Filippo Giraldi - Head Of Player Recruitment

I agree the signings used to be excellent but the last few windows it has been really poor I think. When was the last time we had a good window? The one before Silva’s season? Hughes/Richarlison/Chalobah/Femenia.

It’s like they have run out of ideas (or all similar clubs have caught up). Now we seem to be limited to paying top whack for quality (Sarr), or spend our time trading players who won’t play for us and lowballing clubs to try and buy first teamers.

It’s telling that the defence is now significantly worse than Flores’ first season. I think their model has had it’s time and Pozzo is now out manouvered and outgunned.

 

I think they’ve failed to continue to innovate when it comes to transfer dealings. The Pozzo group had a pretty decent record of finding unknown talent and polishing it into the finished product to be sold on for a huge profit. They were innovators in the use of video scouting and compiling a massive database of stats etc on players around the world. It worked brilliantly while other clubs weren’t doing the same thing. Now though, analytics and video scouting are everywhere. I bet the majority of clubs at the higher levels of the game have adopted similar systems to find talent. The competitive advantage they once had, has more than likely diminished significantly.

If you stand still, you get passed up.

 

I've never heard a player talk about him at all, in any capacity.

Yet he's here, there and everywhere.

Says a lot to me.

 

You say that but I don't think the last two windows were that bad. We blew a lot of our budget on Sarr, and I thought at the time we'd done our money, but the club showed they knew what they were doing when they signed him. He's clearly going to be a top player and we'll not only see a good young player develop first hand, the club will double their money at least on him. A club record signing has to be recognised for it's ambition.

I still maintain getting Welbeck was a superb piece of business. One of the shrewdest signings the club has ever made. Ok, I'm putting myself in the minority with that view, because he's so far not been fit enough to contribute, but I believe in him and believe he will remain fit once he gets his match legs back. I accept I could be wrong about that, but right now I'd say he's potentially one of our best ever signings.

Dawson was a solid if not spectacular signing, but after a rocky start, he's certainly proving to be a good addition now for just £5m. Also Pussetto, again another who has initially looked a little weak, but I've seen some good qualities in him. He has a great attitude for tracking back, and has some skills. I think in time we'll see him as an excellent addition to the squad.

Ok, that's about it, but I believe we've heavily invested in youth this season. Not every player will pay off, but I think we've selected well in the group we signed. We're now top of the U23 league, which is a good indicator. It wasn't long ago we were getting beaten every single week. Players like Spencer-Adams, Hungbo, Dalby, Whealn and Hinds could all play are part in our future.

How about Pedro, another excellent young prospect. He could be a real star in the making. Dele-Bashiru is also highly rated and was a bit of a coup getting him from City.

We've signed a lot of quality and a lot of potential. We've gone primarily to youth, with the hope it will pay-off further down the line. We have to be patient, but as we can already see, there are signs that one or two we signed a couple of seasons ago are developing well in Europe. Players like Suarez, Estupinan, Cucho, Aias.

It's not been a bad window. But where we've missed the boat is signing that ellusive quality central defender. Had we done that, then I think quite a few would have been extremely pleased with the business we did.

 

The thing with the full backs though is that we had 4 at the start of the season. Holebas had an excellent season last year with Masina as back up. We then have Femenia and Janmaat for right back. Unfortunately age has caught up with Holebas quicker than anybody thought and both right backs have been injured. According to Wikipedia Janmaat played 69 times in his final two seasons for Newcastle and then 68 in 3 season before this season for us. There was a period of time when he was on the bench with Femenia the preferred choice so I don't think that's a bad return of games. Unfortunately both right backs are currently injured but I don't believe those 4 were a bad way to start the season. We did apparently try to get Danny Rose which would have been a significant improvement but what we didn't need was another at the level of the four we had so I have no issues with the full backs. The centre backs are different and definitely needed a big improvement but just got Dawson which is poor. Having said that we have kept the most clean sheets in the league I believe so maybe they're not as bad as some make out.
For me you defend from the front and the issue we have is when Sarr isn't playing teams know they can press and attack the full backs and defenders as they are unlikely to get caught on the break so actually Sarr has become as important for us going forward as he has to the defence. It's no coincidence that our drop in form has arrived at the same time as Sarr has been injured
As a club I think it's difficult or very near to impossible to build a squad which isn't weakened by injuries or suspensions. We don't have the money to be able to do that so you are always going to look for players who are squad players rather than just 1st team players. All clubs have the same issue. Spurs have struggled for ages to get somebody in up front to give Kane a break because if they are at his level or very close to it they don't want to play second fiddle for most of the season so they end up with players like Llorente who's an ok striker but not in the same class as Kane.
I agree fully that we've not done enough with the centre backs. Dawson basically replaced Britos. Prodl was never likely to be involved so we had Catchcart, Kabasele, Dawson and Mariappa. Cathcart and Kabasele are not bad but Dawson hasn't looked great and Mariappa is not good enough either. When we were after Rose my thought was why we weren't looking at spending that money on a centre back. The rest is in my opinion isn't too bad and I never expected to be in the position we find ourselves

 

We're only a good striker and a decent CB away from a very good team.

The problem is, that has been the case for the last 3 years.

 

I wonder how many players some people want for each position. Quality players don't want to sign as back up (see Kane point above), and you can't have 3 or 4 players for each position just in case of injuries. We started the season with 2 players for every spot in the team, plus some who can cover elsewhere (i.e. Mariappa - 2nd choice centre back, 3rd choice left back).

I've still not seen any sensible suggestions for who we should have signed in either of these past two windows.

 

And when they signed players like Benatia, Alexis Sanchez and Handanovic (to name a few) they went straight into the Usinese team to prove their talent and ability. Faith was put in them. We seem to ship ours out on loan or be reluctant to give them a game.

 

No way do we double our money on Sarr if we go down. I’d be surprised if we got back what we paid.

 

Given where the club say they want to be, at the start of this season I’d suggest Holebas/Masina and Janmaat/Femenia were nowhere near the level to match that ambition.

I don’t see how anyone can be surprised that Holebas age has caught up with him. A great start to last season but it was a evident as the season ended. Masina has had a decent bit of form recently but he was still a cheap punt who I’m still not convinced the club trust. Janmaat is a perennial sick note. Only Femenia would I say was fit to match the ambition. And he’s largely had a stinker of a season.

The same can be said of Cathcart and Kabasele. With talked ourselves into thinking they’re decent. But they are distinctly average. If we could just get one CB of quality into the club, the gulf in ability would be evident in my opinion. And I suspect no CB of real quality wants to play alongside either of them. I think we need 2 new starting CB’s this summer.

It’s time to be harsh and speak about these players in realistic terms. Claiming some of them are decent is part of the problem and replicates the attitudes seemingly from Gino and Giraldi.

 

Given Mariappa is currently RB until we get injured players back a loan would have seemed sensible early in this window. Walker-Peters was available for example. Now he may well have preferred saints anyway, but you can’t tell me there wasn’t a single loan right back available at home or in Europe who was superior to captain panic playing 6/7/8 games in a row or whatever it ends up being.

Nobody is asking for a world class player. They are just asking for someone better to cover our injuries than shocking Mariappa (and effectively replace the crocked Janmaat)

 

To pick up on Holebas. I take your point to an extent but he's 35. Regardless of his overall form - and I'd say last year after Xmas it was only just acceptable rather than stellar - the risk of him suddenly looking his age was huge. Holding onto him looked like a cheapskate punt, whereas I reckon the vast vast majority of other top flight clubs would have eliminated him from their squad having judged the risk to outweigh the potential reward of him still being competent/not having to pay for a replacement.

 

I recall seeing him sitting on the Bench a couple of times like someone doing a time and motion study. Why do they keep hold of him. What do the Pozzos see in him?, Is he responsible for bringing in Oulare, OKaka,ikpeaizu, Suarez, Juraldo, Success, Ranege, Amrabat and Sinclair, to name just a few that turned out to be duds? Let’s hope he thinks the Championship is beneath him and Fcks off somewhere before he brings in even more dross at an even lower level to fight to try and get back up.

 

This team is going to be unrecognisable next season. I don’t see Sarr and Pedro being anywhere near the club next season, sold off with the other inevitable ones. I worry what they will be replaced with....Bamford, Matt smith, Austin??

 

I think you'd have to be wilfully blind to genuinely claim that you haven't seen any sensible suggestions for signings over either of the past two windows; we've had suggestions coming out of our ears, and plenty of them have been sensible in one way or another, depending upon which strategy we're pursuing. I would say they generally outweigh the stupid suggestions, the prevalence of which are wildly overstated by those posters who go about with the red herring of 'we're not going to sign a world class player' on their lips rather often, without ever being able to point to someone claiming that we should or would.

For one, right now off the top of my head, you need look no further than Adam Webster. Brighton paid (a deal worth up to) £20m for him in the summer, so that's basically one Andre Gray, and if he is at all successful the idea that CBs don't provide value by going for significant transfer fees has been smashed to pieces in recent years. In the summer we had just finished 11th in the Prem, going into our fifth consecutive season in the division, and having spent much of it competing for a Europa League place whilst reaching the FA Cup Final (though it might have suited us to sort any deal before the match was actually played...) Are we seriously suggesting that we couldn't have provided at least as attractive a prospect as Brighton?

 

Nathaniel Clyne for RB - doesn’t get a kick for Liverpool and went on loan to Bournemouth last season so he’s attainable.
Ricardo Rodriguez at LB - affordable and went to PSV in the end so was likely also very attainable.

Of course we don’t know if those players would have agreed to come - but they were certainly sensible suggestions who would have improved the first team.

As for CB’s, given the numbers we have, both Gibson and someone like Benkovic were also good suggestions to get numbers up.

I really don’t see how it could be said that none of the above wouldn’t have bolstered the squad and weren’t sensible.

 

Whilst others have posted the sensible suggestions you are looking for, it does raise a few alarm bells that in order to defend the club's reckless lack of investment in our defence, which will likely lead to relegation, you ask that people should make suggestions on who to sign.

Pretty sure none of us are paid to do that role nor have direct unfettered access to 'the best scouting network in the world'.

Those that do have that access and are employed by Watford FC should probably resign.

 

Well, I'd take it at the moment. But not everybody seems to agree: There are some on here who claim to be fed-up with 'mid-table mediocrity' - and recently, too. It seems impossible to please everybody all the time.

 

Mid-table ‘mediocrity’ in the PL is a far different (and better prospect) than the same thing in The Championship.

While I think there was more excitement in the seasons below, you need to be in the mix of the Top 10 to feel it. Being one of those clubs like Reading or QPR who sit about 15th each season would be pure hell.

 

Both of which have been Prem clubs in the not too distant past.

 

Just seen that Clyne is out of contract in the summer as well and is a good age at 28.

Like Cahill, another I suspect we will watch go to a rival of a similar size.

 

Arsenal signing Martinelli for £6 million (he looks great value for money) - shows that Watford are going to struggle to keep finding great talent at low prices. The rules on expanding the number of home grown players in the squad is going to make these cheaper overseas signings even more important to all Premier League clubs.

Inevitablly UK talent is going to get more expensive. somewhere i saw that Grealish at AV may attract £100m+ bid. If i was Watford i would start gearing up the scouting process to find good young UK players.

I think it is getting harder and harder for smaller clubs to compete in the recruitment market.

 

I should have mentioned this. One of the most disappointing things over the last few years has been our inability to develop the young talent we have acquired.

The mismanagement of Success and Penaranda are obvious examples, but the same could also be said of how we’ve handled Wilmot. Now, granted it appears Penaranda and Success have had issues with attitude and application, but so so many young players and it’s part of our job to nurture and guide them. It doesn’t appear there’s been a clear plan for their progression since they got here, with both being sent out on various loans that haven’t worked out.

It wasn’t necessarily the case early on, with the likes of Vydra, Forrestieri, Battochio, and even the likes of Hoban and Anya being given opportunities to play regular football, despite being on the younger end of things and being relatively inexperienced.

When they took over, we were rightly excited about their history of finding and trusting young talent, so it’s been really disappointing to see the average age of our squad so high, and such a reluctance to trust younger, hungrier players.

 

Exactly right. Too many people say ‘...but Richarlison’ in response to this.
The club don’t totally neglect youth. But they certainly don’t put trust in it.

 

Isn't Giraldi the Pozzo's 'enforcer' i.e. their man on the ground, the all seeing, the all knowing. Sure he's got a fancy corporate football title but in reality he's just there to make sure everyone knows who owns the club.

The only other reason Giraldi may still be here is that he knows where all the bodies are buried and the Pozzo's can't force him out without him throwing too much **** at the walls.

 

Agreed.

I think the job title is a red herring both to us as the supporters & perhaps to some extent the players. He is primarily there as the day to day eyes & ears for Gino. Don't see any other PL clubs have head of recruitment patting players on the back & acting like fake besties at the end of the game. That is a coach, coach assistant & players only domain & so it should be.

No doubt he also has some recruitment/advisory involvement just for good housekeeping.

 

Lol

 

Cool post.... you must be very proud.

 

We used to be able to attract young players because they had a better chance of first team football than with a Prem club. Now, with our abundance of foreign players on long contracts, that's no longer the case.

 

Back to Southampton, maybe?

 

More chance of Palace I’d say. Former England manager and his first club. And he was born in South London.

But defo the type of player we should be interested in as long as he is over the injuries - one Welbeck is more than enough at this point!

 

He once played for Liverpool and England. But hasn't for England since he started going out on loan.

He must be good. Plus he plays for Liverpool so I know all about him.

 

I’m putting 2 and 2 together here....

But in the latest from The Athletic, Leventhal has interviews QSF post-sacking.

An interesting point where he says ‘someone’ from the club stood taking notes on the coaching during training. Can only be Giraldi surely?

That’s just not normal.

 

Yeah, I read the piece. Clearly Flores did not like that and didn't accept it as something that should have been happening, although it's not Giraldi making notes. It's just another employee. He also mentioned, by name, that Giraldi was on the touch line and in the dressing room at half time to hear the team talks, although he said he accepted that and in fact he thought it was good so they know exactly what's going on and have empathy. (Although it doesn't really make any difference in the end when you get sacked.)

It seems like a severe case of micro-management where Giraldi, or some other non-coaching member of the club, is a fly on the wall everywhere. It must be hugely off-putting. I think Gracia mentioned something like this too.

I'm surprised the Pearson is working with this type of interference, as this is one of the reasons he left Derby, because their owner was using drones to see his training methods.

It gives the message of we don't trust you. We want to make sure you're doing your job correctly. I think it's insulting and undermining to the head coach.