Delphinho123

Definitely. Looks to be a very good signing.

I see what you’re saying but Mane is more of a wide player with his creativity and dribbling skills. I’m not sure Watkins is that type. Like I say, I think he’ll do a job there and the system is perhaps similar to Liverpool’s. Happy with Buendia as the 10 in behind. I imagine he’s good enough to play anywhere along that front 3.

There’s a difference from drifting over to the left to playing over there and holding your position. I think Watkins will do a job out there if he is asked because I think he’s a terrific player, I’d just prefer a more specialist creative, attacking midfielder in that position. (or a new AMC if Buendia plays on the left).

100% agree. I think it will become apparent exactly which route we’re going down on Saturday. If we play Ings and Watkins up front together, we’ll get slaughtered in the middle of the park and it will just go to show that Ings was brought in without a plan. Watkins is a striker, and a bloody good one at that. There is no need to play him off the left.

We have replaced Grealish’s output, not the player himself. I’d be shocked if we didn’t bring in another attacking player to play alongside Buendia and Bailey in that front three behind either Watkins or Ings. As things stand, all we’ve done is substituted our over reliance on Grealish with Buendia. We need another creative player otherwise there’s no chance we’ll finish in the top 10 this season (In my opinion).

Just reading some of the comments from Lens fans on Doucoure. They really rate him

No, we’ll cry every window because we bought those players that weren’t good enough in the first place. e.g. Traore.

If they knew Grealish was leaving when they signed Buendia, then featuring him in the kit launch was the most stupid thing they’ve done since taking over the club. The commercial cost alone of replacing all of those kits was probably into the thousands. Also, of course Purslow is going to come out and say they knew he was going and they signed x, y, z. He’s not going to come out and say we were unprepared so we got Ings in through desperation. Our new signings will help us replace Grealish’s output but is it enough to progress and improve on our 11th place finish? I’m not so sure. We need more.

Think you might be right there.

It’s quite funny, most of us on here were saying we needed cover/competition for Watkins and as soon as we bring that in (Ings), we’re all now convinced Watkins will change position and play on the left!

Absolutely. But we can spread out his transfer fee. If we replace him with a Damsgaard/Correa/Doku/Kamada type signing and a top quality defensive midfielder, we can be as good! I think..

Well there we go. If we had Grealish right now, I’d be absolutely buzzing for the new season. A front 4 of Grealish, Buendia, Bailey and Watkins is up there with the best in the league and would have seen us really compete. Buendia, Bailey, Ings and Watkins just isn’t at that level because Grealish is a world class talent and whilst Ings is a very good player, he doesn’t have that creative spark that Jack does (nobody does). Like I say, everything points to us doing more business this summer and not just in the defensive midfield position. Colomosse, who has been bang on the money this window, says we’re after an attacking and a defensive midfielder and that’s exactly what we’ll buy (in my opinion).

Replace the word Danjuma with Doku or Damsgaard and you’re bang on. I’ve watched a lot of Danjuma and while he is a useful player, I don’t think he’ll improve us. We need someone of the same quality as Buendia and Bailey. Not even sure that’s Cantwell even though I quite rate him. Would love us to be looking at Kamada or Doku.

Actually a very good point!

You could be right, still leaves us needing to replace Grealish. If we’re honest, the Ings signing has consumed the f*** out of all of us. I really rate him as a player but now we’re all scrambling around trying to figure out what formation we’ll play and where Watkins plays. Personally, I just look at Ings being brought in to compete with Watkins in that number 9 role. If we’re chasing games we have two solid striking options and if one is injured, the other can deputise. And yes, if our NEW left sided forward is injured, Watkins can play out there. Its all about options. Just because our starting team consists of XI players, doesn’t mean you can’t have 14-15 quality options.

See, I think Purslow’s comments were about replacing Grealish’s output, not the actual player in the position he plays. Signing Ings, Buendia and Bailey will go a long way in doing that but we still need one more attacking option of genuine quality. If Buendia gets injured, I think we’ll be bemoaning the fact that we’ve just substituted our over reliance on Jack with Emi. FWIW, our transfer business has been excellent so far, but we can’t just sit back now and rest on what we have done. 2 more players and I think we can push Arsenal and Spurs aside.

I’m convinced we signed Buendia to play with Grealish (kit launch being a massive telltale sign) which means the board were clearly willing to spend a lot of money in this window. If Grealish had stayed I’d also have expected them to sign a starting defensive midfielder for around 30-40m. Ings and Bailey were clearly (and rightfully) signed when we knew Grealish was leaving but even up until this point, our net spend is something like -£5/10m right? I fully expect us to go out and sign a defensive midfielder and then properly replace Grealish in that left sided forward position. Either that or sign an attacking midfielder if Buendia and Bailey play wide. Just because we’ve signed Ings, it doesn’t mean we can’t have genuine competition for places in those forward areas. I think there is serious worry on here that we can’t fit Ings and Watkins into the same team if we sign another quality attacking midfielder and people are instead happy to see Watkins pushed out to the left to accommodate him. This isn’t how sides progress. Ings and Watkins fighting over that spot is healthy competition and there are plenty of occasions when we’ll need both up top when we’re chasing games. As things stand, I don’t see us finishing in the top 10 as we’ll be too reliant on Buendia for creativity and our back 4 isn’t protected enough. We need two more and I’ll genuinely be excited to see what we can do this year.

All for it tbf. For a small fee and sensible wages, why not?

Could be both tbf and it's a valid point. I just don't see Watkins skill set suiting a wide forward position. He's really good at playing off the shoulder of the last man, getting in behind and stretching defenses. He also has a knack of being in the right place at the right time. It's completely different to a wide man who is expected to dribble, pass and cross. It could work and I could be pleasantly surprised, I just don't see it.

He had several chances to play him on the left last season, but didnt. I don't think he fancies him there and we'll bring in a new left sided forward.

He's mostly atrocious. I'd rather have JPB on the pitch. If we can sell him, we should and reinvest the money into a better player. We're slowly replacing the entire team that got us promoted and that kept us up and AEG will be the next to be replaced.

I agree. If we can buy a brilliant no.10 to play in between Buendia and Bailey then I think we’ll be a major threat to every team in the division. I actually think Chukwuemeka could have a breakout season as well but it’s important we don’t expect too much from the youngsters. They need to be brought in slowly and given minutes here and there and in cup games. A couple more quality signings and I’ll be firmly in the ‘Jack who?’ camp.

Bailey will play on the right.

Not sure I agree. We don’t actually have a player that plays on the left of a front 3 in the squad. That and a DCM will be the priorities.