Summer Transfer Window 2022

[Jas10]

22 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Depends how physical you want to get from the people I listed.

soumare and sangare are the biggest for sure. Sangare can pass, I’m less sure on soumare as a hybrid. They are about 6’3 or 4 

Next you have Koopmeiners who is just over 6’ I’d say he can definitely do it all.

Zumabendi looks just under 6’ so I wouldn’t rule him out but doesn’t quite meet your requirements.

if I were dumping McGinn I would want to hear Fabian Ruiz say no to a transfer for us before considering anyone else but there is a metric ton of players worth considering for the further forward role.

 

That’s the thing, I don’t think we’re going to change that drastically. Not under SG anyway. McGinn will never be shifted and that is always going to hold us back…

 

A dream signing for me would be Milinković-Savić and he’s someone I would be willing to change up the midfield or side to accommodate. I’m not sure how disciplined or defensively adept he is but he is such a presence and has so much skill and ability especially for someone of his size/stature. A proper powerful midfielder who has the lot.

Anyway, I’m dreaming… SG is building the side around McGinn and it’s hard to feel positive about that tbh…

There’s no point signing forward thinking midfielders if we’re not getting rid of or replacing the ones we have. We need defensive nous coupled with supreme quality on the ball. We need to be better in possession more than anything. Both in terms of build up play and retention but also to relieve pressure on the side such as when we take the lead and need to see a game out… we don’t have that ability.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Jas10

[Zatman]

22 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Depends how physical you want to get from the people I listed.

soumare and sangare are the biggest for sure. Sangare can pass, I’m less sure on soumare as a hybrid. They are about 6’3 or 4 

Next you have Koopmeiners who is just over 6’ I’d say he can definitely do it all.

Zumabendi looks just under 6’ so I wouldn’t rule him out but doesn’t quite meet your requirements.

if I were dumping McGinn I would want to hear Fabian Ruiz say no to a transfer for us before considering anyone else but there is a metric ton of players worth considering for the further forward role.

 

he would be laughing that he would join us in our mess. Guy is near his peak

[Zatman]

Wijnaldum to Roma, another one we got away with it at least

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

VT users' response to seeing the 'Summer Transfer Window 2022 Thread' bumped up the page knowing that rumours continue to swirl about us resigning Ross Barkley:

 

*

 

* The kid in this gif has an uncanny resemblance to one of my neighbours who is a Burnley fan. Says it all, really.

[The_Steve]

We aren’t signing Barkley. The sky isn’t falling. 

[John]

26 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

We aren’t signing Barkley. The sky isn’t falling. 

It worked well for a bit, but it's a relief that we're not going there again, we have enough problems at the moment. 

[Marka Ragnos]

9 hours ago, picicata said:

What's the point in spending on a striker if we're not set up to create any chances for them?

Oh, wow. Respectfully, I think it’s a all bit more complicated. I think the Bournemouth debacle should be seen as a useful warning that ignoring our real and easily quantifiable striker problems or putting them on hold until the midfield suddenly “pops” is just way too risky  

Better strikers also help and inspire the midfield, too, don’t they?

They’re not just static receptacles of magical “chances.” Look at someone like Cavani in his prime. His positioning was otherworldly, like a ghost.

Secondly, at the low level of net spending we’re at so far, I would think we’re not yet in some “zero sum game,” where you can’t improve strikers unless you take away from something else. 
 

Thirdly, all other things being equal, can we honestly say that our strikers have capitalized clinically on the chances afforded them … and this is crucial… for European-level play? I do not think so. I admire our elite strikers, but I just do not see them as transcendent, and we need transcendent. 
 

Finally, are we on the brink financially? Are we even close to being on the brink? What I’ve seen suggests that we’re not. It seems like there is some headroom.
 

Shore up the midfield AND a new striker now. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Marka Ragnos

[jacketspuds]

I wonder if Gerrard is purposefully alienating players as he knows that we need to shift a fair few before the window closes, otherwise he can't bring in anyone else.

I don't think transfer fees are the problem, but our wage bill needs to be sensible, which it currently isn't when we're paying 5-6 players decent money to never play.

I wouldn't be surprised if he is trying to force Mings' hand in terms of a transfer.

[Marka Ragnos]

6 hours ago, AshVilla said:

McGinn is the captain though.

He's not going to dump him 1 game after giving him the captaincy surely.

Truth. Restoring Mings to the captaincy just like that would be a huge insult both to McGinn AND Mings. It cheapens the whole concept. This whole SG ethos of having players “scrap for the shirt” has struck me as dubious for a while. It appeals to a certain mentality, and has a certain machoness, but it also seems a little simplistic and possibly damaging.

The “hard man” manager works until it doesn’t.

[MrBlack]

Whilst I would love a new quality DM that has creative capabilities, I'm not sure it's the answer to our problems.

 My concerns are that it pushes the wrong player down the pecking order. It should mean we can drop McGinn, keep Ramsey in the team,  and have two qualities DMs in Kamara and <new>. But it won't, it will mean Ramsey gets dropped and his development into a quality player is seriously hampered.

Further, it means Luiz is even further down the ladder, and we'll lose him for nothing next summer. Not to mention Sanson who is then also pushed a rung further down.

We really really need to sell at least one of those two before buying anyone else. And ideally quite a few of our other backups.

Then finally, its going to be a signing that aligns to Gerrards formation.  One that I don't think has any long term future. If it makes it work enough to mask the problems, we're then stuck with it for the foreseeable.

So for all those reasons, I think I'd rather we didn't sign anyone at this stage.

 

.

.

.

Oh no,  look what Gerrard-ball has done to me. 

[picicata]

16 minutes ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Oh, wow. Respectfully, I think it’s a all bit more complicated. I think the Bournemouth debacle should be seen as a useful warning that ignoring our real and easily quantifiable striker problems or putting them on hold until the midfield suddenly “pops” is just way too risky  

Better strikers also help and inspire the midfield, too, don’t they?

They’re not just static receptacles of magical “chances.” Look at someone like Cavani in his prime. His positioning was otherworldly, like a ghost.

Secondly, at the low level of net spending we’re at so far, I would think we’re not yet in some “zero sum game,” where you can’t improve strikers unless you take away from something else. 
 

Thirdly, all other things being equal, can we honestly say that our strikers have capitalized clinically on the chances afforded them … and this is crucial… for European-level play? I do not think so. I admire our elite strikers, but I just do not see them as transcendent, and we need transcendent. 
 

Finally, are we on the brink financially? Are we even close to being on the brink? What I’ve seen suggests that we’re not. It seems like there is some headroom.
 

Shore up the midfield AND a new striker now. 

The price of a top striker is beyond us. Our strikers may not be perfect but they are far better than they are being allowed to show. Another 30m striker will make little to no difference.

Are our strikers European level? Possibly not. Our manager certainly isn't and we seem to be happy to give him the chance to improve.

Hey, I'm willing to accept I could be wrong, but I think any other striker would be looking at the chances we create as a team and wonder how they are expected to score off such scraps.

[nick76]

13 minutes ago, picicata said:

The price of a top striker is beyond us.

Is it? Not sure that is true either FFP wise or budget wise, it’s about being able to attract one.

[villa4europe]

I see utd linked with arnautovic for £15m and think what top class strikers are there waiting to join Aston Villa? 

There's no market 

[picicata]

10 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Is it? Not sure that is true either FFP wise or budget wise, it’s about being able to attract one.

In some ways that's kind of what I mean. Though I don't think we have as much to spend as some fans think we do

[paul514]

8 minutes ago, picicata said:

In some ways that's kind of what I mean. Though I don't think we have as much to spend as some fans think we do

If the owners want to spend we certainly do have massive ability to do on FFP

[picicata]

2 minutes ago, paul514 said:

If the owners want to spend we certainly do have massive ability to do on FFP

Do we? That's good 

So if we're not spending does that mean we have to assume our owners are cutting back?

[nick76]

13 minutes ago, picicata said:

In some ways that's kind of what I mean. Though I don't think we have as much to spend as some fans think we do

We have FFP room

We have to have budget because we have the owners and Gerrard would’ve wanted a transfer chest before committing to us because he was putting his reputation on the line and while we’ve had the transfers in Jan and this summer it hasn’t been a huge outlay in fees although wages will be high.

Owners/CEO keep talking about the long term strategy of competing at the top, they know that comes at an expense.

[sne]

Last season around this time when the signings dried up it was said by some that it was because the owners were uncertain about the manager and were holding back funds.

I didn't believe it at the time and I don't think it's happening now. But who knows.

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, picicata said:

Do we? That's good 

So if we're not spending does that mean we have to assume our owners are cutting back?

Could be that or we can’t get the targets we want or bizarrely they believe our squad is good enough for this season or Gerrard does.  Also the transfer window isn’t closed yet.

Edited August 8, 2022 by nick76

[paul514]

5 minutes ago, picicata said:

Do we? That's good 

So if we're not spending does that mean we have to assume our owners are cutting back?

That or they don’t feel the right targets are available.

the owners have put so much in it isn’t unreasonable that they have gone to a more balanced position. 
 

When we trade players now the ones going out are for significant sums.

That maguire guy who does football finances is good to follow for this sort of thing.