January Transfer Window 2021

Probably need a new manager by the end of it

 

Tie Troy down to a new 5 year deal I imagine

 

We need a striker. We are going nowhere with a choice of Deeney, Gray, Perica and Pedro.

Has anyone mentioned that we probably should have signed Toney?

 

Wages (and transfer fee!)

 

A FOX IN THE BOX

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I suppose Gray did play his part in the goal with that run to make space for Sarr, but still, based on tonight, if we can keep Hughes fit, put him in a midfield duo with Capoue and get a new striker in

 

Left back we seem OK in all of a sudden, Masina you'd think will be first choice (what a cameo from him tonight BTW!), then Femenia and Ngakia now apparently can do a job there, with Sema able to play wing-back if we play with 3 at the back. Midfield if we can keep Hughes fit should be an excellent one at this level, but it's a big if of course

 

Someone who can kick the ball into the oppositions goal.

 

A goalscorer.
Gray runs the channels . So what ?
Shane Long runs the channels and would be an upgrade
but we don't need Shane .
A box to box midfielder . A 3/4 of a Doucoure will suffice .

 

We also need to get as many points as possible in January preferably win all of our games, bar away at Man U, a win at Man U would be nice but only complicate things!

 

As clear as day, we need a competent striker. Someone who can take basic chances. It's such a handicap having no one at the club who can put the ball in the net.

Recent matches.....and this has been going on for a long, long time, but Deeney misses two great chances at Birmingham, misses a great chance against Norwich. Gray misses several chances per game and is probably the worst technical player ever to put on a Watford shirt (certainly in the Pozzo era), Perica has only scored once (although unlucky with the disallowed goal against Brentford), but he also missed big chances against Sheff Wed, a sitter in the last minute against Cardiff, a 1 v 1 against Brum, and completely messed up a sitter against Norwich. This is common place for our strikers and will really hold us back.

I'm hoping we can get Cucho in as I think he'd be perfect for us. Lots of chatter on Twitter over Vydra, but personally I cannot see us getting him, even on loan, but Murray will return to Brighton so there will be a vacancy for someone else to come in.

If Capoue goes, then we'll need another midfield player for sure. Hughes will be like a new signing, but we need another player to come in.

The big issue of the left back is now not so urgent. Masina is back, and Kiko can cover. In a perfect world yes we sign someone, but it's not as vital right now.

I'd love to see Geri come back. Spanish coach, feel good factor, is it that far fetched? Probably wishful thinking, but he'd make a huge difference to us. Depends on a few things of course, but he could be the one player who could make promotion a reality.

 

I think if we stick to a 4-4-2 moving forward then the need for a creative midfielder is obviated somewhat. The primary jobs of a midfield two is to press, screen the defence effectively and then get the ball forward or out wide quickly. Under Ivic it was pretty clear we needed an attacking midfielder - an Abdi type if you will - to unpick defences. But I don’t think that need is so obvious now.

A striker would of course be nice. Probably someone who is clinical at championship level but little more who can be brought in on loan. Dwight Gayle would be nice as would Vydra or Shane Long. While Deeney is not at all a good finished, with a pacer partner his work winning flick one and second balls can be pretty valuable. We saw him link up well with Gray quite nicely actually but neither can finish of course so...Let’s not forget that we still have JP to come back in. He’s more creative than the others but generally plays a little deeper. Bringing in someone on loan ahead of him may stifle his development, unless Xisco and the hierarchy are happy using him as a winger or as a number 10 if we use a different shape.

We could also use - given our new shape’s reliance on pace and creativity out wide - a new winger. Although Success and JP may be able to provide some cover there, we need someone who will really compete with/push Sarr and Sema. At the moment we know that taking either off undermines the threat we pose. Osayi-Samuel and the less vaunted Isaac Mbenza (at QPR and Huddersfield respectively) are both out of contract in the summer and pretty good at this level. Obviously the former has a higher ceiling. I would imagine we only get either a new striker or a new winger and not both.

If Capoue goes then we’ll need to replace him. No idea how. Doesn’t seem worth it as we can’t afford a replacement near his quality.

 

Any ideas on where we are with him. Does he have the required permit? Has Brexit changed anything> What was the length of his loan deal?
I see people talking about Vydra but if we are looking at a returning striker would Ighalo be an option? Not really playing for United

 

Not sure if anybody has mentioned it before, but I think we could do with finding a striker who is clinical in the penalty area, capable of making his own chances, and putting away the ones created by others.

A “fox in the box” if you will.

 

I like and agree with these last two assessments by HB1 and LeedsOrn. Bringing in a goal scorer, presumably in place of Murray, would be top of my list and I think that player would be in a front two with Deeney. I can’t honestly see Deulofeu coming back, much as I’d love it, until and unless we are back in the PL. If we are to continue with 4-4-2 it’s hard to see how Pedro fits in, so he might have to stay mostly on the bench. Capoue is an unknown. I was ready to see the back of him after the Huddersfield non-performance, but he was much better yesterday and is certainly a first choice if he is committed to staying. If not, then yes we need some kind of replacement given the midfield injuries. I’m not so concerned about a left back now.
Just one observation on Perica: I do think people have assumed he has greater ability than they have any evidence for, simply because he hasn’t played as often as they wanted. There are some good signs, but I’m not sure he would be a definite first choice for me.

 

Cucho would 100% get a work permit to play for us.

Supposedly he should have acquired a Spanish passport around now, but with the new Brexit rules it is completely irrelevant - the fact that he has been playing regularly for a side in La Liga means he'd be guaranteed to qualify to play for us as of January, regardless of his nationality.

No idea whether the club has a recall clause in his loan deal though.

He could be useful playing instead of Gray, or instead of Sema if we go more 4-3-3, but he's also more of a dribbler and creator than an out-and-out goalscorer. Even if we could recall him I'd still want another goalscorer.

 

Totally agree with your assessment on Perica. Seems that fans were wowed with his goal against Bournemouth, but that is the only one he's scored. Since then, he's missed 4 sitters, although was unlucky with his effort incorrectly ruled out against Brentford. On what I've seen of him, he's an instinctive striker, but give him any sort of time to think then he messes it up. When it comes to putting the ball in the net, he's no better than Gray.

 

I'm hoping our priorities will be getting a 20 goal a season striker, who will play ahead of Deeney and his good friend Gray. For free.

Also, a top championship midfielder who can win us possession back regularly who knows the league and is fully fit and ready to go as soon as he signs. For free.

Also, a top centre back who can dominate the top strikers in the division, be both footed and comfortable on both sides of the defensive pairing. For free.

I'm very confident based on our recent history that these are close to being done.

 

When the club announced the loan, they said that there was a recall clause. But I'll eat my hat if this happens. He's playing well at Getafe, I doubt he'll be itching to come to Tier 4 misery in a tier 2 league.

 

If the club have a recall clause then there's not a huge amount he could do to stop it?!

Unless you think player power is a thing, in which case you must also concede that Capoue leaving may not necessarily be just down to finances, but perhaps more to do with the fact that Capoue, like Cucho, will also be itching to play for a top La Liga club rather than in the Championship.

 

And now all of a sudden a midfielder who can put in a tackle and a raking long pass in addition to whatever we needed before...

 

I'd say that Cucho is far more akin to Suarez and Estupinan, someone that's never played for the club but has been loaned out numerous times in Spain. Has no real loyalty to the club and has established roots in Spain.

Capoue is more like Sarr, a player that is already here and we likely won't replace with similar quality. We don't want to take a massive loss on Sarr so he's still here but we were clearly trying to shift Gray, Deeney and Capoue in the summer. That we're now happy for Capoue to leave mid season when we've just changed coach and are in the promotion shake up suggests to me it's financial.

We won't know until the accounts come out and we see how bad it is I suppose.

 

In an ideal world and on a short term basis I would like us
to receive a panic buy bid from Sheff Utd for our non goal
scoring but runs the channels number 18 whilst an offer for
a loan until the end of season is accepted for Dwight Gayle
by Noocarstle

 

A forward that can kick a football would be a good start.

 

Fussy!

 

It was reported that Capoue even handed in a transfer request, and would have accepted a wage reduction to join Valencia. Meanwhile. we clearly weren't that desperate to get his wage off our books considering we ultimately said they weren't offering us enough and kept him passed the window.

http://sportwitness.co.uk/watford-capoue-valencia-suarez-granada-transfer/

http://sportwitness.co.uk/watford-etienne-capoue-valencia-transfer/

 

They offered a loan with no fee, didn't they? Obviously it's a spectrum rather than black or white. We need to reduce wages but we're not going to let one of our best players under contract for another couple of years go for free.

 

- Left Back
- Creative, energetic mifielder, plus potentially a Capoue replacement
- Another winger
- ***SOMEONE WHO CAN KICK THE BALL REASONABLY HARD BETWEEN THE OPPOSITION'S GOALPOSTS***

Get that done properly and we can go up, ready to get tonked week in week out in the Prem next season.

 

If we were backs to the wall desperate to reduce our wage bill we'd have still accepted it. Clearly we weren't.

 

No-one has said we were back to the wall desperate though so not sure what your point is.

It is entirely possible that our finances aren't very good, that we want to offload high earning players but we're not at the point where we have to let them leave for nothing with two years left on their contract. Hence why as soon Villarreal come in with a sensible sounding fee it seems Capoue is off.

 

I just think Dwight Gayle would be perfect, has proven to be deadly at this level on numerous occasions, doesn’t really play at newcastle so surely they’d let him come here on loan? Also, a creative midfielder, capoue replacement and a left back, maybe another winger as well, realistically that is very wishful thinking but we can hope

 

But we need proper players that are our first or second choices in from the first week of jan ... not a load of crap that are a waste of a shirt at 11pm on the 31st of Jan

 

Good explanation of the new rules here and Xisco gets a name check as one of the coaches that wouldn't have been allowed in after Jan 1st. I did jokingly suggest that Ivic was fired so that they could get some no mark coach in before the new rules and turns out it was true!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/dec/28/football-and-brexit-a-guide-to-the-new-rules

Overall, I think these rule changes will make things worse for us given the type of player we usually recruit in the Championship.

 

Presumably we can circumvent most of the negative changes by getting Udinese to sign any players we want and then naming them in their team? That’s worth 12 points, so our relationship with them effectively gives us a 12 point advantage over other teams?