January 2023 Transfer Rumours, Discussions and Done Deals Thread

[paul_e]

We have any good LB academy prospects?

Ben Chrisene who looks a fantastic prospect and is out at Kilmarnock.
Seb Revan who I don't think will make it with us but looks ok and will probably have a decent career.
Sil Swinkels has played there a bit as well but he's a centre back really and probably 3rd or 4 in the list there.

[Drummond]

I think it would be dangerous not to strengthen this January though, in the hope that all the players maintain their form. Gerrard won three out of four when he tookover as well, but then he and the players couldn't maintain it.

We have to strengthen. It'll take an injury/suspension or two and we're down to lesser quality. With Ramsey out and Luiz and McGinn getting knocks, we'd have Kamara, Dendoncker and Sanson as our midfield with Nakamba on the bench and Young likely to have to play in there. Defensively I'm less concerned, but up front we're light too.

[Drummond]

We don't need to be moving on our current first team picks. What we should be doing is replacing the squad fillers with players who can go in to the first team and the current first team will have to fight for their shirt or accept being a squad player.

McGinn is easily good enough to be in a squad fighting for a European place, and whilst he may not be first choice, he's a damn good option to have. The tackles, commitment and movement are all there, and as the assist for Luiz showed, there's a good touch there too.

[N'ZMAV]

continuous improvement

[paul_e]

We don't need to be moving on our current first team picks. What we should be doing is replacing the squad fillers with players who can go in to the first team and the current first team will have to fight for their shirt or accept being a squad player.

McGinn is easily good enough to be in a squad fighting for a European place, and whilst he may not be first choice, he's a damn good option to have. The tackles, commitment and movement are all there, and as the assist for Luiz showed, there's a good touch there too.

I don't disagree but sometimes you do need to consider bringing some funds in so players who are good enough to keep as squad options, who won't start all that often at the level you want to be, and are high enough profile to be worth a fair bit are better options to move on than letting your best player leave for a massive fee or hoping a highly rated youngster goes for a fortune as has happened the last 2 summers.

[N'ZMAV]

can't just keep spunking money on signings - we'll need to sell a few every now and again.
Guilbert, Nakamba, Hause, Traore, Davis and Wesley all need shifting out.

[paul_e]

can't just keep spunking money on signings - we'll need to sell a few every now and again.
Guilbert, Nakamba, Hause, Traore, Davis and Wesley all need shifting out.

The problem there is that players we don't want are often not going to be wanted by other teams either, which is why you sometimes have to sell a few fringe players or first teamers who are dropping out of being regulars.

[N'ZMAV]

oh yeah, absolutely - I'd like to think there's some clubs foolish enough to buy our cast-offs.

[LeeB]

oh yeah, absolutely - I'd like to think there's some clubs foolish enough to buy our cast-offs.

I'm sure there are plenty interested but can't afford the wages and transfer fees outside of the Premier League. As Paul says, it may be that you have to give up someone a bit higher up the pecking order to balance the books.

Like that twat O'Leary did with Crouch when he was just starting to bloom.

[Mister E]

I like De Paul but I'm not sure where he'd fit for us.
If we stick with the current setup then we have a forward who drifts out onto the wing (Bailey) and a wide midfielder (McGinn) who moves into the space it creates. From what I've seen of de Paul (which isn't a huge amount to be fair) he strikes me as more of a player who'd like to wait outside the box to pick up the scraps than someone who'd be arriving late in the box. I just think that position screams out to be given to JJ.

More centrally I think he'd be a better option but I'm not sure he'd be happy rotating with Luiz, Kamara and Dendoncker and I don't think he'd deserve to be guaranteed to start ahead of them regularly.

We'll sell McGinn in the summer imo. Sanson and Nakamba will also leave so even with Tim coming back we won't have a huge amount of midfielders in the squad for a potential 50 + game season.

I would hope that Tim, ARamsey and Reikhy would all be pushing for regular starts in midfield next season. If they're not, we've maybe overrated them.

[chrisw1]

can't just keep spunking money on signings - we'll need to sell a few every now and again.
Guilbert, Nakamba, Hause, Traore, Davis and Wesley all need shifting out.

JFC, Wesley's contract runs to Jun-24.  What a dreadful bit of buiness that was.
Guilbert's - Jun-23 so he'll be gone by the summer
Nakamba - Jun-24
Hause - Jun-25
Traore - Jun-24
Davis - Jun-24

In theory we should get a few quid for some of them, in reality clubs know we just want the wages off the books and will continue wanting subsidised loans.

[Toronto Villa]

It’s a lead weight now in hindsight, but at the time we signed a young, raw and promising Brazilian CF. Dreadful business were the deals we had Micah Richards or Shay Given.

[eamonn]

I like De Paul but I'm not sure where he'd fit for us.
If we stick with the current setup then we have a forward who drifts out onto the wing (Bailey) and a wide midfielder (McGinn) who moves into the space it creates. From what I've seen of de Paul (which isn't a huge amount to be fair) he strikes me as more of a player who'd like to wait outside the box to pick up the scraps than someone who'd be arriving late in the box. I just think that position screams out to be given to JJ.

More centrally I think he'd be a better option but I'm not sure he'd be happy rotating with Luiz, Kamara and Dendoncker and I don't think he'd deserve to be guaranteed to start ahead of them regularly.

We'll sell McGinn in the summer imo. Sanson and Nakamba will also leave so even with Tim coming back we won't have a huge amount of midfielders in the squad for a potential 50 + game season.

I would hope that Tim, ARamsey and Reikhy would all be pushing for regular starts in midfield next season. If they're not, we've maybe overrated them.

No offence to the babbies in question but if we have 3 young midfielders pushing for regular starts next season, I'll be a bit worried that (a) Luiz/Ramsey Sr/Kamara/McGinn have all been sold or turned to shit and (b) Emery hasn't replaced them or improved on them with better in the transfer market.

Blooding youngsters with sub appearances and loan moves is one thing, integrating them into the team on a regular basis will realistically only happen with one or two young players a year at best, throughout the whole team.

[Smithy]

It’s a lead weight now in hindsight, but at the time we signed a young, raw and promising Brazilian CF. Dreadful business were the deals we had Micah Richards or Shay Given.

Wesley wasn't "dreadful business", it was a £20m punt on a young player with potential who was doing "okay" six months into his English career.  He hadn't set the league alight, and he was never going to be Neymar, but we will never know how it might have turned out without his injury. We may well have outgrown him by now anyway - but he had 6 goals by this stage in the season, in a struggling side.  He would likely have got into double figures by the end of the season. Richarlison got 5 in his first season with Watford and got a £30m move off the back of it.

Players knackered by injury don't automatically become "dreadful bits of business".  Reserve that type of classification for the Ross McCormacks of this world. 

[Sexual Ealing]

It’s a lead weight now in hindsight, but at the time we signed a young, raw and promising Brazilian CF. Dreadful business were the deals we had Micah Richards or Shay Given.

Wesley wasn't "dreadful business", it was a £20m punt on a young player with potential who was doing "okay" six months into his English career.  He hadn't set the league alight, and he was never going to be Neymar, but we will never know how it might have turned out without his injury. We may well have outgrown him by now anyway - but he had 6 goals by this stage in the season, in a struggling side.  He would likely have got into double figures by the end of the season. Richarlison got 5 in his first season with Watford and got a £30m move off the back of it.

Players knackered by injury don't automatically become "dreadful bits of business".  Reserve that type of classification for the Ross McCormacks of this world. 

Correct.