His record for Union SG was obscenely good. Lots of goals and assists. Would be a very nice alternative to Davis in my view. The Athletic reported this morning that several clubs have reported an interest in him. No more details than that though.
Per Phil Hay, on his podcast, “Burnley and Watford are two clubs who very much like Cody Drameh.” Excellent young attacking RB at Leeds. He may well want to leave as he hasn’t been given any playing time yet. Was excellent last year at Cardiff. If he wants to play, I’d have thought we’re a more attractive move than Burnley, who have Vitinho and Roberts at RB. But then Fabrizio Romano has said today that Dortmund, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Palace are interested too (though a) would trust Phil Hay more and b) those moves don’t make so much sense if his goal is to cement himself in a side).
If Bournemouth are interested maybe we will be in for Jack Stacey who is fairly local to us and his contract will be up (I believe) in the summer!
@Carpster or any other Scandi watchers - seen any of Casper Tengstedt? 15 goals in 14 games in his first half season in the Norwegian top flight after moving from the Danish second division. Seems like the kind of striker who might be worthwhile to provide some competition for Davis.
Th I've only seen him twice and he looked impressive. But I've moved to Spain and I'm not really up to date with Scandinavian football now. But my son weighed in saying he's far too good to be playing in Norway and clubs have already shown interest in him. Goes missing sometimes from time to time. Strong and deceptively quick. A fair amount of assists to. Both Casper and the one going to Chelsea were the big standout forwards.
How does Joao being out, let’s say until March, affect our Jan window plans? Do we try and replace him directly with another 10 or just maybe get a more progressive CM than planned and switch to a 4-3-3? I suppose if we got Will Hughes on loan he can really play in both roles. Alternatively, we could have that the Davis alternative that many are hoping for is a little bit more creatively inclined and could replace Davis or Pedro’s roles.
I'd have hoped that considering he's our leading scorer it will encourage us to bring in another striker. Perhaps a style of player who similar to JP could either rotate with Davis, or play a bit deeper if everyone is fit.
God bless all the fans that assume the club will sign what is needed window after window. I don't know how much more evidence is needed. No replacement for JP will be signed, no Davis alternative will be signed, no midfielder will be signed. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Martins and Kone is the end of our business.
It does suggest we’ll change how things are done but given that Martins definitely wasn’t a Manga target as we were after him in the summer and Kone may not have been either, it isn’t obvious that a lot of Manga signings will arrive in Jan. I hope they do but he could just be laying groundwork for the summer.
Manga is the one thing I’m clinging to right now, to convince myself of a better tomorrow. Manga may turn out to be a flash in the pan and not very good, however, we have employed someone whose stock is extremely high. He must have had a lot of options at bigger clubs all over Europe, but chose us. That’s a hell of a selling job Gino has done there. He must have enticed him with something. If he said we’ve got no money and you've got to look at Cardiff rejects then I don’t think he’d have given us much thought. He must be convinced Watford is a very good place to continue his career and grow his reputation, but the next 4 weeks will answer that question no doubt.
I agree that Manga is the greatest cause for optimism but don’t see why the next four weeks would be indicative of our trajectory under Manga. If he’s being employed with a long-term view, then what would the next four weeks show? Maybe he’ll be given free reign to prepare in earnest for next season?
The next 4 weeks will show Watford’s intention. Are we still on the decline or are we intending on being a serious club again with a bit of ambition. Why bring in Manga now if we were not going to heavily rely on him to pull a few strings in this window? We will quickly see how desperate Gino is on gaining promotion. If nothing is done then we’ll fall short (IMO). If Gino wants top two then we have to go big and invest in this window. To get a top two spot we’ll have to win probably 17 of our 22 games. Doable if you truly are the best team in the league, but that’s well beyond this current squad. 6 quality players does change all that, but as I say, that all depends on how desperate Gino is on getting promotion this season.
Why couldn’t it be somewhere between the two scenarios? I think top 2 is too much of a stretch to bet on at this stage and it wouldn’t be smart to push the boat out with the hope and expectation of getting into the top 2. I’d rather we next this time to sign some good young players who will improve the first team and bloom next year - and if we go up in the playoffs it’s a boost. We need to move to a less short-termist approach and hopefully Manga is a part of that. I’d rather do that than push the boat out to sign say Dele Alli on loan and then finish third anyway. Given how far we are behind the top 2, I genuinely believe net spending £15m in the summer would be a better use of cash than doing so now.
But carry on as we are and we won't be in a play-off position come the end of the season. The squad needs a shake up and it needs to happen in January.
Gino is a short-termist owner. I think he might panic and go all in. Manga and Bilic are both high profile appointments. Very expensive for the level we’re at. So I do expect big things in this window. Of course it may not happen and Gino maybe relaxed about it all, but I think the financial problems could dictate what we do in the market.
Unless we sell Sarr I really can't see there being money in the pot to pay decent money for anyone, it will be free transfers and loans I'm afraid
Well yes but we will have Choudhury, Louza, Kone, Martins and others available for much of the rest of the season so I’m not sure these last few games (minus Pedro) are what you should be extrapolating from. We will have a midfield for some of those remaining games. I also don’t think that pushing the boat out to secure a playoff position is particularly well-spent money even if it were deemed necessary. I see what you’re saying but unlike with managers, sporting directors are long-term appointments. I don’t think he was hired to preside over one or two big windows but rather to take the reins of the club as Marino has done at Udinese. His success at Frankfurt was not immediate but rather about setting building blocks for long-term success.
I don’t think Manga is coming as a short-term appointment but I do think a big impact is on the cards in this window. A throw of the dice in order to get us promoted. If that doesn’t work then it will be a major rebuild exercise over a number of years. This is how I think it will go.
Release Gaspar and return Hause. I believe Jake Cooper's contract is expiring, see if they'd take £3-4m for him? Could do with some height and some steel, sell Kabasele. Ryan Manning contract expiring toom can't rely on Kamara, can we get him in as a left back option. Need some Championship know-how and some HG players who can actually get in the matchday squad.
Nobody will take kabasele. The dreadful player will be with us until his contract expires in 18 months.
Anyone thought that our new sporting directors brief may not be solely focused on our needs but also Udinese ? I just can’t see how we on our own are that much of an attractive option for him and his team
Not needed at Udinese. They have Marino over there who has done a fine job with their operation and recruitment.
That's what I mean it's cheaper to hire people to pretend to look for talent than to actually pay for talent.
Don’t know a name yet so don’t want to start a thread but been told today by reliable source that we will sign a right back from Benfica at the start of the window
