Summer transfer and squad discussion

[whiteswan]

I'm looking forward to seeing all our new players.

I may acquire some photos today if any of them are on the bench.

You'd better

[ElKapitan]

The good thing is that we shouldn't have to rely on Solomon. In him, Gnonto, James, Aaronsen and Ramizani we have 5 players for the 3 positions (LW,RW & 10) - and at a push we could possibly play Rothwell, Piroe or Tanaka in the 10 position too. If Solomon stays fit and recaptures his form then he really could be the x factor, without him we should still be absolutely fine.

Schmidt will hopefully just be needed as insurance but great if he forces his way in on merit rather than injury. We have Byram too so if Schmidt can't cut it then hopefully we will be okay with Byram as first choice back up on either side.

We don't need Ramizani to be as good as Summerville as we have Gnonto who can likely be as good as Summerville was. Ramizani might give us that or might simply give us more of the bench than we got last season when our wide players who came on as sub didn't really create an awful lot.

Yeah agree with that about Solomon very good strength in depth now, just losing Rutters/Summervilles contributions we need to replace their contributions if we're to go one better this year for me. Hamer type signing at 18 million should have been made in my opinion.... no risk, knows the league, good enough at prem level and you know what you're getting. Think if Solomon stsys fit at this level he'll be insane. Top tier prem player when fit just keeping him that way thats the worry. If he does struggle with injuries thats a replacement signing lost when we got him in to replace the quality sold. I do think Aarronsson will develop now into a very good player now his heads in the game, knows he needs to play well to get back into USA side.... find his feet etc so is like a new signing.

Firpo for me is fine against most opposition but defensively is really quite poor at this level against the better attackers. Middlesborough rinsed him, think he will struggle against Burnley etc so wanted an upgrade really. Good going forward but think thats more to do with him not always being aware of his defensive duties. Schmidt I think will hopefully bed in and adapt. Watched some extended footage of him in Europe and looks good so i'm hopeful. Just wonder why others havent gone in for him at this point in his career? Hopeful but reserved. Gray on the right stood out both defensively and going forwards last year. Bogle looks better going forwards but weaker defensively (Blades consistently saw him as quite weak defensively) so hope we have the balance right with both him and Firpo playing.

Gnonto could be as good as Summerville and with games I think will develop well but we'll see. Last year I was underwhelmed with him and dont see him having the same amount of impact, could be wrong though. Ramazani i'm excited about..... very very direct, extremely fast and takes on players easily even in la liga. In this side with better players around him against champ opposition who will have to also watch other players think he could be devastating once he gets going. Plus either coming on against tired legs..... too much for most right backs.

Also, defensively.... We have nothing beyond Rodon which I think is an issue that will bite us at some point. You know who else can play there effectively youth wise? Is it Debayo or is he left sided? Whats happened to Monteiro?

I'm hopeful and think the 49rs have from a business sense done very well, but think there should have been a statement signing to really add that final touch to the side in midfield and a young high potential right sided cd to say we're in a better position squad wise than last year.

[ElKapitan]

A real positive

I personally never insisted either would leave Leeds, the only clubs interested couldn't afford them.

I still believe Wober will play an important role for us this season, as is the case with Aaronson.

Agreed.

Wober obviously wanted out but now the seasons underway.... For his careers sake he has to push himself to dislodge Struijk and get game time. One of if not our best signing the year we went down from prem. If he becomes that player again. Insane cover for struijk at the very least.

Same with Aarronsson who I think had a bit of ego forcing a move last year..... Didn't really pan out for him in Germany like with us in the prem and think its hit home for him that he's not as good as he thought he was and needs this year to work out for him to get his career back on track. Effort wise and ability on the ball has not been lacking so far. With games at this level I can see him developing into the player we thought we bought. Bit like Sargent when he joined Norwich hopefully.

[whiteinfrance]

I’m going to Boo-Dan the next time he plays.

Subtle french cuisine joke there.

Silly sausage !

[ElKapitan]

So we don't have a natural No.10, and if Joseph joins Bamford in the medical room, we have a major problem!

Aarronsson is pretty much a 10..... Not a winger in my opinion and alot of USA fans see him like that too. Not fast enough and a good passer in tight areas. Didn't last year either Rutter is a 9 and for me pretty poor at keeping possession. For his contributions early in the season he also caused goal scoring chances for the opposition with getting caught in high risk situations. Xfactor for sure but his game as a whole is in rough diamond territory or still in the mine for me. Couldn't believe the fee Brighton paid and that's not sour grapes .

I'm still hopeful Piroe will come good this year, still not sure what position he's best in but as a Striker think he could develop if he wants to/coached to be. Seems like he is pretty down at competing for a spot but could just be me imagining that. Just would expect him to really attack the league this year, show some aggression. Big bloke but Joseph is so much more physical competing for the ball. Still, Piroe is crazy cover for Joseph at this level. Bamford for me is out of the conversation and is a solid third choice at this point when/if fit.... when/if on form.

[JoeDenver]

Honestly, it’s hard for me to get too excited about this window given the magnitude of the departures. But I must concede that the disparite dollar figures between incomings and outgoings impacts that perception. No doubt Jimmy earned his payday, but the sting of Archie and Georgi departing is still a very hard pill to swallow. I’m going miss them. Weasel does make a fair point about their actual contributions being more modest on paper, but there is no questioning their upside/talent, which would’ve been nice to see unfold before us in the coming years. That’s the sacrifice that has to be made as it was a luxury we could ill afford given our present situation. We definitely needed to right the wrongs of year’s past (from the “Clown”) re: PSR and FFP.

But glass half full, I think we’ve capably filled our holes. Ramazani looks like a real find and Tanaka has been on our radar for a while. Given the loan additions and returnees, we probably haven’t lost much from a production standpoint. Time will tell, though. I do think the added transfer kitty gives us ample ammunition for the January window if we need to add some quality to get us over the line.

My two cents.

[weasel]

I watched Wober in the warm-up from a close distance vs Middlesbro, he was happy & smiling with his colleagues, Max seemed quite content, imo.

It's our fans who claimed he wasn't injured, even though Farke said Wober had a hamstring pull.



Screenshot 2024-08-31 10.24.02.png

Why let facts get in the way of an opinion? He wasn't injured, he looks like he doesn't want to be here, he poked a blind child in the eye and stole their sweets etc

[YorkshireSquare]

Having seen the bench today, with one more player to come into the squad and James missing, I feel like the squad is a lot more balanced than last season and we actually have more options from the bench

[BlackHillsPaul]

Honestly, it’s hard for me to get too excited about this window given the magnitude of the departures. But I must concede that the disparite dollar figures between incomings and outgoings impacts that perception. No doubt Jimmy earned his payday, but the sting of Archie and Georgi departing is still a very hard pill to swallow. I’m going miss them. Weasel does make a fair point about their actual contributions being more modest on paper, but there is no questioning their upside/talent, which would’ve been nice to see unfold before us in the coming years. That’s the sacrifice that has to be made as it was a luxury we could ill afford given our present situation. We definitely needed to right the wrongs of year’s past (from the “Clown”) re: PSR and FFP.

But glass half full, I think we’ve capably filled our holes. Ramazani looks like a real find and Tanaka has been on our radar for a while. Given the loan additions and returnees, we probably haven’t lost much from a production standpoint. Time will tell, though. I do think the added transfer kitty gives us ample ammunition for the January window if we need to add some quality to get us over the line.

My two cents.

I'll offer my glass half full analysis.

At the beginning of last season virtually nobody around here thought we would do better than a playoff position. Cree was viewed as a bright, if yet to be proven talent. And Georginio, and Gray were unproven players in English football. They BECAME top players in the Championship.

I think the same could happen this season. My gut tells me that Aaronson will be very difficult to get out of the starting eleven. And that he might just blossom at this level. He's off to a pretty good start playing in a mostly new role for him as the number ten. Mateo Joseph is another mostly untested player that I think is poised for a breakout season. And who knows what the new guys will do. But the very early returns look promising!

[Cjay]

Whether right or wrong time will tell but DF made it clear his preference was for a proper 10 signing and the decision not to sign one was above his head.

[SG90]

I think we've done well. To get over £100m for 3 players as a second year Championship side, is some going. Time will tell, but I suspect there'll be plenty of posters saying "I'm glad we got the money we did" etc and we may feel we robbed the clubs.

Incomings looks good, especially Solomon, who should be far too good for this league. Big worry is at CB. Rodon has been very poor since March and we don't have any cover, except moving Ampadu out of position, which screws things up. Just glad we weren't desperate enough to keep Cooper.

We should (hopefully) have a bit of money left come January. If we're in a strong position, we need to start looking at players who would be good enough for the PL. The likes of Sallai etc.

The league is a lot weaker than last year, so no real excuses why we can't get top 2. We have a lot of top players for this league.

[JoeDenver]

I'll offer my glass half full analysis.

At the beginning of last season virtually nobody around here thought we would do better than a playoff position. Cree was viewed as a bright, if yet to be proven talent. And Georginio, and Gray were unproven players in English football. They BECAME top players in the Championship.

I think the same could happen this season. My gut tells me that Aaronson will be very difficult to get out of the starting eleven. And that he might just blossom at this level. He's off to a pretty good start playing in a mostly new role for him as the number ten. Mateo Joseph is another mostly untested player that I think is poised for a breakout season. And who knows what the new guys will do. But the very early returns look promising!

Definitely, Paul! Solomon looked really good today. Lovely assist. And Aaronson looked lively…he's getting more and more comfortable. Think he’s found his level and can only grow from here into that player we paid a king’s ransom for

Onward!

[Sean_Nile]

Whether right or wrong time will tell but DF made it clear his preference was for a proper 10 signing and the decision not to sign one was above his head.

It is unbelievably hard to get a No 10. Our No 2 is shite, and our No 1 is piss.

[DDB220]

Why let facts get in the way of an opinion? He wasn't injured, he looks like he doesn't want to be here, he poked a blind child in the eye and stole their sweets etc

Don’t mention the F word mate - it is the enemy of a good drama based comment.

[pjm2019]

If we could of got Hamer then we win the league. Now we have to settle for TOP 2.

WE ARE GOING UP
WE ARE GOING UP
WE ARE GOING UP

[Lebowski]

I am trying hard not to get carried away, we are certainly vulnerable defensively but on the basis of the very brief time I had yesterday to judge Solomon, Tanaka and Ramazani we look to have unearthed some real quality for this level.

Add to that a second chance for Aaronson, Gnonto committing to the club and the emergence of Mateo Joseph then we look to have fantastic options going forward.

Tanaka came on yesterday as a sub making his debut and immediately began marshalling the team, we have missed that.

Yes, we lost Georgino, Gray and Summerville but when you look at what we now have we look better balanced and maybe a little less flaky. It was that flakiness that did for us in the end last season so I am optimistic that this year we will get top two.

[hector]

If we could of got Hamer then we win the league. Now we have to settle for TOP 2.

WE ARE GOING UP
WE ARE GOING UP
WE ARE GOING UP

Who are you?? and when did you hack PJM's account??

[mentalcase]

So Kinnear is telling the manager he can't have a number 10 because he dosen't want to spend money !!!
The sooner we get shot of kinnear the better.

[whiteinfrance]

'Could of' ???

[PhoenixUnited]

So Kinnear is telling the manager he can't have a number 10 because he dosen't want to spend money !!!
The sooner we get shot of kinnear the better.

Where does it say that Kinnear is the one that put the block on as opposed to the "Club" doing that. There was a gap between what we offered up ?£13 m and what the Blunts asking price was apparently £18m. Surely there was a deal to be done somewhere in the middle? It seems to me that the likely scenario is that the club put up a smokescreen played games pretending whilst having no intention of spending anything remotely like that amount of money for a player.

We went fishing in the £10m and under pond - Rondon being the most expensive. No problem with that essentially but sometimes Clubs take fans for mugs