Summer transfer window 2021

[WallisFrizz]

45 minutes ago, sne said:

Leicester who we all seem to think is a club to emulate and copy (to a certain extent) signed a young player from France at the start of last season for a eye watering sum of €35m.

A year later and I doubt anyone think them spending that money on a 19 y.o Wesley Fofana was a mistake

Fair point but didnt Wolves also pay £30 mil for Fabio Silva? 
I’d be surprised if we were in for him at that price but willing to put trust in the recruitment team if it’s true and they think he is worth it.

[HalfTimePost]

He was linked to Milan a few weeks ago (not in reliable places though) for €15-20m. That would line up better for how I thought Ligue 1s finances were going and I assume would be more palatable for everyone here.

[DaveAV1]

6 hours ago, barry'sboots said:

How do you get ready to be tea bagged???? 

It’s an interesting question but I’m pleased to say not in my skill set. 

[KenjiOgiwara]

5 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Conor seems the obvious candidate.

Btw I like Pape Sarr's youtube video but yeah 30M seems a bit of a gamble on an 18 year old who plays for Metz.... and we have some full back positions to fill...

Still I trust or clubs staff, if they see it, then cool.

To be fair, if this is a Lange recommendation or McKenzie or whoever made the call, why should listen to them. It's not that they are utterly amazing or anything, but it's no point having staff for this if we don't follow through on it. Secondly, how can we ever criticise their performance, if we don't back them when they call out the big talents. It goes both ways. 

[alreadyexists]

I assume that he would count as a ‘youth’ player and because of that the money wouldn’t count towards FFP? Might be wrong? Not that I think £30m is fair but if someone had approached us to sign Jack at 18 I think we’d have quoted more than 30.

[DaveAV1]

I think a lot of our recruitment has gone under the radar to some extent, in that it has largely been quietly going on at development level. We have bought around 30 young players in the last 12 months. Ok Barry attracted some publicity but on the whole it has gone unnoticed. We got a glimpse of it in the FA Cup Final victory and what we saw was impressive. Potentially millions will be saved and made over the next few years with this policy, the first crop is starting to find it’s way into the first team squad. The future is extremely bright. 

[alreadyexists]

20 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

I assume that he would count as a ‘youth’ player and because of that the money wouldn’t count towards FFP? Might be wrong? Not that I think £30m is fair but if someone had approached us to sign Jack at 18 I think we’d have quoted more than 30.

Ignore me, that’s not the case.

[nepal_villan]

44 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I think a lot of our recruitment has gone under the radar to some extent, in that it has largely been quietly going on at development level. We have bought around 30 young players in the last 12 months. Ok Barry attracted some publicity but on the whole it has gone unnoticed. We got a glimpse of it in the FA Cup Final victory and what we saw was impressive. Potentially millions will be saved and made over the next few years with this policy, the first crop is starting to find it’s way into the first team squad. The future is extremely bright. 

Yes. And that is why when people say we would be lucky  just to have 1 or 2 have the Academy players graduate to the first team, I disagree. It's not as though our academy is just a bunch of local lads. We've been recruiting the best young talent across the UK and Europe. I think we'll have quite a few of our academy players graduate to the first team.

[useless]

Being strongly linked to Josh Feeney and Ajani Burchall, so looks like we will be adding more signings to our academy this summer.

Edited June 8, 2021 by useless

[Sulberto21]

1 hour ago, Kiwivillan said:

Has Smith ever employed a big DCM at any club? I don't think it fits with how he wants the team to play but seems like an obsession in here. 

I'm a firm believer the better pressers we have then the more ball players we can have. Ollie jack and Buendia are a very good 3 for pressing. Sanson McGinn and Luiz behind them will be pretty good supporting the press too. 

[jacketspuds]

I don’t think height is the problem with our midfield. We need more composure and leadership in there. Someone that can break up play, get the ball and not pass it straight to the opposition when under pressure. You don’t need to be a unit to do that.

[sne]

1 hour ago, WallisFrizz said:

Fair point but didnt Wolves also pay £30 mil for Fabio Silva? 
I’d be surprised if we were in for him at that price but willing to put trust in the recruitment team if it’s true and they think he is worth it.

Yeah but who want's to be like Wolves . Fwiw I think Silva might turn out a solid player but they didn't expect him to play as much this soon as he did due to Jimenez injury 

[Stevo985]

2 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Has Smith ever employed a big DCM at any club? I don't think it fits with how he wants the team to play but seems like an obsession in here. 

It's the weirdest position in football.

English football fans seem to just want a big destroyer in that role and as a result players who are good in that position seem to be criminally underrated because they don't go steaming into tackles left right and centre

[Jareth]

If real, Sarr would be coming in nearer £10 mill surely

[lexicon]

Just now, Jareth said:

If real, Sarr would be coming in nearer £10 mill surely

Hard to say, I guess. French football teams are in financial trouble but there's a lot of hype around him, so you'd imagine there'd be competition for his signature. If two decent-size prem teams are in for him, you could easily see it getting close to 30m

[RicRic]

12 hours ago, Villa Stu said:

So we have more or less signed buendia, been linked with a move for ward prowse and people are seriously suggesting wood? Nothing against him but look at the level that we are targeting and the style we are wanting to play, wood would only play for the last 10 mins when chasing a game. I would prefer if we were to play buendia at 10 and sign someone like daka that can play rw or st

I fully agree with this plus a CDM that can be more explosive and get goals here and there

[Dave-R]

2 hours ago, Villarocker said:

We rate Chuckie highly so I can't see us spending £30m on someone else's 18 year old when we have our own breaking through. I think that's an agent trying to get his player a big deal. 

I think we need left back cover, centre back cover and a big starting defensive midfielder and a striker. No idea about the defenders and striker but I do fancy us to outbid the gooners again and bring in Sander Berge to play the DM role. 

I think we'll let Engels and Wesley go and, maybe one of Nakamba or Luiz. 

 

You better rate him highly.

[Philosopher]

2 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Has Smith ever employed a big DCM at any club? I don't think it fits with how he wants the team to play but seems like an obsession in here. 

You could be right on both points. I personally would like a big option in midfield, as one of 6 good options if we play with a 3, or 4 good options if we play with a 2. 

Agile, quick, technical and aggressive are the main qualities you want in midfield these days as you need guys that can press and play under pressure and this requires a quick change of direction, quick to slow down and accelerate, and nimble on the turn. This is generally seen from guys under 5'11. 

Alternatively if you want a strong solid defensive block, and primarily rely of counters and set pieces you're better off having at least one big man in midfield.

It's horse for courses. One thing Smith has always done at his clubs is press hard. This is why he tends to prefer a more maneuverable midfielder.

However Man City at their best are a team that presses well and are great under pressure, but almost alway line up with a tall sitter at the base of midfield. It's something Pep like to do since bringing through Busquets at Barca.

[Dave-R]

I doubt us signing youth is done since we let a fair few go recently.

I'm not sure we will spend that much on youngsters though, as other have said 30 mill is alot for a youngster, an awful lot..

[abdulaziz1]

2 hours ago, WallisFrizz said:

Fair point but didnt Wolves also pay £30 mil for Fabio Silva? 
I’d be surprised if we were in for him at that price but willing to put trust in the recruitment team if it’s true and they think he is worth it.

Wolves are a different story, because of Mendes sometimes they do business but the team doesn’t seem to be benefiting from. It’s a case of to give you this player, sell this and buy this or something like that.