Summer 2022 transfer speculation and squad discussion

[Cjay]

Here is something i dont get about our transfer policy.

The line from the club is Bielsa approves all transfers (now i firmly believe persuasion has taken place on occasion rather than preference ) but thats irrelevant here.

The line from Bielsa is that we only buy players BETTER than we already have.

So in the summer the club seemingly for reasons that will never be entirely clear decided that only 2 midfielders fit the bill, Conor Gallagher and Lewis O'Brien.

Fair enough Gallagher is having a great season that nobody could have seen coming because if they could Chelsea would have kept him.

He fits the better than we have bill.

Lewis O'Brien though who by our bosses own words we must consider better than we have was deemed only worthy of a bid of less than £4million according to Phil Hay.

In todays game you get next to nothing for less than £4mil, its peanuts.

So we didn't deem O'Brien to be worth more than that but we deem him better than what we have?

Things like that i dont understand.

And if with all due respect that bar is so low as to us considering a cheap Championship midfielder to be better than what we have how come we could seemingly only find two midfielders in the whole wide world that fit the bill?

This is what i dont get, seems contradictory.

[Scoobychief]

Let's just HOPE that if anyone comes in this January be it loan or permanent, let's just hope it's done early on in janaury and not on the last day

[mentalcase]

Let's just HOPE that if anyone comes in this January be it loan or permanent, let's just hope it's done early on in janaury and not on the last day

Wholeheartedly agree, although after recent transfer activity, I won't be at all suprised if we get nobody in January.
Its poor recruitment imo, and poor forward thinking, I assume Radz and Co have the clubs best interests at heart, I too am concerned as to why there are " no better players than we already have" a midfielder is a must to get for me, some will slate me for this, but its my opinion, roberts just won't cut it, klich is seemingly struggling and past his best yet we will make sure they both get game time costing us where we most need additions.

[weasel]

Here is something i dont get about our transfer policy.

The line from the club is Bielsa approves all transfers (now i firmly believe persuasion has taken place on occasion rather than preference ) but thats irrelevant here.

The line from Bielsa is that we only buy players BETTER than we already have.

So in the summer the club seemingly for reasons that will never be entirely clear decided that only 2 midfielders fit the bill, Conor Gallagher and Lewis O'Brien.

Fair enough Gallagher is having a great season that nobody could have seen coming because if they could Chelsea would have kept him.

He fits the better than we have bill.

Lewis O'Brien though who by our bosses own words we must consider better than we have was deemed only worthy of a bid of less than £4million according to Phil Hay.

In todays game you get next to nothing for less than £4mil, its peanuts.

So we didn't deem O'Brien to be worth more than that but we deem him better than what we have?

Things like that i dont understand.

And if with all due respect that bar is so low as to us considering a cheap Championship midfielder to be better than what we have how come we could seemingly only find two midfielders in the whole wide world that fit the bill?

This is what i dont get, seems contradictory.

I think people take the 'better than we have' line totally the wrong way - as if signing a midfielder we are alooking for him to be the best midfielder at the club. It is more likely that if Bielsa feels we have 6 players that he considers to be midfielders that a player coming in has just to be better than the player he deems to be our 6th best midfielder. In which case O'Brien may be considered a better midfielder than our 6th choice midfielder but not expected to be going straight into the starting line-up. As such it is a case of paying £4m for a player deemed better than an U23 (and we have paid fees in the millions for Greenwood and Gelhardt) but not splashing an exorbitant amount on a player that wouldn't be expected to go straight into the first team. It is similar in how we have paid for players for the U23s as they improved what we had there but we didn't buy them to throw straight into the first team. We're probably more advanced now at the U23 level so to get a player better than what we have at the U23 level we now have to pay a bit more which is why we were probably looking at O'Brien for around £4m.

I also doubt Gallacher would be doing any more than waring the bench at Chelsea even if they were able to recall him from loan. I think you'd have to give credit to Orta/Bielsa for identifying Gallacher as a good option as you put it no one really saw his good season coming, certainly you were far from impressed with him previously and most of us knew nothing about him. A bit like Ben White they identified a player that they felt was good enough and none of us knew anything about. Who knows how O'Brien might have been doing with us. With Bielsa it is hard to know he might have hardly used him or he might have thrust him in straightaway - same with Gallacher which is possible one of the reasons why he didn't come as we have had 3 loanees from Chelsea that hardly featured for us under Bielsa.

[The Subhuman]

No idea how you look at Gallagher's tape and come away unimpressed. You could absolutely see the season he's had coming imo...

[The Subhuman]

From July

I have no argument with that, I'd hope we could arrange something but I don't think you can criticize the quality. He breaks up attacks and beats players at will. He's quick and looks to have a good football brain. You can't teach that

[Clacton White]

I think one month isn't long enough . Orta will chase a target , arse around for weeks , target goes somewhere else while he is signing u23's , second target will by then also have gone .......move on to 3rd or 4th or maybe strengthen a position in no need of strengthening and by then the window is closed .
In Orta I have no faith .

[1964white]

I think one month isn't long enough . Orta will chase a target , arse around for weeks , target goes somewhere else while he is signing u23's , second target will by then also have gone .......move on to 3rd or 4th or maybe strengthen a position in no need of strengthening and by then the window is closed .
In Orta I have no faith .

[Cjay]

In terms of wiggle room regarding FFP we are 8th in the league with approximately £100million to play with.

Should mean we are able to strengthen in January

[SG90]

No signings = relegation simple

[Cjay]

So what do we think we need in January?

All previous talk was that 1 decent midfielder would sort us out but is that enough?

You could make a case for 2,3,4 midfielders.

You could make a case for another winger, James and Harrison have only managed to contribute 3 goals between them which is not enough.

Maybe a striker to or do we just keep praying Bamford returns?

Defence is struggling, MB doesnt trust Cresswell so do we need a cb as well?

For me the focus on off the ball skills in our attackers and midfielders is a real issue

Take Raph out and their is very little creativity and goal threat in any of our wingers and midfielders. James has done ok at times but he still hasnt done enough to change my mind that he is just a speed merchant.

At the end of the day teams who dont score get relegated and we are 1 Raphinha injury away from that imo as things stand

So for me i would want 2 cms and 1 winger/striker in an ideal window.

I just don't think 1 cm is enough anymore.

[Clacton White]

Here is something i dont get about our transfer policy.

The line from the club is Bielsa approves all transfers (now i firmly believe persuasion has taken place on occasion rather than preference ) but thats irrelevant here.

The line from Bielsa is that we only buy players BETTER than we already have.

So in the summer the club seemingly for reasons that will never be entirely clear decided that only 2 midfielders fit the bill, Conor Gallagher and Lewis O'Brien.

Fair enough Gallagher is having a great season that nobody could have seen coming because if they could Chelsea would have kept him.

He fits the better than we have bill.

Lewis O'Brien though who by our bosses own words we must consider better than we have was deemed only worthy of a bid of less than £4million according to Phil Hay.

In todays game you get next to nothing for less than £4mil, its peanuts.

So we didn't deem O'Brien to be worth more than that but we deem him better than what we have?

Things like that i dont understand.

And if with all due respect that bar is so low as to us considering a cheap Championship midfielder to be better than what we have how come we could seemingly only find two midfielders in the whole wide world that fit the bill?

This is what i dont get, seems contradictory.

When put like that re midfielders then yes , it is baffling........but they then blow £30m on another winger who is now playing centre forward ( due to injuries ) . To me though it was just another few that escaped Orta's grasp . I am not particularly hopeful with the January window , though something desperate is needed that Orta didn't address last time .

[SG90]

4 players for me.
2 CMs, 1 8 and 1 10.
RW - to take pressure/reliance off Raph.
Striker.

Riqui Puig (loan)
Romain Faivre - £16m
Minamino (loan)
Arthur Cabral - £16m

Improves us massively without breaking the bank.

Although I suspect we won't sign anyone, and if we do, it'd be an overpriced domestic panic buy.

[SG90]

I'd sell Klich and Rodrigo too to raise funds and loan Harrison.

[pjm2019]

so looking at my suggested best 11 we need

1. GK to challenge Meslier
2. Right Back
3. Centre Back
4. Midfielder
5. number 9


if we get these we SELL

Firpo
Cooper
Roberts
Rodrigo



Best 11, everyone fit - Meslier - Ayling -dallas - Koch - Llorente - Phillips - Forshaw - Raphinha - James - bamford - Gelhardt Bench - Klaeson, Struijk, Rodrigo, , Harrison, Summerville, bates, cooper

[Cjay]

so looking at my suggested best 11 we need

1. GK to challenge Meslier
2. Right Back
3. Centre Back
4. Midfielder
5. number 9


if we get these we SELL

Firpo
Cooper
Roberts
Rodrigo



Best 11, everyone fit - Meslier - Ayling -dallas - Koch - Llorente - Phillips - Forshaw - Raphinha - James - bamford - Gelhardt Bench - Klaeson, Struijk, Rodrigo, , Harrison, Summerville, bates, cooper

A lot in January, asking a bit much dont you think?

Thats more of a summer window imo.

[Cjay]

4 players for me.
2 CMs, 1 8 and 1 10.
RW - to take pressure/reliance off Raph.
Striker.

Riqui Puig (loan)
Romain Faivre - £16m
Minamino (loan)
Arthur Cabral - £16m

Improves us massively without breaking the bank.

Although I suspect we won't sign anyone, and if we do, it'd be an overpriced domestic panic buy.

Faivre and Cabral would be worthwhile investments.

Especially Faivre as he seems an ideal replacement for Raph when he inevitably goes (and like Leicester its prudent to get replacements in before sale to keep the price down).

Id like Faivre, Cabral and Swift in January.

Would imagine £30-40mil (and we spread transfer fees out so it wouldn't be that obviously).

I think those 3 would significantly improve our creativity and goalscoring chances and give us a boosr of much needed quality.
Id look to sell Rodrigo to raise funds.

[pjm2019]

i should of said LEFT BACK not RIGHT BACK

[The Subhuman]

When put like that re midfielders then yes , it is baffling........but they then blow £30m on another winger who is now playing centre forward ( due to injuries ) . To me though it was just another few that escaped Orta's grasp . I am not particularly hopeful with the January window , though something desperate is needed that Orta didn't address last time .

When Bielsa was first interested in James it was for conversion to the 10, as we don't actually play with a striker (least while Paddy is out), more 4 forward players it's not that far for what MB wanted James for in the first place

[Orange Box]

I'd sell Klich and Rodrigo too to raise funds and loan Harrison.

Do you think Citeh would have him back? He was quite effective for their defence last night.

Only joking, my NY resolution is not to slag off our players.