Transfers Summer 2022 Transfer Thread.

[Elias]

1) Woeful? I'd bet Spain's national debt that Conte and his team have forgotten a hundred times more about player management than this forum will collectively ever know.

2) "Why he feels the need to stress just how much he wasn’t behind signing him in every interview" - it was one interview. You read it how you like, I assumed he meant it was a player that we were keeping close tabs on and had made contact with before he and his team came along. I'm almost certain that Paratici and Conte had a good look first and liked what they saw.

3) Do you seriously think that's how football professionals operate? Or could it maybe have been a calculated slowly-slowly introduction into Premier League football?

4) Baffling? It seems entirely logical to me

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I agree.

But I do think there is now some onus on Conte to reward youngsters like Gil, Spence & Sarr with minutes off the bench if they are putting in the hard work in training, and learning from our coaches.

Gil has a chance of getting ahead of Lucas Moura in the attacking pecking order, particularly since he offers skill & guile, rather than head down dribbling.

Spence can surely be tried in the Dan James right flank speedster role in situations where we're leading and looking to break fast when we win the ball.

Sarr has the toughest job, because Conte places so much reliance on the discipline & tactical nous of our CMs. That's why PEH & Bentancur started our first few games, and he was so reluctant to take a clearly struggling PEH off against spam.

But I'd rather young players as squad depth than some of our deadline day fodder over the years.

 

[Deuterz]

Early doors yet, but I can't see them finishing mid table, I honestly think they'll struggle this season.

Rogers has come out today saying that their target is 40 points for this season, hardly the attitude that is going to inspire confidence in the team. He's bought very poorly. The club have gone away from their past modus operandi of getting in cheap talent and getting them to perform. They've not even taken punts on potential this window, which leads me to believe they have no faith in Rogers. Judging by his comments, he's seeing this too and is angling for the sack. If they don't bin him off then I honestly can't see them improving. He'll lose the dressing room pretty quick if they also see that he's looking for an out and a payoff, Christ even Darren Bent can see this, so you can bet your life that at least a few of their players will too. Which means that all of them will in no time at all, they'll be talking about it amongst themselves almost as soon as they saw the presser.

Time will tell but, imho, they'll only improve once him and his ego are gone, but the question then is, who replaces him and what will they bring that Rogers doesn't have? Defensive stability maybe, but with others strengthening significantly around them, do they even have the necessary talent? To accumulate the points they need, they need goals. Madison might get a few, Barnes will weigh in with single figures, after that, an ageing Vardy?

I'm not seeing it in all honesty and I have them down as a relegation candidate along with Bournemouth.

I guess we'll see over the season, but if they're still in the bottom 3-5 come Christmas, I really can't see them getting out of there.

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Possibly not middle table. Bottom half is a legitimate danger. I think relegation is only a threat if when they inevitably sack Rodgers they get it very wrong.

Yeah, Rodgers is done. He wants to go. They will bin him off in the next 3-4 games IMO, which should be more than long enough for his replacement to do a solid job. He's just going through the motions hoping for the pay off at this point, has lost interest due to lack of opportunities for growth.

The replacement won't be a better coach than Rodgers but you'd expect will be committed and possibly someone used to a struggling team. Back to basics with the squad and the tools are there to stay up. I think beyond Vardy the likes of Iheanacho or Daka could get some goals in purple patches, and they have goalscorers in midfield as you mentioned.

Bournemouth are down. Leicester have the quality in the squad to stay up and will only go down if they get the new manager terribly wrong. They've got big weaknesses at CB, LB & GK but I'd say elsewhere they're equipped more than well enough to escape the relegation fight.

 

[Pzabbythethird]

Will evolve to "doing a Leicester" soon. Turns out spending beyond your means has consistently proven to be a poor idea in football history.

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Just history. It's not limited to football.

 

[bk_spur]

Early doors yet, but I can't see them finishing mid table, I honestly think they'll struggle this season.

Rogers has come out today saying that their target is 40 points for this season, hardly the attitude that is going to inspire confidence in the team. He's bought very poorly. The club have gone away from their past modus operandi of getting in cheap talent and getting them to perform. They've not even taken punts on potential this window, which leads me to believe they have no faith in Rogers. Judging by his comments, he's seeing this too and is angling for the sack. If they don't bin him off then I honestly can't see them improving. He'll lose the dressing room pretty quick if they also see that he's looking for an out and a payoff, Christ even Darren Bent can see this, so you can bet your life that at least a few of their players will too. Which means that all of them will in no time at all, they'll be talking about it amongst themselves almost as soon as they saw the presser.

Time will tell but, imho, they'll only improve once him and his ego are gone, but the question then is, who replaces him and what will they bring that Rogers doesn't have? Defensive stability maybe, but with others strengthening significantly around them, do they even have the necessary talent? To accumulate the points they need, they need goals. Madison might get a few, Barnes will weigh in with single figures, after that, an ageing Vardy?

I'm not seeing it in all honesty and I have them down as a relegation candidate along with Bournemouth.

I guess we'll see over the season, but if they're still in the bottom 3-5 come Christmas, I really can't see them getting out of there.

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There's no way a team with that much talent should be facing a relegation fight. Just start Maddison, Iheanacho and Vardy and you already have more attacking talent than at least 3 or 4 bottom feeders. Rodger always has been a weird coach. Not sure what the hell is going on with them but also don't really care.

 

[Airfixx]

Possibly not middle table. Bottom half is a legitimate danger. I think relegation is only a threat if when they inevitably sack Rodgers they get it very wrong.

Yeah, Rodgers is done. He wants to go. They will bin him off in the next 3-4 games IMO, which should be more than long enough for his replacement to do a solid job. He's just going through the motions hoping for the pay off at this point, has lost interest due to lack of opportunities for growth.

The replacement won't be a better coach than Rodgers but you'd expect will be committed and possibly someone used to a struggling team. Back to basics with the squad and the tools are there to stay up. I think beyond Vardy the likes of Iheanacho or Daka could get some goals in purple patches, and they have goalscorers in midfield as you mentioned.

Bournemouth are down. Leicester have the quality in the squad to stay up and will only go down if they get the new manager terribly wrong. They've got big weaknesses at CB, LB & GK but I'd say elsewhere they're equipped more than well enough to escape the relegation fight.

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He's intrinsically part of that state of affairs though... Former blown opportunities too.

 

[Deuterz]

He's intrinsically part of that state of affairs though... Former blown opportunities too.

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Yeah he fucked it with top 4. Did brilliantly to get them up there but when they were in certain positions they should've finished the job. Again, I've been a fan of his work in the past but he's a flawed manager with a short shelf-life and his teams have a tendency to implode.

 

[Airfixx]

Yeah he fucked it with top 4.

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Recruitment too (also see his time at Liverpool).

Did brilliantly to get them up there but when they were in certain positions they should've finished the job. Again, I've been a fan of his work in the past but he's a flawed manager with a short shelf-life and his teams have a tendency to implode.

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I think after a while it just sinks in with the players how much of a bell-end he is......

Suspect the same of Lego-man tbh.

 

[Bazali]

There's no way a team with that much talent should be facing a relegation fight. Just start Maddison, Iheanacho and Vardy and you already have more attacking talent than at least 3 or 4 bottom feeders. Rodger always has been a weird coach. Not sure what the hell is going on with them but also don't really care.

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Vardy just didn’t look very interested last night

Maybe put off by the Yanited fans singing obscene songs about his wife

 

[Zomb]

If it is phased like this then yes - it is more reasonable to use Moura as to pay 63 mil for someone like Zaha. You have got it right finally .

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You aren’t English are you?

 

[Zomb]

Sorry but that is a really stupid attitude. Anyone who cares about the club should also have some care about the finances of the club. I'm not saying we should want the club to be stingy and never invest etc, but the idea of spending whatever because "It's not your money" is very... well... stupid. I'm trying to find a more polite word but I can't, it's just stupid to think like that about a club you profess to support. :/

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40M for a PL proven 29 year old will not cripple us (after 20 years of frugality). I’m not advocating spending 200M on Neymar. He’s a good player for above ‘market value’. So what?

 

[Get in!]

I do worry that a strong showing at an international competition (World Cup, Euro, etc.) can artificially inflate a player's value... Italy winning the Euro skewed some Italian players' valuation over the next several windows IMO.

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It can work in our favor though, too. GLC has a stormer of a WC and all of a sudden his value goes up. Of course, that presupposes there are teams outside of England with money, but still gives us a bit more leverage. I wonder if that is why we inserted the clause in the loan contract that we can sell him whenever we wish to.

 

[Airfixx]

It can work in our favor though, too. GLC has a stormer of a WC and all of a sudden his value goes up. Of course, that presupposes there are teams outside of England with money, but still gives us a bit more leverage. I wonder if that is why we inserted the clause in the loan contract that we can sell him whenever we wish to.

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Barca seem 'minted'.... Maybe there's a deal to be done there in Jan if he shines bright? :contesmile:

 

[Get in!]

Championship team whose spending got them in to the Premier League where they won a league & FA cup & had some big European runs.

Pretty sure their fans won’t call it a poor idea, unless they collapse entirely, which they will not. They stay up this season and end up mid-table.

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I don't think it was their spending that got them to the title. That happened to be a fluke year and they had made some smart buys that cost peanuts in Kante and Mahrez. It was after they won the title that they started spending. But unlike us, who can sustain spending thanks to our infrastructure (stadium being the big cash cow) and the work we did to expand our fan base, they rely on their performance on the pitch. Once that goes down the toilet and they no longer get CL or Europa, it's curtains.

 

[scarletjim]

40M for a PL proven 29 year old will not cripple us (after 20 years of frugality). I’m not advocating spending 200M on Neymar. He’s a good player for above ‘market value’. So what?

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...which is much more sensible than what you said originally, which was "why? It’s not your money". Can you really not see the difference between your earlier post and this one?

Saying that we should spend £40m on a 29yo proven PL-player is a sensible debate to have.
Saying that we should do it anyway because it's not our money is just stupidity.

"I’m not advocating spending 200M on Neymar" - good, but by your earlier logic, why not? It's not our money. Hell, why not make it £300m, then we won't get outbid. :/

 

[Deuterz]

I don't think it was their spending that got them to the title. That happened to be a fluke year and they had made some smart buys that cost peanuts in Kante and Mahrez. It was after they won the title that they started spending. But unlike us, who can sustain spending thanks to our infrastructure (stadium being the big cash cow) and the work we did to expand our fan base, they rely on their performance on the pitch. Once that goes down the toilet and they no longer get CL or Europa, it's curtains.

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Yeah that's true tbf.

But their spending post-title did get them up the table & to within inches of the CL, as well as getting them a domestic cup. And for a club of their size (far, far smaller than us) that's pretty damn good. They overextended their reach but in the process they've been pretty successful.

 

[Airfixx]

Yeah that's true tbf.

But their spending post-title did get them up the table & to within inches of the CL, as well as getting them a domestic cup. And for a club of their size (far, far smaller than us) that's pretty damn good. They overextended their reach but in the process they've been pretty successful.

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Lets be honest spending & recruitment both go hand-in-hand with good decision making (see new manager, budgets, sales etc.).........

Hypothetically, if they over-extend their finances, win an FA Cup and then go down; they'll have done a bit of a Portsmouth.

 

[Deuterz]

Lets be honest spending & recruitment both go hand-in-hand with good decision making (see new manager, budgets, sales etc.).........

Hypothetically, if they over-extend their finances, win an FA Cup and then go down; they'll have done a bit of a Portsmouth.

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They were a margin of a couple of points off the top four twice, had a CL quarter final run and an ECL semi final so I'd say they're pretty clear of what a Portsmouth achieved.

If they go down it wouldn't be worth it. Relegation will hurt them critically as a club. But I think they'll stay up & stabilise, so it's just a wait & see game on that front.

 

[Airfixx]

They were a margin of a couple of points off the top four twice, had a CL quarter final run and an ECL semi final so I'd say they're pretty clear of what a Portsmouth achieved.

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"Achieve"

You don't stick your neck on the line in pursuit of "nearly" getting top 4.

The CL qtr wasn't a by-product of their spending bigger; that was just the fumes of the Pearson/Ranieri fairytale.

Portsmouth in UEFA Cup:

Qualified for 2008/2009
Qualified for 2010/2011 (but banned)

Spoiler

Portsmouth banned from Europa League - CNN.com

FA Cup finalists Portsmouth will not be allowed to play in next season's Europa League, the English Football Association (FA) have confirmed.

edition.cnn.com

(Never been there before or since)

Still seems like "a bit" of a Portsmouth to me.

If they go down it wouldn't be worth it. Relegation will hurt them critically as a club. But I think they'll stay up & stabilise, so it's just a wait & see game on that front.

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Sure; it wasn't even a prediction... It is within the realms of plausible possibility though.

 

[Deuterz]

"Achieve"

You don't stick your neck on the line in pursuit of "nearly" getting top 4.

The CL qtr wasn't a by-product of their spending bigger; that was just the fumes of the Pearson/Ranieri fairytale.

Portsmouth in UEFA Cup:

Qualified for 2008/2009
Qualified for 2010/2011 (but banned)

Spoiler

Portsmouth banned from Europa League - CNN.com

FA Cup finalists Portsmouth will not be allowed to play in next season's Europa League, the English Football Association (FA) have confirmed.

edition.cnn.com

(Never been there before or since)

Still seems like "a bit" of a Portsmouth to me.

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*If* they get relegated I think the discussion is valid, but at this point they're just a team who have had to curtail their spending & are in a difficult spot. If they stay up & stabilise then if you look at what the owners have achieved there then it's pretty damn impressive.

Again, if I was a fan of a Leicester sized club I'd rather we stick our neck on the line than settle for mediocrity and likely end up relegated somewhere down the line anyway when an inevitable poor season pops up.

 

[Airfixx]

*If* they get relegated I think the discussion is valid, but at this point they're just a team who have had to curtail their spending & are in a difficult spot. If they stay up & stabilise then if you look at what the owners have achieved there then it's pretty damn impressive.

Again, if I was a fan of a Leicester sized club I'd rather we stick our neck on the line than settle for mediocrity and likely end up relegated somewhere down the line anyway when an inevitable poor season pops up.

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As said earlier; if they fuck up with whom and when they replace Rodgers, then it's entirely possible; so why is discussing that prospect not "valid"?