Decent work this. Raul looks a pretty good player. Do wonder about work permits. Sticking in Brazil I wonder whether Danilo, who we were reportedly keen on earlier in the summer, would fit the bill or whether it was between him and Louza. He certainly didn't look a pure destructive ball winner, but looked a nice well rounded player.
Yeah, the others are most likely too expensive (addressed in my post!), if you loosen the criteria the number of players jumps quite significantly. Expanding it slightly so there's 26 players instead of the original 14 adds a few more unobtainables (Camavinga, Sangare, Ndidi, Hojbjerg) and removing the unlikelys from Holland/Russia gives 2 other potentials playing in decent leagues: and here's Yokuslu's numbers - good interception numbers but the rest of the defensive numbers are pretty average, but if the fee is right it could be a decent enough transfer: Not a terrible idea, has a pretty similar profile to Yokuslu and coming from Udinese makes him quite obtainable Should qualify for a work permit. He needs 15 points to be automatically granted it. He played 85% of the minutes available in the league which gets him 7 points, whilst coming from a band 3 league gets him the other 8 points needed.
Any player in the Brazilian top division is practically guaranteed a work permit as long as they're making regular appearances.
Schlager was good at the Euros, but Wolfsburg just qualified for the CL and he'd cost a bomb. Tapia seems decent, though he'd also likely cost more than we'd be willing to spend.
I would have thought that Sangare would be a little more obtainable than Schlager. Wolfsburg seem really ambitious at the moment and I think are in the UCL. PSV may be financially struggling as a lot of the smaller leagues are and you’d think the pull of PL football would have more effect on an Eredivisie player not playing in the UCL than a Bundesliga player playing in it. Renato Tapia is an interesting one. Fbref flagged him to me because he is supposedly v similar stylistically to Yokuslu supposedly - clearly better though. Transfermarkt has a high transfer value for him but often clubs on the continent - more in Italy - are happy to sell players brought in on a free and realise the income of what the Italians call the ‘plusvalenza:’ selling a player brought in for free for a medium sized fee.
Would be good to beat Real and Barcelona to his signature. I'm sure I heard they were sniffing around.
And he’s absolutely ghastly looking. Pushing a hunk like Zinckernagel out the door and bringing in Shelvey should rightly be punished with instant relegation.
Although we have increased our hunk quota considerably with Fletch, Cucho, King and Dennis. If those four are on the pitch at the same time the crowd will seriously be frothing.
We have enquired about Lookman. I got told this about a week ago - and have shared it with a few people on here privately.
Presumably a classic Gino-type enquiry? “Will you take some Deutsche Marks I’ve got left over from a holiday in 1999?”
I do quite like him, but it seems a bit of an odd one as we already have quite a bit of depth in the left wing position with Cucho, Joao Pedro, Sema, Sarr, King, Denis, Zinkernagel all capable of playing there. I can't see him moving for less than £10m and for that amount, I don't see him as an enormous increase in what we have. I would probably have thought the £10m could better spent elsewhere given in our pre season games we have played Gosling and Ken Sema as our attacking midfielders.
I’d be surprised if he costs less than £20m so can’t see that enquiry going very far. Good player, but is he what we need most? Get some top quality players in at CB and CM ffs Gino.
Agree with you. I still think Sema ends up at Udinese on loan. PZ7 has clearly been told he can leave on loan. Don’t see us keeping him this season. Think Cucho and Pedro will be our LW options Sarr and Dennis our RW options King, Deeney and Fletcher as our strikers. Obviously Pedro, Cucho and Dennis can all play as strikers as well. Just think that’s what we do.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SoyCalcio_/status/1419798435616673798 Basically saying that Udinese are after a CB from Nacional. Then states that Success could arrive from sister club Watford. With PZ7 also not featuring over the weekend, wonder if it would be worth sending him to Udinese as well? Said it before, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Success, Sema, Quina, and now I’m adding PZ7, all end up at Udinese.
I'd be surprised if they were interested in taking that but maybe if it has an obligation if we stayed up for example. I just don't really think he is a massive improvement on what we have already. No doubt he is quick and decent technically but he is pants in front of goal. I want to see Cucho have a run as he is the only player who looks to have any real finishing ability (despite his record in recent years) but I obviously don't watch training.
I was in favour of Lookman earlier in the summer, but with Cucho seemingly staying here and looking sharp so far I'm not sure he'd offer much extra. However, if we can get him on loan then I wouldn't complain as he's still a decent option to come off the bench or rotate with Cucho. It could also mean we're really considering playing Cucho as the #10. For us to be seriously be considering it that also suggests to me that we're not convinced by Dennis so far, otherwise I'd have figured he would also be considered a viable bench option there. I don't think JP is someone we're ready to rely on in the PL yet.
Very much with you on this. Didn't see the Albion game but from what friends have said he was the standout player. Adding to what Gosling said he looks a great option from the left. Going to your number 10 comment would this see a change in formation or is he capable of playing in the three as the furthest forward midfielder? Is not if it's difficult to switch from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1.
But we need depth. We can’t just focus on ‘who’s place in the side does he’s take?’ This squad desperately lacks PL quality in depth…so I’m happy to add as much as we can, where we can. Especially with players who are able to play in a few spots. But we must start selling some of the deadwood to make room!
We're not shifting the deadwood. Two of Gray, Perica, Success and Navarro will still be here at the start of September. Whether they are named in the squad is another matter.
Late to this, but never under-estimate the pettiness of people in football. We're not allowed to use any of our clubs fans who have criticised the top brass on anything, hence why you see people like FTRE being overly positive... They want the jobs (and money) to keep coming. We once had a guest coming to a game for a half-time thing, he was on soccer am that morning and criticised the owners... The half-time segment was pulled and we've never been allowed to work with him since.
Yes he might be capable of playing as the most advanced midfielder, there is basically no difference in Xisco's 433 with a 4231 anyway, it's more a question of the extent to which the person chosen as being the most advanced of a 3 is capable enough of putting in the kind of defensive shift Xisco would still expect. Supposedly Cucho started the 2nd half vs WBA in this role. Having said that, although I think it's possible Cucho could do it more regularly, it's also possible that he's not really up to it, particularly defensively. I've not seen enough of him in such a role before, but I'd speculate that it's not entirely beyond his capabilities.
Same with the WD18 guys on Twitter. Ever since they've had more exposure to the club and the players, they've pretty much 'sold out' and their opinions now just come across as fanboying.
That might also explain why Adam Leventhal now appears to be careful to never criticize the club. There was a time in the past when he would occasionally offer constructive criticism, but recently I have read comments by him in the Athletic which try to put a positive spin on seemingly negative developments. For example, he explained that the small amount of income generated by the loss of a number of talented young players from the academy (who have been signed by other clubs) would be useful to help to pay the costs to keep the academy running.
