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Transfers Summer Transfer thread - 2024

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How Dry should our Powder be?


  • Total voters
    57

It's clear as day the Lewis family wants out, every year after season end there is this kind of talk, about seeking minority investors or about prospective full takeover bids. Right now the club is probably still at or near the peak of its valuation, being out of the CL a couple years doesn't at all affect our sizeable stadium revenue or fortuitous positioning when it comes to PSR. If the Lewis family holds out another 5-10 years I'd say the clubs value relative to the value of the pound will be far more likely to decrease than increase. Full takeovers very often start with a minor stake purchase, with the minor stakeholder upping their share over time until they hold a majority share. ENIC actually did it themselves, holding a minor stake initially in 1991 and slowly increasing it over the following decade to a majority stake.

As for the long term health of the club, I think a change would be good to be honest, I think part of a problem with ENIC and Levy is they likely base their risk-taking on the relative position of the club when they took over; we were shit, so for them if we're flirting with top 4 and having the odd cup run we should probably be grateful because we were bottom half more often than not in the 90s. Any new owner coming in has to compete with ENIC's performance, which despite their critics has delivered consistent top 6 football, one of the best stadiums in world football and state of the art training facilities. Really, there is nowhere left to go; any new owner simply must bring success on the pitch, or they will be deemed an unmitigated failure.
 
Probably wrong thread but all depends who it is
Could end up better the devil you know in the end.

It is the devil you know, this is just 10 percent so they can fund their hotels probably and or ease the debt. Lewis doesn't get involved

Levy is going nowhere
Evil Laugh GIF
 
As pre-season progresses it becomes apparent that we have plugged many of the holes we had in defence and midfield, even assuming that Lo Celso and Royal follow Gil out of the door:

RB - Porro, Spence (also Gray)
LB - Udogie, Davies (plus Donley v weaker teams as he is technically good as inverted LB but lacks the speed) also Spence
CB's - Romero, Van de Venn, Dragusin, Gray (Skipp against weaker teams ?),

No 6/DLP - Bissouma, Skipp, Devine, (also Gray)
No 8 - Bissouma, Sarr (also Devine),
Creative 8 - Maddison, Bergvall, Donley

Whilst still room for improvement, the purchase of Gray and Bergvall, rehabilitation of Spence and form of youngsters Donley and Devine has really improved the options we have.

Probably the weakest area is that LCB/LB type of position, but its perfectly possible that in one of the remaining preseason games Spence excels as LB or Donley continues to show he could play LB. And its still possible we buy one player in that position.

Either way we seem so much more improved in depth and quality compared to last season.
Good post.
Fingers crossed but the best news of this window could be Djed coming to his senses.
The kids I am hopeful about.
Friendlies are one thing but seasoned EPL pros are gonna kick some of our kid's asses.
 
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Good post.
Fingers crossed but the best news of this window could be Djed coming to his senses.
The kids I am hopeful about.
Friendlies are one thing but seasoned EPL pros are gonna kick some of our kids asses.

About 3 years ago a seasoned Chelsea pro, Danny Drinkwater, (who had a few England caps) took liberties with Alfie Devine on his u21 debut.

Alfie left him on the ground screaming for 10 minutes, without anyone calling for a foul.

He and Jamie Donley do know how to look after themselves physically if needed.

I think Gray's 50+ Championsip games will have equipped him well, so only one I worry a little about is Bergvall.


NB Spence rehabilitation is one of the most remarkable about turns I've ever seen. A thing of delight
 
We have four with Davies plus we have Dorrington and Phillips if they don't go out on loan.

Like I said, is three enough...?

Even though it's a loan, it's with an obligation, not an option, totalling 37.5m plus a potential extra 3m in add-ons.

The financials aren't even the main issue. We are struggling with squad space for Europa league registration as it is, so would have to sell Davies to bring another in, as he can't play LB anymore IMO, so another LB is the priority in defence.

We've already shed some non HG and hopefully we can shed some more non HG ballast like Soloman, Bentancur, Gil, Kulusevski.
 
Like I said, is three enough...?



We've already shed some non HG and hopefully we can shed some more non HG ballast like Soloman, Bentancur, Gil, Kulusevski.

Gil is pretty much a done deal, off the books for 24/25 at least.

Solomon has maybe one more chance to impress then likely to be shown the door.

You're obviously not a fan of Bent and Kulu but plenty are; I can't see them being offloaded unless they themselves are worried about not getting minutes, or a ridiculously high offer comes in.
 
As pre-season progresses it becomes apparent that we have plugged many of the holes we had in defence and midfield, even assuming that Lo Celso and Royal follow Gil out of the door:

RB - Porro, Spence (also Gray)
LB - Udogie, Davies (plus Donley v weaker teams as he is technically good as inverted LB but lacks the speed) also Spence
CB's - Romero, Van de Venn, Dragusin, Gray (Skipp against weaker teams ?),

No 6/DLP - Bissouma, Skipp, Devine, (also Gray)
No 8 - Bissouma, Sarr (also Devine),
Creative 8 - Maddison, Bergvall, Donley

Whilst still room for improvement, the purchase of Gray and Bergvall, rehabilitation of Spence and form of youngsters Donley and Devine has really improved the options we have.

Probably the weakest area is that LCB/LB type of position, but its perfectly possible that in one of the remaining preseason games Spence excels as LB or Donley continues to show he could play LB. And its still possible we buy one player in that position.

Either way we seem so much more improved in depth and quality compared to last season.
Skipp is not good enough for what we're trying to do so shouldn't be on the list. Any minutes he would get should go to the likes of Gray, Devine and Bergvall who have much higher ceilings. I think he should be moved on and we could get a decent fee for him.

You forgot Bentancur for the 8. Also seems like Kulu will be used at 8/9/10 this season.

As you say it's definitely LCB/LB cover that is light. No natural CB to play there and we'll likely see Dragusin out of position there if VDV goes down.

I think Donley is too good to sit around barely playing, he needs a Championship loan, Looks ready for it. I think Devine will also go out on loan again as we simply have too many CMs.

I think it will be:

6: Biss, Gray
8: Sarr, Bentancur, Bergvall
10: Maddison, Kulu

We definitely have improved depth with Gray, Bergvall and Spence.

The problem is that we have done nothing to improve the frontline which was the biggest weakness at the start of the window. Need to get a move on.
 
Like I said, is three enough...?



We've already shed some non HG and hopefully we can shed some more non HG ballast like Soloman, Bentancur, Gil, Kulusevski.
That still gives us:
Richarlison - non HG
Son - non HG
Johnson - HG
Werner - non HG
Maddison - HG
Lo Celso - non HG
Sarr - non HG
Bergvall - non HG
Bissouma - non HG
Gray - HG
Skipp - Club Trained
Porro - non HG
Spence - HG
Emerson - non HG
Udogie - non HG
Davies - HG
Romero - non HG
Dragusin - non HG
Vdv - - non HG
Vicario - non HG
Forster - HG
Austin - Club Trained

So 20 out of the limit of 21 NonHG/HG players and we would still need a LB, a Striker and a Winger.

Yeah, we will sell Emerson and could get away with not registering Forster for Europe, but any other player we sell e.g. Lo Celso, would have to be replaced.

In an ideal world, we would have a buyer for Davies and bring in a 4th CB, but even then we don't need to be spending 37m on one.

IMO, Davies is fine for this season and his contract ends next year, so he can go then. Also, we have Vuskovic joining next season, who looks incredible for his age. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in Belgium.
 
It's clear as day the Lewis family wants out, every year after season end there is this kind of talk, about seeking minority investors or about prospective full takeover bids. Right now the club is probably still at or near the peak of its valuation, being out of the CL a couple years doesn't at all affect our sizeable stadium revenue or fortuitous positioning when it comes to PSR. If the Lewis family holds out another 5-10 years I'd say the clubs value relative to the value of the pound will be far more likely to decrease than increase. Full takeovers very often start with a minor stake purchase, with the minor stakeholder upping their share over time until they hold a majority share. ENIC actually did it themselves, holding a minor stake initially in 1991 and slowly increasing it over the following decade to a majority stake.

As for the long term health of the club, I think a change would be good to be honest, I think part of a problem with ENIC and Levy is they likely base their risk-taking on the relative position of the club when they took over; we were shit, so for them if we're flirting with top 4 and having the odd cup run we should probably be grateful because we were bottom half more often than not in the 90s. Any new owner coming in has to compete with ENIC's performance, which despite their critics has delivered consistent top 6 football, one of the best stadiums in world football and state of the art training facilities. Really, there is nowhere left to go; any new owner simply must bring success on the pitch, or they will be deemed an unmitigated failure.

I'd like to see them gone. Theyve had 25 years or close.

Stavely buying in and eventually selling to some arabs would be my dream scenario.
 
That still gives us:
Richarlison - non HG
Son - non HG
Johnson - HG
Werner - non HG
Maddison - HG
Lo Celso - non HG
Sarr - non HG
Bergvall - non HG
Bissouma - non HG
Gray - HG
Skipp - Club Trained
Porro - non HG
Spence - HG
Emerson - non HG
Udogie - non HG
Davies - HG
Romero - non HG
Dragusin - non HG
Vdv - - non HG
Vicario - non HG
Forster - HG
Austin - Club Trained

So 20 out of the limit of 21 NonHG/HG players and we would still need a LB, a Striker and a Winger.

Yeah, we will sell Emerson and could get away with not registering Forster for Europe, but any other player we sell e.g. Lo Celso, would have to be replaced.

In an ideal world, we would have a buyer for Davies and bring in a 4th CB, but even then we don't need to be spending 37m on one.

IMO, Davies is fine for this season and his contract ends next year, so he can go then. Also, we have Vuskovic joining next season, who looks incredible for his age. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in Belgium.
Yes hopefully one of Vuskovic or Dorrington can contribute in 25/26 season.
 
Skipp is not good enough for what we're trying to do so shouldn't be on the list. Any minutes he would get should go to the likes of Gray, Devine and Bergvall who have much higher ceilings. I think he should be moved on and we could get a decent fee for him.

You forgot Bentancur for the 8. Also seems like Kulu will be used at 8/9/10 this season.

As you say it's definitely LCB/LB cover that is light. No natural CB to play there and we'll likely see Dragusin out of position there if VDV goes down.

I think Donley is too good to sit around barely playing, he needs a Championship loan, Looks ready for it. I think Devine will also go out on loan again as we simply have too many CMs.

I think it will be:

6: Biss, Gray
8: Sarr, Bentancur, Bergvall
10: Maddison, Kulu

We definitely have improved depth with Gray, Bergvall and Spence.

The problem is that we have done nothing to improve the frontline which was the biggest weakness at the start of the window. Need to get a move on.
we could prob get 7-9 mill for skipp, should take that and run. the midfield is stacked with decent quality now which over time will only depreciate skipp through making him look out of his depth when he plays and also he will be starved of minutes as a lot in front of him. nice kid, hope he goes on to have a good career, but this level is too heavy for him.


desperate for a couple of attackers to get the juices going now. toney and chiesa and the place would be buzzing. for 70m its a no brainer.
 
I'd like to see them gone. Theyve had 25 years or close.

Stavely buying in and eventually selling to some arabs would be my dream scenario.
They were never gonna own us forever, I can see Levy remaining chairman for another 5 years or so with a top exec in the prospective bidder's team will be groomed to take over in a (theoretically) smooth transition.
I'd really rather not see us in the hands of the Saudis or Qatar though to be honest, the yanks can work out if they've owned successful sports ventures previously, Villa's current surge is being overseen by American owners, FSG at Liverpool got their man and backed him to the hilt, resulting in plenty of success on the pitch and change in the trophy cabinet. As much as there have been horror stories (Glazers, Gillett and Hicks at Liverpool pre-FSG) I feel like Americans understand our sporting culture much better than the Arab nations, much as we may shit on their sports they still feel that tribal connection to their teams in much the same way we do. Seems unlikely that European companies really have the financial muscle to dine at the top table, feels to me like the INEOS purchase of United is a bit of a false dawn frankly, got Ratcliffe already trying to tap up the govt. for a grant to repair old Trafford, downsizing the staff, I think they're gonna try and do a quick turnaround and sell it on for a profit tbh, I can see United being in a worse position after than before.
 
They were never gonna own us forever, I can see Levy remaining chairman for another 5 years or so with a top exec in the prospective bidder's team will be groomed to take over in a (theoretically) smooth transition.
I'd really rather not see us in the hands of the Saudis or Qatar though to be honest, the yanks can work out if they've owned successful sports ventures previously, Villa's current surge is being overseen by American owners, FSG at Liverpool got their man and backed him to the hilt, resulting in plenty of success on the pitch and change in the trophy cabinet. As much as there have been horror stories (Glazers, Gillett and Hicks at Liverpool pre-FSG) I feel like Americans understand our sporting culture much better than the Arab nations, much as we may shit on their sports they still feel that tribal connection to their teams in much the same way we do. Seems unlikely that European companies really have the financial muscle to dine at the top table, feels to me like the INEOS purchase of United is a bit of a false dawn frankly, got Ratcliffe already trying to tap up the govt. for a grant to repair old Trafford, downsizing the staff, I think they're gonna try and do a quick turnaround and sell it on for a profit tbh, I can see United being in a worse position after than before.
Villa is owned by an Egyptian.
Every american owner has been shite
Pool fans think FSG is american Levy. Backed Klopp so much he quit.

Ratcliffe is doing a sterling job at united
 
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