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Transfers The Summer Transfer Edging Thread 2025

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Richard Arlison said:
Sure but every time the excuse is valid. They get less valid each time when there’s always a valid excuse
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Depends where the excuse is coming from.

99% of what gets attributed to the club is actually one of the mental patients on SC making excuses for why the club didn't do the thing they said the club was going to do.

"Neymar is coming for a medical"
"My source told me that levy caboshed it because he was being a tight arse"
"We tried but the commercial rights were too expensive"
etc

In this particular instance, it isn't an 'excuse' but a rather high-profile occurrence that, if it was happening to us as the 'seller', would be twisted as incompetence from the chairman for letting a thing happen and disrupting pre-season over ego
 
Shadydan said:
Possible outs this Summer:

Bissouma/Bentancur
Solomon
Gil
Richy(?)
Davies

How are you calling these "crap"?
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Bryan Gil and Davies 😂 yeah I’m sure clubs are lining up outside the door for them!

Richy as well. Guy is injured constantly. Clubs might take him if he’s willing to go Saudi, serious teams won’t be interested.

Bissouma and Bentancur .. two completely mid central midfielders .. maybe a team takes them on for 10-15 mill.

Solomon will be interesting to some championship/promoted clubs .. that’s about it.
 
Shadydan said:
GwdS3CuWkAAi-zO
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(following borderline rant is not aimed at poster who added this -> more of that the post inspired this chain of thinking)
So basically he is a brilliant defensive shield, all metrics in that field are absolutely phenomenal.
And he is average or slightly above average in progressing the ball (!), though he does not carry it and he creates very little chances himself (though expected to score above average).

To me that is awesome.
We have a side that has -
- attacking fullbacks
- central defenders who can pass very well (at least Romero, VDV and hopefully Vuskovic)
- what seems like shitloads of good AM's - Madders, Kulu, Kudus, Bergvall + Bentancur is bit of an all-rounder
- quite the number of wingers as well (though starting quality could be improved) in Son, Johnson, Tel, Odobert, Moore, Yang

Why is it such a blasphemy to have one player in the side who acts as shield in midfield? I really don't get it.
 
TheSpurEst said:
(following borderline rant is not aimed at poster who added this -> more of that the post inspired this chain of thinking)
So basically he is a brilliant defensive shield, all metrics in that field are absolutely phenomenal.
And he is average or slightly above average in progressing the ball (!), though he does not carry it and he creates very little chances himself (though expected to score above average).

To me that is awesome.
We have a side that has -
- attacking fullbacks
- central defenders who can pass very well (at least Romero, VDV and hopefully Vuskovic)
- what seems like shitloads of good AM's - Madders, Kulu, Kudus, Bergvall + Bentancur is bit of an all-rounder
- quite the number of wingers as well (though starting quality could be improved) in Son, Johnson, Tel, Odobert, Moore, Yang

Why is it such a blasphemy to have one player in the side who acts as shield in midfield? I really don't get it.
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It's not that deep, people are doing way too much just because he's 30 and coming off the back of a poor season with Bayern, the same people btw that told you that we shouldn't be signing kids and mocked the club for targeting young players and players lacking experience.

Anyway I think it's fine for a loan but not for a long term option, I don't think his progressive passing is good enough and his ability on the ball is average but his off the ball work is top and he is a monster destroyer. I think he would be good against certain teams who attack us but when we have to break teams down we will struggle and he will be found wanting.

Hey if a year loan means readying Gray in that position then I'll be fine with it but longer than that I think it's a bad move personally.
 
TheSpurEst said:
Sorry for being bit straighforward here, but do you purely rate players on the level of their club CV?
And if so, then Bayern should be pretty effing nice destination to snap players out of. From top of my head, last their "outcast" just won EPL as starter (Gravenberch).
Or is it just media hype you are after? Or what exactly.
Or do you just need us to pay 100 million, is that what makes player "an improvement"?

Cause again - Palinha was phenomenal player in EPL. In his position only player who could be considered better at some point might have been Rodri and potentially Rice.

So what is this "best we can do is Palinha on loan" supposed to mean exactly?
I mean when you say that to DM position you would pick "2 of our current crop" then I don't really know what to say. Sure you can pick like 14th best player instead of 3rd best in the position. Then ofc you have no improvement. But that is purely down to your very messed up perception of players qualities. Again, I assume due to him not costing 100 mil and not being in front of some tabloid transfer speculations. Having watched EPL for years I can draw no other logical conclusion.
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Look I'm not addressing most of that. If you looked at my other posts on here ud see that I generally rate our players higher than most do! It's not about simply the price.

Comparing him to a player like gravenberch is silly.
At one point he WAS a great player in the pl, for one season 2 or 3 years back at Fulham mate. He did fantastic especially on there tiny pitch there!
Yes id pick bergvall and bentancur over paulinha all day, everyday because what we loae in one sense we gain double over in other areas.

Bentancur
Sarr
Gray
Bergvall
Paulinha

If these are our cm2 choices next season who you picking? Because for me personally, none of it works. And secondly with those choices what are you expecting from next season?
 
Optimistic_Spur said:
Look I'm not addressing almost of that. If you looked at my other posts on here ud see that I generally rate our player higher than most do! It's not about simply the price.

Comparing him to a player like gravenberch is silly.
At one point he WAS a great player in the pl, for one season 2 or 3 years back at Fulham mate. He did fantastic especially on there tiny pitch there!
Yes id pick bergvall and bentancur over paulinha all day, everyday because what we loae in one sense we gain double over in other areas.

Bentancur
Sarr
Gray
Bergvall
Paulinha

If these are our cm2 choices next season who you picking? Because for me personally, none of it works. And secondly with those choices what are you expecting from next season?
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Bergvall and Bentancur are currently our best double-pivot option.

Sarr really needs to show he has more upside this season.

Palhinha doesn't solve any of our midfield issues. Would be a poor piece of business.
 
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Optimistic_Spur said:
Look I'm not addressing almost of that. If you looked at my other posts on here ud see that I generally rate our player higher than most do! It's not about simply the price.

Comparing him to a player like gravenberch is silly.
At one point he WAS a great player in the pl, for one season 2 or 3 years back at Fulham mate. He did fantastic especially on there tiny pitch there!
Yes id pick bergvall and bentancur over paulinha all day, everyday because what we loae in one sense we gain double over in other areas.

Bentancur
Sarr
Gray
Bergvall
Paulinha

If these are our cm2 choices next season who you picking? Because for me personally, none of it works. And secondly with those choices what are you expecting from next season?
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First thing - on EPL level Palhinha (not Paulinha) has, as you yourself mentioned, been fantastic. Only one in that list. Absolute class above. So thats that - in most games he is the 1st pick. Most likely paired up with Bergvall. So one who can actually attacks and other who is more focused on ball progression. Could also be midfield 3 in some instances where I'd pick Palhinha, Sarr/Bentancur and then Madders/Kudus.

Second thing - you just used the excuse "but Bayern wrote him off quickly" as an argument. I just pointed out that Gravenberch was also written off in similar fashion. They both stayed 1 year in BM and played almost identical minutes. But sure, if it does not suit your agenda, it is "silly" without further explanation. Good argument.

Third thing - Bergvall is COMPLETELY different player to Palhinha. They are not competing in the same position. If you do not understand that, I don't really know what to tell you. Regarding Bentancur - he is bit of jack of all trades. But he has never reached the level Pahlinha did in EPL. Not even close. He does some tracking, he does some passing, he does some carrying. Good squad player and fills the gap. Sometimes quite well, sometimes not so well. But he is way more of an #8 than #6.
 
Ed Vanderlay said:
Oh right, posters on here are meant to be scouts and DOFs , silly me . I thought it was Levy’s responsibility to put a team in place to do it.

Quick lads and ladies who is doing what , we got a shit load of games to cover . We have been sleeping on the job
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Funny how you're one when it comes to being negative, but then come up with the above poor response when someone asks for a positive contribution.
 
Shadydan said:
It's not that deep, people are doing way too much just because he's 30 and coming off the back of a poor season with Bayern, the same people btw that told you that we shouldn't be signing kids and mocked the club for targeting young players and players lacking experience.

Anyway I think it's fine for a loan but not for a long term option, I don't think his progressive passing is good enough and his ability on the ball is average but his off the ball work is top and he is a monster destroyer. I think he would be good against certain teams who attack us but when we have to break teams down we will struggle and he will be found wanting.

Hey if a year loan means readying Gray in that position then I'll be fine with it but longer than that I think it's a bad move personally.
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Yeah, that makes me giggle too. That from one hand "we only sign teenagers, we need more experience" and then when we are linked to experienced player, it turns to "oh but he is already 30, pointless player" :D .

I am not saying that his progressive passing is his main weapon either. And in some games he might not fit the profile we need. But in many he does. I believe it could work on both long and short term (or like mid-long ; ain't gonna play to 35 in EPL level, agreed with that).

I still haven't seen any other option that would seem like bigger upgrade right away than Palhinha.
Sure, I'd take Ederson from Atalanta ahead of him, but I see no links or anything.
 
The UEFA squad situation is a real bitch.

Association-trained (limit 4): Maddison, Spence, Solanke, Gray
Club-trained (limit 4): Austin, [empty], [empty], [empty]
U21 List (unlimited so long as they've been at the club 2 years): Moore, Donley, Devine, Phillips, Scarlett

17 spots for players who don't count above

1. Vicario, 2. Van De Ven, 3. Romero, 4. Danso, 5. Udogie, 6. Porro, 7. Bergvall, 8. Bentancur, 9. Sarr, 10. Kulusevski, 11. Kudus, 12. Tel, 13. Johnson, 14. Odobert, 15. Kinsky, 16. Vuskovic, 17. Bissouma, END OF SQUAD

18. Son, 19. Richarlison, 20. Davies, 21. Dragusin 22. Takai, 23. Yang, 24. Solomon, 25. Gibbs-White, 26. Palhinha, 27. Guehi

See why we need outgoings?
 
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