True, but I imagine we'd want Grealish in there!
Yeh but you can be clever and cut some people out. Smaller squad.
True, but I imagine we'd want Grealish in there!
I like this being a very good counter argument to the section of support demanding that we jettison up the league immediately.Actually, maybe not, as it would instantly limit our squad costs next year to 70% of revenue, instead of up to 115%.
KDH and Grealish will play every game they’re available, and it looks like Barry is starting to edge the race for starting striker. Rohl is a funny one because he’s talked about in glowing terms but everything depends on his recovery from this injury, and his proneness to others (which his history suggests might be high).
That leaves Dibling and Aznou (assuming we’re not counting sub keepers) who were always gonna be the ones treated with kid gloves. Aznou doesn’t look like he’ll get a sniff this season; if anything I think he’s more likely to get a Jan loan. If the concern is his physical development, and he goes somewhere he’ll get regular games then I wouldn’t write him off as a signing. I think Dibling looks a player but we’ve been too cautious with him so far in his minutes and what he’s been instructed to do while on the pitch. I really hope AFCON is his chance and that he grasps it with both hands. If McNeil starts the first game Illy is unavailable then I think Dibling will be the one signing I worry will flop completely.
You’ll get no argument from me on any of that. I can understand not wanting to put Dibling in pressure situations if you can help it, but against United when we needed to keep the ball as much as we could, why not bring on a proven dribbler instead of whatever McNeil is these days?! Far, far too cautious with him and I don’t think it can be in any way good for his development.There's treated with kid gloves and there's whatever we are doing right now not giving them any match time at all.
Rohl seemed to at least have the trust of Moyes to come in and play before the fitness issues hit him.
I think Barry has shown giving the new lads a bit of trust might be more helpful than holding them back to bench appearances or whatever little football Dibling and Aznou are seeing.
Actually, maybe not, as it would instantly limit our squad costs next year to 70% of revenue, instead of up to 115%.
We may not need to.I think Grealish depends on 2 factors
Fee (has to be 20m or less)
Wages (how do we offer him a wage of 150k where that's acceptable to him?)
If we qualified for Europe, that definitely would help our chances of offering a competitive salary.
What age did Barry (Gareth) play for us up to?We may not need to.
He has a ‘book value’ of £20m from his Villa transfer.
He’s also due £15.6m for his final year.
If we paid City £20m that allows them to pay out his contract (or negotiate less if he was feeling generous for some reason) and still turn a book profit of at least £4.4m on the sale.
He trousers up to the £15m that he’s due in his contract, plus whatever we negotiate with him, let’s say 3 years @ £100k / week or another £15m contract.
NB I’m not necessarily saying I’m entirely onboard with sinking £35m on a 31 year old but![]()
What's this little Gerbil saying?
That all ignores the rest of the world though...There will be others in for his services, which will drive the price up to some extent.We may not need to.
He has a ‘book value’ of £20m from his Villa transfer.
He’s also due £15.6m for his final year.
If we paid City £20m that allows them to pay out his contract (or negotiate less if he was feeling generous for some reason) and still turn a book profit of at least £4.4m on the sale.
He trousers up to the £15m that he’s due in his contract, plus whatever we negotiate with him, let’s say 3 years @ £100k / week or another £15m contract.
NB I’m not necessarily saying I’m entirely onboard with sinking £35m on a 31 year old but![]()
Added 3 players to the first team, 2 of which have improved things massively, but the younger players for the future haven’t paid off yetRecent results have helped to paper over how bad our summer transfer window was. Our squad is paper thin and in some areas weaker than it was last season. I expect to see movement in January to address the depth crisis we have currently.
Whilst the squad is thin recent results would suggest we're stronger than last season. We had a decent window didn't fill all the gaps but we're a better squad than last season and it's all about gradual improvementRecent results have helped to paper over how bad our summer transfer window was. Our squad is paper thin and in some areas weaker than it was last season. I expect to see movement in January to address the depth crisis we have currently.
This new nonsense about a manager signing off players.I feel like this is a good time to open the discussion on his work so far. I was originally quite pleased with the signings before I'd seen most of them kick a ball and just before we head to December now I still haven't seen some of them do it.
Kinnear was quite visible during the summer and capped off the window with an interview given to ToffeeTV. I think that's the last we've heard of him since?
I think everyone is reasonably satisfied with how the team stands right now. The win over United helped pick things up and quiet dissenters who have been questioning how much progress has actually been made. I'd label it 3.6 Roentgen, not great, not terrible.
In the TT interview Kinnear did explain a bit about the process behind the signings and clarified that Moyes has signed off on all of them so any blame for disappointing signings is to be shared amongst Moyes and the scouting and data analytics teams proposing the players and forming collective agreement.
One metric Kinnear mentioned they were going to use to measure success was if the signings featured in more than 50% of the available match time then that signing is considered a success. He does acknowledge that it's typically 35% of players that reach that benchmark so typically signings are more unsuccessful than not by that measure.
Kinnear acknowledges the importance of getting players in who aren't development projects but can instantly contribute in that interview immediately after this. So far it looks like only Barry and KDH will be the only ones of our summer signings approaching that figure.
How many of the summer signings do you expect to join KDH in Barry in playing more than 50% of matches this season?