SKD

Stats without context are, yes. This is a bit more cut and dry, although again, still not a good comparison without knowing the complexity of said free kick. I.e all of JWP’s could be from 25 yards and all of Ronaldos could be from 35 (example, we know that’s not the case in this example). I do agree JWP is better than Ronaldo and probably is best in the world at free kicks in isolation.

Did you watch the second half of last season? Have we done anything to realistically make much of a difference on that? What is there to be optimistic about?

1 & 2 - I’ve explained my doubts around his physicality. I don’t believe he’s good enough to score a significant amount (which is what we’ll need) in the premier league. Id be surprised if him / Adams got 15 goals between them and as we know, defensively, we’re not any good so we’ll need to score. 3 - Most of JWP’s 8 goals came from free kicks. You’d be stupid to rely on a CM to bury every free kick. It’s a nice contribution, but not going to be enough.

No, I don’t think it is it’s and I agree the championship is probably stronger. However; that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a better player / more suited to the PL league. I mean, VVD, Armstrong, Forster and Wanyama all have come from the same league and club.. they turned out alright. As I said, whilst 28 goals is obviously impressive, I don’t tend to look too much into it. Many factors could play a part in that. Buying a player based on 1 good season is reactive and a recipe for disaster imo. I believe Harvey Elliot was outstanding last season, which obviously played a big part.

Toney, physically, looks like he is ready for the premier league. Hmm I don’t know, I like the look of Edouard. Im Sure there are others out there that we’ve watched. I think he’s more of a like for like ings replacement and more of an all rounded CF, who could also play alone up there rather than in a 2 (Armstrong can’t, he’s too small and would offer no presence up there). If we’re in for Armstrong regardless I.e 3rd choice to complement our current 2, I have no issues with this. However, as a replacement, which it looks likely to be, it concerns me.

I haven’t seen him (Armstrong) play. From clips, he looks to be a true number 9 and comes alive in the box - almost opposite of Adams funny enough. Personally, I wouldn’t look at goals alone as a sign of potential success. It could be that he was playing in a team who were sticking them On a plate for him (he won’t get that here). As, I think you, have previously said, there is a big Gap between the PL and Championship. As shown by Redmond ripping apart a championship defence in Bournemouth. Physically, he looks pretty short. Will he be strong enough for the league? Can he create a chance from nothing? If we’re going into next season relying on Adams and Armstrong to score enough to keep us up, imo, we’re fucked (especially given we get no goals from Our midfield either).

Unrelated, I think. It’s come from an American journo with links to the villa owner (something to do with NBA links). Sounds like a Tiss situation and he’s rather be a ‘club legend’ at villa and they’ve offered him a huge pay rise. Who knows, could be a load of rubbish. Fair play to him and villa If so.

Without seeing the contract, no. It’ll be down to whatever has been agreed between the 2 clubs.

Genuine question and not a dig, but what makes you think Armstrong will offer more consistency than Obafemi in the premier league? Both are pretty much untested in the division. Personally, I’m not sold on Armstrong.

Hearing Grealish is staying…..

Sounds like he Thinks Ralph is the right man to improve him defensively. the poor bugger obviously hasn’t watched our shambles of a defence in past 2 seasons.

He’s exactly what we need and would be a great addition. But he’ll cost a fair bit of ££ so No, of course not. West Ham Are the club he refers to, I think.

I’d like us to go for Loftus cheek, but not sure he’d be good cover as a Defensive mid. More of an attacking midfielder.

Yep. Exactly right. Everyone is a winner in this situation. Surprised he didn’t go to palace (from that area). Brighton he has a lot of competition in Lamptey. Realistically, we probably got the deal done because we’re happy to accept a buy back clause with a substantial sell on. Given we’ve not got a pot to piss in, it’s not a bad business model for us at this moment in time. Producing our own talent will be and has become harder, Chelsea seem to hoover up anything worth looking at in this area, a few Southampton and Hampshire lads in their current set up.

It certainly seems that way In TWar’s world. With worldwide names like Perruad and Livramento (unknown to anyone on the SWF until 2 months ago), running down either wing, JWP’s ‘progressive pass stats’, and Adam Armstrong’s 28 championship goals being added to our attack, we’ll strike fear into the premier league. (On a serious note, I like the look of this deal and the french chap as well, but insane… let’s settle down).

I guess It depends if there is any real intrest in Obafemi. If someone is willing to pay £6m for him, then it’s still Costing us. If there’s not, then I agree it’s not a bad make way given he won’t play and is out of contract next season(?).

I can’t be the only one who thinks there is no value in Armstrong at anything close to 23m. That’s the same price as Patson Daka went for, ffs. I bet we don’t get much more than that for Ings. We need to walk away from this one if that’s seriously what they’re valuing him at.

Has anyone actually seen the lad play? Most of these highlights are him in the final 3rd. Looks like a winger / wing back. Looks good going forward, but can he defend? As we’ve seen with Valery, he looked okay in a back 5 but lost in a back 4, hopefully this lad has a bit more about him as potentially won’t suit our formation. He’ll certainly have more to do defensively with us than he has with Chelsea U23’s.

Yep, agree. As I’ve also said in another thread. No disappointment here. Obviously no buy back would have been preferred but in which case he wouldn’t have been sold. If you can show me a post I’ve not said it’s a good deal, ill Apologise (you won’t be able to)… play the post not the poster, nips.

Quick point on these clauses… let’s say it’s 25m (for arguments sake) with a sell on clause at 20% (my guess is it’ll be higher)… they’ll basically be able to buy him back for £20m. It’d probably cost them not too far off 20m in salary / bonus over 3 years if they kept him and he wouldn’t be getting first team exposure. Given they have the money to do so, that is great business by Chelsea.

Clearly he’s leaving to play football. Why would he leave the best U23’s to play for another U23 team. He wouldn’t get football at any of those clubs (other than perhaps Leipzig). Whilst others may be interested, realistically, it was between clubs like us and Brighton. Please show me a post where I’ve said that this isn’t a good deal? It looks like it is. Exactly The sort of player we should Looking at, I’m happy. However, Let’s not get carried away and start calling it ‘insane’ though. My guess is probably only 1 or 2 people on this whole forum would have seen him play.

He looks like a good option as a young back up who’ll hopefully Break through, I agree. Hardly an ‘insane’ deal though, as you claimed. So insane, we managed to fight off fierce competition from errrr Brighton.

Suspect it’ll be an outright buy back, as they had with Ake (refused to take it up). It’ll be interesting to see what the clause is, I’d guess somewhere between 25-30m. This could Look very cheap in 3 years time but I suppose it’s good for us if it does, as he’s been brought in for Next to Nothing and whilst losing him under value, it’ll mean we’ve had 2/3 good seasons from Him.

We know that, clearly. Have you ever seen him play or are you again wetting your pants over a few articles and good reviews on Reddit, like you have with That french lad. Christ; anyone would think we’re lining up with Roberto Carlos and Cafu with how you’ve ‘bigged’ them up. Bet you’d never heard of them a few month back.

They work exactly like that. They’ll be a clause in the contract (usually expires after a certain period), that they can buy them back for x amount. It’s basically a release clause, but only for a certain club.