He's a bit of an unknown and would be a gamble. Could pay off of course, and I would not have an issue with this type of signing, but I think we'd need to get at least one midfield player with a proven track record of playing in the top tier of one of the top European leagues. We did that last time with Capoue and Behrami, so it can be done and will need to be done if we are to have a successful season. Let's be honest, until Hughes came in last season, our midfield was only adequate at Championship level. Cleverley was only really considered a bench player when we were in the Premier League last time. Chalobah needs to maintain his end of season form to be considered part of a Premier League squad, Hughes consistently makes the grade a EPL level, and Gosling I think will be similar to Cleverley in terms of being a squad player but not starter. It would be a lot to expect a young guy who is playing in a minor league to come into the Premier League and nail down a first team slot. I see him as potential, who could make a few appearances from the bench initially. We do need at least one first team player, who will be nailed on to start every week, to join the club. This would be vital.
Really we need someone who'd be an upgrade on Cleverley, not just to compete with them. This guy seems like a younger version of someone like Nick Powell, but if we're to stay up next season we'd more likely need the current Nick Powell.
I think it's likely more what you're leaning towards - with the extra meaning of what I'm saying. There will probably be 2-4 names signed directly for the first XI. And there will be some like Ferguson who will be signed to be members of the first team squad so that those U23's who won't make the grade at PL level aren't involved to the level they have been this season. There is no way we would be signing the SFA Young Player of the Season for over £2m to sit him in the academy or even send him back out on loan IMO. He will be here to make up part of a 25 man PL squad, be given the odd opportunity - and then its on him to impress and run with it.
Geoff Hurst did the same, and look where that ended We need players who appeal for everything in the EPL, and who fall over when touched. As you say, bring him in.
Yeah agreed, I said compete as I have no idea if this guy is any good so didn't want to presume he'd be an upgrade!
If they're looking at bringing in young quality who are obviously turning heads in Scotland with the likes of Ferguson and Doig I'm all for it. It's refreshing. It's plain to see there's not a great deal of quality that is pushing from the U23S and this seems to be the way recruitment is looking at the moment. Yes I still want to see a Doucs type coming in but it's obvious to see that money is tight for most clubs this Summer.
There are no downsides with these type of signings, you can’t lose money on them but they could turn out to be great players. We should be going for more of these type of players and I’m glad we finally are. Pozzo signings aren’t binary, they range from Saar, down to famous players sons for the under 23s and everything in between. This doesn’t prevent us from signing some Doucoure/Capoue types, but equally if it means we’re actually going down more of a Norwich sustainable route then I’m not at all against that either.
Don’t know anything about him, but watching his youtube montage I can immediately see finishes better than any of our strikers
The base of our midfield is decent with Hughes and Chalobah, but with Sanchez off, Gosling and Cleverley being crocks, we could do with some backup. He'd more than likely stick with us if we go down too, so it seems a shrewd deal if we could get him on the cheap
No and no. To count as U21, they have to have been younger than 21 on Jan 1st of the year in which the season starts. So basically, if they’re born on or after 01/01/2000 then they count. Before that they’re too old. And to be HG they have to have spent 3 years playing for an English team before they turn 21. Scotland doesn’t count apparently.
But Scotland is part of England like Durham or Rutland. Christ they are getting dellusions of grandeur.
I have and I wouldnt say that he is much of an improvement on what we already have. To be honest he is probably not as good as our current midfielders. He is still young and may become better but not what we need if we are going to stay in the premier league. I am all for it if we are looking at a development option but if we are hoping that Ferguson will come in and improve our midfield I would be disappointed.
Maybe we’re not trying to stay up? Perhaps financially we’re in such a bad position that promotion hasn’t lavished us in riches as much as snatch us from the jaws of ruin. The wage bill we’ve had for the last year really can’t have been sustainable even with parachute payments. It might not be fun to suffer what Norwich went through in 2019/20 but if we come out the other side in a better financial position, having cut the deadwood and reduced costs, while building a squad to challenge for the Championship title (with players like Ferguson), then I’d be happy with the pragmatism the board are showing.
Yes, we may have narrowly failed to win the Championship title this year, but building a good squad capable of finally winning the trophy in two season's time shows an an impressive level of ambition and very shrewd thinking. /sarcasm
If they can stay up, great. But I think the money we’d have to spend in order to make that realistic would also leave us ****** if the gamble fails and we go down. If they choose to invest heavily then they’d better get it just right. If they choose to take the cash and build longer term it might not be a bad thing. That’s all I’m saying.
Without being privy to the Pozzos' full financial situation it's difficult to really know the extent to which that is true tbh.
I suspect relegation was an eye opener and Pozzo realised quite how awful our year 2 squad would have looked had we not gone straight back up. Essentially anyone who was worth anything to us this season would have gone in the summer and we'd have been left with a big pile of debt and a very mediocre bunch of leftovers to cobble together a team with.
Yep, Sarr would've been first out of the door. Neither Chalobah not Hughes would sign new contracts so we'd cash in as they'd only have a year left. Deeney and Gray would sit there like twin Brummie millstones, raking in 50% of our total wage bill and contributing the square root of f all. Pedro might've signed a new long term deal but would've been looking for the first chance to jump ship to a team like Palace. Cucho would've turned up for one day of pre season then ****ed right off again. Really doesn't bear thinking about!
It's a stretch to say we're 'doing a Norwich', it does look like we are seriously trying to improve the squad, but we're certainly not going to risk it all, we should have a fighting chance of staying up, but if we do go down, this way doesn't leave us on the brink like we could have been if we hadn't got promoted this season
Just another body allocated to the pozzo human trafficking ring. Get him on the books give Sinclair a shout to help this lad settle where ever he is and then try get double the money back in couple of years or if he turns out as the next macmessi then a season in premier league and boom 50m in ginos back pocket. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think with homegrown (well Scottish) players like this it’s a bit different, if he doesn’t really work out with us he’s a proven player in the SPL so I’m sure we’d have no trouble flogging him back for what we paid for him. That or a couple of loans back there and his transfer fee is more than covered. He’s very young so I just don’t see a scenario where you could actually lose money given the extremely low fee. Navarro was just a crap player full stop.
I think people continue to overstate just how much clubs get paid for loans. If this lad costs us £2.5m-£3.5m, there's no way thats covered off in a couple of loans. The myth that we can recoup a fee with loan fee's was debunked a long time back on a thread about Oulare. If he comes and is crap, we can easily lose money. The point will be that we will hopefully be in the PL for a few seasons and the amount would be little more than a footnote in the finances.
I'm sure Gray's pop star wife would like nothing more than to move to Aberdeen and have their first child there.
Would you? If we sign a young Scottish player, he turns out to not be good enough and shipped out on loan to the Championship or SPL twice, then we would likely be looking at getting about £1m back on our £3m investment (for example). So with some wiggle room in the figures, we’d be looking to get £500k-£1m per loan fee to make out money back. Not to mention that we may well have to pay a percentage of the wages too. Those fee’s are still high when you see how much clubs pay for loans. Chelsea charged Palace £2m for Batshuayi for example - there aren’t going to be a queue of Championship/SPL clubs lining up to give us half that for Lewis Ferguson.
That’s a fair summary, but I have a hunch that this guy is the real deal. Admittedly, that’s based on little more than the videos and the praise, but the nature of his goals, the variety, the ability to crop up in big games, the confidence, is impressive. Scotland is also about the last place you’d expect the Pozzos to look. The big question is technique. Whether he has that Premier level skill to knock the ball around quickly with few errors. He looks like he has the engine and the goals. He could fall short, but still be a big player in the Champ for, hopefully, someone else.
We’d give him a five year deal and easily make our money back on loan fees as a worst case scenario. If we spend £2.5m on this kid there is no way he’d cost us money long term unless he suffered a career ending injury.
