January Transfer Window

[robbiez666]

Not the best time to bring in players but one where we need to look to the future.

I expect to see a lot of comings and goings in summer but too much change is not a good thing. If we can get started now, all the better. Worth noting that it takes time for players to slot into our system. However, I can't see us bringing in any big signings until then.

A quick look through the squad and I reckon the definite leavers will be:

Hendo
Jags
Stearman
K Freeman
Billy
Leon
Morrison

Potential leavers:

Bryan
Besic - possibility we may look to sign? He's been decent
L Freeman
Robinson

I'm not quite sure where wilder has Osborn as playing, but he seems a better alternative to Fleck than Freeman. Also has age on his side.

I would expect Basham to feature less and we'll need to bring soneone in to compete with and eventually replace him. I would also expect McGoldrick to have less game time next season.

This month, I think the priority needs to be a CB, someone in midfield and possibly wingback competition.

 

[Champagneblade]

I reckon it will be three in and three out.

Defence - Rodwell in, Bryan out on loan.
Bryan, at his age would benefit from games so that is a relative no brainier and should O'Connell be unavailable I think we all know either Stevens would move over or Jags would slot in.
Rodwell has a much closer player profile CD/DM to Bash and would offer competition, back up and possible succession planning.

Midfield - Box to box physical presence e.g. Camara in. Morrison out.
Since we went to a flat 3, Morrison seems to have limited avenue into the team. We also need a good up and down alternative to Lunny so this would seem an obvious in/out.

Forward - Eze in (or Watkins or Bowen). Clarke or Robinson out.
It hasn't quite come off for Robinson so far. He is still young and can learn, but sitting getting splinters will do him no good over the next 6 months. Telling that Sharp and McBurnie came on last night instead of him.
With that in mind, we have little alternative to McGoldrick and again the concept of succession planning comes to the fore. Obtaining Eze's services would get competition for McGoldrick and also a potential successor. Didzy isn't getting any younger of course.
Buying Eze and loaning Robinson to QPR where he would have a ready made spot would seem to have elements of win win plus QPR took a big financial hit in the last few years so knocking back an 8 figure sum would be unlikely.
Clarke may also be the one to make way. It could be that both go and we have one last ditch attempt to get Parkhouse involved as 6th choice forward spot.

 

[robbiez666]

I reckon it will be three in and three out.

Defence - Rodwell in, Bryan out on loan.
Bryan, at his age would benefit from games so that is a relative no brainier and should O'Connell be unavailable I think we all know either Stevens would move over or Jags would slot in.
Rodwell has a much closer player profile CD/DM to Bash and would offer competition, back up and possible succession planning.

Midfield - Box to box physical presence e.g. Camara in. Morrison out.
Since we went to a flat 3, Morrison seems to have limited avenue into the team. We also need a good up and down alternative to Lunny so this would seem an obvious in/out.

Forward - Eze in (or Watkins or Bowen). Clarke or Robinson out.
It hasn't quite come off for Robinson so far. He is still young and can learn, but sitting getting splinters will do him no good over the next 6 months. Telling that Sharp and McBurnie came on last night instead of him.
With that in mind, we have little alternative to McGoldrick and again the concept of succession planning comes to the fore. Obtaining Eze's services would get competition for McGoldrick and also a potential successor. Didzy isn't getting any younger of course.
Buying Eze and loaning Robinson to QPR where he would have a ready made spot would seem to have elements of win win plus QPR took a big financial hit in the last few years so knocking back an 8 figure sum would be unlikely.
Clarke may also be the one to make way. It could be that both go and we have one last ditch attempt to get Parkhouse involved as 6th choice forward spot.

Not sure what that would do to Robinson's confidence tbh. Sign for x million and loaned out 6 months later. I guess it depends what's up with him but it seems mental. The other two seem posdible. Talk of Mason Holgate as well.

 

[SwissBlade]

Billy will still be here next season

 

[robbiez666]

Billy will still be here next season

If he is, it's likely ge won't be featuring heavily. Robinson is more likely to start.

 

[SwissBlade]

If he is, it's likely ge won't be featuring heavily. Robinson is more likely to start.

Sure, but like he showed last night and at City, its not about pace for him, he has experience to cause problems.

 

[FriethBlade]

Not sure what that would do to Robinson's confidence tbh. Sign for x million and loaned out 6 months later. I guess it depends what's up with him but it seems mental. The other two seem posdible. Talk of Mason Holgate as well.

No different to Hughill, West Ham paid a lot for him, couldn't cut it so loaned him to the championship to try and regain confidence.

The lesson here? Dont buy a Preston forward ;-)

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

Where does McBurnie fit in? Not a starter and not a super sub. Collect £10 mill and save his wages imo

 

[robbiez666]

Where does McBurnie fit in? Not a starter and not a super sub. Collect £10 mill and save his wages imo

There's that court case which could answer that but I'm gradually seeing improvement and I think he'll be a much greater asset next year.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

There's that court case which could answer that but I'm gradually seeing improvement and I think he'll be a much greater asset next year.

He has to be to be fair.

 

[guancheblade]

Not the best time to bring in players but one where we need to look to the future.

I expect to see a lot of comings and goings in summer but too much change is not a good thing. If we can get started now, all the better. Worth noting that it takes time for players to slot into our system. However, I can't see us bringing in any big signings until then.

A quick look through the squad and I reckon the definite leavers will be:

Hendo
Jags
Stearman
K Freeman
Billy
Leon
Morrison

Potential leavers:

Bryan
Besic - possibility we may look to sign? He's been decent
L Freeman
Robinson

I'm not quite sure where wilder has Osborn as playing, but he seems a better alternative to Fleck than Freeman. Also has age on his side.

I would expect Basham to feature less and we'll need to bring soneone in to compete with and eventually replace him. I would also expect McGoldrick to have less game time next season.

This month, I think the priority needs to be a CB, someone in midfield and possibly wingback competition.

Anyone else think that Lunny's form diving off a cliff back into League 1 has anything to do with the arrival of Rodwell? Feeling the pressure? Naturally Rodwell was a box to box midfielder in his prime and still only 28 years old now. I wouldn't drop Bash for anyone except VVD at the moment and he's only getting better and better with every season he plays art RCB. I think Rodwell is coming in to challenge for a midfield spot (and therefore I'd expect the Besic loan to be curtailed, allowing us to bring in another loan).

 

[Booker4]

Jags won't be leaving in Jan I very much doubt because he will still be needed as a back up and in the cup. McBurnie's showed he can be an asset at this level but for some they just don't see how he has played well this season at times.

We don't as such need to bring in anyone this Jan but I'd like to see us bring in one quality centre mid and if available another quality forward and let Robinson go out on loan - he's impressed the least for me out of the forwards.

Sharp might go, but I would imagine he'd want to stay till the summer and leave if not required then.

 

[Anston Blade]

For me, last nights performance showed the need to strengthen the squad to enable CWAK to rotate the players round a little more without significantly affecting performance levels. Liverpool were fantastic last night and few teams in the world would have lived with them but I did feel that there was a lack of energy in our performance.

Hopefully, if we can bring in better cover in the wing back areas and cover for Didzy that should help keep the team fresh.

 

[CrookesBlade]

Do squad restrictions effectively (excuse the pun) go out of the window in January?

With Rodwell now signed do we now have a 26 (+whoever else we chose to sign/bring back from loan) man squad til the revised squad sheets are submitted at the end of the window?

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

Are we Going to sign Deano?

 

[BushBlade]

Any ideas what our wage bill is? I reckon we’ve spent somewhere between £40m-50m in the summer on transfer and signing on fees. I think our budget for the season will be around £100m, assuming our gate and sponsorship income roughly covers our other running costs. So if you add the wage bill and transfer costs together and deduct the sum from £100m that should give us a rough idea of what we’ve got to spend.
That’s assuming our owners prioritise staying in the PL and making a long term profit over the short term profit they could take out this season.

 

[Kanye]

Any ideas what our wage bill is?

Nope, but be prepared to be inundated with speculative guesses and spurious itk claims.

 

[robbiez666]

Are we Going to sign Deano?

No. He'll be the next Man U keeper.

 

[robbiez666]

Personally, I think (if the attitude is right) then we'd do a lot worse to enquire about Besic. Depending on how much Everton want, could be well worth bringing in permanently. I've been impressed with him coming on and fitting is so well. As well as his attitude on the pitch.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Not the best time to bring in players but one where we need to look to the future.

I expect to see a lot of comings and goings in summer but too much change is not a good thing. If we can get started now, all the better. Worth noting that it takes time for players to slot into our system. However, I can't see us bringing in any big signings until then.

A quick look through the squad and I reckon the definite leavers will be:

Hendo
Jags
Stearman
K Freeman
Billy
Leon
Morrison

Potential leavers:

Bryan
Besic - possibility we may look to sign? He's been decent
L Freeman
Robinson

I'm not quite sure where wilder has Osborn as playing, but he seems a better alternative to Fleck than Freeman. Also has age on his side.

I would expect Basham to feature less and we'll need to bring soneone in to compete with and eventually replace him. I would also expect McGoldrick to have less game time next season.

This month, I think the priority needs to be a CB, someone in midfield and possibly wingback competition.

Robbie,
Theres rarely much action is any January window, unless a club is really desperate and willing to overpay.
Its usually 3 in...3 out....and that‘s the max. It‘s also tricky to make predictions because much depends on wages etc....also when PL sides become involved everyone knows they are rich so stupidly inflated transfer/ salary demands are asked.
I can only see our business in January involving SQUAD type players.
There won’t be any major signings until we know for 100% certain we’re staying in the PL and can afford it.
The major/ big signings will be in the Summer.

 

[robbiez666]

Robbie,
Theres rarely much action is any January window, unless a club is really desperate and willing to overpay.
Its usually 3 in...3 out....and that‘s the max. It‘s also tricky to make predictions because much depends on wages etc....also when PL sides become involved everyone knows they are rich so stupidly inflated transfer/ salary demands are asked.
I can only see our business in January involving SQUAD type players.
There won’t be any major signings until we know for 100% certain we’re staying in the PL and can afford it.
The major/ big signings will be in the Summer.

I do agree, to a point, but we've seen it takes a while for players to fit into our system, so bringing 6 or 7 new players in come summer would be very tricky.

I guess there's the potential to look at the Championship and see if clubs like Blackburn, QPR, Stoke and Huddersfield who have players which would potentially improve our squad and are unlikely to go up.

As you say, it's likely to be one in, one out. Especially given squad sizes. Not sure how easy it will be to move people on.

 

[BushBlade]

I do agree, to a point, but we've seen it takes a while for players to fit into our system, so bringing 6 or 7 new players in come summer would be very tricky.

I guess there's the potential to look at the Championship and see if clubs like Blackburn, QPR, Stoke and Huddersfield who have players which would potentially improve our squad and are unlikely to go up.

As you say, it's likely to be one in, one out. Especially given squad sizes. Not sure how easy it will be to move people on.

I think when he says major signings he means ones we’re going to spend money on rather than a large number of players.
But that will depend on whether we can keep all our current players. It’s possible that a club might make an offer we can’t turn down for someone like JOC or Fleck. Otherwise we should be looking to add a couple of quality players (if we can find and attract them) and a couple of prospects.

 

[hull-Blade]

Won’t be the same without our RC updates !

 

[ATL Recs]

Anyone else think that Lunny's form diving off a cliff back into League 1 has anything to do with the arrival of Rodwell? Feeling the pressure? Naturally Rodwell was a box to box midfielder in his prime and still only 28 years old now. I wouldn't drop Bash for anyone except VVD at the moment and he's only getting better and better with every season he plays art RCB. I think Rodwell is coming in to challenge for a midfield spot (and therefore I'd expect the Besic loan to be curtailed, allowing us to bring in another loan).

No re Lunny yes re Besic

 

[BladeByChoice]

Where does McBurnie fit in? Not a starter and not a super sub. Collect £10 mill and save his wages imo

I’m not keen to see McBurnie go anywhere (unpopular opinion ?) But if we did get shut, wait till the summer, Leeds promoted and looking for PL striker, might get back what we paid for him.