Summer Transfer Window 2023

[allani]

7 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

I know there's some young people on here that don't know pre Madonna the phrase was Prima donna

But surely that is the joke.  It's genius.

[Adam2003]

17 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

If we get a top, right footed left sided attacking player, we’re good to go

I like the look of that Jacob Ramsey lad at Villa for this role. Would be cheap as well.

[maqroll]

I don't get why some posters here think we are done. Considering the recent flurry of outgoing players and Emery's statements about making more signings, I'm confident we will see at least one more.

[villaglint]

4 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

I like the look of that Jacob Ramsey lad at Villa for this role. Would be cheap as well.

He’s obviously first choice but we need a backup. Right now that’s McGinn but he’s leaving a hole on the right, hence Cash playing there against Burnley (to great effect). Ideally we’d have McGinn and Bailey/Zaniolo for right and Ramsey plus one more for left. Personally I think we’ll go with what we have in midfield. 
 

Really need a striker though. 

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I don't get why some posters here think we are done. Considering the recent flurry of outgoing players and Emery's statements about making more signings, I'm confident we will see at least one more.

I dont think we are done but I dont see a panic to buy a player. I think we will get one more deal maybe 2 but I wouldnt expect much. 

I dont think we will sign anybody for the sake of it

[striker]

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

I wonder did we put in a sell on clause

 

2 hours ago, Mazrim said:

Hell no. Spend it now.

Bit early for Santa.

[Kiwivillan]

11 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I don't get why some posters here think we are done. Considering the recent flurry of outgoing players and Emery's statements about making more signings, I'm confident we will see at least one more.

1 yes, not several. We've offloaded players that were unlikely to get many or any minutes

Edited August 28, 2023 by Kiwivillan

[Jas10]

44 minutes ago, Awol said:

Yes. Release clause is €80M and Sporting want it all, seems other player sales have taken the financial pressure to sell away. 

Surprising he hasn’t angled for a move either but good on him… thought he’d maybe wanna move on and forward with his career… but nice to see players show a bit of loyalty too..

Just thought he was one that would have been available and in demand…

[allani]

15 minutes ago, villaglint said:

I’d agree that is a key area but also a striker. If Watkins gets injured we are really screwed. 

I do think that we'll sign another forward (not a back-up striker but someone else who can play across the front-line and give us different options regardless of whether Ollie is fit or not) - however, we've already massively reduced the risk of an injury to Ollie.  Last season it was a very real risk - our second top scorer last year scored the lowest number of goals (6) for any second top scorer of any team in the top half bar (I think) Man Utd.  However, we've just scored 7 goals in two PL matches and Ollie hasn't found the net at all.  We've got more players who will expect to get close to double figures this season - Diaby will score goals, Bailey looks like he might score more, Zaniolo, Ramsey, Duran is off the mark too.  Losing Ollie will hit us as without him in the team we lose a part of the way we play.  But we have more options available now to cover if he is out.  I think we're more likely to try and find a player like Diaby or Zaniolo but to play on the left than a "striker" per se.  A front three of (for the purposes of illustration only) Chiesa or Torres plus Diaby and Zaniolo still has goals in it even without having an explicit "striker".  It would change elements of the way we play but we'd still be able to create and finish enough chances to do win a lot of matches.  Plus it gives us more options when Ollie is fit to exploit different weaknesses in the opposition.  I know we've had big leads in the last three matches - but it is already much easier for Emery to subsitute Ollie and give him some extra rest time (which he will need over the season) and still maintain a goal threat.

[allani]

9 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I dont think we are done but I dont see a panic to buy a player. I think we will get one more deal maybe 2 but I wouldnt expect much. 

I dont think we will sign anybody for the sake of it

I have high expectations of any player(s) that we do sign - but appreciate that that isn't really what you meant.  Like you say - Emery and Monchi are looking for the right player to sign and if they can't get them then they are unlikely to buy someone for the hell of it.  It's possible that we do get someone who might have been our third or fourth choice - but even if that happens they will still be the right player for the way that Emery wants to play, they will still hit a certain quality threshold that Emery will demand and Emery will still be confident that he can improve their level of performance.  I can see a signing that has a few of us slightly scratching our heads and then thinking about it a bit more and realising how it fits into the plan.  I do still think that we might have one more in the pipeline that will make people really stand up and take notice - it's just a questions of whether we can make that deal happen this time around.

[allani]

45 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

I like the look of that Jacob Ramsey lad at Villa for this role. Would be cheap as well.

I think Ramsey is a bit better breaking from slightly deeper.  So I think we'll be looking at someone who is possibly more used to playing 10 - 15 meters further forward.  That would then give us real options in terms of who / where we are playing, specific match situations, being able to rotate / keep players fit and healthy, etc.  We don't want a replacement or back-up for Ramsey - we want someone who can offer a different option and / or cover both Ramsey (left mid) and Ollie (left attacker).  But I can also see that if Emery thinks the opposition are weak at right back then we could play Ramsey, Moreno and new left-sided attacker in the same match to really hit that area hard.  We've done that down our right (Diaby, Bailey and Cash pushing on) and it's generated masses of space for Digne already.  All about having options and using players smartly.

Edited August 28, 2023 by allani

[Monsieur Hazdazler]

So considering the current squad/depth - players that are realistically part of the squad (bracketed players you would assume also could be). If we are thinking about wanting two players for each position the depth overall is ok:

GK - Martinez, Olsen, Marschall
RB - Cash, Chambers
CB - Konsa, Pau, Carlos and of course Mings as a long term absentee
LB - Moreno, Digne
DM - Kamara, Dougie, Tielemans, Dendoncker (Iroegbunam)
Wide Mid - McGinn, Ramsey, Bert, Bailey, Coutinho, Buendia as a long term absentee
Second Striker - Diaby, Zaniolo
CF - Watkins, Duran

The long term injuries are tough because we have to consider what we do also when they return, not knowing how their recovery will go also. If we buy quality replacements now do we then have an issue to deal with down the track? 

I feel like we have a bit of a weakness in defence - another injury to either Konsa, Pau or Carlos and we are getting very light - I can definitely see us bringing in a right sided defender, whether that's more of a pure CB or RB/CB hybrid I'm not sure. Chambers is a capable back up, but even with him considered due to the Mings injury we are one short. I can see maybe a loan move here to cover Mings absence? Carlos seems to be getting back up to speed which is a real positive.

LB - It seems pretty clear this is dependent on Digne and whether we can line up a suitable alternative. Sensible reasons to make this move but probably not a major stress if the right player isn't available. So would be 1 in, 1 out.

DM - I feel like we are good here?

Wide Mid - When Ramsey is back we are good in terms of raw numbers here. I guess the question here is whether Emery wants to move on Coutinho or even Bert if given the chance. Are we realistically going to upgrade on McGinn and Ramsey? That's a tough one. I don't want us to spend a wad of cash on a player who doesn't clearly improve us just for the sake of an extra body. I think Coutinho moving on would be fine, if Bert can stay fit we'd have 4 players covering two spots there with Buendia to return in the distant future also.

Second Striker - Zaniolo looked handy and Diaby has been excellent... we are so much better in this position now than last year. 

CF - Watkins appears to be very physically robust, so bringing in a quality striker is tough because it becomes a bit like Spurs finding a back up for Kane in some ways, where Watkins is so clearly important to Emery and we need a pure back up. I guess up to Emery as to whether he sees Duran as capable. If Watkins did get injured, could we get by with Diaby for example as the CF and Zaniolo or Bailey alongside him for a period? Hard to say this one. I can see us making a move for someone within the forward line.

Overall I feel like calls for 3-4 signings are probably a bit OTT, but you could probably stretch to 3 with a back up GK, covering defender for the right side and another attacker of some sort. I feel like as Emery has let Archer go with no replacement imminent, he may feel quite comfortable here unless a real step up in quality type of signing is available. It does seem based on rumours we may be after a wide attacker which i think would see Coutinho allowed to move and us becoming open to offers for Bert. I'm genuinely intrigued to see what we do in these final days - if we signed no one I'd still be fairly comfortable with the situation. I know there's always questions like 'what if Martinez gets injured' or 'what if we get another long term defender injury', but all clubs struggle when key players get injured, I'm not sure we can warrant a big spend to cover the potential of an injury when we have numbers in the squad already? 

[DakotaVilla]

There’s also added flexibility in that Konsa can play right back and chambers is the 4th CB.

All of the second strikers could also cover for Watkins in a pinch or in the lesser cup games. 

It’s only 9 extra games max until Jan and nearly all of them will be games we should easily win. We may even see feeney, kellyman or oreilly get cup game time which would be great for their development.
 

For me it shows that we will only move if the right long term player is available.

[GingerCollins29]

I think we'll make a deadkine dat signing. 

Last Summer we signed Donk and Bednarek on deadline day.

But who was the last summer deadline day transfer we made before those two?? 10 points to the winner

[Monsieur Hazdazler]

9 minutes ago, DakotaVilla said:

There’s also added flexibility in that Konsa can play right back and chambers is the 4th CB.

All of the second strikers could also cover for Watkins in a pinch or in the lesser cup games. 

It’s only 9 extra games max until Jan and nearly all of them will be games we should easily win. We may even see feeney, kellyman or oreilly get cup game time which would be great for their development.
 

For me it shows that we will only move if the right long term player is available.

Hey, yeah to be honest with Konsa/CHambers I just tried to simplify the whole thing by putting one at CB and one at RB. Konsa has done great in that hybrid role when he's done it this year!

[QldVilla]

I think Emery has shown that he will only bring in a player if they are the right type. Injuries aside we weren’t far off a very good squad, it’s going to come down what Emery thinks we may still need or maybe a loan cover for CB. Maybe 1-2 more.

[DJBOB]

Right footed midfielder and a CB/RB cover and that should be it. 
 
Depth at CF is rare at every club. Alvarez is behind Haaland but a completely different profile. Arsenal have Jesus and Niketiah. Spurs have Richarlison. United are currently playing Rashfore. Chelsea have little behind Jackson. Liverpool are using Gakpo but Nunez is their only true CF. 
 
We are light behind Watkins at CF but we will have to make do with our options. 

[AvfcRigo82]

5 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I sense its going to get very tetchy in here as we get towards the deadline without any signings.

Can't wait it's going to be very funny  

 

4 hours ago, duke313 said:

Gonna be a lot of disappointment people on here come 11:01 on Friday night

So you're both sitting waiting and hoping that we don't make any more signings.

Good work.

[Kiwivillan]

19 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Depth at CF is rare at every club. Alvarez is behind Haaland but a completely different profile. Arsenal have Jesus and Niketiah. Spurs have Richarlison. United are currently playing Rashfore. Chelsea have little behind Jackson. Liverpool are using Gakpo but Nunez is their only true CF. 
 
We are light behind Watkins at CF but we will have to make do with our options. 

It's so true but I think some think everyone else is playing 442 with 2 traditional centre forwards. Jesus injured all season and lot of last and Arsenal ended up playing Trossard up front who everyone thinks of as an attacking mid. Antonio still playing up top for Wham. He was playing RB/RWB a few seasons ago. Even Pool fans were saying Nunez hasn't worked out as a signing before the 2 goals vs Newcastle 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Kiwivillan

[Kiwivillan]

1 hour ago, GingerCollins29 said:

But who was the last summer deadline day transfer we made before those two?? 10 points to the winner

It was Borja Baston no?