Hopper

All football transfers are a gamble and just like anyone who has ever had a flutter at the casino will tell you it’s wise to spread your bets. £30M for MOR for US in this moment is too much of a gamble and I’m glad we’ve seemingly been a little more shrewd in our investment. Despite all of our wishes we are one of the bookie’s favourites to go down. Better have one eye on the future than not.

I was about to pick up on the blindness coment. In the press conference Russ literally said that we have a long list of options we are looking at and that "We definitely need help in that department." But don't let the facts get in the way of a good moan eh.

Russ said in yesterday’s presser he expects us to be very busy with business over the next week. Hold on to your hats boys.

Because the level of the Süper Lig is far above the 3rd Division of French football. The players we are loaning out are being loaned with a view to bring them back to the senior squad.

Bijlow, for me is the better fit. Ball playing keeper and at a decent price permanently. Definitely seems like a bit of deal sealing rumor-mongering.

Exactly this he can be exciting and a liability at the same time. They aren't mutually exclusive. Smallbone isn't exciting but he is dependable and highly underrated in my opinion. 7 goals and 4 assists last year including the assist that brought us up. I don't see him as the creative attacking option in midfield, he's much more the 8 (Along with Mateus). We still need to replace Charley with a bonafide 10 that can push Aribo for a place.

I don't think we're as close to the PSR line as many on here fear. The fact we dropped £15M on Mateus and likely £10M ish on Bijlow on top of the bits we've already done suggests there is more headroom than many think. (I believe this belief is probably driven mainly by us not going in on MOR for £25M) If he returns from his loan next year and is as-good or better than Charley plus we get some cash on top that only strengthens the PSR position.

Sure but on the flip side of the coin we brought in Fernandes up front without selling a player so it's swings and roundabouts. As mentioned he's a saints player on loan, still an asset for us to sell on if he doesn't meet our needs down the road.

Agreed this is how the multi club model will benefit us. On the surface it's easy to say 'Oh we're just wasting our budget on players for Goztepe'. But the realit is it opens the pathway for 'riskier' investments especially when we're now scouting more in south america and Japan. If some of these additions live up to expectations in Turkey it's an easy in and helps out massively for profit and sustainability in the long term.

Lis to Goztepe pretty much confirms Bijlow on a permanent deal to be announced imminently I'd assume. Nice to have a proven keeper between the sticks. He won't be perfect no keeper is but I'll feel much more confident knowing that Macca will be 3rd choice at best when Gav is fit. Feels like we've had a sneaky good window and with a week to go I think there may be 1 or 2 more in attacking areas to come.

I think this depends on the state of the finances. If there's enough to cover our primary needs (GK/AM) and some spare it wouldn't be a bad move in terms of future planning. Brining him in as an understudy to Les and Downes ahead of next year might be the thinking with him.

The thing is transfers don't really happen in a sequential order. The club is going to be working on a number of things at once. Some will be easier to solve than others.

Ah yes, club hero. How could I forget 😅

I think Flynn and Les are your double pivot with Mateus a backup/stand in for Les when we are playing a team we can be more progressive against. AM still a role we need to cover as I’d imagine that to be Will or Charley as it stands.

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There’s a lot of route one merchants on this forum. When you play against the best sides and lump it forward from the keeper guess what? Most of the time the pressure is coming straight back at you and you’ve not had time to set your shape. Does no one remember how much that happened 22/23 we spend moments in matches just trying to clear our lines only to be punished time and again. We were especially guilty of this in the last few minutes of matches and lost countless points because of it.

Definitely shared sentiment there I think mate. Most of us would be quite excited for a young prospect like Fernandes if it wasn’t for a huge GK shaped hole we need to fill.

Skipp on his way to Leicester as per Fab.

Exactly this. Sometimes a non answer is an answer unto itself.

The tweet explicitly says he's settled as an 8. I don't think he's the same profile of player as MOR. Feels more like squad depth for Smallbone/Aribo which I'm not upset about.

There was a post a few pages back about our finances that said we had probably around £30M of headroom without taking into account outgoings. If Charlie, Seku and Armel go that's £40M ish coming in and only £15M spent on Archer since that article. Would leave a nice little warchest to get a few bits done.

I think there's more in the offing as far as in's are concerned. The club kept Archer and Ugochukwu close to the vest and I'd image will continue to do so until the window closes given how ruthlessly competitive the market is.

Some positive views on him.

We can be looking at more than one player at a time. I'm sure a GK is at the top of the list but deals for specific players take time and circumstance. On Fernandes. I know nothing about him but he looks a good ball carrier. Decent eye for a pass. Could be a direct replacement for Charlie (Albeit a little lower on the pitch) if the Flamengo deal is on.