Summer 2019 Transfer Thread

[Del Woppio]

If the window shuts on this squad, it's impossible to call it anything other than a disappointment. I'm glad we signed Jesus and showed we had a back up plan for Dias not happening, but we're still so light. We don't even have to be unlucky with injuries, we just have to revert back to a normal season of typical injuries and we're out of the top ten, which given the state of United and Chelsea would be a massive missed opportunity

 

[Deano]

I think its reasonable to be happy with the players we have signed, well Cutrone and Vallejo anyway, while at the same time being a little disappointed that we haven't done more to strengthen the first 11. The team we have is great and we have added 2 good players in positions of need but our first 11 hasn't really changed from last season apart from 1 player at best. Of course it was important to get the Jimenez and Dendoncker deals done, but i'd say most people were expecting at least one signing to make people sit up and take notice like a Dias or Lemar. These players are obviously in demand and not easy to sign and I get that but I think there is an acceptable middle ground between pretending we are 100% happy with our squad and business done - and spoilt whinging ungrateful wankers.

All will be judged properly tomorrow after 5pm.

 

[Kenny]

If the window shuts on this squad, it's impossible to call it anything other than a disappointment. I'm glad we signed Jesus and showed we had a back up plan for Dias not happening, but we're still so light. We don't even have to be unlucky with injuries, we just have to revert back to a normal season of typical injuries and we're out of the top ten, which given the state of United and Chelsea would be a massive missed opportunity

Well that is Nuno's call rather than a failure to buy players. He has set out to have the 18 supplimented by players coming through the U23 and now the 2 lads that appeared from nowhere for stupid money last week. Hardly been a secret has it, its all he has talked about since last summer when asked about signing players

 

[prawnking]

Our current strongest first XI is the same first XI that ended last season; that could well be enough to have a great season, but it's hardly treasonous to question it

 

[Stan Hullis]

I think its reasonable to be happy with the players we have signed, well Cutrone and Vallejo anyway, while at the same time being a little disappointed that we haven't done more to strengthen the first 11. The team we have is great and we have added 2 good players in positions of need but our first 11 hasn't really changed from last season apart from 1 player at best. Of course it was important to get the Jimenez and Dendoncker deals done, but i'd say most people were expecting at least one signing to make people sit up and take notice like a Dias or Lemar. These players are obviously in demand and not easy to sign and I get that but I think there is an acceptable middle ground between pretending we are 100% happy with our squad and business done - and spoilt whinging ungrateful wankers.

All will be judged properly tomorrow after 5pm.

Agree 100% with this.

I trust the club, Nuno et al. but it will be hard not to be slightly disappointed if we don't have a 'marquee' signing after the last two summers, it is just what we have been used to.

Doesn't mean it has been a disaster at all and I still think we are in for a good year, but we have been spoilt the last few years and it is hard to see passed that.

 

[Nando]

Two seasons of immaculate conditioning under Nuno gives me no reason to think we'll suddenly turn into a squad of Essien's.

I'd like another midfielder, but if it can't be done, it can't be done. Making that next step in terms of personnel was always going to be difficult.

 

[prawnking]

I think there is an acceptable middle ground between pretending we are 100% happy with our squad and business done - and spoilt whinging ungrateful wankers.

All will be judged properly tomorrow after 5pm.

You've pretty miuch nailed it there.

(Although I don't in all honesty think we have a game-changing signing lined up for the last 24 hours of the window, not sure that's our style)

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Question it. That’s fine. It’s the extreme of it by certain sections of our fan base which boils my piss. Thankfully we are as good as devoid of that on here. I will happily admit I would have loved one of the big deals to come off, preferably Kessie, but we are where we are. I also think Vallejo will be starting instead of Bennett very quickly in our strongest XI. The key to me is probably whether Neto is actually any good or just a Mendes player parking exercise. That’s just impossible to say without seeing him in action.

 

[Del Woppio]

Well that is Nuno's call rather than a failure to buy players. He has set out to have the 18 supplimented by players coming through the U23 and now the 2 lads that appeared from nowhere for stupid money last week. Hardly been a secret has it, its all he has talked about since last summer when asked about signing players

I doubt he's said to Jeff 'nah, don't bother with Dias, Fernandes or Lemar mate, we've got BEANO, Sais and Traore backing up'

 

[lemonjelly]

I think some are missing the fosun rationale of signing young players, and improving them. Nuno and his team clearly buy into this.
I think Cutrone will start by being introduced from the bench a lot, but as the season progresses we'll see him in the first eleven a bit more.
By signing primarily players in their initial stages of their careers, we're able to shape them into improved players. Ergo Jota, Neves, Donck, Johnny will also be improving each season in line with the additional talent we bring in.
You have to be really fucking good to get into our team now, make no mistake.
Firmly believe we'll still see great quality football this season. We're certainly a top half team. We "might" be better than that.

 

[BGreenWolf]

I don't need a marquee signing, I just need one that will enable us to adjust our play in areas where we struggled last season.

I don't care if it's a £50 million player from Barcelona or a £500k player from Stevenage, I just wanted to see it thoughtfully addressed. Cutrone does that, no doubt, but one player's not enough.

I think some are missing the fosun rationale of signing young players, and improving them. Nuno and his team clearly buy into this.
I think Cutrone will start by being introduced from the bench a lot, but as the season progresses we'll see him in the first eleven a bit more.
By signing primarily players in their initial stages of their careers, we're able to shape them into improved players. Ergo Jota, Neves, Donck, Johnny will also be improving each season in line with the additional talent we bring in.
You have to be really fucking good to get into our team now, make no mistake.
Firmly believe we'll still see great quality football this season. We're certainly a top half team. We "might" be better than that.

I mean, we've still supplemented that with players like Moutinho or Patricio in the past. Investing in talented youth and buying experienced players are not mutually exclusive (unless you're spending £25 million on the youth, granted).

 

[Jinky]

Well that is Nuno's call rather than a failure to buy players. He has set out to have the 18 supplimented by players coming through the U23 and now the 2 lads that appeared from nowhere for stupid money last week. Hardly been a secret has it, its all he has talked about since last summer when asked about signing players

Nuno’s comments the other week certainly didn’t come across that he was happy with the squad size. In fact, the comments on the squad size have been extremely contradictory.

That said, I think Deano has it spot on. If things stay as they are, I’ll be in the camp that’s happy with the business we have done, but a little underwhelmed at the same time. Maybe Jeff Shi should just keep quiet next time.

 

[Kenny]

I doubt he's said to Jeff 'nah, don't bother with Dias, Fernandes or Lemar mate, we've got BEANO, Sais and Traore backing up'

I'm sure he would love them all or at least one of them and out of the 3 Dias appears to have been closest but if Benfica want £56m in one shot we can't do that. The signing of Jesus showed the club were covering themselves there as that would be considered a bonus if we pull it off. I guess our tactic to try and get a deal suited to us was to try and unsettle Dias and get him to ask for the move, so Benfica have to back down.

Rest of the players we have been linked to. Who the fuck knows if they are true or not (going to say the majority are bollocks). We have had nearly 2 years of being linked to Andre Silva and thats bullshit. Joao Mario appears to be another along with Wallace. We appear to now be in the bracket where we are classed as good enough to be used to try and force other big clubs to change their tactics on players they want

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Nuno’s comments the other week certainly didn’t come across that he was happy with the squad size.

People chose to believe that he was having a dig at the board.

However the exact same quote appeared verbatim on the official site so no, he wasn't having a go.

 

[prawnking]

I think there's a bit of compacency in the attitude that 'it's really hard to improve the first XI so we shouldn't expect it'.

We have an excellent team, but it's not like all 11 regulars are untouchable superstars and we can't get better than at least a couple of them without spending £50m + on each position.

 

[Langers]

I don't need a marquee signing, I just need one that will enable us to adjust our play in areas where we struggled last season.

The biggest area we needed to improve was finishing against stubborn sides - the signing of a very good finisher in Cutrone enables us to do that. With that extra option, teams will find it much harder to stop us when they stick 11 men behind the ball.

I can understand concerns at the size of our squad but I don't have any problems with the quality of it. And aside from Man City, every team in the league would suffer if a key player gets injured - we coped brilliantly with it last season.

 

[BGreenWolf]

I think there's a bit of compacency in the attitude that 'it's really hard to improve the first XI so we shouldn't expect it'.

We have an excellent team, but it's not like all 11 regulars are untouchable superstars and we can't get better than at least a couple of them without spending £50m + on each position.

Bennett, sure. Maybe even Coady or Doherty at a push.

Who else?

I mean, let's look at what we paid for everyone else:

Patricio: 18 million
Boly: 10 million
Jonny: 18 million
Dendoncker: 12 million
Moutinho: 5 million (arguably radically undervalued)
Neves: 16 million
Jimenez: 35 million
Jota: 13 million

Most of those players have increased in value since we bought them, too. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest that outright upgrades on these players would be pushing towards those figures given the state of the market.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Agree 100% with this.

I trust the club, Nuno et al. but it will be hard not to be slightly disappointed if we don't have a 'marquee' signing after the last two summers, it is just what we have been used to.

Doesn't mean it has been a disaster at all and I still think we are in for a good year, but we have been spoilt the last few years and it is hard to see passed that.

For "marquee"signing see Manutd and Sanchez to name just one of many. We don't buy shit under Fosun, and if we aye sure we loan first, can't see the wrong in this personally!

 

[prawnking]

I don't think that's what he means by marquee signing. See Patricio and Moutinho last year and Neves and Jota the year before. I don't think we can confidently put Vallejo and Cutrone in that category without some wishful thinking

 

[Kenny]

I guess the club will class smashing the transfer fee paid out again (done every window since Fosun took over, so look out for our first £40m signing in January) as the marquee