Summer 2022 Transfer Thread

[eamonn]

We also see alot of "FFP talk" why are we literally the only club worried about this? Yet given the chucky and Joe sales, we should be the one club completely compliant with it?

Newcastle are being good little lads about it too.

[Clampy]

Since Joe left over a year ago,  we've spent roughly £167m. And people are comparing that with Doug? Wow. Just wow.

[pauliewalnuts]

It's a little sad in a way that we're discussing the owners a couple of hours away from a game.

Why? We're only talking about them, it's not exactly a big deal surely? We don't all have to agree on everything all the time.

[Clampy]

It's a little sad in a way that we're discussing the owners a couple of hours away from a game.

Why? We're only talking about them, it's not exactly a big deal surely? We don't all have to agree on everything all the time.

Of course not,  it just feels a bit disrespectful (probably for want of a better word)  in a way. I'm looking forward to the game,  not wondering what the owners have or haven't done. That's just me I suppose though.

[richtheholtender]

I think the owners have been excellent, they've poured a fortune into the club, there is no doubting the money they've spent so far. They clearly have ambitions to improve the club at all levels, including the stadium.

There have been a couple of missteps, though. I think they missed an opportunity to appoint a top level manager when they had the chance - not having a needless pop at SG, who deserves time to show what he can do, but he's not a proven manager in a top league. I suspect that was largely done out of Purslow making an emotional decision.

The other one, and this is being somewhat harsh I think but in terms of the message sent out re what we want to achieve, there's a really fine line between being bullish and optimistic in saying where we want to go, and setting unrealistic expectations. This is a Purslow thing, really - I like the bloke, I think he knows how to run a football club, but listening to him talk I frequently wonder if he's effectively writing cheques he can't cash.

I think your last point is the one which I have been trying ti address but I don't think its just CP as WE came out after the play off final and said we want to become one of the biggest clubs in the world. We're are now entering our 4th year I'm the prem and I don't see us finishing above just below mid way. The clubs above us aren't won't ever slow down, so at some point ti achieve WE or CP ambitions were going to have to go big. We doing well in the FFP department I think, the teams above us are catchable (just about), united are dreadful (we don't know how long that will last) and we've improved our squad by 1 player now on last season.....what are we waiting for? Or stop selling a dream

[jwarry]

Read an article in The Times today about Arteta.  He struggled at first as he had to get rid of the troublemakers and dead wood.  Took a lot more flak than SG did with Tyrone but three windows later has turned things around.  So can’t judge SG yet

[Beard82]

Read an article in The Times today about Arteta.  He struggled at first as he had to get rid of the troublemakers and dead wood.  Took a lot more flak than SG did with Tyrone but three windows later has turned things around.  So can’t judge SG yet

But Arteta inherited a mess, I dont think SG did?  Clearly it will take him time, but to me this was a case of building on solid foundations and adding quality and fight, rather than having to overhaul a squad

[richtheholtender]

It's a little sad in a way that we're discussing the owners a couple of hours away from a game.

You can stick with the match thread if want

[richtheholtender]

We also see alot of "FFP talk" why are we literally the only club worried about this? Yet given the chucky and Joe sales, we should be the one club completely compliant with it?

Newcastle are being good little lads about it too.

I do wonder how long it will be the case with them

[Percy McCarthy]

According to The Athletic, Aston Villa have made an approach for Aston Villa’s Jan Bednarek after Diego Carlos’ injury.

Blimey we are now trying to buy players from ourselves.

Should make the negotiations easier though.

Bidding war incoming.

[Clampy]

I don't get all this 'we only added one player'  to our team nonsense. Just because Carlos is injured,  dosent mean he should not be counted. Thats just trying to suit the argument. We also permanently signed Coutinho and Olsen and added Augustinsson. Maybe it's not enough but as a whole,  the sqaud is not in bad shape really.

[richtheholtender]

I don't get all this 'we only added one player'  to our team nonsense. Just because Carlos is injured,  dosent mean he should not be counted. Thats just trying to suit the argument. We also permanently signed Coutinho and Olsen and added Augustinsson. Maybe it's not enough but as a whole,  the sqaud is not in bad shape really.

The squad isn't in bad shape to achieve what?

[Smithy]

Before last summer, we were widely acknowledged as being near the bottom in the premier league for FFP wiggle room.   I haven't seen any "official" figures since Jack left, but obviously that sale will have helped a great deal - though we did spend a lot of that cash last summer and in January, too (we're still better off in FFP terms as £100m for jack and £100m on signings amortised over contract length is still a FFP positive in the short term).

My guess is that we DO have money to spend, maybe not another £100m, but certainly big, transfer-record-breaking money if the right player comes along, but they simply aren't available yet (and might not be during this window).

When the owners were spending £100m+ per transfer window, we were buying a squad. We were spending £20m-ish at a time on a few solid premier league players, which is a LOT easier to do than spending £100m one or two real stars.  See Notts Forest this summer - they've spent, what, £120m this window? But how many of their signings would you have wanted?  The amount spent is only relative to the quality it brings in.

We are in a difficult position now where the players who would DEFINITELY improve us, probably want European football, or have to be willing to buy into our project. That makes the pool we're shopping in significantly smaller, and FAR more competitive.

I don't think our "lack" of transfer activity is a factor of our owners losing interest, more that this next phase is going to be much more difficult.  It is orders of magnitude harder to recruit the players necessary to go from mid-table to Europe than it is to get players to move you from a relegation fight to mid-table.

Newcastle, widely regarded as the richest club in the world, and with hundreds of millions available to spend under FFP, have spent only £60m.  Because they face the same issues as us - getting players capable of improving a team enough to fight for Europe without being IN Europe.  They too will spend more as the window closes - but the lack of activity so far is not through lack of trying.

I have faith in the owners, and I don't think we are done this summer...

[Randy Gurner]

If I was Stevie G I'd put it in a £25M bid for Marcus Rashford, and probably put McGinn on the bench.

[Clampy]

I don't get all this 'we only added one player'  to our team nonsense. Just because Carlos is injured,  dosent mean he should not be counted. Thats just trying to suit the argument. We also permanently signed Coutinho and Olsen and added Augustinsson. Maybe it's not enough but as a whole,  the sqaud is not in bad shape really.

The squad isn't in bad shape to achieve what?

I didn't suggest any targets,  I just made the point that it's not in bad shape. Look,  if you want to gripe that we haven't replaced a player who got badly injured 7 days ago,  then fair enough. Expect people to disagree though.