Yeah I know. Just a bit of fun at the expense of the typical character Nath plays. No harm intended .
It'll be Louza and Choudhury once Louza is back fit. Kayembe is fine as a stand in for now. Overall we're alright for the two deep-lying midfield roles, which Grimes is another one of. What we need is goalscorers and attacking drive from midfield, which Grimes does not offer.
Options are needed throughout the season, Grimes brings that. If we lose a CM for a couple of months or longer we’re screwed. Grimes will fight for his place in the starting line up, brings leadership into the middle of the park and his passing ability will move us up the pitch quicker than what we’re currently doing. Obviously we all hope that Louza will do this, but if Louza gets injured again, we have no-one that can play his role. Grimes does. We already know that Grimes would be keen on the move. He’s just someone I would go for in our current situation. Outside of Louza and Choudhury our CM is weak. Grimes is levels above Kayembe, Gosling and Clevs.
We currently have lost a CM for a couple of months with having Louza out, but we've not been "screwed". Our biggest issues have been in attack , RWB and LCB. He probably wouldn't even start for us once Louza is back. Given that he'd still cost a decent amount, spending money on someone like him to sit on the bench is faaaar from the priority.
We have been screwed in terms of winning games. Grimes on instead of Kayembe and we have more points than what we do now. Kayembe slows everything down, not saying he’s bad, but a better player like Grimes in his place and we’re top of the league. Another long term injury to Louza and we’re back to where we are now, and that’s struggling to penetrate teams through the middle. We need a good squad for 46 games. Plus if Louza has a standout season, next summer he will be off. Grimes is there as a replacement. For the games we need to shut up shop Grimes off the bench is a solid option. For the games we need to play 3 in the middle, a midfield 3 of Choudhury, Louza and Grimes makes us very difficult to beat, while allowing Grimes and Louza to rotate pushing up. Not saying it’s a priority, never did, simply said wouldn’t be surprised if we renewed our interest in him. Honestly think we get Ebosele on loan for RWB. LCB is now done with Hause on loan. Attack will be Archer on loan with us paying a decent loan fee once Villa sign another attacker. That’s my guess anyway. Also wouldn’t be surprised if we did “splash the cash” on an attacking player like Piroe, Gyokeres. So financially if we wanted to sign Grimes for £5-7mil, we easily could.
My prediction for what its worth: We sign Matt Clarke in addition to Hause. We sign Cyril Ngonge - or Archer on loan. We keep Sarr. No RWB. Martin Palumbo joins from Udinese on deadline day.
Seen his name mentioned a few times before but doesn't seem to have played more than a handful of games other than in Serie C which must be Division 2/Conference level. Would be a massive step up.
Huge talent though and Juve were keen not long ago (admittedly they chose not to sign him) - but he's the kind of progressive talent I'd want from Udinese rather than more dross. Juve saw fit to give him a first team appearance which is no mean feat. Would be a Chalobah type signing (when he was 17).
Became a star for me on Football Manager 21, but then again, so did James Garner, read into that what you will
Hunches, or have you heard anything? Have to say, I know nothing of Ngonge Jr, but it would be an interesting one wouldn't it? Son of a former cult hero, and seems to be a very promising young player, although I am not sure how he would fit into the team (could say that about just about every player on the planet until we know what's happening with other deals mind you!)
A mix of hunches and former links/interest. I'd have loved to add Brereton-Diaz to it but I just don't think he will accept moving to another Championship team, when he only has 1yr on his deal. Can surely get a PL move. And I don't think we get near the £15m asking price.
Ngonge is one I've mentioned before as someone I wouldn't mind us signing as another forward/attacking midfield option.
Started his career at Bruges, born in Belgium, plays in Holland. Mogi can get his mitts on this you'd think. Not kidding.
My prediction for what it's worth is, we sign fook all and lose Sarr late on deadline day. Make some outrageous effort in signing someone who has no interest in ever coming.
We all discussed him when a link emerged at the beginning of the summer and discovered he's an ageing Andre Gray regen, didn't we? Right down to the unpleasant social media posts, IIRC!
Is there a limit to the amount of loans we can have? I know we can get 4 from one club but what’s the total limit
I don’t know of a limit on the number you can stockpile, but you’re only allowed 5 in a matchday squad.
Soooo, now it's Kamara, Davis, Choudhury and Hause all on loan, and all expected to be starters when fit, we've basically only got room for one more loan, one of the more understated downsides of today's news
In the first year of the Pozzo's, when we upset Mr Holloway an international loan was classified as a temporary transfer so technically was not a loan. They may have changed it after we found the loophole
Weren't all those players loans because we were under a partial transfer embargo which meant we couldn't sign them on permanent deals at the time? I wonder if that loophole would have closed if not for that
