Snog, Marry, Avoid: Summer 2023 Transfer Window

[BWFC_Insane]

People are saying Nixon has "deal done" on Dabo and Savin. I don't follow him, so I'm just going off the Twitterati's utterances.

It’s a fake account. All Nixon has said today about bolton is we are chasing lots. Finding it hard.

[GhostoftheBok]

It’s a fake account. All Nixon has said today about bolton is we are chasing lots. Finding it hard.

Cheers. As I say, I don't follow him so I appreciate the correction.

[The_Gun]

As some of you have no doubt also seen this morning, our good friend Alan Nixon reports that we’ve hit snags in our pursuits of keepers Savin and Beadle, and have now turned our attention to Chelsea’s Nathan Baxter.

Not a name that I think has been mentioned on here previously, but a good age and obviously has a good pedigree.

[BWFC_Insane]

I suspect that when you need better quality not numbers that you wait till later in the window. I’m always more worried about players we just sign early as it means there wasn’t significant demand for them.

[The_Gun]

If players are free agents then it’s likely interested clubs would have been in touch for a while, so I wouldn’t necessarily buy that logic.

At our level I can’t imagine there are many players who would be a) subject to paid transfer bidding wars, or b) willing to leave their decisions to the last minute.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

As some of you have no doubt also seen this morning, our good friend Alan Nixon reports that we’ve hit snags in our pursuits of keepers Savin and Beadle, and have now turned our attention to Chelsea’s Nathan Baxter.

Not a name that I think has been mentioned on here previously, but a good age and obviously has a good pedigree.

24, on a free, has played for Hull the last two seasons and Accy (hoo!) before that.

Left Hull because he picked up a knock and they borrowed Toon's Darlow instead. It should be noted that Champions League team Maccabi Haifa are after Baxter as well...

Speaking of Accy loanees, is it interesting that we haven't gone back in for Lukas Jensen, released by Burnley? (Or maybe we have, or we are... very quiet bar Nicko...)

[BWFC_Insane]

If players are free agents then it’s likely interested clubs would have been in touch for a while, so I wouldn’t necessarily buy that logic.

At our level I can’t imagine there are many players who would be a) subject to paid transfer bidding wars, or b) willing to leave their decisions to the last minute.

Why would an in demand free agent jump at a club until they had explored all the options played the better ones off against each other and maximised their earnings?

Transfer fee ones in demand come down to clubs wanting to maximise their fees.

All our best signings in history tend to come late in windows. The better the player the more difficult they are to obtain. There are obvious examples that break the rule ( cough Marvin cough) but early signings always have that question mark for me. Why did they just run to come here….

[The_Gun]

Unless there was some uncertainty over whether players would be free agents or not, their representatives would already have had the chance to play interested parties off against each other before now.

[GhostoftheBok]

There will be some players who have already sorted where they are going, but are on international duty or just on holiday.

There's no need to panic over goalkeepers. The rumoured offer for Savin is weird (hey, how about we pay you nothing unless we go up - in which case we'll pay you less than you want now?), but that's probably a sign we're not worried about finding a decent option. It' a buyer's market this summer in that position.

We also don't know how many of our "targets" are hangovers from thinking we might be in the Championship. Reports we have "many enquiries" or "spoken to players" could reference moves we made weeks ago, but which are no longer viable.

It's also possible we're trying to persuade some players who thought they might be joining a Championship club to come to League One - which will complicate matters.

Then there's the difficulty of just trying to aim as high as we can, with ambitions to win the league and a bit of cash in our pockets.

All in all, delays aren't that shocking. Even so, you'd want to see them start to trickle in next week. If it goes on too long it starts to look like you've misunderstood the market - which we've done before (most notably last summer).

In previous windows we've been willing to skip transfers entirely to wait for more favourable conditions. I'm not sure that's an option for Evatt this time.

[sonicthewhite]

Now we've been linked with goalkeeper Nathan Baxter of Chelsea;

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... --reports/

[BWFC_Insane]

There will be some players who have already sorted where they are going, but are on international duty or just on holiday.

There's no need to panic over goalkeepers. The rumoured offer for Savin is weird (hey, how about we pay you nothing unless we go up - in which case we'll pay you less than you want now?), but that's probably a sign we're not worried about finding a decent option. It' a buyer's market this summer in that position.

We also don't know how many of our "targets" are hangovers from thinking we might be in the Championship. Reports we have "many enquiries" or "spoken to players" could reference moves we made weeks ago, but which are no longer viable.

It's also possible we're trying to persuade some players who thought they might be joining a Championship club to come to League One - which will complicate matters.

Then there's the difficulty of just trying to aim as high as we can, with ambitions to win the league and a bit of cash in our pockets.

All in all, delays aren't that shocking. Even so, you'd want to see them start to trickle in next week. If it goes on too long it starts to look like you've misunderstood the market - which we've done before (most notably last summer).

In previous windows we've been willing to skip transfers entirely to wait for more favourable conditions. I'm not sure that's an option for Evatt this time.

Evatt turned down ‘outstanding players’ last summer. He got it wrong. I think this summer there is no margin for error for him.

[GhostoftheBok]

Evatt turned down ‘outstanding players’ last summer. He got it wrong. I think this summer there is no margin for error for him.

I'm still annoyed about last summer. Let's not talk about it.

I mean we've gone over it for dozens of pages now, so we just have to wait and see what happens. We know what we need.

[Bertie Wooster]

Let's hope Evatt has learnt his lesson. It was stupid to turn down the opportunity to sign those 'outstanding players' IMO.

I really hope that I'm wrong, but I just can't see 'stubborn' Evatt changing and signing such players. If he doesn't though we won't be challenging for the top 2.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt turned down ‘outstanding players’ last summer. He got it wrong. I think this summer there is no margin for error for him.

I'm still annoyed about last summer. Let's not talk about it.

I mean we've gone over it for dozens of pages now, so we just have to wait and see what happens. We know what we need.

Well Evatt got it wrong. Can’t do it again.

[GhostoftheBok]

Well Evatt got it wrong. Can’t do it again.

I agree he got it wrong, though possibly for different reasons.

As I said at the time, we went into last a season a minimum of one top striker and one top midfielder short. I felt we were 4 short, but also that getting them all wasn't realistic.

We had a very full squad, but not enough quality. Which was why I was critical about some of the transfer planning, despite thinking Evatt and Markham are generally doing a good job.

We are very unlikely to be 4 short this time. That really would be a cock-up. That's because they've generally done a good job and we're in a stronger position now than last summer. Very little fat on the squad and plenty of quality.

[sleepingindiana79]

Evatt turned down ‘outstanding players’ last summer. He got it wrong. I think this summer there is no margin for error for him.

I'm still annoyed about last summer. Let's not talk about it.

I mean we've gone over it for dozens of pages now, so we just have to wait and see what happens. We know what we need.

Well Evatt got it wrong. Can’t do it again.

Hi I remember after the villa game evatt saying his phone
Never stopped ringing from agents that represented top players . But he also said he wasn’t gonna sacrifices the clubs finances . But imagine now we are in a better financial situation so maybe he may get one or two of these players or if the same caliber

[sleepingindiana79]

Evatt turned down ‘outstanding players’ last summer. He got it wrong. I think this summer there is no margin for error for him.

I'm still annoyed about last summer. Let's not talk about it.

I mean we've gone over it for dozens of pages now, so we just have to wait and see what happens. We know what we need.

Well Evatt got it wrong. Can’t do it again.

Hi I remember after the villa game evatt saying his phone
Never stopped ringing from agents that represented top players . But he also said he wasn’t gonna sacrifices the clubs finances . But imagine now we are in a better financial situation so maybe he may get one or two of these players or if the same caliber

[Bertie Wooster]

Apparently very close to signing 2 x keepers - Nathan Baxter & Joel Coleman (Bolton lad)

[boltonboris]

Shiiiiirly Coleman would be backup? 88 league appearances in 11 years and released from Fleetwood in 2021 without making a single league appearance, then released from Rochdale in 2022 after not being able to break into their team

[sonicthewhite]

So we'd be pinning our hopes on Baxter being no1