Winter transfer window 2020/1

[Villaphil]

I wonder whether Lange may be expected to work his magic in Jan.  

The drop off in quality between the 1st team and the wider squad has led to us using the fewest number of players (19) in the league, this season. 

With the wider squad not playing, their value reduces.  I’d want Lange to be looking for replacements for these players.  If we can’t get rid now, we may be left with them running down their contract because no one will pay for a transfer or meet their wages.

If we can sign a first team upgrade then great, but otherwise, replace them with players Lange has found who will be relatively cheap but likely to increase in value and be an actual option off the bench.

For me at least, Elmohamady, Hourihane, Lansbury and Taylor will all leave on frees in the summer, and so they may be difficult to move on.  That leaves decisions to be made on, Steer, Engels, Guilbert and Nakamba.  I wonder what value the club loses if these players remain on the fringes?

[HKP90]

1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I'm kinda leaning the other way, he's a pretty decent man manager, but was found out tactically for a while.

And the bigger problem is that man utd got a lot of shite deadwood on enormous wages. Not a place to go shopping.

Williams is probably the pick of the litter of the unwanted there, but we can do better than that.

Still annoys me Justin went to Leicester

Yeah, I really rate justin. 

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, Villaphil said:

I wonder whether Lange may be expected to work his magic in Jan.  

The drop off in quality between the 1st team and the wider squad has led to us using the fewest number of players (19) in the league, this season. 

With the wider squad not playing, their value reduces.  I’d want Lange to be looking for replacements for these players.  If we can’t get rid now, we may be left with them running down their contract because no one will pay for a transfer or meet their wages.

If we can sign a first team upgrade then great, but otherwise, replace them with players Lange has found who will be relatively cheap but likely to increase in value and be an actual option off the bench.

For me at least, Elmohamady, Hourihane, Lansbury and Taylor will all leave on frees in the summer, and so they may be difficult to move on.  That leaves decisions to be made on, Steer, Engels, Guilbert and Nakamba.  I wonder what value the club loses if these players remain on the fringes?

If we're looking for utility player to replace AEM then Daniel Wass would be good one to get cheap from Valencia. Can play midfield and either full back position. 200 games in La Liga last five years for Celta Vigo and Valencia.

Even getting a regular game for Denmark now as Morten Olsen before didn't rate him much.

[Hank Scorpio]

Can't see there being much if any business this window. Any will need to be preceded by sales first.

 

Also the complications of player movements and medicals etc will surely mean foreign signings are less likely

[dont_do_it_doug.]

2 hours ago, HKP90 said:

I would look at Man U players. I think Ole looks a little out of his depth when it comes to man management. The culture there looks poor. With a proper manager, I think we could forge some good squad players.

Yes for Williams for me.

I feel like this is just a thing people say now because it has become part of Premier League folklore, rather than it actually being provable. 

They're 3rd in the league with a game in hand. 

[Thug]

35 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I feel like this is just a thing people say now because it has become part of Premier League folklore, rather than it actually being provable. 

They're 3rd in the league with a game in hand. 

And I suspect that the majority of the players like him, or he’d have been out the door by now.

In fact, it looks like he’s won the manager vs Pogba battle which cost Jose his job.

 

[HKP90]

38 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I feel like this is just a thing people say now because it has become part of Premier League folklore, rather than it actually being provable. 

They're 3rd in the league with a game in hand. 

Last game aside, their players are lazy as f**k. 

[Sulberto21]

Apparently Liverscum have agreed a fee with Lille for Renato Sanchez for around £18m. That tells me that they might need to sell one or two more. Ikone and or Bamba please!. We'd really ruin teams with one or both of those two in the first team/ squad.

[paul514]

7 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Another medical team mascot?

Whats our obsession with former players?

He really isn’t injured that much if you look at his record and they aren’t the same injury, I remember looking it up in the summer

[Teale's 'tache]

I don't think we'll be doing much business if any (barring catastrophic injuries), we've a full squad that we've not much used, and there is rarely quality/value to be had in January. Maybe some loans out, and possibly sign a few more for the academy as we did in the summer.

Thankfully there's no need to panic buy like last January. We'll keep our ear to the ground and if there's any value to be had for a player that would improve the first team I'm sure we'll be in for them, but that kind of quality at good value is rare in the winter market.

I can see plenty of movement in the summer when contracts run out, we'll have squad places to fill and depending on where we finish an ambition to fill it with real quality.

 

[sne]

4 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I think he will move for less than £ 35 million. Yeah definitely bigger fish there, but if we intend to get better we have to deal with that. 

Guess Covid, the collapse of the French TV-deal and him refusing to sign a new contract will bring the price down. But I'd be chocked if it's anywhere close to £35m.

He's the most sought after young player in Europe and already a regular in the French national side despite just turning 18. Real, PSG, Juve, Bayern and the big English clubs will have a bidding war over him.

Tons of good young players in Ligue 1 thou who will be available for a lot less than they were a couple months ago. See his teammate Brandon Soppy is linked with some of the usual suspects for example.

[TrentVilla]

 

With the gap in games its hard not to spend a lot of time thinking about the transfer window, or I've found it hard any way.

Given the issues around COVID both domestically and internationally it is hard to know what the market will be like but the more I think about it the more I think we should focus our attention on the Championship next month. Unless we can turn up another Martinez style overlooked Premier League player.

Not only does that lessen the issues of COVID but I'd imagine there are a lot of clubs in the Championship more than happy to sell and bring in much needed revenue at the moment. (I exclude the relegated clubs from this due to parachute payments)

We did well in the summer picking up Watkins and Cash, players more than capable of stepping into our first team and we have previously done well with Konsa. While Smith tried to land James Justin who sadly opted for Leicester which will go down as one that got away.

The more I think about it the more I think January should be about Championship players who can make the adjustment far easier than those from overseas in most cases.

In the summer the squad is going to need another big overhaul as we've a number of players on expiring contracts so adding a little depth now ahead of this makes sense. We can then hopefully look overseas in the summer with Lange and his staff having had a season to look for targets.

[ferguson1]

 

No issue with some Championship players arriving in January to bolster our squad (ie Lloyd Kelly, Harry Soutter, Nathan Collins, Dael Fry, Will Hughes, Lewis Cook, Philip Billing, Tyrese Campbell, Josh King).

Unlikely, but others with a current higher value (ie Sarr, Brooks, Dasilva, Mbeumo, Sibley, Buendia, Cantwell).

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by ferguson1

[Sulberto21]

6 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

 

No issue with some Championship players arriving in January to bolster our squad (ie Lloyd Kelly, Harry Soutter, Nathan Collins, Will Hughes, Philip Billing, Tyrese Campbell, Josh King).

Unlikely, but others with a current higher value (ie Sarr, Brooks, Dasilva, Mbeumo, Buendia, Cantwell).

Yes please.

[VillanousOne]

Can we get Billing just so we can confuse opposition players by having 'Two Mings' on the pitch. We'd be merciless.

Plus he surely is a more physical and mobile version of Nakamba.

[alreadyexists]

Quite like the look of Conor Gallagher at West Brom, on loan from Chelsea... is only 20 so not the finished article yet but seems like he could do ok in the PL.

That said, he’d likely be competing with players like Ramsey for the match squad (or if not, what’s the point)..

Edited December 23, 2020 by alreadyexists

[KMitch]

5 hours ago, Villaphil said:

I wonder whether Lange may be expected to work his magic in Jan.  

The drop off in quality between the 1st team and the wider squad has led to us using the fewest number of players (19) in the league, this season. 

With the wider squad not playing, their value reduces.  I’d want Lange to be looking for replacements for these players.  If we can’t get rid now, we may be left with them running down their contract because no one will pay for a transfer or meet their wages.

If we can sign a first team upgrade then great, but otherwise, replace them with players Lange has found who will be relatively cheap but likely to increase in value and be an actual option off the bench.

For me at least, Elmohamady, Hourihane, Lansbury and Taylor will all leave on frees in the summer, and so they may be difficult to move on.  That leaves decisions to be made on, Steer, Engels, Guilbert and Nakamba.  I wonder what value the club loses if these players remain on the fringes?

On paper, those 4 are our obvious weak links, but in the dressing room, they're some of the key personalities.  From what I hear, they're all model professionals who train well and provide a lot of leadership/guidance for the newer players in the team.  We need to make sure we're continuing to also recruit more seasoned professionals to round out the squad, and not just loading up on FM21 Wonderkids. 

Squad chemistry is a real thing that gets overlooked by fans and with how well we're performing right now, I can seriously see the front office team hesitant to make any major moves in January, unless a high priority target for this upcoming summer becomes available.

[paul514]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

Can we get Billing just so we can confuse opposition players by having 'Two Mings' on the pitch. We'd be merciless.

Plus he surely is a more physical and mobile version of Nakamba.

Mings the merciless

[paul514]

1 hour ago, alreadyexists said:

Quite like the look of Conor Gallagher at West Brom, on loan from Chelsea... is only 20 so not the finished article yet but seems like he could do ok in the PL.

That said, he’d likely be competing with players like Ramsey for the match squad (or if not, what’s the point)..

I’ve seen something in him too not sure what though

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, alreadyexists said:

Quite like the look of Conor Gallagher at West Brom, on loan from Chelsea... is only 20 so not the finished article yet but seems like he could do ok in the PL.

That said, he’d likely be competing with players like Ramsey for the match squad (or if not, what’s the point)..

Weren't we somewhat linked with him in the summer?