What do you think will happen? I reckon we sign a defender and a young attacking player but not Sarr. Also what grade would you give our transfer window so far? For me it would be in the C+/B- range. We have brought players who will improve the team but perhaps not as much as I would have hoped. At the same time we have not lost any key players.
Sarr to Palace Young too good to miss prospect loaned to Udinese Bargain basement defender No outgoings but okaka, prodl loaned out/sold
I have a feeling we are done .... Sarr I don’t think will happen now imo and that will be a huge failure and waste of time. If as I suspect we fail to bring anyone else in then I think it’s a D grade window. .... however if as has happened many a time before and Gino gets us Sarr it will be a A grade window. If we then add a starting central defender it’s an A* window and we can look at the season ahead with great optimism
Not losing any good players is a big positive, but at the same time everyone in the league strengthens their squads so if you just don’t lose any players you’re still going backwards. Wellbeck is a plus, Dawson to me is just replacing one outgoing defender with another of similar quality. As it stands I’d give us a D/C-.
Stability is key. We haven't lost any of the players who were the best of the rest for large parts of last season, and we have improved the squad with two home grown signings with significant PL experience - I.e. will almost certainly hit the ground running. Every season the teams around us spend hundreds of millions to stand still, mostly it seems to appear ambitious to their fans even if there is zero footballing improvement over the season. Very good window in my opinion.
Not entirely true. Leicester have lost their best defender, West Ham have lost Arnautovic, Everton have lost that CM (can’t remember his name). Not losing (assuming we don’t) any of our first team and adding at least 2 more 1st team possibles is good business.
Away from our business... some really big transfers likely to happen tomorrow. Crystal Palace are in for an extremely busy and probably demoralising day. Zaha will be that one transfer that goes to the final seconds. Arsenal doing some impressive deals with David Luiz and Kieran Tierney. Spurs going for Lo Celso and Sessegnon, possibly Dybala as well. A couple of players for Watford (Sarr and a defender) and I'll give it an A-. Biggest gripe being that only Dawson will have had a preseason. If our business is finished then it's a B-. If we sell Doucoure and sign nobody... a big fat F.
If Zaha goes and they've not planned to bring anyone in to replace him then they are definitely my favourites for the drop.
As it stands,not losing any first teamers its a C. One more player in a key position makes it a B. Particularly if they can play CB. Two more first teamers (who would genuinely improve the squad) it could be an A. Would rather see the defence improved now. Although another creative/ speedster type would also be good. Don't think we'll get Sarr. Really need to be shifting some of these fringe players.
B minus if no more ins or outs. We get to a B if we get rid of some leeches like Prodl, Okaka, Zeegelaar.
It’s a bit unfair to put Prodl in the leech category. He was PoTS only two years ago and has always given the impression of being a decent professional. He’s certainly given more since our promotion than the vast majority of the obvious no hopers on long contracts.
Didn’t Seba just get a bit older? When they lose their pace, big units quickly become unselectable in the Prem.
I think that’s a fair summary - he's also nowhere near good enough in the air for a bloke of his size
It’s been a remarkably quiet window overall. Keeping your best players is always better than selling them & gambling on new signings.
I'd be very disappointed if we didn't get (at least) another defender in. Have a feeling we'll have a player in on loan. Hoping for a new RB or LB, CB and Sarr. Keep Doucouré. And get rid of deadwood: Bachmann Foulquier Pr*dl Kabasele Masina Zeegelaar Sema Success Okaka (Janmaat or/and Femenia can stay as backup on RB, and Mariappa (sigh) as 4th choice CB.)
Tommy Smith as player/coach If Everton are going to get Doucouré then we should negotiate a swap deal for Theo Walcott Getting Hogg back from Villa (even on loan) until we replace Doucouré. Ashley Young
Point taken. But we’ve had 2 years of inactivity from him on first team wage and we will likely have 2 more. The contract extension was bizarre.