Summer 2022 Transfer Window

[Toadhall Saint]

12 minutes ago, John D said:

I had the misfortune of getting the train from Sheffield to London on Saturday which was rammed with Pompey fans after their game.

There was some debate on the tables / seats next to us about Bazunu with the majority view being he is has the potential to be a quality keeper and has been fantastic for them this season.  One dissenting view saying he will never make it at top level.

Their conversation then turned to relationships with their mums and regretted time spent in jail.  Most surprisingly the 2 tables next to us  tidied up all the empty beer cans and rubbish and put it in the bin at the end of the journey.

Did you mention who you support? 😂

[bpsaint]

Phil Jones leaving United this summer, I’d take him over any of our current bunch of clowns.

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, bpsaint said:

Phil Jones leaving United this summer, I’d take him over any of our current bunch of clowns.

Did you mean muppets?

 

Edited 5 May, 2022 by Matthew Le God

[UpweySaint]

3 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We need signings to come in and be good enough to start and hold their place. Not McCarthy as No.1 and players like this.

 

 

While I agree what is to say this lad isn't good enough? He's looked good when I've seen him for Ireland. 

[Convict Colony]

Someone come up with some no.10s we could sign to feed the strikers better, I know nothing aside from the english dude at PSV whose right up our street, may scroll around the eredevisie/bundesliga tomorrow for some gems.

 

edit Noni Madueke is the guy from PSV and also Sinsterra from Feyenoord (playing tonight v Marseille) are good eredevise ones.

Edited 5 May, 2022 by Convict Colony

[saint1977]

2 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Phil Jones leaving United this summer, I’d take him over any of our current bunch of clowns.

Have you seen his injury record? We’ve already got Walcott as effectively a non player on big wages.

[Chez]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Nketiah seems more than capable of getting 10 goals a season which is our level. 

In fact, he has two less goals this season than Broja and one less than Adams with much less game time.

that might be true, but he wasn't playing for us when he scored those goals though S_c

[Chez]

26 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Someone come up with some no.10s we could sign to feed the strikers better, I know nothing aside from the english dude at PSV whose right up our street, may scroll around the eredevisie/bundesliga tomorrow for some gems.

 

edit Noni Madueke is the guy from PSV and also Sinsterra from Feyenoord (playing tonight v Marseille) are good eredevise ones.

I was about to suggest Khvicha Kvaratskheli again, but when I googled him to get the spelling right, I can see has signed fo Napoli. Blast. I was going to harp on about him all summer.

[bpsaint]

13 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

Have you seen his injury record? We’ve already got Walcott as effectively a non player on big wages.

True, with Theo though that’s more down to the decline of his ability rather than any injuries and he’ll be gone in the summer. Jones seems to be over his issues now and regardless of his stupid face pulling would excel in a team like us, similar to how Cahill did at Palace. Some people on here turned their nose up at that too.

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Did you mean muppets?

 

Could win SFC a few trophies at the National Gurning Championships though.

[Suhari]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

Could win SFC a few trophies at the National Gurning Championships though.

Impressive.

But he's no Iain Dowie.

[Badger]

1 minute ago, Suhari said:

Impressive.

But he's no Iain Dowie.

Fair point, Dowie was undisputed champion in a league of his own for a few years.

From the same era, always though Hurlock could do a good 'Quasimodo' if needed. Thought i might bring it to his attention in The Dell car park once, from a safe distance of course. But thought better of it.

Edited 5 May, 2022 by Badger

[Lighthouse]

8 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

True, with Theo though that’s more down to the decline of his ability rather than any injuries and he’ll be gone in the summer. Jones seems to be over his issues now and regardless of his stupid face pulling would excel in a team like us, similar to how Cahill did at Palace. Some people on here turned their nose up at that too.

I'm still glad he didn't come here. For a player on his wages, he really was nothing special for Palace and their defence was porous to say the least. On the wrong end of four goals a few times and a 7-0 to top it off. I wouldn't want Jones either. I'm not sure how you can say a player is "over his issues," when he's played 13 times in two years.

[FarehamSaintJames]

We need solid players to come in now. Had enough of this “for the future” bollocks.

When we have a spine of a team then we can tinker and feed youngsters in.

[HarvSFC]

Imagine any other Premier League club having a goalkeeper crisis for the last five years and then trying to sort that problem with a League One goalkeeper, who finished tenth in the third tier. Wouldn't happen, we need to aim higher for a position that has been our major weakness for years.

[vectraman]

2 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

We need solid players to come in now. Had enough of this “for the future” bollocks.

When we have a spine of a team then we can tinker and feed youngsters in.

An experienced centre back and goalkeeper would be sensible I think. Positions where nippers are too exposed…

[FarehamSaintJames]

Imagine Bazanu signed, he has a dodgy spell, we plummet down the table, McCarthy comes back in; we’re no better off than we were the previous three seasons. We kick the van down the road yet again.

An experienced CB and a GK is a must, plus a bit of muscle in midfield and a winger than will actually run at players. Address those four things and adjust tactics slightly to another man in midfield then our results would improve as we’d have a spine down the team.

Everyone can see the issues, maybe just not Ralph. But we can’t be relying on youth anymore.

Would quite like to see some of his back room staff go too.

[VectisSaint]

10 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

We need solid players to come in now. Had enough of this “for the future” bollocks.

When we have a spine of a team then we can tinker and feed youngsters in.

Good luck with that, it ain't gonna happen.

[Streaky]

14 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Phil Jones leaving United this summer, I’d take him over any of our current bunch of clowns.

And that's why you aren't head of recruitment. 

[Streaky]

Wonder what the plan is for simeu next season. Is he ever gonna make the grade, strange signing so far considering how highly we rated him before we got him.

[bpsaint]

12 minutes ago, Streaky said:

And that's why you aren't head of recruitment. 

😂

 

he’s better than Stephens and Bednerak

[Danbert]

12 hours ago, Suhari said:

Impressive.

But he's no Iain Dowie.

[Rebel]

We desperately need to sign a first choice keeper and a young prospect as 3rd choice keeper.   

Forster or McCarthy should really be the second choice keeper - but it looks like that is going to be McCarthy as he is the cheaper option and apparently already signed a new contract so Forster will probably be on his way. 

Someone like Etienne Green or Bazumu would be good for the young prospect.  But we need to give them game time in the first team and the B team.  

Personally I'd have left all 4 keepers leave - Forster, McCarthy, Caballero and Lewis and signed a 2 good keepers - one mid to late 20s and one early 20s to compete for the No1 slot - with back-up provided by the B Team keepers.

 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, bpsaint said:

😂

he’s better than Stephens and Bednerak

So are rabies and paper cuts, I wouldn’t want them next year either.

[ErwinK1961]

36 minutes ago, Rebel said:

We desperately need to sign a first choice keeper and a young prospect as 3rd choice keeper.   

Forster or McCarthy should really be the second choice keeper - but it looks like that is going to be McCarthy as he is the cheaper option and apparently already signed a new contract so Forster will probably be on his way. 

Someone like Etienne Green or Bazumu would be good for the young prospect.  But we need to give them game time in the first team and the B team.  

Personally I'd have left all 4 keepers leave - Forster, McCarthy, Caballero and Lewis and signed a 2 good keepers - one mid to late 20s and one early 20s to compete for the No1 slot - with back-up provided by the B Team keepers.

 

Why would Bazumu or Green come here to be third choice GK and play in the B Team? And how often do you see a number 3 getting first team minutes?

If we’re going to sign someone like that, they’ll come here on the promise they will be challenging for the number 1 shirt.

[tajjuk]

12 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

We need solid players to come in now. Had enough of this “for the future” bollocks.

When we have a spine of a team then we can tinker and feed youngsters in.

Not going to happen, you know what our signing policy is and it's a sensible one. We cannot financially compete for ready made good experienced PL players, they want absurd wages and have little re-sale value. 

We go through this little dance every year, people suggesting a load of has been 'experienced' players that are often not that good anyway and would cost a lot of money in wages, like this is suddenly going to fix the team and propel us up the league. 

Also its not like our team is full of youngsters, our starting centre-mid pair are like 27 and 30, Stu Armstrong is 27, most of the rest of the team are in their early to mid 20s. Like Perraud, he was 23 and had two seasons in Ligue 1, Lyanco was 24 when we bought him and was playing regularly in Serie A. Salisu had a full season in La Liga and had excelled against people like Messi and has been an excellent signing. Che Adams had 3 full seasons in the championship, Adam Armstrong the same.

Where are all these 'youngsters' we are supposedly buying? 

You make out like we buy a team full of 18 year olds, we don't, we generally buy like 20-23 year olds who usually have a decent amount of first team football under their belts. 

Also the 18 year old we bought this year has been excellent and KWP is one of our best players and he'd played barely 10 games in the PL before we bought him. 

So it makes a nonsense of this 'experienced' players claim, we don't buy unproven youngsters generally anyway and the few times we have they have excelled. 

1 hour ago, bpsaint said:

😂

he’s better than Stephens and Bednerak

He's not because they have working legs and can actually play football. The guy has played about 2 games in 5 years and is 30 years old already, his injury record is unlikely to get any better. I will be surprised if he manages to get another PL club to sign him, I reckon he'll end up in Turkey or the MLS. 

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

We desperately need to sign a first choice keeper and a young prospect as 3rd choice keeper.   

Forster or McCarthy should really be the second choice keeper - but it looks like that is going to be McCarthy as he is the cheaper option and apparently already signed a new contract so Forster will probably be on his way. 

Someone like Etienne Green or Bazumu would be good for the young prospect.  But we need to give them game time in the first team and the B team.  

Personally I'd have left all 4 keepers leave - Forster, McCarthy, Caballero and Lewis and signed a 2 good keepers - one mid to late 20s and one early 20s to compete for the No1 slot - with back-up provided by the B Team keepers.

 

Thought we were linked with Gaga? Would be a pretty decent signing given he is one of the best up and coming players in MLS, was linked with Chelsea before Ukraine kicked off, and is very hotly tipped.

[Saint86]

59 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

Not going to happen, you know what our signing policy is and it's a sensible one. We cannot financially compete for ready made good experienced PL players, they want absurd wages and have little re-sale value. 

We go through this little dance every year, people suggesting a load of has been 'experienced' players that are often not that good anyway and would cost a lot of money in wages, like this is suddenly going to fix the team and propel us up the league. 

Also its not like our team is full of youngsters, our starting centre-mid pair are like 27 and 30, Stu Armstrong is 27, most of the rest of the team are in their early to mid 20s. Like Perraud, he was 23 and had two seasons in Ligue 1, Lyanco was 24 when we bought him and was playing regularly in Serie A. Salisu had a full season in La Liga and had excelled against people like Messi and has been an excellent signing. Che Adams had 3 full seasons in the championship, Adam Armstrong the same.

Where are all these 'youngsters' we are supposedly buying? 

You make out like we buy a team full of 18 year olds, we don't, we generally buy like 20-23 year olds who usually have a decent amount of first team football under their belts. 

Also the 18 year old we bought this year has been excellent and KWP is one of our best players and he'd played barely 10 games in the PL before we bought him. 

So it makes a nonsense of this 'experienced' players claim, we don't buy unproven youngsters generally anyway and the few times we have they have excelled. 

He's not because they have working legs and can actually play football. The guy has played about 2 games in 5 years and is 30 years old already, his injury record is unlikely to get any better. I will be surprised if he manages to get another PL club to sign him, I reckon he'll end up in Turkey or the MLS. 

The average age of our team this year is 25.6years (transfer market). Which is the 4th youngest in the league. 

Arsenal have the youngest at 24.3years and Burnley have the youngest at 28.9years.

Teenagers playing regularly in the prem are few and far between these days.

[FarehamSaintJames]

These 20-23 years olds performances mean their resale value will be no more than what we paid initially and more likely a lot less cos we loan them out or let them run down their contracts.

Its experience that we need, not more “hopeful” youngsters from lower divisions.

Having some is fine. But you have to have that blend of youth and experience and leadership. 
How many “leaders” would you say are in our squad now?

JWP doesn’t shout at his teammates. Romeu I haven’t seen do it..

The only players have seen shout any form of verbals is Forster (at his shit defenders in front of him). Stephens (at anyone which is great). And Bednarek but normally he’s throwing his toys out the pram from his own shite defending.

We need leadership. Someone that isn’t afraid to tell a few home truths.

[Rebel]

3 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Why would Bazumu or Green come here to be third choice GK and play in the B Team? And how often do you see a number 3 getting first team minutes?

If we’re going to sign someone like that, they’ll come here on the promise they will be challenging for the number 1 shirt.

You're right I don't think they would come here to be 3rd choice - but as a young prospect competing for No.1 they would be perfect.  

In an ideal world we'd release McCarthy, Forster, Caballero and Lewis and sign someone like Johnstone and someone like Bazuma or Green to compete for the GK position.

[Kings Chase Saint]

Joe Gomez looks a good option and let Bednarek go to Napoli.

[The Kraken]

53 minutes ago, Kings Chase Saint said:

Joe Gomez looks a good option and let Bednarek go to Napoli.

Joe Gomez is very good. I don’t think I’d describe him as an option for Saints, wouldn’t get near him.

As for Bednarek to Napoli, can’t see why they would want him in the slightest.

[Baird of the land]

11 hours ago, Rebel said:

We desperately need to sign a first choice keeper and a young prospect as 3rd choice keeper.   

Forster or McCarthy should really be the second choice keeper - but it looks like that is going to be McCarthy as he is the cheaper option and apparently already signed a new contract so Forster will probably be on his way. 

Someone like Etienne Green or Bazumu would be good for the young prospect.  But we need to give them game time in the first team and the B team.  

Personally I'd have left all 4 keepers leave - Forster, McCarthy, Caballero and Lewis and signed a 2 good keepers - one mid to late 20s and one early 20s to compete for the No1 slot - with back-up provided by the B Team keepers.

 

I don't see the need for a young prospect at all. If a B keeper comes through and impresses on loan great but it's hardly a straightforward position to develop players at prem level.

I'd prefer to be singing a GK in the 24-26 age range given they tend to peak later. Old enough so they've got proper experience under their belt at a decent level.

I don't have a huge issue with keeping Mccarthy but you want to be signing someone who can compete with him immediately and ideally sooner rather than later make him the bench keeper.

 

[Chez]

7 hours ago, Rebel said:

In an ideal world we'd release McCarthy, Forster, Caballero and Lewis and sign someone like Johnstone and someone like Bazuma or Green to compete for the GK position.

I've been advocate for allowing both keepers to leave on frees, but is that actually an upgrade? 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Joe Gomez is very good. I don’t think I’d describe him as an option for Saints, wouldn’t get near him.

As for Bednarek to Napoli, can’t see why they would want him in the slightest.

Agreed, Villa have been heavily linked and the Gerrard connection would make them strong favourites.  

Maybe Napoli rate Bednerak much higher than we do? He's a Polish international, plenty of experience, a good age and OK with the ball. Maybe the price is right (they need to make profit on transfers this summer) and they may need to bring in a couple of CBs this summer.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Joe Gomez is very good. I don’t think I’d describe him as an option for Saints, wouldn’t get near him.

As for Bednarek to Napoli, can’t see why they would want him in the slightest.

Bednarek to replace Koulibaly is the biggest downgrade since Kerry Dixon replaced Alan Shearer

[Whitey Grandad]

52 minutes ago, Chez said:

I've been advocate for allowing both keepers to leave on frees, but is that actually an upgrade? 

Won't Forster and Caballero be out of contract anyway?

[miserableoldgit]

On 05/05/2022 at 20:38, Badger said:

Fair point, Dowie was undisputed champion in a league of his own for a few years.

From the same era, always though Hurlock could do a good 'Quasimodo' if needed. Thought i might bring it to his attention in The Dell car park once, from a safe distance of course. But thought better of it.

I always remember during a match at the Dell, the ball going out for a throw in which went to the opposition. Someone near us said that they thought that it was a Saints throw but his mate said that it wasn't because it came off the corner of Dowies head! Thought it was funny at the time and still makes me chuckle now when I think of it...

[Chez]

9 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Won't Forster and Caballero be out of contract anyway?

Not sure I follow. I meant Forster and McCarthy. Obviously McCarthy isn't now leaving but Forster is. My question was, are those suggested keepers,Johnstone etc. better than what we currently have. I'm not so sure they are.

I'd offer Caballero a new deal. Not seen anything of Lewis this season, so got nothing to rate him on.

 

[Chez]

From BBC gossip page, the Sun links west ham with Broja.

[Master Bates]

10 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Won't Forster and Caballero be out of contract anyway?

Saints are in contract talks with Caballero. 

IMO probably as back up back up and a coaching role.

[Charlie Wayman]

25 minutes ago, Chez said:

From BBC gossip page, the Sun links west ham with Broja.

Better than what they've got? I don't think so. Give me Bowen and Antonio any day.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

34 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

Saints are in contract talks with Caballero. 

IMO probably as back up back up and a coaching role.

Then could well be McCarthy, Caballero and Gunn Mk II (possibly cheaper, and hopefully more impactful) for next season. Unless someone bids for McCarthy. Forster would get in the team ahead of the first 2, so back to the recruitment team to bring a gem in.

He was decent enough cover, and gives us someone at a reliable level, if the recruitment doesn't work out. I also note a massive shortage of keepers in coaching roles at the club, so good to hear that's also an option. 🙂

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Better than what they've got? I don't think so. Give me Bowen and Antonio any day.

Now yes, but maybe not in a few years. Antonio is old now, and Bowen only plays up front sometimes because they have no one else. 
 

Wouldn’t spend more than about £15m on him atm though, 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Not sure I follow. I meant Forster and McCarthy. Obviously McCarthy isn't now leaving but Forster is. My question was, are those suggested keepers,Johnstone etc. better than what we currently have. I'm not so sure they are.

I'd offer Caballero a new deal. Not seen anything of Lewis this season, so got nothing to rate him on.

 

Ah, ok. When you said leave on a free that doesn’t apply to Forster where the default situation is that he is out of contract. Unless that is what you meant.

Forge5 it, I’m getting too old for all this shit

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Better than what they've got? I don't think so. Give me Bowen and Antonio any day.

...give me Bowen, Antonio AND Broja every day. 

Liverpool are often linked with Bowen. Not sure that move will happen, but wise to have options. He has played out wide a lot too and been very effective, so makes sense to have another striker and allow him to play there with or without Antonio.

I love Antonio. Him tearing Leyton Orient to shreds at Brisbane Road will live with me forever. We should have just paid the £500,000 Reading wanted, assuming that story was true. Antonio started like a train this season, but he only has 8 goals. He's had injuries issues too, so West Ham could do with another striker. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Ah, ok. When you said leave on a free that doesn’t apply to Forster where the default situation is that he is out of contract. Unless that is what you meant.

Forge5 it, I’m getting too old for all this shit  

yes leave on a free = out of contract in my mind.

Forster is gone. Whether it was the requested wage cut, us farming him out on loan, or the possibility of a nice move to a bigger side, I don't know the reason he didn't want to sign the new deal, but whatever we lose £100k off our wage bill, and we need to use some of those fund to bring in quality. I expect it to be Johnstone, but I really don't know if that's an upgrade.

[Whitey Grandad]

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

...give me Bowen, Antonio AND Broja every day. 

Liverpool are often linked with Bowen. Not sure that move will happen, but wise to have options. He has played out wide a lot too and been very effective, so makes sense to have another striker and allow him to play there with or without Antonio.

I love Antonio. Him tearing Leyton Orient to shreds at Brisbane Road will live with me forever. We should have just paid the £500,000 Reading wanted, assuming that story was true. Antonio started like a train this season, but he only has 8 goals. He's had injuries issues too, so West Ham could do with another striker. 

I seem to remember it being a million but rumours are rumours. Still a lot for a club in our situation.

[Chez]

36 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I seem to remember it being a million but rumours are rumours. Still a lot for a club in our situation.

He was out of contract at the end of the season, but we had to agree a compensation fee with Reading as he was under 24. I suspect we were trying to low ball Reading and they said `lets see what the tribunal thinks' and we thus pulled out as he signed a year extension. The tribunal's have tended to be pretty fair. Nik Nak missed a trick with that one in my book.

[HarvSFC]

We then ended up with Nicholas Bignall from Reading.