabango, for example.
I like the look of Diveev (CB) and Gravenberch (holding MF).

[cdbearsfan]

maybe not but, the point i'm making is an equivalent now like a Giroud would expect a bit more than 10 minutes at the end of game and a run in the cups

Cavani played in 26 games and started 13. Plus a couple of cup starts and a bunch of European matches. That's the sort of thing I want from our backup.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Back to the defensive midfielder search, how good is Bissouma? He's being linked strongly with Arsenal. I like Berge at Sheff Utd but apparently they're holding out for the £35m release clause value.

[darren woolley]

I would be all for letting Wes or Keinan go out on loan.

[AV82EC]

Back to the defensive midfielder search, how good is Bissouma? He's being linked strongly with Arsenal. I like Berge at Sheff Utd but apparently they're holding out for the £35m release clause value.

I’d prefer Anguissa over Bissouma, saw some stats analysis on Twitter the other day which suggested he was better in transition going forwards than Bissouma them being on a par with all the defensive Kante type stuff.

[cdbearsfan]

Back to the defensive midfielder search, how good is Bissouma? He's being linked strongly with Arsenal. I like Berge at Sheff Utd but apparently they're holding out for the £35m release clause value.

I'd want change from £35 million if we were buying every Sheffield United player, let alone just one.

[chrisw1]

I'd like Bissouma, think he would be perfect.  But sounds like he's got his heart set on Arsenal.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Back to the defensive midfielder search, how good is Bissouma? He's being linked strongly with Arsenal. I like Berge at Sheff Utd but apparently they're holding out for the £35m release clause value.

I'd want change from £35 million if we were buying every Sheffield United player, let alone just one.

Ha! The Arsenal fans don't seem that excited either. Seems there's us, Arsenal and at least Everton in the market for a defensive midfielder. Anguissa is a good shout, AV82EC.

[Toronto Villa]

I'd like Bissouma, think he would be perfect.  But sounds like he's got his heart set on Arsenal.

More the reason to get him to completely crush Arsenal hopes of ever being relevant again. They probably still think they can get Buendia who will change his mind on the plane back to England.

[OCD]

The problem is if we sign another forward then there's no chance Davis or Wesley get the time to see if they can come good so do we write them both (or at least one) off this summer and if so how good does the incoming player have to be to justify that and how long term a signing does it need to be?

Writing off either to make space for Wood or King would be as disappointing (for me) as just going in with what we have. That's why I keep saying I'd prefer someone who can play in a few different positions to come in as the cover for Wakins. We'll be playing with 3 or 4 attacking players and currently have Grealish, Buendia, Watkins and Traore that would expect to start regularly in those spots, a 5th player who could expect 20-25 league starts but spread across 2-3 of those positions means we can still give game time to AEG, Wes, Davis, JPB and Trez as well as being able to absorb an injury or 2.

We showed a bit of ruthlessness last summer. I don't think anybody thought we needed another goalkeeper. We went and got Martinez who became such a success that Heaton couldn't get his place back even once he was fit again and has had to leave.

I was also reading something recently, it might have been Jack's press conference and how competition for places (in the context of England in this case), has raised his standards and meant he's had to become a better footballer quicker. Watkins is a guaranteed starter as long as he's fit. He's still improving as a player but he's not exactly having to scratch and claw to keep his place in the team. Then of course he got suspended, missed a game and the general consensus was that he looked a better player for having had a rest.

This could be another case where there's no apparent overwhelming inevitability about needing another striker with the quality to be regularly starting games but such a move could prove to be very canny.

[paul_e]

The problem is if we sign another forward then there's no chance Davis or Wesley get the time to see if they can come good so do we write them both (or at least one) off this summer and if so how good does the incoming player have to be to justify that and how long term a signing does it need to be?

Writing off either to make space for Wood or King would be as disappointing (for me) as just going in with what we have. That's why I keep saying I'd prefer someone who can play in a few different positions to come in as the cover for Wakins. We'll be playing with 3 or 4 attacking players and currently have Grealish, Buendia, Watkins and Traore that would expect to start regularly in those spots, a 5th player who could expect 20-25 league starts but spread across 2-3 of those positions means we can still give game time to AEG, Wes, Davis, JPB and Trez as well as being able to absorb an injury or 2.

We showed a bit of ruthlessness last summer. I don't think anybody thought we needed another goalkeeper. We went and got Martinez who became such a success that Heaton couldn't get his place back even once he was fit again and has had to leave.

I was also reading something recently, it might have been Jack's press conference and how competition for places (in the context of England in this case), has raised his standards and meant he's had to become a better footballer quicker. Watkins is a guaranteed starter as long as he's fit. He's still improving as a player but he's not exactly having to scratch and claw to keep his place in the team. Then of course he got suspended, missed a game and the general consensus was that he looked a better player for having had a rest.

This could be another case where there's no apparent overwhelming inevitability about needing another striker with the quality to be regularly starting games but such a move could prove to be very canny.

Martinez was a very different situation. Yes we had Heaton but he was expected to miss the first 15-20 games of the season so we needed to bring someone in. We probably could've aimed lower but the circumstances forced our hand. Watkins is similar, would we have gone in so big on him if Wesley had played out the entire season and we'd seen more games like the one he got injured in from him.

In this window there's no one who would expect to be a regular starter for us out long term injured that opens a space for a player to get into the team (I like Trez as a player but we had replacements for him in the squad already).

I'm absolutely for having a decent amount of competition for places but there has to be an understanding that it means some players will play less games. With us playing 1 centre forward bringing in another as direct competition where we can only play one or the other has as much potential to be as disruptive as it does to be helpful. 1 Player in who can play up front, wide left or as a 10 (for example) means we have options and they should get plenty of starts whilst they settle in.

I'd prefer every signing we make in this window giving us options to play different ways without completely changing the team so we can keep that feeling of togetherness in the squad but add plan c, d, etc.

[danno]

Joshua King did play wide left for Bournemouth as they had Callum Wilson playing through the middle. Considering 18 months ago his asking price was £16 million, I think him on a free wouldn't be that bad.

I'm not worried about his spell at Everton, his 138 minutes were basically 10 minute sub appearances. Nobody is going to look good with those, unless you're 18 and called Darius.

I think both Wesley and Davis might be loaned out. Wesley needs minutes to rehabilitate and Davis needs minutes to see for himself what he can do. I can't see either of them getting enough minutes here as things stand.

[KevinGage]

Martinez was a very different situation. Yes we had Heaton but he was expected to miss the first 15-20 games of the season so we needed to bring someone in. We probably could've aimed lower but the circumstances forced our hand. Watkins is similar, would we have gone in so big on him if Wesley had played out the entire season and we'd seen more games like the one he got injured in from him.

In this window there's no one who would expect to be a regular starter for us out long term injured that opens a space for a player to get into the team (I like Trez as a player but we had replacements for him in the squad already).

I'm absolutely for having a decent amount of competition for places but there has to be an understanding that it means some players will play less games. With us playing 1 centre forward bringing in another as direct competition where we can only play one or the other has as much potential to be as disruptive as it does to be helpful. 1 Player in who can play up front, wide left or as a 10 (for example) means we have options and they should get plenty of starts whilst they settle in.

I'd prefer every signing we make in this window giving us options to play different ways without completely changing the team so we can keep that feeling of togetherness in the squad but add plan c, d, etc.

Indeed.

The difference there as well is from the outset Heaton always looked like a relatively short deal.

He only signed a two year contract after all.

Not his fault he got injured, and he showed enough during those early months to suggest he might have good stint with us. 

But when you sign a 24 year old forward in the prime of his career who then goes on to get full England recognition in his first season with us, spending big darts on another player for the exact same position looks counter productive. Both in terms of team harmony and wasting funds that could be better utilised in other positions.