Outgoing? Luke Freeman

[Mesut Özil's Lawnmower]

The way some of you bang on about Freeman you'd think he was challenging Lewy for the Ballon d'Or

Good lad, good attitude and work ethic, high end championship player but for me at PL level never saw anything from him to suggest he was ever going to make a significant impact to our team or ruffle up some starting 11 feathers

Decent enough to have around as a squad player but the exact player I'd be expecting us to upgrade on if we want to improve on last season or at least stay around where we finished

Nothing against him but think a lot of you have got some dodgy EFL tinted goggles on

 

[Deadbat]

What a fucking waste of a signing. He hasn’t played a single minute in his preferred position for us. We don’t have a single player who can play in the number 10 role now, which is a shame. And don’t say Didsy can play as a 10. Didsy can drop deep and link but he doesn’t create.

We don't play with a 10? You've answered one of the reasons why he is going.

 

[Blade56]

The shrinking squad

 

[Bladeinleeds]

Don't get all the toys being throw out of the pram. He barely played, does not fit our system (Wilder admitted he changed it and it was a success so played without a 10) and lacks pace/athleticism to be a regular at this level.

I always liked him but he's a Championship player at best I feel. It did not work out. Wilder feels the same and he sees him every day in training. I personally would move him and Robinson on who I see as the same category. I would hope we have a deal in place for it to become permanent as the reports suggest and we can get most of our money back.

We are being out priced for Cash where villa will pay double what we can in wages. Sadly we are not at the level wages wise of most including some of the promoted teams too ....that is something we will only address by the Prince finding more investment combined with us staying at this level for a few more years

Wilder clearly has someone lined up to come into replace him or he won't have let him out. Think a few saw something I did not in Freeman. Apart from a decent 45 mins v Palace not sure in the Prem he ever really stood out albeit in very limited action. He gave it away a lot and lacked pace/physique to get away from players at this level. Neat and tidy player but not a player that was going to ever be close to a regular.

Mostly agree, but I think it’s the loan element that is confusing people - we’re low on bodies but a decent fee at least recouping Some of what we spend could have gone towards a signing especially as money seems really right this season.

loaning him out for me doesn’t do anything other then get his wages off the books but make it less likely we’ll recoup what we spend when he only has a year left on his contract and is 29....

I’ll wait and see but it feel odd - especially if Lunny goes too.

And for me, even if we don’t play with a 10 atm getting Rid of freeman means we would have to buy one to even contemplate playing with one as a plan b - just seems odd is all. Guile could be useful when chasing games And we don’t now have any of that in midfield

 

[Deadbat]

The way some of you bang on about Freeman you'd think he was challenging Lewy for the Ballon d'Or

Good lad, good attitude and work ethic, high end championship player but for me at PL level never saw anything from him to suggest he was ever going to make a significant impact to our team or ruffle up some starting 11 feathers

Decent enough to have around as a squad player but the exact player I'd be expecting us to upgrade on if we want to improve on last season or at least stay around where we finished

Nothing against him but think a lot of you have got some dodgy EFL tinted goggles on

Completely agree. We need pace, mobility and power to improve. He offers none of that. For a technical player he gives the ball away a hell of a lot.

I find it funny how lots of fans seem to be so upset as the likes of him and Robinson are nice lads! So what? We need better players than them. Wilder saw enough of him to realise he can't hack it at this level.

 

[LondonBlade89]

We don't play with a 10? You've answered one of the reasons why he is going.

It’s a shame we don’t have the option for it, IMO.

Edit: To elaborate on that, it’s not like I’m saying it’s a shame we don’t have a winger. The number 10 role played a key part in our system as recently as last season. It’s proven to fit. Arguably we’ve played some of our best football with a ten. So it would be a shame to end up with a squad with the possibility of using one completely out of the question. But you never know what Wilder has planned recruitment wise.

 

[SU93]

Strange one for me this. I don't mind Freeman leaving, it's the fact it looks like we haven't used Freeman as part of the business to get Cash. We all know at the moment we cannot compete with other Premier League Clubs for players. Need to be smart with our exchanges. Not questioning Wilder though

 

[Bladeinleeds]

It’s a shame we don’t have the option for it, IMO.

This is it for me - getting rid of freeman means we would need to buy someone if we wanted to contemplate using a number 10 in situational football.

We don’t now have the option and presumably would need to either loan someone to play there - pointless - if it’s not our preferred formation or buy someone (which presumably wouldn’t be cheapWe than freeman).

 

[Wards]

Completely agree. We need pace, mobility and power to improve. He offers none of that. For a technical player he gives the ball away a hell of a lot.

I find it funny how lots of fans seem to be so upset as the likes of him and Robinson are nice lads! So what? We need better players than them. Wilder saw enough of him to realise he can't hack it at this level.

Him and Robinson have been poor business for the club and you have to wonder how/why we managed to get two marquee signings so wrong, they won’t have mustered 15 starts between them I guess?

It’s an area we have to improve on especially with funds being somewhat tighter this year on the face of it.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

Him and Robinson have been poor business for the club and you have to wonder how/why we managed to get two marquee signings so wrong, they won’t have mustered 15 starts between them I guess?

It’s an area we have to improve on especially with funds being somewhat tighter this year on the face of it.

They weren’t marquee signings, they were the 4th and 5th most expensive signings last season.

 

[Deadbat]

Him and Robinson have been poor business for the club and you have to wonder how/why we managed to get two marquee signings so wrong, they won’t have mustered 15 starts between them I guess?

It’s an area we have to improve on especially with funds being somewhat tighter this year on the face of it.

I agree they have been disappointing. However not even Wilder would know if they could step up to a higher level. I'd have said 12 months ago I would have been as confident or not confident as Freeman and Robinson making the step up as say Basham and Baldock (granted different positions).

Some made the step up whilst others did not but a concern that these two did not even look close to being good enough and both sure will not be at the club moving forward...expect in 12 months neither will be here.

However when you look at money for Cash, Watkins being quoted and that is double/ triple in a supposedly depressed market.

6 or 7 million the two we bought cost is pocket change for Prem clubs and signings. The worry is we cant make too many mistakes and this money is a fair bit to us whereas Villa and West Ham and teams like that have the money to sign a number of players for fees like this and more. If it does not work out then they do it again.

 

[riselikeasalmon]

This is it for me - getting rid of freeman means we would need to buy someone if we wanted to contemplate using a number 10 in situational football.

We don’t now have the option and presumably would need to either loan someone to play there - pointless - if it’s not our preferred formation or buy someone (which presumably wouldn’t be cheapWe than freeman).

But using a 10 was always a starting formation, which it’s clear we don’t have the luxury to do in the prem.
I don’t envisage a prem game where we will bring on a 10, that’s a possession game and we need pace width and or height if we’re going to presumably come from behind not a 10

 

[Wards]

They weren’t marquee signings, they were the 4th and 5th most expensive signings last season.

They were at the time our record signings respectively. As it stands I don’t think either are close to being good enough for the Prem, even the bottom end. They were a gamble but very disappointing we got it wrong with both.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

But using a 10 was always a starting formation, which it’s clear we don’t have the luxury to do in the prem.
I don’t envisage a prem game where we will bring on a 10, that’s a possession game and we need pace width and or height if we’re going to presumably come from behind not a 10

That might well be how wilder sees it to be fair - we still need some different attacking options in the middle of the park Imo.

just felt like freeman was one of those who might be able to change something as a plan b. If We are honest there were more than a couple of games where we looked toothless.

 

[SilkyBlade]

The manager and 95% of the first team had no fucking Prem experience. They didn’t know for sure which system was going to be effective. The recruitment supports that view..some players simply didn’t fit. We are the lucky ones in that we have a fucking smart coaching team who now have a clear system (the hard part) that will win games in the Prem. They can now recruit quality specifically to suit the system...a huge advantage that twats like Smith, Parker etc don’t have.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

They were at the time our record signings respectively. As it stands I don’t think either are close to being good enough for the Prem, even the bottom end. They were a gamble but very disappointing we got it wrong with both.

They were cheap signings for the premier league. They didn’t work out. We finished 9th and had the best season in my lifetime though so it’s swings and roundabouts.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

The way some of you bang on about Freeman you'd think he was challenging Lewy for the Ballon d'Or

Good lad, good attitude and work ethic, high end championship player but for me at PL level never saw anything from him to suggest he was ever going to make a significant impact to our team or ruffle up some starting 11 feathers

Decent enough to have around as a squad player but the exact player I'd be expecting us to upgrade on if we want to improve on last season or at least stay around where we finished

Nothing against him but think a lot of you have got some dodgy EFL tinted goggles on

Ray Lewington?

 

[Wards]

They were cheap signings for the premier league. They didn’t work out. We finished 9th and had the best season in my lifetime though so it’s swings and roundabouts.

I do agree to an extent, but feel we (this season especially) can’t afford too many of these gambles as they soon add up. Those two combined in wages and fees probably leaves you with little change from £15million.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Completely agree. We need pace, mobility and power to improve. He offers none of that. For a technical player he gives the ball away a hell of a lot.

I find it funny how lots of fans seem to be so upset as the likes of him and Robinson are nice lads! So what? We need better players than them. Wilder saw enough of him to realise he can't hack it at this level.

I'm not upset at letting him leave. I'm upset at us loaning him out and not securing capital to invest in this Summers window.

As things stand, it looks like we may be about to lose L Freeman and C Robinson (£10-13m worth of player) and in return get Oli Burke.

It just seems really poor business.

 

[riselikeasalmon]

That might well be how wilder sees it to be fair - we still need some different attacking options in the middle Imo.

just felt like freeman was one of those who might be able to change something as a plan b. If We are honest there were more than a couple of games where we looked toothless.

Totally agree and I really rate freeman as a player I just think he’s not quite right for the way we play, plan a, b or c.

I do think that CWAK will have noticed when our system hasn’t worked and we’ll see some different patterns next year for plan b and c and maybe the squad players we see coming in will be based on flexibility around that, like BenO

 

[LondonBlade89]

But using a 10 was always a starting formation, which it’s clear we don’t have the luxury to do in the prem.
I don’t envisage a prem game where we will bring on a 10, that’s a possession game and we need pace width and or height if we’re going to presumably come from behind not a 10

I don’t understand why using a 10 can only possibly be a starting formation. And I don’t understand why the only game where we want to change our system is a possession game where we need pace, width and height and need to come from behind?

 

[Deadbat]

I'm not upset at letting him leave. I'm upset at us loaning him out and not securing capital to invest in this Summers window.

As things stand, it looks like we may be about to lose L Freeman and C Robinson (£10-13m worth of player) and in return get Oli Burke.

It just seems really poor business.

We have no idea who Wilder is bringing in. Why don't we just wait and see? I am certain not losing any sleep over Freeman and maybe Robinson going. Two players who were not good enough to be close to regular starters after the opening month. I am not even sure they are bench impact players either IMHO.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

We have no idea who Wilder is bringing in. Why don't we just wait and see? I am certain not losing any sleep over Freeman and maybe Robinson going. Two players who were not good enough to be close to regular starters after the opening month. I am not even sure they are bench impact players either IMHO.

I think we agree on the point of not being concerned about their leaving.

I'm more concerned about the returns we're getting on two very sellable assets. Particularly when we're having bids rejected for most of our top targets.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Ray Lewington?

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Silly to let him go - ludicrous that we have loaned him out. A good player who we could do with given our small squad.

I hope we are not going down the McCabe tinpot road again.

 

[BanderSerge]

Silly to let him go - ludicrous that we have loaned him out. A good player who we could do with given our small squad.

I hope we are not going down the McCabe tinpot road again.

Like Evans and Leonard a couple of seasons ago, then up popped Norwood? Less of the wrist slitting, the window doesn’t close until October FFS!

 

[Toronto Blade fan]

I don't understand. If Cash was coming back the other way, great. But if not, why this? We are light enough on the bench, having that attacking options seems like a no brainer. Maybe we are soo cash strapped that the loan fee will be used to get something else across the line.....

 

[robbiez666]

Unless he helps Forest to promotion and they buy him for an already agreed fee.
But by that time we'll have just completed our second successful season in the top flight, and we'll have moved on with better quality signings.

I suspect if Forest get promoted they're more likely to sign Luccio Freemanio

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Like Evans and Leonard a couple of seasons ago, then up popped Norwood? Less of the wrist slitting, the window doesn’t close until October FFS!

Loaning a decent player out when we are really short on numbers. Makes no sense at all. We are a Prem League club now and need to act like one.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Loaning a decent player out when we are really short on numbers. Makes no sense at all. We are a Prem League club now and need to act like one.

only in name