Signings since Summer 2018

[Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head]

Have we signed anyone since the summer of 2018 (John Egan is who springs to mind), who we have either sold for a genuine profit, or we feel we could recoup more than what we have spent?

I'm genuinely struggling to think of any.

Maybe Berge as the only one, but I'd take 20m for him right now.

 

[Barney]

I don't rate Berge. He's certainly not been worth anything like £23m so far.

We've looked a bit better side (hardly difficult I know) since he got injured.

We're now a bit quicker in possession and having more of the ball but still don't have the quality to create chances.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

I reckon the 120 mill we have spent since promotion would net us less than 50 now.

No one in the PL is touching the expensive keeper or strikers. Berge - he’s not going to want to play in the championship, we’ll be forced to sell him at a discount - we might get £15m back if we are lucky

 

[Champagneblade]

I thought this might be worth a bump.

Have to say we did great with the early signings in Chris, Alan, Mitch and Matt's reign but a lack of depth in recruitment has really cost us.

If I could get a refund on all our PL signings, I'd take it hands down.

Had even one been a success?

Freeman - 5m - never plays, loaned out.
Jagielka - wages - plays and we concede 3 each time. In hindsight I'd have rather kept Stearman on a fraction of the wages.
Mousset - 10m - never fit, had a decent handful of matches but never available.
Osborn - 3.5m - a trier with a good attitude bit like Monty in terms of effort.
McBurnie - 17.5m - did ok last year. This season, not at the races.
Verrips - 0 - never plays
Rodwell - 0 - never fit to play, waste of a wave.
Robinson - 500k - substandard, costs a goal every time he plays.
Berge - 22m - might become decent but in a totally different midfield.
Foderingham - 0 - nothing to suggest he's any better than League One.
Ramsdale - up to 18m - signed on potential. Not PL level this season.
Lowe / Bogle up to 11m - we've established Lowe isn't up to this level. Bogle good going forward but not that much defensively, certainly today.
Brewster - up to 25m - bought on potential. Not PL so far.
Burke/Robinson - 5m/8m both run about a lot but limited end product.

So, it's a little bit damning but give me back 120m and tell me how many of this team still would be displaced:

Henderson
Basham Egan O'Connell
Baldock Norwood Fleck Stevens
Duffy
McGoldrick Sharp

I think you'd still be confident of a loan keeper over 18m committed.
The defence is no different after 2 PL seasons.
The middle 4 got picked today except Baldock who has been ever present until most recently.
Duffy would still get in this team and the deputy from the Championship, Lunny, still does.
McGoldrick had gone from 31 year old Player of the Year in the Championship to 33 year old incumbent PoTY in the Premier League.
Sharp is still getting minutes and despite the lack of overall game time is second top scorer by virtue of his spot kicks!

I know teams don't come up and sign nobody but we'd have been no worse off.

It's going to require a fair bit of sorting out to offload those not good enough and for those with potential to kick on hugely

 

[DronnieBlade]

Spunkin muneee .

UTB

 

[Keen Blade]

CW has royally fucked us with his recruitment.
Skill levels ?
Pace power & athleticism ?
No good him saying we haven't got the quality.
It's down to him !
Every player recruited since promotion to the PL has deficiencies which should have been revealed by proper scouting.

 

[Stevo]

I reckon the 120 mill we have spent since promotion would net us less than 50 now.

No one in the PL is touching the expensive keeper or strikers. Berge - he’s not going to want to play in the championship, we’ll be forced to sell him at a discount - we might get £15m back if we are lucky

We won't be forced to sell him, he has a contract, the conversation should be that we will listen to offers of .xxxx.........before he can talk to.another club, if we don't get what we think he is worth then play I'm the championship he shall

 

[Deadbat]

We won't be forced to sell him, he has a contract, the conversation should be that we will listen to offers of .xxxx.........before he can talk to.another club, if we don't get what we think he is worth then play I'm the championship he shall

Berge and his agent will say he wants away. I might be wrong but what good is a year in the Champ for him or his international prospects. He would be better going back to his Belgium club than staying here. I here some saying we will get 20 million+ for him but I think we will do well to get 10-12 really. He has been part of the worst side ever in top flight history.

We aint getting more than that for any player. Some club may give us 10 mill tops for Egan - maybe a promoted team but he has to play in a three so that makes chances of him going slim to me but his agent again with Ireland may want to see if someone takes him.

Those are the two that may leave if I had to say but Egan's form is not exactly on an upward swing and his price is dropping with every defeat.

As for the rest? Baldock not sure anyone would sign an attacking wing back who goes to pieces when he gets over half way. Stevens, Fleck, Norwood, Bash, Sharp, Didz etc all on way down age wise and none other than Bash and Didz (two oldest) shown they can have a consistent impact at this level.

Mousset just hope a French team might give us a few million somehow.

McBurnie not done enough to show hes PL and Ramsdale and Brewster nowhere near this level at least yet.

Burke - he is as Champ as they come?

The rest - Robinson, Osborn as above

Bryan, Moore, Foderingham, Rodwell are League One

Jags is done.

Verrips no idea

The only players we have any chance of decent money is Berge, Egan and Jack. The latter has to prove his fitness.

So the reality is with most under contract and on wages that will be decent for Champ level even with the drop of relegation - then we will see a good portion of these next season.

We need to supplant it with 5 or 6 athletic, quick and hungry players who have the ability to improve. The whole midfield needs changing probably unless Fleck finds something.

 

[Stevo]

Berge will only leave of the price is right and fair, we do not have to sell and won't be held to ransom, I would be saying he can talk of we get a bid equal or more to what we paid, of he stays for next season and we don't go up, then he can talk to whoever he likes, I'd be disappointed if Egan was sold for anything less than £15m tbh

 

[INTERUNITED]

Berge is on 55k per week, we'll be begging him to leave at the end of the season. Whether that is permanent or we loan him out for a year (in the hope we get promoted again) will depend on if anyone offers us close to the 22 million paid.

 

[Sithblade]

If Swansea get promoted they may interested in one or two of our forwards.

 

[Mario1889]

I don't rate Berge. He's certainly not been worth anything like £23m so far.

We've looked a bit better side (hardly difficult I know) since he got injured.

We're now a bit quicker in possession and having more of the ball but still don't have the quality to create chances.

In a good side playing good football, Berge would be an excellent signing.

You watch, when we go down at the end of the season and he moves on, if it’s to another side in the Prem he’ll start to look every bit a £23m player.

 

[Rudders]

Deadbeat, how come you knock Berge so much? He has done more in the premier than many players who have been sold to other PL teams out of the championship. E.G Godfrey to Everton £40M off the back of one injury hit season for Norwich that they got relegated in. Brentford selling two players who had never played in the premier, both for more than berge. Berge is an international and played in the CL as well. Just because you are frustrated with him that he didn't dominate the league with us, which I agree was a shame, but you need to be a tad less blinkered and realise despite some average showings for us he is worth way more than £10M...

 

[CentralQuay]

Deadbeat, how come you knock Berge so much? He has done more in the premier than many players who have been sold to other PL teams out of the championship. E.G Godfrey to Everton £40M off the back of one injury hit season for Norwich that they got relegated in. Brentford selling two players who had never played in the premier, both for more than berge. Berge is an international and played in the CL as well. Just because you are frustrated with him that he didn't dominate the league with us, which I agree was a shame, but you need to be a tad less blinkered and realise despite some average showings for us he is worth way more than £10M...

Godfrey played 30 times last season.
Berge has played 22 times in 12 months.

There has to be a reason why for 2 and a half years every PL side has turned down Berge.

 

[Champagneblade]

Berge and his agent will say he wants away. I might be wrong but what good is a year in the Champ for him or his international prospects. He would be better going back to his Belgium club than staying here. I here some saying we will get 20 million+ for him but I think we will do well to get 10-12 really. He has been part of the worst side ever in top flight history.

We aint getting more than that for any player. Some club may give us 10 mill tops for Egan - maybe a promoted team but he has to play in a three so that makes chances of him going slim to me but his agent again with Ireland may want to see if someone takes him.

Those are the two that may leave if I had to say but Egan's form is not exactly on an upward swing and his price is dropping with every defeat.

As for the rest? Baldock not sure anyone would sign an attacking wing back who goes to pieces when he gets over half way. Stevens, Fleck, Norwood, Bash, Sharp, Didz etc all on way down age wise and none other than Bash and Didz (two oldest) shown they can have a consistent impact at this level.

Mousset just hope a French team might give us a few million somehow.

McBurnie not done enough to show hes PL and Ramsdale and Brewster nowhere near this level at least yet.

Burke - he is as Champ as they come?

The rest - Robinson, Osborn as above

Bryan, Moore, Foderingham, Rodwell are League One

Jags is done.

Verrips no idea

The only players we have any chance of decent money is Berge, Egan and Jack. The latter has to prove his fitness.

So the reality is with most under contract and on wages that will be decent for Champ level even with the drop of relegation - then we will see a good portion of these next season.

We need to supplant it with 5 or 6 athletic, quick and hungry players who have the ability to improve. The whole midfield needs changing probably unless Fleck finds something.

Berge wasn't the midfielder we needed. Not for that money.

If anything we needed a Premier League Duffy. To get a player who could transition us from being defensively strong but always having less possession to one that could hurt teams a little more. There would have been a lot more sense in spending that sort of money on someone like Benrahma in January. We must have been 5th or 6th at that time.

We'd done well to finish 9th in the end. Shame is we totally wasted the negotiating power that sort of finish brings. It would have been a huge selling point especially internationally but we went safety first with UK players we had little competition for.

 

[Stegosaurus]

Hi, Stegosaurus here

He's spaffed money up the wall. Arguably his only good signing is Besic ... who never played. Burke and Bogle arent bad. Not great, but acceptable.

Some ... Ramsdale, Lowe and more have actually made the squad worse

 

[Deadbat]

Deadbeat, how come you knock Berge so much? He has done more in the premier than many players who have been sold to other PL teams out of the championship. E.G Godfrey to Everton £40M off the back of one injury hit season for Norwich that they got relegated in. Brentford selling two players who had never played in the premier, both for more than berge. Berge is an international and played in the CL as well. Just because you are frustrated with him that he didn't dominate the league with us, which I agree was a shame, but you need to be a tad less blinkered and realise despite some average showings for us he is worth way more than £10M...

Godfrey was 25 million not 40.

We will see at the end of the season. I still think we will do well to get our money back. As others have said his wages and agent will be key factors.

The difference is Benrahma and Watkins noone knew whether they'd have an impact at Prem. Like Brewster. People have seen Berge at this level and how he struggles with the pace of the game. I think a West Ham or Palace might take a look but it is more likely a foreign team where his game will be better suited but we ain't getting 20+ million plus I dont feel.

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

Hi, Stegosaurus here

He's spaffed money up the wall. Arguably his only good signing is Besic ... who never played. Burke and Bogle arent bad. Not great, but acceptable.

Some ... Ramsdale, Lowe and more have actually made the squad worse

I loved Besic. Why we didn't sign him permanent I don't know. He got stuck in, broke up play but could also do a bit. I was surprised and shocked we didn't sign him

 

[Champagneblade]

I loved Besic. Why we didn't sign him permanent I don't know. He got stuck in, broke up play but could also do a bit. I was surprised and shocked we didn't sign him

He was on 60k work week and we didn't fancy paying that full time. That was my understanding.

 

[Bladezz]

When I said this at the start of the season I was absolutly crucified to the cross on here.

 

[Le Cynique]

To anyone saying Egan has to play in a back three: he plays in a back four for Ireland. Sure, they’re no great shakes but let’s be honest, neither are we.

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

He was on 60k work week and we didn't fancy paying that full time. That was my understanding.

While ever we won't break this wage structure, we will never push on. At some point you have to break ranks to progress. I'm aware we've had to buy the assets from the greatest chairman we've ever had which will have impacted us. But the chatter is always about not breaking it. Don't break the wage bills, don't break into the top division.

Last season is looking like the biggest freak season since Leicester won the league.

 

[Houston_Blade]

He was on 60k work week and we didn't fancy paying that full time. That was my understanding.

If you compare it to Berge (I'll assume he's on £40k per week as a low estimate) then the cost of Besic over 3 years based on a nominal transfer fee of £3m would be £9.36m in wages plus the £3m = £12.36m. He might have commanded a fee of £2m at the end therefore the overall cost is around £10.36m.

Berge is £6.24m in wages plus £23m transfer fee minus whatever we get back for him at the end (say £10m-£15m) = £14.24m best case.

If people are saying that Besic would have given us more bite in midfield then it's a no brainer really.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I think that those wins against Chelsea and Spurs in the summer clouded Wilders judgement,he thought they would come good again when the new season started and win games where no one expected us to.

Its all down to Wilder not chucking sentiment out of the window and actually signing 2 or 3 new players that would have taken the team to the next level of quality,his sentiment and faithfullness to those players has backfired.

There is only so much juice you can squeeze out of a lemon and Wilder has many times said,"the players are giving me everything".