Summer 2024 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Dave]

Zaniolos been terrible. ESR would do far better than what 3 goals all season?

Well Smith-Rowe's record is zero goals in his last thirty-seven matches. So maybe. Maybe not.

Have you considered the major injuries  he has had and the limited starts given? You cannot seriously compare ESR to zaniolo  ?

I mean, the fact that he doesn't do much whenever he plays is actually because he doesn't play enough because of his many injuries is a compelling argument for why we should sign him.

[LeeS]

Zaniolos been terrible. ESR would do far better than what 3 goals all season?

Well Smith-Rowe's record is zero goals in his last thirty-seven matches. So maybe. Maybe not.

Have you considered the major injuries  he has had and the limited starts given? How many of those were starts? You cannot seriously compare ESR to zaniolo  ?

Zaniolo is useless ESR just needs to leave a manager that isnt utilising him at all. Arteta the same man thats destroyed ramsdales career

You gloss over "major injuries" as though its not a massive black mark against him. I'm sure he's a good lad and a talented player, but he's fragile. Its a big "no" from me.

[Demitri_C]

Zaniolos been terrible. ESR would do far better than what 3 goals all season?

Well Smith-Rowe's record is zero goals in his last thirty-seven matches. So maybe. Maybe not.

Have you considered the major injuries  he has had and the limited starts given? You cannot seriously compare ESR to zaniolo  ?

I mean, the fact that he doesn't do much whenever he plays is actually because he doesn't play enough because of his many injuries is a compelling argument for why we should sign him.

The big injury he has had seems to have had a impact on him ,  i mean like tammy having a long term injury you just dont know if they are same player. It all depends on two things for me of price is right and unai thinks he is good enough.

[paul_e]

Both have had setbacks through major injuries. Both have been better in the past than they are showing. Both are young enough to still have very good careers in the game.

However this season Zani has been better than ESR, Zani had the worse injury troubles and Zani was far better before injuries than anything ESR has ever shown. There's a reason he was lauded as the replacement for Totti.

[Smithy]

Smith-Rowe is a good player, but he's not going to improve our team. What he MIGHT do is improve the squad depth, which has been shown to be a bit thin towards the end of the season. 

What we don't know is whether we should assume we'll lose a similar number of players to injury next year as we have this season, because if everyone is fit, I don't think he'd even get off the bench and would probably play as much as he does for Arsenal. But, if he'd been our player for the last month I bet we'd have seen plenty of him.

We're at a stage in our development where realistically, there are very few players we could actually buy who would improve our first eleven.  Not only because those players are very expensive, but also because there aren't that many of them.  What we CAN do, is improve the squad such that our bench options, and our injury cover, are at a level that is as close to the first 11 as possible. 

It would be nice to rotate players with a bit more freedom knowing the players coming in are of a similar quality. Imagine if our best players had played 40-ish games this season, instead of over 50? Ollie, SJM and Dougie are all over 50 games already this season, and that's without significant domestic cup runs. What would our performance levels look like right now if they (and a few others) had all played 10-ish fewer games?

Sure, this will give us different sorts of problems, with players unhappy at not playing, but that's a much better problem to have than the one we're facing currently.

[tomd2103]

Smith-Rowe plays in a position where we already have plenty of options.  I hope we will focus on the areas where we are a little short or need to add a bit of quality.

I think to remain in the top 8 and be in the mix qualifying for the Champions League next season, we need to address bot full-back areas (especially if Digne leaves) and central midfield.  We will also probably need to assess whether Duran is a adequate back up for Watkins. 

I think if we were going to push on again and really try and  cement a place in the top four and possibly look at getting close to the title, we would need to do the above and add some genuine international class talent in the positions Diaby and Bailey play.  Both have had their moments this season, but are too erratic and lose the ball too often.  I doubt that kind of money would be there though. 

[eamonn]

Bailey has been sensational!

[PaulWinch again]

Calling Bailey “erratic” this season is bonkers.

[Smithy]

Calling Bailey “erratic” this season is bonkers.

Yep, before this season you could have levelled that accusation at him, but this year he's been phenomenal.  He has the odd bad game like every player on the planet, but his average level is exceptionally high these days.

[Dave]

Calling Bailey “erratic” this season is bonkers.

Yep, before this season you could have levelled that accusation at him, but this year he's been phenomenal.  He has the odd bad game like every player on the planet, but his average level is exceptionally high these days.

It would also beg the question of which winger we'd be looking to sign who is less "erratic". As short of Mbappe, I'm not sure such a player exists based on his performances this season.

[LeeB]

I'm not saying we should sign Smith Rowe, though I do like him, but given the tightness of finances and fact we've employed Monchi we should prepare ourselves for signing one or two players that on the face of it may not look particularly attractive.

[Baldy]

Bailey is in the discussion for Villa player of the season!!

[Demitri_C]

Zaniolos been terrible. ESR would do far better than what 3 goals all season?

Well Smith-Rowe's record is zero goals in his last thirty-seven matches. So maybe. Maybe not.

Have you considered the major injuries  he has had and the limited starts given? How many of those were starts? You cannot seriously compare ESR to zaniolo  ?

Zaniolo is useless ESR just needs to leave a manager that isnt utilising him at all. Arteta the same man thats destroyed ramsdales career

You gloss over "major injuries" as though its not a massive black mark against him. I'm sure he's a good lad and a talented player, but he's fragile. Its a big "no" from me.

Im not glossing anything. But the kids young. Are we going to be writing off buendia and mings who are all alot older than him?

Kamara is only a year older than him. ESR is 23 still pretty young and he has huge potential.  Its just if he is over them injuries for me

[London Villan]

Man city's key players start about 35-40 games a season - not 50. While we can't have a squad like that we need to be able to rest and rotate players to stop us blowing up like we've done in the last few weeks. That means some more quality coming in. That might mean selling promising kids to give us the breathing space financially to do that, which isn't great, but needs must.

[Dave]

Both have had setbacks through major injuries. Both have been better in the past than they are showing. Both are young enough to still have very good careers in the game.

However this season Zani has been better than ESR, Zani had the worse injury troubles and Zani was far better before injuries than anything ESR has ever shown. There's a reason he was lauded as the replacement for Totti.

Indeed. Zaniolo's best is better than Smith-Rowe's best. Neither get into our first team. Neither has shown enough that we should be spending £20-30m on them.