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Transfers The Summer Transfer Edging Thread 2025

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TheSpurEst said:
First of all - defending also has to be done in every game. Either we have more possession than opposition or not. And winning ball back in midifield/even opposition half also helps attacking side, you know.
Second of all - how the fuck do you know how Frank plans to play exactly?!? Guy has had one pre-season friendly against lesser opposition so far.
Third - we WILL face very strong (and also quite attacking minding) teams in this season - City, Liverpool to begin with and pretty sure we also have a play-date with PSG. So EVEN IF we forget my "first of all" - there WILL be games where opposition will have more of the ball. And legit DM would come in handy too.
Fourth - yes, ofc people are affected by poor defending. But that is not all. We also have never had a really strong and trustworthy DM since Dembele and Wanyama times. More than 2-3 years really.

So I don't actually get it at all why people bitch about signing very thoroughly proven EPL level player and only creaming over likes of Hjulmand and Gomes and whatnot. Who might so very well be just next comings of Ndombelly and Lo Celso.
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We're going to face teams sitting behind the ball much more often than teams that attack us. I don't need to know exactly how Frank plans to play to figure this out from what he has said thus far. In these matches Palhinha would not be much of an asset. That's not to say he wouldn't be a useful signing, but not as our DM of the future. As a temporary solution he'd be an ok signing and bring some of the experience we need and the younger players can learn from.
 
Optimistic_Spur said:
It's a real double edged sword.

On one hand getting paulinha on a loan is smart to see if he's upto it without spending 25m or so.

On the other hand its a f*king cheapo move and a real penny pinching opportunity instead of top quality.

Levy and co are smart movers, but I stand by my current thoughts on the ownership and running of the club

We're such a teemu big club
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We went for Tel cause of the Kane deal. No other reason, certainly not due to his skillset or failure of a loan spell.

We're going for Palhinha cause of the Kane deal. Doesn't matter he's bang average these days and never could pass.

We'll probably go after another Bayern reject shortly, depending on how much they still owe us.

Banter club.
 
Get in! said:
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.
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Well it really isn’t my job but we are in agreement Paulinha is pretty meh .
I actually don’t think it is unreasonable to say it’s Levy’s Job to hire people to search the footballing world for better.
I would like Wharton but I am not stupid enough to think we will get him
 
FightingIllini said:
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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Contrast with the PL squad situation.

Homegrown (limit 8): Maddison, Spence, Solanke, Johnson, Davies, Danso, Austin, Gibbs-White
U21 (unlimited regardless of how long they've been at the club): Vuskovic, Takai, Phillips, Gray, Bergvall, Devine, Donley, Tel, Yang, Odobert, Scarlett

17 spots for players who don't count above

1. Vicario, 2. Kinsky, 3. Van de Ven, 4. Romero, 5. Dragusin, 6. Udogie, 7. Porro, 8. Bissouma, 9. Bentancur, 10. Sarr, 11. Kulusevski, 12. Kudus, 13. Son, 14. Richarlison, 15. Solomon, 16. Palhinha, 17. Guehi

The UEFA rule that you have to be at the club for two full seasons to count on the U21 list makes a dramatic difference.

The players who are clinging to the walls trying not to leave aren't going to be in the CL squad, it's really as simple as that.
 
Jaynola said:
We went for Tel cause of the Kane deal. No other reason, certainly not due to his skillset or failure of a loan spell.

We're going for Palhinha cause of the Kane deal. Doesn't matter he's bang average these days and never could pass.

We'll probably go after another Bayern reject shortly, depending on how much they still owe us.

Banter club.
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Christ you’re boring.

Shut the fuck up.
 
Get in! said:
We're going to face teams sitting behind the ball much more often than teams that attack us. I don't need to know exactly how Frank plans to play to figure this out from what he has said thus far. In these matches Palhinha would not be much of an asset. That's not to say he wouldn't be a useful signing, but not as our DM of the future. As a temporary solution he'd be an ok signing and bring some of the experience we need and the younger players can learn from.
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Agreed - from all the games we are facing in upcoming season - there are more of such where other teams sit back, compared to those where they all out attack.

But that does not really diminish the value of DM in the side. Even when opposition push back. It is too simplistic to say "If he does not split opposition team open = he is useless against teams sitting deep". That is now how football really works. When we have trustworthy DM in the side, it means that many OTHER players can push higher and be less worried about their advances being exploited by opposition players in counter-attacks. So a quality DM can be useful also in the games where opposition sits deep.
 
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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He can drop into defence to turn it into a back three as well (Frank had a fullback doing this v Reading) which would allow one fullback to invert and one to keep the width. It would be a sensible signing, but very unlike us, so I am dubious on it's likelihood.
 
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