January 2023 Transfer Rumours, Discussions and Done Deals Thread

[john2710]

Most of our first team comes from a mixture of Championship or equivalent teams & Premier League reserves. Only Digne, Carlos, Couthino Young, Kamara & Sanson come with any pedigree & some of that is unproven or past it's best.

Emery will, as a minimum get much more from the players we have & a finish between 8-10th is probable.

Add 3-4 quality players with a couple of the youngsters coming through & the season after next is where we should be looking to breakthrough. But with a bit of luck it could be next season.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Well we’ve played much better and got results with the same players but now they’re being instructed in a certain way so straight away there’s improvement with no money spent.
Put Carlos in with either of the centre halves and you’d hope that a decent partnership will form which would see Mings or Konsa improve. With Martinez behind our back 5 is decent. Newcastle have got Dan Burn playing left back and Schar who has a mistake in him (Mings). Put Ramsey in from Tuesday breaking the lines and there’s immediate improvement, Newcastle have got Longstaff and Willock.
Yes, Watkins is very wasteful but unless we can attract a £50/£60m striker that’s what you’ll get with most. Newcastle have Wilson who is a much better finisher but is injury prone.
We’ve got great potential out on loan. For me maybe 2/3 of the right players in we can bridge the gap.

It doesn't have to be a £50/60m striker, take Alvarez for Instance Man City paid £14.1m who seem to have a good scouting network.

A fair point. It’s not as if he was an unknown either, over the previous couple of seasons he was was of the best players on that continent. It’s probably a market that we could do with getting into although most players would probably take a bit longer to settle than Alvarez has.

[OCD]

Part of the frustration with Watkins is that we rely on him as the main striker. That would be rectified with a really top signing.

It's easy to say we're 3 or 4 windows away from being able to challenge for the European places. I don't think many people would have seen Arsenal as challengers for the title. When you get the right balance, things can click.

If we can make some key signings, integrate some of the younger players coming through, start getting a tune out of some of what we've got and move out players who don't have a future with us, we'll soon start looking a lot better.

[Villatillidie25]

Part of the frustration with Watkins is that we rely on him as the main striker. That would be rectified with a really top signing.

It's easy to say we're 3 or 4 windows away from being able to challenge for the European places. I don't think many people would have seen Arsenal as challengers for the title. When you get the right balance, things can click.

If we can make some key signings, integrate some of the younger players coming through, start getting a tune out of some of what we've got and move out players who don't have a future with us, we'll soon start looking a lot better.

While I agree. That’s a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, which I guess is why it’s so hard to break the establishment

[eamonn]

Well we’ve played much better and got results with the same players but now they’re being instructed in a certain way so straight away there’s improvement with no money spent.
Put Carlos in with either of the centre halves and you’d hope that a decent partnership will form which would see Mings or Konsa improve. With Martinez behind our back 5 is decent. Newcastle have got Dan Burn playing left back and Schar who has a mistake in him (Mings). Put Ramsey in from Tuesday breaking the lines and there’s immediate improvement, Newcastle have got Longstaff and Willock.
Yes, Watkins is very wasteful but unless we can attract a £50/£60m striker that’s what you’ll get with most. Newcastle have Wilson who is a much better finisher but is injury prone.
We’ve got great potential out on loan. For me maybe 2/3 of the right players in we can bridge the gap.

It doesn't have to be a £50/60m striker, take Alvarez for Instance Man City paid £14.1m who seem to have a good scouting network.

A good scouting network wasn't necessary to spot Alvarez. He was cheap because most Argentinian clubs rely on selling players to Europe and we were heavily linked with him for months.

[simboy]

Well we’ve played much better and got results with the same players but now they’re being instructed in a certain way so straight away there’s improvement with no money spent.
Put Carlos in with either of the centre halves and you’d hope that a decent partnership will form which would see Mings or Konsa improve. With Martinez behind our back 5 is decent. Newcastle have got Dan Burn playing left back and Schar who has a mistake in him (Mings). Put Ramsey in from Tuesday breaking the lines and there’s immediate improvement, Newcastle have got Longstaff and Willock.
Yes, Watkins is very wasteful but unless we can attract a £50/£60m striker that’s what you’ll get with most. Newcastle have Wilson who is a much better finisher but is injury prone.
We’ve got great potential out on loan. For me maybe 2/3 of the right players in we can bridge the gap.

It doesn't have to be a £50/60m striker, take Alvarez for Instance Man City paid £14.1m who seem to have a good scouting network.

A fair point. It’s not as if he was an unknown either, over the previous couple of seasons he was was of the best players on that continent. It’s probably a market that we could do with getting into although most players would probably take a bit longer to settle than Alvarez has.

the difficulty is the world is very small, especially when it comes to potentially brilliant strikers.

Man City will have been "grooming" him for years, a few quid here a few quid there. The "agent" will have been smoozed as will the family and River Plate. The £14.1 mill or whatever will have been the tip of a very mucky iceberg. This is not a Grealish coming through the ranks, this is the identification of talent at the age of 6 and keeping it close. I have little doubt that for every Alvarez there's a few dozen kids who didn't get to come over to Manchester.

We are looking at "established" strikers who we have not picked up at 6 or 7. We have two lads on our books now who may become the Alvarez contenders in a year or two, Barry and Archer. On the other hand one or both may fall away to playing a lower level.

 But that's not what we really need now. We need a striker who is proven at a level, who does not run toward McGinn when he heads across goal and takes the ball in his stride rather than attempt a diving header. They will cost us the £50/60 mill minimum I suspect.

[LeeB]

Well we’ve played much better and got results with the same players but now they’re being instructed in a certain way so straight away there’s improvement with no money spent.
Put Carlos in with either of the centre halves and you’d hope that a decent partnership will form which would see Mings or Konsa improve. With Martinez behind our back 5 is decent. Newcastle have got Dan Burn playing left back and Schar who has a mistake in him (Mings). Put Ramsey in from Tuesday breaking the lines and there’s immediate improvement, Newcastle have got Longstaff and Willock.
Yes, Watkins is very wasteful but unless we can attract a £50/£60m striker that’s what you’ll get with most. Newcastle have Wilson who is a much better finisher but is injury prone.
We’ve got great potential out on loan. For me maybe 2/3 of the right players in we can bridge the gap.

It doesn't have to be a £50/60m striker, take Alvarez for Instance Man City paid £14.1m who seem to have a good scouting network.

A good scouting network wasn't necessary to spot Alvarez. He was cheap because most Argentinian clubs rely on selling players to Europe and we were heavily linked with him for months.

And it's one of those "look, Man City/Chelsea/Liverpool only paid x for him, we could have afforded that" ones which is true, but for the fact there was no way in the world he'd be interested in sigining for us.

I mean, we could probably have afforded the cyborg lad from Norway, but the same again.

[Villatillidie25]

Gonçalo Ramos

[eamonn]

Conchita Martinez then if you're not gonna apply any context (and to retain the SanEtienne leitmotif).

[LeeB]

Conchita Martinez then if you're not gonna apply any context (and to retain the SanEtienne leitmotif).

She always reminded me a little bit of a mouse.

[tomd2103]

Most of our first team comes from a mixture of Championship or equivalent teams & Premier League reserves. Only Digne, Carlos, Couthino Young, Kamara & Sanson come with any pedigree & some of that is unproven or past it's best.

Emery will, as a minimum get much more from the players we have & a finish between 8-10th is probable.

Add 3-4 quality players with a couple of the youngsters coming through & the season after next is where we should be looking to breakthrough. But with a bit of luck it could be next season.

We've still got some major holes in the side, in that we haven't really got many proper wide options.  I think that getting some quality in the wide attacking areas alone would see us improve considerably. 

[Dave]

Most of our first team comes from a mixture of Championship or equivalent teams & Premier League reserves. Only Digne, Carlos, Couthino Young, Kamara & Sanson come with any pedigree & some of that is unproven or past it's best.

I'm not sure that's a metric that's worth judging as good or bad.

I reckon most people would consider "Premier League reserve" Martinez as more important than the pedigree of Young or Sanson. Give me as many Premier League reserves as possible if that's what they're going to be like.

I'd also say that Bailey deserves a spot on the list above as much as Kamara or Sanson do.

[simboy]

Well we’ve played much better and got results with the same players but now they’re being instructed in a certain way so straight away there’s improvement with no money spent.
Put Carlos in with either of the centre halves and you’d hope that a decent partnership will form which would see Mings or Konsa improve. With Martinez behind our back 5 is decent. Newcastle have got Dan Burn playing left back and Schar who has a mistake in him (Mings). Put Ramsey in from Tuesday breaking the lines and there’s immediate improvement, Newcastle have got Longstaff and Willock.
Yes, Watkins is very wasteful but unless we can attract a £50/£60m striker that’s what you’ll get with most. Newcastle have Wilson who is a much better finisher but is injury prone.
We’ve got great potential out on loan. For me maybe 2/3 of the right players in we can bridge the gap.

It doesn't have to be a £50/60m striker, take Alvarez for Instance Man City paid £14.1m who seem to have a good scouting network.

A good scouting network wasn't necessary to spot Alvarez. He was cheap because most Argentinian clubs rely on selling players to Europe and we were heavily linked with him for months.

And it's one of those "look, Man City/Chelsea/Liverpool only paid x for him, we could have afforded that" ones which is true, but for the fact there was no way in the world he'd be interested in sigining for us.

I mean, we could probably have afforded the cyborg lad from Norway, but the same again.

Not the way our wage structure is!

Price of purchase is not the main cost nowadays. I suspect we could compete. However, Salah is on £350k a week, so £18 mill a year, De Bruyne is on £20 mill and Haarland 19.8 mill. Grealish a reported £15.5 mill. per year.

That’s where the real squeeze is nowadays and with the House of Saud willing to pay out enough money per week to bang average players to buy the whole of the North East twice over, adds another layer.

I’d be surprised to see the transfer record beaten in the near future, but I’m willing to bet De Bruyne wages will be bettered by one of Man U, Newcastle, Chelsea or Liverpool very soon.

[SoccerHQ]

I think we can all agree that we could do with another striker but I dont think that should mean Ollie being flogged. Whilst he's not prolific, he's still a decent player to have around.

We'll massively struggle to sell Ings given his profile so problem will be having two expensive and 20m + strikers on the bench as opposed to just the one.

[Clampy]

I think we can all agree that we could do with another striker but I dont think that should mean Ollie being flogged. Whilst he's not prolific, he's still a decent player to have around.

We'll massively struggle to sell Ings given his profile so problem will be having two expensive and 20m + strikers on the bench as opposed to just the one.

We'd sell him easily enough, we just probably wouldn't get all our money back but I guess that was taken into account when we signed him.