Summer Transfer Window 2025 Thread


Lanolin said:
Haha my reply was spiky but yours is dead friendly yeah?

I was just using the post to frame the point, not comparing our situation to Arsenal's. The principle is the same whatever the club. We'd surely all agree that Forest have done well with recruitment recently? But not all their players have improved their starting XI, some of them have just given them more depth (Morato, Sosa, Jota Silva, Moreno last season for example) meaning that the overall level of the squad is better without them necessarily only signing players who go straight into their strongest team. Brighton are often held up as the kings of recruitment but the same applies to them, none of O'Riley, Rutter, Wiefer or Minteh who they brought in last summer started more than 20 games for them.

The point is just that it's totally normal to try to fill out the squad and just add players who give you more options without being game changers(especially when you've only got 14 players). Of course we need some players who go straight into our best team, I'm just saying the idea it's the only way to do it is clearly not true, as evidenced by virtually every other club in the world.
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Oh, I should be nice even when you're not? Got it.

I think most people think that the bulk of the players we have now should be the squad fillers and that the priority should be to sign the players that will play every week. We've finished in the bottom 8 teams for years now. If we bulk out the squad with players of equivalent or lesser ability than the standard we have now then, obviously, the best we can hope for is to stay exactly where we are. We basically have three players that are at a top half standard, Pickford, Branthwaite and Ndiaye, so, by definition eight players would have to come straight into the first team. Unless, of course, you want to see players like Mykolenko or Beto carrying on as guaranteed, unchallenged, starters?

Of course a club like Arsenal will bring in squad players, I would love us to be in that situation, but they can do that because their squad is already in a very good position. We have a small, sub-standard squad and limited finances. Bulking out a squad with frees and loans isn't actually free, if they don't offer something different, ideally better, than what we have now we shouldn't be shrugging our shoulders and just saying the words "squad player" as if that's some sort of justification in and if itself. At a minimum we need two starting fullbacks, a right winger, a central midfielder and a centre forward. That's five players that, in my opinion are needed for the first team. Every pound spent on a "squad player" is a quid we can't spend on a starting player.

There is no equivalence between us and Arsenal.
 

windymiller said:
Oh, I should be nice even when you're not? Got it.

I think most people think that the bulk of the players we have now should be the squad fillers and that the priority should be to sign the players that will play every week. We've finished in the bottom 8 teams for years now. If we bulk out the squad with players of equivalent or lesser ability than the standard we have now then, obviously, the best we can hope for is to stay exactly where we are. We basically have three players that are at a top half standard, Pickford, Branthwaite and Ndiaye, so, by definition eight players would have to come straight into the first team. Unless, of course, you want to see players like Mykolenko or Beto carrying on as guaranteed, unchallenged, starters?

Of course a club like Arsenal will bring in squad players, I would love us to be in that situation, but they can do that because their squad is already in a very good position. We have a small, sub-standard squad and limited finances. Bulking out a squad with frees and loans isn't actually free, if they don't offer something different, ideally better, than what we have now we shouldn't be shrugging our shoulders and just saying the words "squad player" as if that's some sort of justification in and if itself. At a minimum we need two starting fullbacks, a right winger, a central midfielder and a centre forward. That's five players that, in my opinion are needed for the first team. Every pound spent on a "squad player" is a quid we can't spend on a starting player.

There is no equivalence between us and Arsenal.
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Mate I have absolutely no issue with you at all, I’m not being critical. Your original reply to me was clearly a bit sarky, my reply to you was the same. It’s no big deal, it’s just a bit of fun on a forum.

You think we shouldn’t sign anyone who doesn’t instantly improve our XI, I think that’s both incorrect and unrealistic. Oh well, I’m sure the world will carry on turning despite two people having different opinions about football.
 
Lanolin said:
Mate I have absolutely no issue with you at all, I’m not being critical. Your original reply to me was clearly a bit sarky, my reply to you was the same. It’s no big deal, it’s just a bit of fun on a forum.

You think we shouldn’t sign anyone who doesn’t instantly improve our XI, I think that’s both incorrect and unrealistic. Oh well, I’m sure the world will carry on turning despite two people having different opinions about football.
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My original reply wasn't, my follow up very much was. My first comment was simply suggesting that things that Arsenal can do as standard are things that are currently out of our reach.

As for the second paragraph,, I don't think it's unreasonable to prioritise signings that improve our squad. I also don't think it'll be all that hard, considering the current state of our squad. You seem to have an issue with that as it's "unrealistic", on that point we do disagree, for sure.
 


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