Stories coming thick and fast right now. Jordan Obita is attracting interest from us. Seems a more plausible deal as he's a free agent after being released by Reading. Plays as a left back, so would be a position we are in desperate need a player for. Here's part of an interview he gave giving the reasons for leaving. Sounds like Reading initially wanted him, but then decided to release him along with Charlie Adam. "I was offered a conctract at the start of the restart which talks were ongoing but unfortunately that is no longer on the table anymore. "Lastly, I'd like to thank all the fans for the support, and for those who have always shown belief in me, especially upon my return from my two years out, something which not many thought I was capable of [and] for that I will forever be grateful. "I'm exicted for the next chapter in my career to begin and hopefully our paths will cross again in the near future and I get to say goodbye properly." https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/09/...t-free-agent-released-by-championship-rivals/
Last season was his first after two years out of the game following a bad knee injury and several operations. Yep, he sounds like our type of signing
He used to be class but he was released with good reason. Absolutely ruined by injuries - similar to Chalobah.
Sign him. Put him on a heavily incentive laden deal. Bonuses for tackles made, assists, crosses blocked, that sort of thing. Make it clear to him that if he gets stuck in and stays aggressive, he gets paid.
Can play LB, LWB or LM and still reasonably young. But think (unless Ivic has decided to utilise Sema mainly as a LWB) we should be aiming higher.
Remember this guy getting dogs abuse from some idiots in the 1881 when he took a corner in front of them a few years back. Felt quite bad for him as he was pretty young, and was only five minutes into the game and he hadn't done anything to deserve the ire of the crowd. Then he whipped in a perfect corner for the only goal of the game, turned round and smiled at the people abusing him which enraged them further. Was also the game where Merkel made his debut and got sent off. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/25599254
Another one who was going to be the next big thing, and wasn’t. We have few of those so why not add another. Im giving it a thumbs up
A gamble possibly, but we do need a LWB/LB and he would be cheap, furthermore if we get lucky and his injuries really are behind him we get a good player for very little outlay.
I'd rather we just go and get a player we have no concerns over and is on an upward career trajectory.
But if we are in such dire straights financially as many on here are suggesting, then the phrase "beggars can't be choosers" springs to mind, and for once we might just get lucky and bag a decent player for very little cash outlay.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is agent talk. Out of contract and three upper level championship clubs after a LB are ‘vying for his signature’ or whatever. The original sun article it’s sourced from mentioned Derby and Bournemouth primarily and only had one brief sentence at the end on our supposed interest. I can see us recruiting from the Championship, but only other clubs’ prize assets or cheap backup squad fillers. Obita fits the bill for the latter if Ivic has decided to use Sema mainly at LWB and/or Masina’s injury is better than feared.
I have exclusive access to the list and how far down it we are; Free x Loan x Udinese cast off x Cheap x Stick with Femenia
AL says he thinks it is agents driving this link. Position is a priority - PL loan or Manning being considered, but still waiting for outgoings.
How the hell are we waiting for outgoings. We can’t sign Sessegnon or someone like that on loan without selling someone, nonsense. Especially for a position we desperately need.
Loans aren't free. Our wage bill is currently already too high, and it is clear we are struggling to shift players due to the compressed market. I imagine Sessengon is on pretty significant wages, and I'd imagine they would want a ludicrous loan fee. I think Newcastle paid a £2m loan fee + wages to get Danny rose for half a season and Spurs were practically begging to ship him out. I can't see him being in our price bracket, nor can I see him being interested, as much as I would like it.
I get that, but most loan fees are around £2-3mil. Most clubs don’t pay the full wages from the parent club, although when they do it helps get the deal done. Obviously Sessegnon could be on a ridiculous wage, unfortunately this data seems to be in the bracket of no-one has a clue. Websites range it from £15k a week to £61k a week. If it’s £15k a week, then that’s well within our price range. Even £20k in the championship is doable. Obviously if its more than that, then I can see why we would wait. Obviously this is all hypothetical as we’re not even linked with him. But given that most loan fees are £2-3 mil if his wages are £15-20k a week you’re talking another £780k-1mil on top of the loan fee, paying 100% of his wages. Find it hard to believe we have to sell because we can’t afford a £4mil deal for Sessegnon on loan. Again, if those numbers are correct and hypothetically.
Probably because it would be irresponsible to add onto the wage bill without dramatically reducing it first, since we don't know which of the high earners we'll be able to shift. It would be a financial disaster if we added additional expenses and then weren't able to sell anyone. It's not an ideal position to be in, but it's current reality of relegation + Covid + a transfer window extending into the start of the season.
Again, understand that but so far we’ve managed to shift Foulquier, Doucoure and Estupinan. Plus the all the other players we didn’t even know about and some U23’s. If Doucoure was on £60k, Foulquier was probably on £10k and Estupinan probably the same. That £80k saves right there. Add in all those other random players who were probably on somewhere between £500-2k a week, and it’s even more. I know we’re saving, I know we’re trying to balance the debt, but signing someone on loan who is on £15-20k, only adding £780k-£1mil to the yearly budget is hardly detrimental to our finances over the course of a year. If it is, then we are in a much bigger mess than even the financial experts on here have claimed we are.
Adding 1m plus to the wage budget is entirely detrimental to our finances if we can't afford it, though. That's the central point here. You don't get to just handwave expenses if they're below income, because at that point, why did we need to sell the other players? It's just a few extra million a year, after all. And before you know it, we're Portsmouth.
You just want it all done now, which I understand, but it doesn’t work like that. We’re in a mess, we can’t compound that by spending further money on the assumption we’ll gain it back by moving players on. It’s just the reality of the situation.
Not disagreeing with that. I’m saying if we really can’t afford that and that’s detrimental to our finances then we are in a much worse position than what even the experts on here think. We’re not talking about a few million though. We’re talking no more than £1mil. At the very least we’ve already saved £4.1mil on the annual wage budget. More will be saved with the hopeful sales of Pereyra, Capoue, Welbeck, Deeney and Dawson. If we can’t strengthen even a little bit (£1mil over a year is a little bit), then our finances are well and truly rock bottom.
If you think Sessegnon would cost the club £1m you need to give your head a wobble. The club also already has lots of wing backs - what are we supposed to do with them? Noone is buying Navarro, Janmaat, Masina realistically so we are stuck with them. Are we supposed to pay them to sit on garden leave?
