Transfer Window January 2022

And there are plenty of people (including pundits such as Alan Shearer and Jamie Redknapp) who thought that both incidents should have been fouls. Opinion seems divided on this matter.

 

Totally agree. I certainly would have preferred him to boot it out so he doesn’t leave us at the whims of the officials but I think those writing Samir off primarily on the basis of that incident (and I recognise that others aren’t keen on him for other reasons) are not being particularly fair to the lad.

 

Ozan Tufan sent back to Fenerbahce. Rose supposedly on the same flight.

The A* summer business being undone before our very eyes.

 

Images are reaching us of the flight just after take-off:

 

Well, of our summer signings, those two, Kucka, Fletcher, Pollock and Baah seem to have been a waste of resources. Louza, I'd generously say is still 'jury's out.'


I accept that punts don't always come off, but when people defend our ownership for not fixing stark first team problems, because of financial clout, it's unacceptable that we splurge money on fees and wages on either square pegs, or on baffling signings that would never play for us.

I mean, it's somewhat accepted by the cucked fanbase, but other sides with low budget don't sign players their team doesn't need, just for the fun of it, at the expense of serious deficiencies in the first 11.

 

Only Chelsea met Charlton’s valuation. I assume we bid £0 and hoped they’d do us a favour.

 

Pollock wasn't expensive and seems a good prospect - not a waste at all.

Baah also seems a decent prospect and along with Pollock should get minutes if we're relegated.

Fletcher was a waste with regards to the PL, but was signed on a free and if we get relegated would also be a good option.

Rose, Kucka and Tufan were terrible signings though however you look at it. The money spent on Louza should have also gone elsewhere, whether he turns out well eventually or not.

 

I’d lump Fletcher into the last paragraph. With you on the rest.

 

I get making a transfer like Louza. Shows talent, bit of a risk but could be a high reward if he settles in the league. Given previous form and age, I think we could recoup much of what we spent.

What I, and most fans don't understand, is constantly picking up 6 squad fillers a year for 2-3 million each, who have no showed at all that they are good enough, and when we have a squad full of other similar players who are equally as average. Then we get stuck with squads that are too big to register, we overall pay the same as we would for someone who could actually fill a priority position, and lose money as a result when their sell on value is negligible.

Now the squad is large, go for quality over quantity. If you need to pay 3 million more for a CB than you'd like to pay, just do it and stop signing the dross we otherwise pick up and know will be weighing down our 30 man squad next year.

 

I see the sense in Fletcher on a free. We should have sent him on loan this season to the championship/ league 1. If he bombs, we've paid 50% of his wages for a couple of years. If he succeeds in the right team and he reaches his youth potential, we'll be quids in.

But buying him to keep in our oversized squad is absolute madness.

 

Widely suggested that Fletcher is on 25k a week. I doubt any club, in a Covid market, would have been lining up to pay 12.5k a week for a striker with a poor hit-rate wherever he’s been.

I don’t get the idea that he’s a good striker for the next level down - he’s proved he’s average at that level.

Just an all-round bad, baffling, signing. He’s just one that’s given some odd excuse regarding next season as a means of justifying it.

 

Don't disagree with much of what you've said. Have to say, as a Newcastle fan I'm pretty pleased with the business we did, under the circumstances. We've plenty of cash, but every club knows that, they also know we're in a desperate position. Botman and Carlos's clubs reportedly accepted bids, then bumped the price up again, and again. Fair enough, can't really blame them. However what we didn't do is just throw mental money at them to get the deal done and potential hamstring ourselves for the future.

Trippier is a really, really good buy. Leader, quality, in a position we're weakest, for a reasonable price. Plus he opened the door for;
Wood - kind of a needs must buy. Overpaid for him, but we needed a striker in stat and he's got double figures in the Prem before, so he's a fairly safe bet.
Guimaraes could be the transformative player we need. Will improve the midfield and defence. Just wish he had a pronounceable name.
Burn and Targett are sensible purchases, we've not over paid for either and they're significantly better than what we've got.

Went into the window needing depth up front, much improved defence and a central midfielder. We've done all that.

Would also say Everton's gamble is risky, they needed a defensive midfielder with legs and I'm not sure Alli or Van De Beek really answers that problem.

 

I bet he wakes up every morning and can’t believe his luck. I hope he does. Had he not been at Man Utd he’d have never won the lottery.

Fair play to him.

 

It's the least Charlton could do considering we saved them from Poxbury

 

Would any club in a covid market give Ashley Fletcher a 25k a week contract in the first place?

Oh wait, I forgot what team I support. As you were.

 

Don't disagree that Newcastle have improved their squad, but I thought they'd have improved it by a much bigger margin in this window. Guimaraes and Trippier are good additions, and I do like Burn, although he's not a player who is the next level. He's a player who you would expect at a bottom half club. Have to disagree with the signing of Wood. I don't think he will improve you at all. He was having a really poor season at Burnley and their fans are delighted he's gone for the fee they received. I think Weghorst is an upgrade for them. Targett is another who Villa were happy to let go and I can't help thinking of the disastrous match he had against Sarr.

Overall I still think Newcastle will be in trouble. They may be stronger at the back, but I don't see any reason why you will be scoring a lot of goals. None of those signings will help massively in that. You're still very dependent on the form of ASM. If he gets injured for any length of time I think Newcastle will probably go down.

 

Expenditure by each Premier League club in the 2022 January transfer window (from the Athletic).

 

I have it on good authority that if we wanted we could loan A-Fletch, get full wages and get a nice loan fee on top. It’s how Pozzo keeps our balance sheet in good shape you see. The only reason we haven’t printed our money is because he is required for first team duties.

 

Thing is, stockpiling league 1 talent for the future is all very well, but at what cost to our first priotities?

How much time and energy did we spend on scouting a bunch of players who will have no immediate impact on our first 11 and IMO will never have any impact beyond potentially a couple of cup appearances?

COGs plead poverty when we miss out on sensible deals for first team players, but are happy to see time, cash and energy expended on punts who rarely, if ever provide any actual material benefit for our TEAM.

It seems like compulsive behaviour. Gino sees a League 2 centre back and can get him. We don't need him, but that's irrelevant. Gino will sign him, pay him wages (however small it all adds up to a team in massive debt and with a terrible team that we can't apparently afford to improve) and I'm sure we will be struggling to get rid in 3 years when it becomes apparent that he's caught in that no man's land where we're paying him too much to make it worth any club at his true level taking him on.

When you've got a functional defence and a goalkeeper, plus at least 3 start worthy midfielders for a 4-3-3, then by all means indulge your hobby of people trafficking, but not before.

 

This is wrong. Watford FC twitter said we spent £25m. Gino Pozzo has done it again!

 

Fletcher is a striker at the age where he should be at his peak, yet he's struggled to make an impact at Championship level and has never shown anything in his career that suggests he's about to break out. We're paying him a solid wage and he's taking up a space in our squad, yet offering virtually nothing that we need as a team.

But you see the sense in this? Are you high?

 

What did we spend in the summer, about £16m? So £25m spent this season and only a couple of million on that was on defence. It's a serious blindspot for Gino and it's going to result in two relegations in our last two PL seasons.

 

I see absolutely no sense in keeping him in the squad.

I see the sense in paying him 10k a week with no transfer fee for him to play in an attacking Championship/ L1 team. He's English, so if he scores 5/6 goals which he is capable of doing, could be worth a few million at almost no cost to ourselves. To me, that's a sensible punt, with little downside and high upside.

Getting in [insert nearly every other transfer we've made for a few million quid] to clog up out squad, who have shown little talent previously and teams wont take on loan, is nearly all downside and has no upside, and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

But I think we both agree that our transfer business is often random and filled with sh*te punts rather than going after actual priorities. I'm just saying that of all the punts, this is pretty much the only one I can rationalise.

 

I think I'm so past peak Pozzo that I hate all our speculative player trading, as it's always at the expense of our team strengthening.

 

I think that’s the issue - there’s no sense in what we have done. Because literally none of what is in that paragraph has happened or looks remotely like happening.

It’s also worth remembering that Fletcher, whilst rarely being used, has been in 19 out of 23 matchday squads this season.

 

Where does that happen? Sounds like a straw man argument.

 

Yep, if King had ever gotten injured we'd have been very light on forward options. It was necessary for us to sign a backup striker in case of such an eventuality and there would have been plenty of worse and/or more costly options for such a backup role about.

He's not been too bad in his few cameos either. Sure, not comfortably a PL player, but he's seemed at a similar level of ability to Cucho whenever they've been on the pitch together for instance.

 

It's the least Charlton could do considering we saved them from Poxbury

Why do people keep spouting nonsense about Fletcher being a good option if we get relegated? If the aim was to remain in The Championship maybe, but he is not a player to significantly contribute to a promotion chasing team.

Agree about Pollock and Baah. Just need to ensure the club develop them sensibly.

 

And £15m of that funnelled in the direction of Mogi Bayat (more if you included Dennis).

 

Charlton so lucky to be languishing in L1 without the Pozzos.

 

That comment was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek tbf.