Trail seems to have gone pretty cold in general in the past few days, doesn't it? Is this really all we can expect? Hope not, for all our sakes.
I'm super-pessimistic about transfers at the best of times - but I think there may be a couple more. I'd be very surprised if there's anymore before the next 3 games though.
We need a defensive midfielder far more than an attacking one (but I do accept the need for both). There's been a thread of belief that Kayembe is a DM....but you only need look at his stats and style to see thats not really true. Same as Etebo.
Defensive midfielder top priority for me - which is why I find the Kayembe signing a little odd (other than the Mogi link). Even the likes of WTE looks a lot more accomplished when he has Ndidi and Aribo ahead of him rather Kucka and Louza.
Gino likes to start low balling chairman early more like, the players we can actually afford sign on 31st January.
3 more punts to come, one of which will be first team material. Have to wait until the end of the month before the players concerned know that none of the bigger, richer, real prem clubs are interested, before they reluctantly come here.
Or wait until the end of the month and watch all the decent ones who are available and would have come here go elsewhere because we didn’t show interest? Plus, and I know you’re post is somewhat tongue in cheek but I do know it also contains a fair bit of your genuine opinion in too - how do you explain the Kamara signing? A good player, good pedigree, not attached to a Pozzo club and not connected to Mogi Bayat that we know of? Why didn’t he wait until the end of the window before joining? To me the signing of Kamara shows they can do it when they want which makes it all the more frustrating when they predominantly focus on lazy, uninspiring punts.
Why do you think we would wait until the end of the month and then suddenly show interest in the better players ? Far more likely that we'd show interest earlier in the month in several players but clubs would want too much ££££ or players thinks they deserve a bigger club. We then have the choice of waiting and hoping or dropping down to #2 on the list, then #3 etc etc. If an agent believed WHU or Soton were interested in his player why would he tell him to sign for us with almost 3 weeks to go ? Not sure how we got Kamara in so quickly ? Maybe his agent knew no-one else was interested ?
I think this whole ‘we won’t/can’t get good players unless no one else wants them’ is a real stretch to be honest. There’s so many players that very likely disprove this - and I’ve even stated one in Kamara and you can’t really answer it. If you think the good players we have now, and have had in the past, had no other clubs interested in them then I think you’re kidding yourself. Kurzawa has PL interest and also interest from the Middle East and Lyon - so why has his agent offered him to us? We certainly aren’t going to beat them financially! So what would be the reasoning? And I didn’t even suggest what you’re asking me in your first question?
OK, I read your sentence below to mean that "wait until the end of the month" before showing an interest but maybe I mis-interpretted ? "....Or wait until the end of the month and watch all the decent ones who are available and would have come here go elsewhere because we didn’t show interest?" However I didn't say what you said in your first sentence and repeated later that players will only come here "if no-one else wants them". I said that players will want to see if a bigger club is interested in them before agreeing to come here. If their agent tells them on 12th Jan that he's got Watford, WHU, Everton and Soton interested, given our relative size and league position and likely package inc 50% relegation clause why would he sign for us with 3 weeks still to go ?
Why ? Are they an established prem club with better prospects and likely to offer a better package with no relegation clause ?
The are a Grand Old Club (colly tm) who deserve to be in the premier league and that’s enough for me.
Hmmm ....let me think....premier league maybe ?? What do you think would happen if WHU showed an interest rather than "The Middle East and Lyon" ?
Maybe, possibly, longer term but they aren't a better prospect for a player today are they ? But any top 15 prem club today would be....
But if he already has PL interest, why would his agent alert us to him? The clubs who hold interest are ones above us who are bigger in stature.
No but if it works how you think it does, no one would move until deadline day as they would wait and see if bigger clubs come in? January has lots of moving parts - Kamara may have not had strong interest from elsewhere but who is to say that wouldn’t have changed as other clubs do business? Why didn’t he just wait? Ben Wilmot had offers from Spurs and Arsenal when he joined us - why did he come here? We won’t agree on this, let’s face it.
The more the merrier if you're an agent - drive price and package up and provide insurance in case one of the big boys drops out....near the end of the window
That's why you always see a rush of deals closing just before the window ! It's not like all clubs just decide 2 days before the window "slams shut" that they'd like to make a signing ! Obviously some deals are done before but there's always a peak near the end of each window, you know this !
For me, you are hitting the nail on the head! A proper central defensive midfielder is a 'must'. Do we even have one? The CB's need protection in front of them no matter how good they are especially away from home!
I think WTE could do a job as a defensive midfielder. I heard he was spraying the ball around like Capoue yesterday.
Filip Benkovic now been released by Leicester. Didn’t seem to go right there for whatever reason but he was highly rated before he went there and had a very good season at Celtic. I’d hope for better but we could also do worse - and probably will.
Where did I say that? I said we could do worse and probably will. I know his career has stuttered recently and I'd be underwhelmed if we got him. But I also know our owners and it won't surprise me if they have their eye on worse options. And I stand by my opinion on Samir. Never said he's crap - but I'm not convinced he's good enough.
Was merely saying that your post appeared to react positively (in a tepid way, certainly) to the prospect of Benkovic. I like you a lot Burnsy and think you know football well and are generally a good judge of quality (if a little bit too negative) so I am merely saying I was surprised at how you’ve judged these two. For what it’s worth, I’d quite like Udinese to sign both Mari and Benkovic; if they turn out fulfilling their potential they could be headed our way afterwards.
No idea what’s gone on with Benkovic. Cost over £10million in 2018 and hasn’t been given the slightest sniff of an opportunity. Rodgers even had him on loan from us at Celtic and raved about him. Since then he’s been sent to the Belgian second division and didn’t play a minute and managed one appearance for Cardiff. He hasn’t even been given a spot on the bench in the last two years here despite an almost permanent injury crisis… Very weird, can only guess that he’s had an issue with the club or in his personal life. Moving to Italy he’ll be much closer to home I guess.
