January 2023 Transfer Rumours, Discussions and Done Deals Thread

[Axl Rose]

Jackson from Villarreal off to Bournemouth?

[Risso]

Coutinho is finished at this level and Buendia isn’t good enough for where we want to be, and he’s not good enough to help us get there either.

Buendia is helping us get there? He’s been part of this team which is second in the form table behind Arsenal dice Emery arrived. As is the rest of the players who have been starting most matches.

We've been gettings results without playing that well though. It feels like Unai is squeezing every last ounce out of the squad, which isn't going to be sustainable for ever. We need more players and we need better players.

[Risso]

Jackson from Villarreal off to Bournemouth?

I'm sorry to miss Jackson, from Villa real.

[VILLA MOLE]

Jackson from Villarreal off to Bournemouth?

I'm sorry to miss Jackson, from Villa real.

applause 

[Ian.]

Coutinho is finished at this level and Buendia isn’t good enough for where we want to be, and he’s not good enough to help us get there either.

Buendia is helping us get there? He’s been part of this team which is second in the form table behind Arsenal dice Emery arrived. As is the rest of the players who have been starting most matches.

We've been gettings results without playing that well though. It feels like Unai is squeezing every last ounce out of the squad, which isn't going to be sustainable for ever. We need more players and we need better players.

I agree we need to invest and improve but I feel Buendia has certainly helped to get us up the table as much as the rest of the team playing has.

[Monty]

I think Buendia isn't the guy to be a guaranteed starter if we want to push toward the top of the league, but he can contribute at that level as a squad player. Nothing wrong with that - who last year would've picked Nketiah as a title-challenger? (If you did, if it's just me being dim, then shut up nerd.)

[tomd2103]

Coutinho is finished at this level and Buendia isn’t good enough for where we want to be, and he’s not good enough to help us get there either.

Buendia is helping us get there? He’s been part of this team which is second in the form table behind Arsenal dice Emery arrived. As is the rest of the players who have been starting most matches.

I like Emi, but he's still wildly inconsistent during games.  He will do something sublime and then follow it up with something that is more at home at Sunday league level.   

I just can't see how or where he fits into this shape Emery plays to get the best out of him. Maybe he should try him more central and Bailey out wide? Hard to say, as at the moment it's working, but there has to be more to come from both those players.

It changes really.  Against Leeds he was more central, but in the second half at Southampton, he was definitely playing more out on the left. 

Him and Moreno struggled defensively in the second half on Saturday and quite a few of their chances came from poor defending on the left side.

[Risso]

I agree we need to invest and improve but I feel Buendia has certainly helped to get us up the table as much as the rest of the team playing has.

He has indeed Ian, but I do think he'll be one of the players who faces the biggest challenge to retain his place once the new recruits start arriving.

[pauliewalnuts]

It feels like Unai is squeezing every last ounce out of the squad, which isn't going to be sustainable for ever. We need more players and we need better players.

That's my take too. The guy is doing a brilliant job with players almost all of whom he inherited.

The bench at the weekend only had nine players on it, and that included two goalkeepers, a player who has since left, and a kid who had just signed his first professional contract a couple of days before.

As well as those on the bench, there was Nakamba and Augustinsson both of whom have been told they're not staying, and the former of whom is probably talking to clubs already so perhaps not in the right mind to be part of the squad (and is not good enough, anyway).

He's a great manager, but he is not a miracle worker. A week left of the window and we absolutely need good players in. If we don't, I fear we'll not finish as far up the table as we might do, and contrary to the "we aren't qualifying for Europe but we're not going to get relegated either so who cares" argument, that sort of thing matters to the handful of really, really great, in demand players we have and want to hold on to (the best keeper in the world, for starters).

[boozey182]

Coutinho is finished at this level and Buendia isn’t good enough for where we want to be, and he’s not good enough to help us get there either.

Buendia is helping us get there? He’s been part of this team which is second in the form table behind Arsenal dice Emery arrived. As is the rest of the players who have been starting most matches.

I like Emi, but he's still wildly inconsistent during games.  He will do something sublime and then follow it up with something that is more at home at Sunday league level.   

I just can't see how or where he fits into this shape Emery plays to get the best out of him. Maybe he should try him more central and Bailey out wide? Hard to say, as at the moment it's working, but there has to be more to come from both those players.

I think Buendia could turn into a much more effective player with a different striker in front of him. The one thing that Ings was very good at was peeling off his man and finding space for a through ball to played to him. Emi and Ings linked up a few times, Burnley and Brentford away last season for goals and there plenty more that Ings missed. At Norwich, they won the league because Emi and Pukki linked up so well like that. The problem we have had is that Ings isn't quite quick enough to do this regularly and Ollie just doesn't seem to be that kind of striker, for whatever reason. And I like Ollie, and I like Emi. They just don't seem to be that compatible. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many times they have linked up to score like that.

If we do decide to find an upgraded version of Emi, they must work as hard as he does, because I think that is critical to the way we play. Getting someone who works as hard as him and is better on the ball isn't going to be easy, or cheap. If we could somehow coach him to become a bit better, that would be great.

[Axl Rose]

Jackson from Villarreal off to Bournemouth?

I'm sorry to miss Jackson, from Villa real.

applause 

Haha. Very good!

[London Villan]

In Emery's 442, Buendia is currently a square peg - he'll be replaced, as he doesn't seem to have the strength or consistency to hold that wider role. However, he gives us flexibility. It wouldn't take much to change into a 4231 with Emi as the 10 (realistically it should be Phil as the 10 and Emi2 as the understudy, but that wouldn't be fair based on current form)

[algy]

Might be wrong (usually am, in fact), but going off how quickly we've made it clear that some players are surplus to requirements - I don't see how either Emi B or Ollie can be in that category.  I mean, we might be open to accepting a big offer on him, but at the end of the day there's a number of players closer to the exit than he is (Sanson, maybe Cash, Chambers, Augustinsson, Nakamba, Coutinho, maybe Olsen, maybe Digne, ...) - that's 8 new faces potentially, 9 if you include Ings' vacated spot.  Then there's Ashley Young, who whilst he's (hopefully) going to be around for another season - and might conceivably manage another couple - is unlikely to be playing Premier League football for a sizeable chunk of his 40s.

To my mind we've got 2, maybe 3, transfer windows' worth of signings right there ... so unless there's a silly offer for McGinn, Watkins, Buendia, etc - I can't see them being shifted either now or in the summer, and probably not next January either.

[Jimsta]

Mcginn and Buendia if keep giving the ball as much as they do will be replaced by Emery sooner rather than later.

[Risso]

Might be wrong (usually am, in fact), but going off how quickly we've made it clear that some players are surplus to requirements - I don't see how either Emi B or Ollie can be in that category.  I mean, we might be open to accepting a big offer on him, but at the end of the day there's a number of players closer to the exit than he is (Sanson, maybe Cash, Chambers, Augustinsson, Nakamba, Coutinho, maybe Olsen, maybe Digne, ...) - that's 8 new faces potentially, 9 if you include Ings' vacated spot.  Then there's Ashley Young, who whilst he's (hopefully) going to be around for another season - and might conceivably manage another couple - is unlikely to be playing Premier League football for a sizeable chunk of his 40s.

To my mind we've got 2, maybe 3, transfer windows' worth of signings right there ... so unless there's a silly offer for McGinn, Watkins, Buendia, etc - I can't see them being shifted either now or in the summer, and probably not next January either.

Yes you can't obviously replace everybody at once (although Chelsea are having a stab at it). You've got people who are definitely surplus to requirements (Sanson, Gilbert, Nakamba etc) then definite nailed on players to build your team around (Martinez, Kamara and Ramsey). Most of the others will have a sliding scale of need to be replaced at some point, which might take 2-3 years.