tajjuk

Because we all know it doesn't work like that, we've had very good half seasons of form and then dropped off. Their squad is nowhere near top 6 quality, and their signings so far look pretty meh IMO. As said above most of the 'traditional' big 6 have also improved, Arsenal and Spurs are likely to be better, Liverpool and City are on another level, Utd have a new manager, and Chelsea seem to be strengthening well. Also pretty much all the most highly rated managers in world football are now currently occupying PL clubs. Guardiola, Klopp, Conte, Tuchel and Ten Haag. I actually think this season could be pretty painful for the rest of the league, we've had a spell for a while where the likes of Arsenal, Spurs and Utd have all been in transition, changing managers, changing squads, lacking a clear plan/identity plus Chelsea had the Abramovich distraction last year. This year Spurs and Arsenal both seem to be building well with good managers, Utd have a wealth of talent (and just wealth) that just needs to be properly managed and Chelsea have new owners who seem to be investing. I think there could be a pretty big gap between those clubs and the 'rest' next year.

Based on what? there is nothing official from the club and based on our other transfers where we have secured people early, we could have and would have IMO moved on him ages ago if we were really keen, but didn't. All the noises from the club about signing him were in Jan, once his formed dropped off a cliff we went pretty quiet on it.

Still don't think we have been interested this whole time, just obvious paper talk. I mean he'd probably chose West Ham over us anyway, but I reckon the club has seen something in him behind the scenes that put them off and made him not worth the money.

Also hasn't the dude been injured for like 4 months or something? So that is his first game back after a long injury lay off.

I think Winks is a technically sound player and is a good passer/possession recycler, the issue is I don't think he offers much more. Physically he offers no height, pace or power, he is not a tough tackling ball winner, he doesn't score goals, he's a decent hard worker but I don't think has anywhere near the engine of say Ward-Prowse and iirc he's been fairly injury prone over his career. Is he is a good ball carrier? not to my memory. So really he's a worse Ward-Prowse because he doesn't have the free kicks, penalties, long shots, work rate, stamina, leadership and robustness. Then look at the players we've signed. Lavia iirc is 6' and known for his physicality and pace in midfield. Bella-Kotchap 6' 3" and also has good pace, Aribo is 6' and is known for his ability to shield the ball well. Then look at the other players we are linked with 6' 1" Delap, 6' 7" Kalajdžić etc. Definitely a size, physicality and pace theme running through our signings and most of our targets as well. Winks just doesn't seem to fit with that IMO, so I am not sure there is much in those links. Plus we have JWP, Romeu, Diallo, Lavia and now Aribo all able to play the centre-mid roles (and Stu Armstrong as well if needed) so when we need reinforcements up front (we only have two recognised strikers) and extra quality at no.10 it doesn't make sense to spend money on centre-mid either. Especially at English PL player premium prices.

I don't believe it's a conscious thing or they are doing it on purpose but in elite sport even a few percentages off can make a difference, add that to also getting in some bad form, then losing some confidence as well you can get end of season runs like that. Mid table teams taking their eyes off the ball when they have nothing to play for is pretty common. IIRC last season Villa were similar and finished pretty poorly overall. Wolves also once they dropped out of European contention.

lol he got into the England team at left back, having played at left back (and played well). He also IIRC has come out said publicly he's enjoyed it. As for the last 3 months, I don't think anyone has forgotten it, they just have more sense to not judge a whole season, a manager and a team on a third of a season. All teams have periods of poor form, even the best, but especially a team like ours that has had very little investment in the last 3-4 years and in reality lacks quality all over the pitch. As said above, Ralph has got them over performing when you consider our spend and budget, pretty much every team that finished just above us or below us has had significantly more investment than we have and that is pretty much been the case every season he's been here. Wolves, Newcastle, Palace, Brighton, Villa, Everton, these sort of clubs have been spending way more (whilst also not been hamstrung by poor signings giving us 'useless' wages on the wage bill) and but have been in around us for most of the season. I think that pretty much conclusively proves Ralph 'has what is takes' in the PL. Also it's pretty consistent for teams with not much to play for but unlikely to go down to coast till the end of the season, Charlton in the Prem did it pretty much every year, didn't make Curbishley suddenly a bad manager. Some players have natural drive, others need something to motivate them and I'd imagine most don't care about an extra £2-3 million for the club for finishing 10th instead of 14th or whatever. If we can keep improving the squad then hopefully we can push ourselves to be involved in the Euro places battle going into the home stretch next year and then hopefully we won't see the drop off. The comment about players regressing is just baffling. Our best player for example, is our best player because he's developed under Ralph. Loads of our players have improved, we are literally talking about one in KWP who was a Spurs barely squad player when he came here, or just look at Danny Ings, how his form has dropped off at Villa.

I find it slightly odd that all our buy backs like on Tino, Lavia etc. have been reported at the time of purchase. But this one apparently no one has mentioned until now? £30 million also seems to low considering we paid around £12 million for him, Tino's is over £40 million for a £5 million purchase, Lavia's is more like £50 million apparently and he was bought for around the same price as KWP, so I don't know either the club has mucked up here and for some odd reason no one reported the clause, or this isn't true.

If he has a buy back clause then they just pay the amount and we have to sell at that price. Would just then depend on him agreeing a contract with them. It's just basically a release clause to one club. Whether he has one is a different matter, we have been agreeing them recently but I don't remember seeing one mentioned when he signed, whereas the ones with Tino or Lavia for example it's been widely reported.

Personally I think it's all agent/paper talk, I reckon the club thinks there is better value to be had at the prices being quoted for him. (plus I wonder if there are also some other doubts about him having seen him first hand and pretty much knowing all there is to know). I just reckon if the club were really convinced about his talent/attitude and supposedly have a decent amount of funds to buy a striker they would have moved on him earlier.

Not really, like I said they just hoover up a lot of talent and then don't use it very well. A lot of those players only got a chance (and thus their subsequent moves in many cases) because of the transfer ban, without that who knows whether they would have made the step up or the step up that early. If you are stealing some of the best young talent around then of course you will have more players make it through to a higher level, it's just simple numbers. In Chelsea's catchment area there are probably 10+ million people. How many good players made it through in the Mourinho years? Not that many. You are just focusing on the very recent where they have had a decent crop and that is in itself lucky, and many of those got there chances to impress because of the transfer ban. Saying they bring through 'PL player' is a massive oversimplification, not saying Chelsea don't have a good academy but the level of training you get is going to be very good at any category 1 academy. What makes a PL player is getting that playing time to develop and learn, which Chelsea consistently doesn't offer. All academies go through peaks and troughs in talent, sometimes the players just aren't there which is the case with us but its looking more likely some talent is coming through considering the performances of our youth teams, as mentioned above. Man Utd haven't in recent times brought through a lot of players, despite being a great talent factory in the past. Chelsea are just having one of those peaks, but saying go to Chelsea you'll have a higher chance to make it a PL player is just nonsense IMO.

It's only a distraction if the players actually pay any attention to it. We had JWP rumours earlier on, they seem to have just drifted away. He's probably another contract renewal that needs doing and if not then I reckon he'll get sold next year when he has two years left.

Most of those came through because of their transfer ban. Hudson-Odoi is not playing and seemingly wants to leave for more football, Lamptey left, Tino left for more football, Broja wants more football, Guehi left for more football, Tomori and Abraham had both established themselves, done well and then basically got dumped for foreign imports and then got sold to get more football. Colwill wants to leave if there isn't a pathway. I think all it shows is Chelsea hoover up a lot of talent (plus there is a huge talent pool in London), it doesn't show it's a good place to actually develop and get a chance in the first team. They had that forced onto them and as soon as the transfer ban was over they went out and spent like £200 million. Chalobah only got into the team last year because they had a mass injury crisis. They also have a previous record of signing young players and despite being extremely talented completely wasting them. Salah and De Bruyne being two high profile examples. If he's going then he's going for money, he's not getting near that Chelsea team any time soon and will likely end up on bunch of loans farmed out all over the place, and will probably in 2-3 years time be looking to move on because there is no pathway to the first team. If he wants to play then he has a much better chance here, we have a much better record of giving young players chances and he has already been involved with the first team. He'd likely be training with the first team here if he stayed and would probably get some chances to play. At Chelsea he will at best get into their U23s and probably won't get a sniff near their first team for the whole of the contract he is about to sign.

I'd presume he has been made aware there is some interest, I don't think players or agents would stall and potentially miss out on a move just on the off chance a big club might sign them. Also Man Utd seem to be particularly odd when it comes to transfers, they have a history of posturing over transfer targets for a long time before actually agreeing a deal, its one of the main criticisms going around of their behind the scenes set up. They have a new manager in but so far only have 1 signing in. I mean it might work for someone like Kalajdzic because he has a year left on his contract so the selling club might lower what the asking price nearer the end of the window but they were told last year in like June what the price for Sancho was they then spent the whole time going back and forth, and basically bought him right near the start of the season for pretty much the amount Dortmund requested. They seem to be doing the same with Frankie De Jong as well. Also I presume the whole Ronaldo thing has to be sorted, probably a striker is not a priority for them unless he goes.

I'd imagine most of our signings are going to be in the £30k - 40K sort of bracket. Most of them are non-PL players, and mid table Bundesliga, SPL teams, etc. are likely to be paying lower wages than many Championship clubs so I doubt we'd suddenly be paying them £60k a week, that is more an established PL player level of wage. Forster was on a high wage IIRC, was I think our highest earner at one point, and Long probably was on £60k or so I would guess, so probably about £130-140k a week saved between those two. The 4 main ones we have signed (doubt the Lis guy is on very much), might amount to a similar amount overall.

Two keepers there, so pretty similar, also no sales to fuel it, so yeh that is potentially similar window. Also with signings in multiple different positions.

Yeh if you include Gardos then that it 6 was permanently - Mane, Long, Tadic, Forster, Pelle, Gardos, Then Bertrand and Toby came in on loan, with Bertrand being made permanent in Jan. All fuelled though by over £100 million in sales, our net transfer spend that summer was still +£25 million according to transfermarkt

So a still potentially a right back, no.10 and striker to come in, which would what take us to 7 first team squad players arriving in one window? Have we ever signed that many?

At this point we might as well just join the City group of clubs!

Just guessing but I wonder if KWP sees a gap in the England squad at left back. Chilwell and Shaw both seem to have injury issues, so I wonder if that is what is driving it, the player himself. Play left back, continue his good form and he becomes a very good option for Southgate able to cover both fullback positions, in a demanding tournament that is a very useful option to have. But considering we have 5 subs now, and we have a physically demanding playstyle, the ability to have a guy who can comfortably play left or right back well allows us to mix things up, rotate, etc. we (when tino is fit) will have 3 good full backs for two spots, so they all should get a lot of gametime and if KWP is not working on the left, you have Perraud to come in and it completely changes the attack dynamic down that flank.

Not really we pay about a third initially if that up front, with a little more on potential appearances which will depend on him being successful. Initial fees for Bazanu and Lavia are around £10 million. You are talking 3 times that amount, likely to not be dependent on future performances if multiple clubs are interested him. When consider that is more than Haller just went to Dortmund for, and he has scored 47 in 66 games for Ajax over two seasons, including being last seasons top scorer in the Champions League. (plus despite flopping for West Ham, still had a better PL goal scoring season than Broja has just had). It just doesn't make much sense to me. I mean a player like Belotti is out there on a free transfer, supposedly going to Monaco on a wage of about reportedly less than £60k a week, he's a full Italy international who's been a regular scorer in Serie A for years.

13 goals, 7 of which were in the Portuguese cup in just two games. He managed 6 in 20 in the league and 1 in 9 in the Europa league for Braga, not sure how many are sub appearances but the Portuguese league is not that strong beyond the big 3.

If we were buying a striker who had scored 6 in 32 from another PL club, for over £30 million I think most of us would not thing that was a good deal. Especially as he would only be backing that up with 10 goals in the Eredivisie and not much else. Seems too much to me, if we have the ability to spend over £30 million on one player (and I have my doubts anyway), I think there is better value to be had elsewhere.

Harsh IMO, he's technically sound, has a decent long shot on him, makes decent runs into the box and works very hard most of the times I have seen him. Just lacks that explosive pace or change of direction to reliably beat people. I see no issue with him coming on in either situation, he works hard enough to keep the press pressure up, is good enough on the ball to not concede turnovers and with his runs and cutting in will at least occupy a defender, plus like I said he's got a goal out of nothing in him. I wouldn't rely on him as a regular starter, but I trust him as a squad player more than Djenepo and probably more than Redmond, he is a player IMO that is reliable to give a decent performance most of the time, just unlikely to produce an exceptional one.

Recency bias, we were bad in the last third of the season therefore we were bad all the time.