It's not supposed to happen, but it does, and there's no getting around it, especially when you've got all sorts of agents and representatives who are in regular contact with all clubs. At least this time it's a player we're happy to see leave rather than (ahem) last time
However the Premier League/FA were getting dragged into a tapping up complaint wrt Slither. Even though it's time for AD to go, if we make a complaint the Premier League/FA will take a dim view of Everton and may impose sanctions.
Different scenario, we told them in no uncertain terms back then that we didn't want Sliva to leave, yet Everton continued their approach. It's not like Doucs is going to play for us in the Championship, we probably have no problem with Everton discussing personal terms with him now
That's why they have agents. It's sometimes all sorted before the actual player even speaks to the club these days.
Well it kind of does because everyone does it including us, it's just how business is conducted these days. How do you think we signed Sarr, we just decided to bid nearly £30m in the hope that he would say yes to us? We would have had his contract sorted ages before we finally agreed a fee.
Saw a tweet from Louhorns saying that Watford are trying to get Jarrad Braithwaite as part of the Doucouré transfer deal. Good player, but would only want that if he signs permanently.
Again, would I want an almost literal kid to be playing alongside Wilmot? He may or may not be better than Dawson et al, but he's only just turned 18 a few months ago, surely that's too young to have to rely on
I agree and that's why it won't happen. We wanted Braitwaite last summer, he chose Everton and from what I can see from the outside his time there seems to have gone well do far. I've seen some positive reports and there are stories Ancelotti likes him. If he comes it'll be a loan I imagine.
Agreed, not sure you’d want an 18 year old and a 20 year old as your starting CB pair. I wouldn’t want to develop the kid for Everton (especially at the potential expense of Wilmot) just so he can go back there next year and do a job for them. 10 years ago when we were broke, taking young players destined for better things and promising them regular minutes in the Championship was the best chance we had of assembling a competitive squad. Now we don’t need to rely on other team’s players, I’d only want loanees that we have an option to buy.
Not if the priority is getting back to the PL right? Who cares how we do it as long as we do. Other teams players or not. Plus, when we get back to the PL and the sweet sweet cash that comes with it, we can invest in our defence. *cough cough cough*
Eldorado. We will be rolling in cash if we can make it to the promised land and become a regular in the UEFA cup and maybe finally win some meaningful silverware. Got to be worth the financial gamble, I say.
Age doesn't matter if they're good enough. It's no guarantee that Wilmot would be a regular starter anyways.
Well if Wilmot isn't starting, it's quite possibly two of Dawson, Cathcart and Kabasele who won't be among the best in this division
A lot of loans sloshing around at the top of the Championship tbf, and not all with an option to buy. Might need to rely on one or two if **** happens in the transfer window or we get injuries (speaking of which, Wilmot was injured at the end of last season and Hughes is out for the start of the season I think?). Think the fact that Wilmot was a loanee hindered him at Swansea as they had the guy from Chelsea Guehi who I believe has committed to them next season too
I think people are underestimating how many games there are next season. We'll need a big squad, and I think whichever teams have the best squads ill have a huge advantage. From the 17th Oct, we basically have a game Sat-Tues every week until January. We'll need a lot of options...
Agreed. The quality of squad depth is what’s going to get teams promoted this season. Norwich signing players like a kid in a candy shop for a reason. Not all of them will be great. However Norwich, like Brentford, seem to pull these signings out our nowhere for cheap, and have a pretty good record for finding diamonds in the rough. Not suggesting that we go crazy, but quantity with quality is going to be needed.
I get your point about loanees with an option to buy but for me the objective is to get back to The Premier League and IMO Brantwaite would be our best central defender if he joined us on loan regardless of his age, a loan deal as part of the Doucoure to Everton deal would cost us virtually feck all. I am not sure Wilmot is even that great, to be honest from what I have seen of Branthwaite and Wilmot Branthwaite is undoubtedly a much better player. I am not sure that Wilmot is even an improvement on what we already have in all honesty, I am happy to be proven wrong though, however, he has shown nothing to suggest that he is so far.
To be fair will probably end up selling quite a few players as well as the transfer window progresses.
I loved the line; "He looks like he’s trying to trap a red hot cannonball with his bare feet". Utterly brilliant.
I noticed he gave away the ball for the break that led to Leicester's second and capped it off by sprinting back to try and recover the situation and then being turned inside out by Barnes.
His decline has been quite something In red is his 18/19 season with Watford, in blue is his season with Everton so far. His stats have declined steadily year upon year, going from a solid all rounder to basically someone who runs around a lot and little else.
This is what happens when you don't have the horrendously underrated (not by Watford fans) Etienne Capoue next to you.
Speaking of Capoue, really interesting to see his stats decline year on year as he gets older Red is this season (22/23), blue is last season (21/22) and then below is his 20/21 stats, steady decline across the board. Although saying that his stats are basically the same as Kayembes now lol.
Don’t know if it would affect his stats in that way, but I always thought Capoue got a thrill from turning it on against better players but was much less bothered against inferior opposition.
A former Watford employee told me Doucoure's knee was a ticking timebomb. Supposedly failed his medical with us, but we signed him anyway and part of the reason we didn't sell him at his peak...
