The Winter 2018/19 Transfer Thread

[Parkins left foot]

Would not be surprised if Saiss is sold - realistically he's 4th choice for the midfield now & really going to get little opportunity. Could see one of the bottom 4 or 5 PL teams considering him (assuming that he would want to go there) as he's a sensible, solid midfield option without bringing that much excitement - then again what those sides need is just that & sufficient to get over the line then regroup in the Summer. Not sure that that would appeal to him & he may prefer to go abroad as long as anyone can come up with the £s we would want.

Only issue is that leaves us with only 3 front line midfielders (4 if you count Dendoncker & none of us know how capable he is there yet) - or we are down into the youngsters (& I know MGW is only about 12 :icon_smile:, but he's an outlier in this scenario)

 

[Alan]

Andy Robertson started two league games for Liverpool before December last season. Fabinho has only just got into their team.

When you're looking at managers as meticulous as Klopp and Nuno, they won't chuck players in just because, they have to be absolutely ready to go. I'm not worried about Dendoncker other than the number of people who can't spell his name.

And turn your sig off

Gotta show off the birthday present for a few days!

Again, not saying that Denny isn't worth his salt or anything like that. Just that on a national side as loaded as Belgium there must be serious pressure to play every possible minute for your club, lest someone else snatch your spot.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Tredman]

TBF he is/was only a squad player for Belgium when he joined and he's still the same now.

He'll be in the team sooner or later.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Meh, they picked Chadli for the World Cup and he played about four games for Albion last season. If Martinez likes him and there's no-one better then he'll still get called up for a while. Not like he was an automatic pick in the first place.

 

[Johnny75]

We have enough talent in midfield to lose Saiss but not in defence. I think either Saiss or Hause gets sold but not both as they are cover for Boly. Saiss does have top level International experience which can be invaluable for a young squad.

 

[Jinky]

Neither Saiss or Leo are good enough for this level, IMO.

Slightly harsh on Saiss, to a degree, as he hasn't had much of an opportunity this season - but I just don't think he has the pace to make it in the PL. Same for Leo. Reasonably intelligent footballer, but just not quite good enough. I suspect they'll both go in January and upgrades/competition on our current first choice options will come in; which will strengthen the squad even further.

 

[malta mick]

i think someone pointed out recently that we have one of the smallest squads in the PL. if this is so, should we be adding further numbers rather than selling off ?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

i think someone pointed out recently that we have one of the smallest squads in the PL. if this is so, should we be adding further numbers rather than selling off ?

Ideally you buy someone better than Saiss and he can go, offsetting the fee for whatever you've paid for the better player.

 

[Tony Towner]

i think someone pointed out recently that we have one of the smallest squads in the PL. if this is so, should we be adding further numbers rather than selling off ?

This is the squad size Nuno wants. We won't be increasing it, may well improve it though

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Saiss is likely to get more time on the pitch as the season progresses and we start picking up injuries and suspensions. In the last two games MGW has shot ahead of him but throw in a possible FA Cup run and Saiss could easily play plenty of games.

 

[NE66Wolf]

This is the squad size Nuno wants. We won't be increasing it, may well improve it though

No doubt in my mind, improving the squad is part of keeping our best players by showing them that we have the ambition to keep improving.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

For me there are only three players in our squad who are untouchable:

Patricio (a better keeper than that will cost £60m+ and they wouldn't join)
Neves (will be one of the best players in the world one day)
Coady (not many defenders play like him and he's our leader, absolutely superb again yesterday)

The rest are fair game and that includes a lot of players who I love.

 

[Jinky]

For me there are only three players in our squad who are untouchable:

Patricio (a better keeper than that will cost £60m+ and they wouldn't join)
Neves (will be one of the best players in the world one day)
Coady (not many defenders play like him and he's our leader, absolutely superb again yesterday)

The rest are fair game and that includes a lot of players who I love.

I'd add Boly to that list.

 

[Kenny]

I'd add Boly to that list.

Boly will add himself to the list and no will stop him.

 

[jlo]

Neither Saiss or Leo are good enough for this level, IMO.

Slightly harsh on Saiss, to a degree, as he hasn't had much of an opportunity this season - but I just don't think he has the pace to make it in the PL. Same for Leo. Reasonably intelligent footballer, but just not quite good enough. I suspect they'll both go in January and upgrades/competition on our current first choice options will come in; which will strengthen the squad even further.

Saiss is good enough for this level, but for any of the bottom 5 or 6 teams. Sadly not for us so I think we'd take anything over £4m (but we might push for closer to £6m)

 

[Tony Towner]

For me there are only three players in our squad who are untouchable:

Patricio (a better keeper than that will cost £60m+ and they wouldn't join)
Neves (will be one of the best players in the world one day)
Coady (not many defenders play like him and he's our leader, absolutely superb again yesterday)

The rest are fair game and that includes a lot of players who I love.

Agreed, the way I look at it is that the ambition of the club is to be in the Top 6. How many of our current players would get into a decently performing Top 6 side now? Realistically just Patricio and Neves. I'd add Jonny to that if they played a back 4 and Coady with a back 3. That's not to say I think we need 8 new players to make that step as you can reach that level with 2/3 that fill in, but I do think there are 8 positions that could be improved upon within the realms of realism.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Going to be incremental improvements for the next 12 months at least - a bit better than we have, but not a worldie who costs £60m + & disrupts the team ethos

Hopefully we can hold onto those who have the capability of further growth during this period as well to build a squad that can start challenging at the top end when we will need to look to sign the Hazard/Aguero type players.

Inevitable that players who 2/3 yrs ago we would have been delighted with will fall by the wayside if we are successful.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I disagree. I think we will look to try and get worldies to join now. We are fucking minted. We have the Sky money. We are almost guaranteed to get another chunk of that next season already. If you want to push on from a position of say 12th-best of the rest in 7th, you need those worldies.

I wouldn't be averse to letting Saiss go. We have Neves and Moutinho and MGW is clearly going to hit the untouchables list very soon as well. Romain gets games, we get a reasonable fee, then everyone is a winner.

If we let Leo go, then that is where I expect the first worldie to pitch up. And for a forward, you are looking at a £60m market price.

 

[AndyWolves]

Does anyone think there is any truth in the Adam Reach rumours?

 

[Kenny]

Be surprised if they are