Summer Transfer Window 2023

[S-Clarke]

9 minutes ago, Dman said:

How would everyone feel about Matt target coming back?

He'd be a great addition in this league, would be a terrific start to the rebuild if that happens. He's PL quality as well, so could easily transfer into the PL if we go up.

It's all about timing with players, we just had Bertrand, an English international, in the prime of his career whilst he was here - so he had to go away to develop, much in the same way as Harrison Reed did when he had Morgan/Wanyama in front of him.

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

We were sniffing around him for a good while weren’t we?

Didn’t he turn his nose up at us?

[ashnats]

We should court the football gods and go for dabo from Coventry, out of contract and guaranteed to score a winning penalty in the next playoff final.

[Appy]

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by Appy

[aintforever]

57 minutes ago, Dman said:

How would everyone feel about Matt target coming back?

Not sure why he would leave Newcastle to go to a Championship club.

[woodsaint1]

5 hours ago, Rebel said:

Sulemana may well speak French - but the official language of Ghana is English.

Tanswell's article  suggested the French Speakers and the African players had formed 'cliques' - whether this was one or two cliques was not clear. 

Mara, Djneppo, Lavia, Diallo and Perraud speak French.   ABK was born in Paris and his dad played for Cameroon (French speaking) - so although he's German he probably speaks French as well.

Oaunachu (Nigeria) plus Salisu and Sulemana (Ghana) speak English - but possibly French as well given the West African connection.

Would Aribo count as one of the African players given he plays for Nigeria but was born in London?  

Personally my instinct would be to get rid of any player that was part of a disruptive clique and didn't show commitment to the team.

 

 

This is hardly groundbreaking stuff. For alot of players who've moved to a foreign country, they will obviously gravitate to those who speak their language. I doubt that these 'cliques' were disruptive and affected squad harmony, and if they did, then its a failure of management (shock) and senior figures like JWP/McCarthy/S Armstrong that this was allowed to happen. I imagine JWP would have had his own clique - it was certainly the case when the likes of Stephens, Austin, Redmond, Forster etc were here. 

I certainly recall Tanswell suggesting squad harmony being affected by the age disparity as a result of our youth focused recruitment and alot of the younger players turning up late/always on their phones etc. That would sound more plausible than disruptive cliques based on nationality/first language

[Smirking_Saint]

5 hours ago, Rich102 said:

Yes granted, but it does potentially change the incentives for Sport Republic in the here and now. 

What are you suggesting exactly?

[Smirking_Saint]

1 hour ago, Forester said:

I am certainly not in the “we can’t sell anyone good, ever” camp.  And indeed many only sign for clubs of our profile as stepping stones promised through the recruitment process.  However…..

I absolutely don’t think we should sell players simply who state they want to go. Ignoring those who we would actively wish to exit, and simply hope for a decent price (Diallo, Orsic etc) I think we should be prepared to face down players, agents and potential buyers unless it makes great sense us to sell.  And we are in a much better position than say Leicester as we have many younger players with long contracts who will still fetch good fees in a year or two.

So I would say, reluctantly, if JWP and KWP attract a great bid then sell.  If not, don’t.  Both have played a part in having some good times at the club.  Salisu and ABK appear hugely negative about staying, and neither are irreplaceable.  So I am fine with those going if price is met.

However unless someone offers us ludicrous money (sufficiently early in the window to let us replace) I am happy saying to Lavia, Alcaraz, Kamaldeen etc “tough shit, you are going nowhere”.  The same with Tella, Tino etc.  I can see us raising £90K to £100K selling players in the previous paragraph which is an enormous amount, in addition to their wages.  Just for fear of offending some of our wallflowers we don’t need a fire sale.  And if we retain the vast majority and bring in a couple of midfielders I am confident we will be right up there, even if no one can be certain it will be quite enough to go up.  I would like to see something like the following in August for first game:

Bazanu/McCarthy

Tino, Bednarek, Lyanco, Perraud

Lavia, new midfielder

Kamladeen, Alcaraz, Tella

Adams

 

Agree with the sentiments but I’d be absolutely shocked if Lavia is here come the start of the season let alone end of the transfer window, Perraud is likely gone too

The rest of that 11 Im not sure but its a solid championship team with the right additions 

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, aintforever said:

Not sure why he would leave Newcastle to go to a Championship club.

Because he's nowhere near the team currently let alone before they buy a decent left back to play CL football so Dan Burn doesn't have to. Not sure he's really consistent PL quality tbh, he seems to get himself a decent season somewhere then finds himself one of the first to be upgraded on wherever he goes. Would find consistent first team football here.

[Lallana's Left Peg]

19 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Because he's nowhere near the team currently let alone before they buy a decent left back to play CL football so Dan Burn doesn't have to. Not sure he's really consistent PL quality tbh, he seems to get himself a decent season somewhere then finds himself one of the first to be upgraded on wherever he goes. Would find consistent first team football here.

His pace always concerned me but he has a wand of a left foot and if we were to be possession based and if we were to have the lions share of possession next season he'd be brilliant for us.

[bangkoksaint]

7 hours ago, Lallana's Left Peg said:

His pace always concerned me but he has a wand of a left foot and if we were to be possession based and if we were to have the lions share of possession next season he'd be brilliant for us.

Making me think of Danny Fox. Much maligned but DAJFU when we got promoted.

[Weston Super Saint]

13 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Er, we could very easily be in the Skybet Championship for a decade.

 

 

13 hours ago, CB Fry said:

We’re about to make hundreds of office staff redundant.

 

13 hours ago, CB Fry said:

The very best players we have - Lavia, JWP, KBK, KWP - we are about to see all leave.

 

13 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Match day and commercial income is about to go through the floor

Time of our lives 

[Weston Super Saint]

13 hours ago, manji said:

My maths were way off target obviously but I stick by everything else.  Do find it strange though we are right at the start of the biggest era in our history and your main interest is taking the piss out of my maths.

sad fuck.

 

Way off target?  You confused £19m with £four hundred fucking million!

That's not way off, that's Che Adams territory.

It would be more astonishing if people didn't take the piss out of your maths.

[hypochondriac]

11 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Didn’t he turn his nose up at us?

Seems like he required his nose for something else. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

Anyone else looking forward to the released/retained list to be announced,  following and overwhelming feeling of disappointment when a lot of the deadwood stays? 😂

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Anyone else looking forward to the released/retained list to be announced,  following and overwhelming feeling of disappointment when a lot of the deadwood stays? 😂

We will have done very well if we've got rid of Diallo, Elyounoussi, Aribo and tall Paul. 

[Dusic]

13 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Anyone else looking forward to the released/retained list to be announced,  following and overwhelming feeling of disappointment when a lot of the deadwood stays? 😂

I don't think you understand the concept of the list (which doesn't hugely suprise me).

Its just to update on the status of out of contract players. Our most high profile being Walcott and Elyounoussi.

We will be 'retaining' those under contract because we have to.

Edited 31 May, 2023 by Dusic

[Dman]

12 hours ago, aintforever said:

Not sure why he would leave Newcastle to go to a Championship club.

I know there has been discussions and a desire for a deal to happen from both sides. It was on the cards, but that was a month or 2 ago now, so I don't know if us officially going down has had any impact... That being said, its been obvious that we're going down for months. 

I'd not at all be surprised if we see JWP end up there and Targett back here - maybe on loan to start with. 

[Dman]

17 hours ago, Rebel said:

Sulemana may well speak French - but the official language of Ghana is English.

Tanswell's article  suggested the French Speakers and the African players had formed 'cliques' - whether this was one or two cliques was not clear. 

Mara, Djneppo, Lavia, Diallo and Perraud speak French.   ABK was born in Paris and his dad played for Cameroon (French speaking) - so although he's German he probably speaks French as well.

Oaunachu (Nigeria) plus Salisu and Sulemana (Ghana) speak English - but possibly French as well given the West African connection.

Would Aribo count as one of the African players given he plays for Nigeria but was born in London?  

Personally my instinct would be to get rid of any player that was part of a disruptive clique and didn't show commitment to the team.

 

 

Didn't a west ham director come out and say that he tries to avoid signing african players, because they're bad eggs and cause problems when they're not in the squad (or something to that nature) a few seasons back..?

Clearly incredibly ill advised and a narrow minded, but maybe not all that untrue...

 

[SambaMaverick]

We could do a lot worse if Tella or Sulemana are off...

[Chez]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

I know there has been discussions and a desire for a deal to happen from both sides. It was on the cards, but that was a month or 2 ago now, so I don't know if us officially going down has had any impact... That being said, its been obvious that we're going down for months. 

I'd not at all be surprised if we see JWP end up there and Targett back here - maybe on loan to start with. 

He's on £100k a week and has three more years on his contract. Not sure how it would be financially feasible, even if he was willing to drop out of the Prem, which he won't be.

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

We could do a lot worse if Tella or Sulemana are off...

Of course, but Jesus Christ, he would been hard pushed to come to saints had we stayed up

[SuperSAINT]

 

[Dman]

35 minutes ago, Chez said:

He's on £100k a week and has three more years on his contract. Not sure how it would be financially feasible, even if he was willing to drop out of the Prem, which he won't be.

a loan, with subsidised wages would make the most sense. 

[Smirking_Saint]

5 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Anyone else looking forward to the released/retained list to be announced,  following and overwhelming feeling of disappointment when a lot of the deadwood stays? 😂

For someone that has a lot of pops at the twitter youngsters you talk an incredible amount of shite James

[saintant]

Are we likely to be in for a new keeper? Can't see us making a serious bid for promotion with Bazunu as first choice. He may or may not evolve into a top class goalkeeper but he's not even ready for the Championship and will cost us from what I've seen so far.

[FarehamSaintJames]

5 hours ago, Dusic said:

I don't think you understand the concept of the list (which doesn't hugely suprise me).

Its just to update on the status of out of contract players. Our most high profile being Walcott and Elyounoussi.

We will be 'retaining' those under contract because we have to.

Haha. No apologies, I meant more in terms of it’ll be disappointing when all these players leave that we’re expecting to leave and still be left with so many others that are just deadwood and not good enough 😅

Edited 31 May, 2023 by FarehamSaintJames
Typo

[goodymatt]

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

Are we likely to be in for a new keeper? Can't see us making a serious bid for promotion with Bazunu as first choice. He may or may not evolve into a top class goalkeeper but he's not even ready for the Championship and will cost us from what I've seen so far.

I think McCarthy has an even worse save percentage since returning this season, which is some going! There were rumours he was off so maybe scope for a new keeper.

Bazunu was Portsmouth’s player of the season in League One, maybe the championship is his level? He certainly has the ball playing ability to suit Martin’s possession style.

Bazunu was out of his depth at PL level this season, hope it’s not destroyed his confidence. Made little sense to not keep playing him if he will be our number one next season.

[Toussaint]

5 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

I think McCarthy has an even worse save percentage since returning this season, which is some going! There were rumours he was off so maybe scope for a new keeper.

Bazunu was Portsmouth’s player of the season in League One, maybe the championship is his level? He certainly has the ball playing ability to suit Martin’s possession style.

Bazunu was out of his depth at PL level this season, hope it’s not destroyed his confidence. Made little sense to not keep playing him if he will be our number one next season.

He may have been, but my Pompey fanatic friend was very accurate in his assessment, as it turned out,  of him when we were initially interested in him. 

[Chez]

30 minutes ago, Dman said:

a loan, with subsidised wages would make the most sense. 

I don't see that happening.

We have Perraud, Small, Larios and Djenepo that can all play left back. Until some of them depart, we ain't adding £50k+ a week to our wage bill, when we need to cut it by about £60m a year.

[Chez]

23 minutes ago, saintant said:

Are we likely to be in for a new keeper? Can't see us making a serious bid for promotion with Bazunu as first choice. He may or may not evolve into a top class goalkeeper but he's not even ready for the Championship and will cost us from what I've seen so far.

Hard to say. We have Baz, McCarthy, Cabellero, Lis and one or two young keepers 

I'd of thought Cabellero will be allowed to leave - we can't justify a large wage for a third string keeper. I have no idea what the situation is with Lis. The McCarthy situation is also unclear.

The club obviously wanted to get his wage down, if he was to continue to be a second choice keeper, which they have, both by not playing him (activating the clause that cuts his wage) and with the relegation (seemingly wage cuts to all contracts). You have to wonder if that ploy (making him second choice and not playing him to cut his wage) will have left him disillusioned and wanting to seek pastures new. Whether another Prem club will come knocking, perhaps taking him on a free and making him second choice, we will have to see. Unless McCarthy goes, we won't sign a new keeper. 

[goodymatt]

20 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

He may have been, but my Pompey fanatic friend was very accurate in his assessment, as it turned out,  of him when we were initially interested in him. 

What was his assessment out of interest? I’m guessing that he wasn’t anywhere near ready to be a PL number 1?

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

Hard to say. We have Baz, McCarthy, Cabellero, Lis and one or two young keepers 

I'd of thought Cabellero will be allowed to leave - we can't justify a large wage for a third string keeper. I have no idea what the situation is with Lis. The McCarthy situation is also unclear.

The club obviously wanted to get his wage down, if he was to continue to be a second choice keeper, which they have, both by not playing him (activating the clause that cuts his wage) and with the relegation (seemingly wage cuts to all contracts). You have to wonder if that ploy (making him second choice and not playing him to cut his wage) will have left him disillusioned and wanting to seek pastures new. Whether another Prem club will come knocking, perhaps taking him on a free and making him second choice, we will have to see. Unless McCarthy goes, we won't sign a new keeper. 

Having watched the "Pitchside Unseen" video the club put out, it looked like Caballero was pushed to the front to take applause from the crowd after the game, the same as Walcott and Ely who are also definitely on the way out.

Interestingly, Caballero was wearing training gear with his initials on it, the same as coaches, rather than with his squad number like the rest of the players

[Crab Lungs]

1 hour ago, Smirking_Saint said:

For someone that has a lot of pops at the twitter youngsters you talk an incredible amount of shite James

To be fair to James, there’s a lot more bullshit on Twitter than on here. 

[saintwbu]

15 minutes ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

Having watched the "Pitchside Unseen" video the club put out, it looked like Caballero was pushed to the front to take applause from the crowd after the game, the same as Walcott and Ely who are also definitely on the way out.

Interestingly, Caballero was wearing training gear with his initials on it, the same as coaches, rather than with his squad number like the rest of the players

It wouldn’t surprise me if Caballero popped up wherever Selles ends up, as a coach. Selles seems to have used him mainly in that way since taking over.

[Smirking_Saint]

10 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

To be fair to James, there’s a lot more bullshit on Twitter than on here. 

I can wholeheartedly agree with this too tbf

[Toussaint]

28 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

What was his assessment out of interest? I’m guessing that he wasn’t anywhere near ready to be a PL number 1?

To the tune of ….makes spectacular saves you wouldn’t expect him to but doesn’t save some that he should do. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

Having watched the "Pitchside Unseen" video the club put out, it looked like Caballero was pushed to the front to take applause from the crowd after the game, the same as Walcott and Ely who are also definitely on the way out.

Interestingly, Caballero was wearing training gear with his initials on it, the same as coaches, rather than with his squad number like the rest of the players

With so few `out of contract' players this summer to help us trim the wage bill (which is very much required), it's inevitable that they all depart. 

With Forster, McCarthy and Cabellero, we had a very old/experienced set of keepers, but if that becomes Baz, Lis and Wright, it will be a very different group.  

[Smirking_Saint]

6 minutes ago, Chez said:

With so few `out of contract' players this summer to help us trim the wage bill (which is very much required), it's inevitable that they all depart. 

With Forster, McCarthy and Cabellero, we had a very old/experienced set of keepers, but if that becomes Baz, Lis and Wright, it will be a very different group.  

We have relegation clauses on, certainly most of the Gao days signings, not as sure on the SR ones but would be mad not too

I honestly don’t think we’re as desperate, financially, as the likes of Leicester and even Leeds

We’ll of course sell a great number, but Im not sure its due to starring at financial oblivion yet

[S-Clarke]

21 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

We have relegation clauses on, certainly most of the Gao days signings, not as sure on the SR ones but would be mad not too

I honestly don’t think we’re as desperate, financially, as the likes of Leicester and even Leeds

We’ll of course sell a great number, but Im not sure its due to starring at financial oblivion yet

That's how I see it, I think Leicester are in the position where they have to sell - they can't just keep players for the sake of it. With us I think it's more of a case of us not standing in the way of a player if a good offer comes in, but we aren't under the same pressures to ensure a sale happens.

This is why I'd be surprised to see us letting Sullemana or Alcaraz go in this window, they're 6 months into pretty long contracts and they're not going to be avaliable for under £25m - and I can't see many clubs, on the basis of 6 months inconsistent PL football, being prepared to pay what we want - therefore they stay.

It's not unheard of either. You'd have put money on Sheffield United having to sell Berge, Watford having to sell Pedro and Sarr etc - but they stayed and performed at this level. In respect of Berge it benefited him massively and I think he's a much better player for it, hopefully Alcaraz and Sullemana can see the same path.

[SambaMaverick]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

To the tune of ….makes spectacular saves you wouldn’t expect him to but doesn’t save some that he should do. 

He didn't even do the first bit in the end 😅

[SotonianWill]

2 hours ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

Having watched the "Pitchside Unseen" video the club put out, it looked like Caballero was pushed to the front to take applause from the crowd after the game, the same as Walcott and Ely who are also definitely on the way out.

Interestingly, Caballero was wearing training gear with his initials on it, the same as coaches, rather than with his squad number like the rest of the players

The elyonoussi coming in front of the line of players to say goodbye and collect the applause part was embarrassing. It was a “you think you’re that guy, but you’re not that guy” moment. 

[Raging Bull]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

That's how I see it, I think Leicester are in the position where they have to sell - they can't just keep players for the sake of it. With us I think it's more of a case of us not standing in the way of a player if a good offer comes in, but we aren't under the same pressures to ensure a sale happens.

This is why I'd be surprised to see us letting Sullemana or Alcaraz go in this window, they're 6 months into pretty long contracts and they're not going to be avaliable for under £25m - and I can't see many clubs, on the basis of 6 months inconsistent PL football, being prepared to pay what we want - therefore they stay.

It's not unheard of either. You'd have put money on Sheffield United having to sell Berge, Watford having to sell Pedro and Sarr etc - but they stayed and performed at this level. In respect of Berge it benefited him massively and I think he's a much better player for it, hopefully Alcaraz and Sullemana can see the same path.

I’m pretty sure that Leicester has the biggest wage bill of any club that’s dropped into the championship by some margin. 
 

Apart from Barnes, tielemans, Madison and probably iheanacho, they have a group of average players on big money that PL teams aren’t going to want, so will sit there collecting the same money which will massively hamper new signings. 

Edited 31 May, 2023 by Raging Bull

[S-Clarke]

16 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

I’m pretty sure that Leicester has the biggest wage bill of any club that’s dropped into the championship by some margin. 
 

Apart from Barnes, tielemans, Madison and probably iheanacho, they have a group of average players on big money that PL teams aren’t going to want, so will sit there collecting the same money which will massively hamper new signings. 

Yeah, they do - the likes of Pereira, Castange, Ndidi and Daka are on big money. They signed those guys when they were either a CL team, or competing to be a CL team - so you'd have to question if they even have relegation clauses. They'll have to get rid of a lot of those on the cheap otherwise FFP in this league will bite them very hard.

It feels like the appropriate time to say.....''Leicester were on course to become a Champions League club, but obviously their priorities have changed''

[qwertyell]

22 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

Apart from Barnes, tielemans, Madison and probably iheanacho, they have a group of average players on big money that PL teams aren’t going to want, so will sit there collecting the same money which will massively hamper new signings. 

Tielemans is leaving on a free, as is Soyuncu.

Castagne, Perreira, Ndidi, Justin, Daka, Dewsbury-Hall, Amartey, Souttar, and Faes will all find decent new clubs pretty easily if they want to. Leicester might have to subsidise part of their wages, but they'll be moved on without too much fuss.

That Leicester squad should've never been in the relegation fight. They're a top 10 team.

(I'd wouldn't mind Hamza Choudhury coming here. Think he's out of contract. 25 year old holding midfielder who likes a tackle/assault. We've lacked some nastiness for a long time. He can play a bit too.)

Edited 31 May, 2023 by qwertyell

[SambaMaverick]

Leicester have the 21st-highest wage bill in the world (nearly £80m a year), whereas we have the 34th-highest and Leeds are 35th (about £50m each). Crazy.

[Raging Bull]

16 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah, they do - the likes of Pereira, Castange, Ndidi and Daka are on big money. They signed those guys when they were either a CL team, or competing to be a CL team - so you'd have to question if they even have relegation clauses. They'll have to get rid of a lot of those on the cheap otherwise FFP in this league will bite them very hard.

It feels like the appropriate time to say.....''Leicester were on course to become a Champions League club, but obviously their priorities have changed''

Forgot about that quote from Brenda 

 

13 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Tielemans is leaving on a free, as is Soyuncu.

Castagne, Perreira, Ndidi, Justin, Daka, Dewsbury-Hall, Amartey, Souttar, and Faes will all find decent new clubs pretty easily if they want to. Leicester might have to subsidise part of their wages, but they'll be moved on without too much fuss.

That Leicester squad should've never been in the relegation fight. They're a top 10 team.

(I'd wouldn't mind Hamza Choudhury coming here. Think he's out of contract. 25 year old holding midfielder who likes a tackle/assault. We've lacked some nastiness for a long time. He can play a bit too.)

All valid points, and I didn’t know Tielemans was out of contract. 
 

It just goes to show how fine the margins are and the importance of the right coaching set up. 

Edited 31 May, 2023 by Raging Bull

[S-Clarke]

17 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Tielemans is leaving on a free, as is Soyuncu.

Castagne, Perreira, Ndidi, Justin, Daka, Dewsbury-Hall, Amartey, Souttar, and Faes will all find decent new clubs pretty easily if they want to. Leicester might have to subsidise part of their wages, but they'll be moved on without too much fuss.

That Leicester squad should've never been in the relegation fight. They're a top 10 team.

(I'd wouldn't mind Hamza Choudhury coming here. Think he's out of contract. 25 year old holding midfielder who likes a tackle/assault. We've lacked some nastiness for a long time. He can play a bit too.)

Leicester is a strange story really, I've looked at them over the last few years as a pretty classy club - getting recruitment right and with an attractive style to go with it. I don't think anyone could have envisaged the drop off from Soyuncu and Ndidi though - they were quality on their day, but both have seemingly forgotten how to play football this year.

They tried to replace Vardy but didn't really give those Vardy replacements the time to learn the league, they just had the odd appearances here and there. I know Leicester fans are very, very frustrated iheanacho didn't get more game time - and Daka, in my opinion, is class - but he never got the game time and they stuck with a tiring Vardy until it was too late.

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

Leicester have the 21st-highest wage bill in the world (nearly £80m a year), whereas we have the 34th-highest and Leeds are 35th (about £50m each). Crazy.

Our total wage bill is around £112 - as per the 2022 company accounts.

[Baird of the land]

Leicester seem to be in quite a good position.

lots of players out of contract they can shed simply. A few they can get big money for.

If they can get recruitment right like burnley did(who were in similar position)

 

We are up to our necks in mediocre players with poor attitudes, that we have to somehow find away to get rid of.