Deal or no deal? - Summer 2022 Transfer gossip!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

“WANDERERS plan to have most of their summer recruitment completed by the time they travel to a training camp in Portugal on June 19.”

Evatt quotes: quality over quantity, he knows what needs to be done, they’ve had the conversations, plus an interesting one warning fans not to make instant judgements on player history (eg non-scoring strikers). That chimes with Ghost’s notion of hiring someone undervalued in another team’s system.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ning-camp/

[Bruce Rioja]

“WANDERERS plan to have most of their summer recruitment completed by the time they travel to a training camp in Portugal on June 19.”

Evatt quotes: quality over quantity, he knows what needs to be done, they’ve had the conversations, plus an interesting one warning fans not to make instant judgements on player history (eg non-scoring strikers). That chimes with Ghost’s notion of hiring someone undervalued in another team’s system.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ning-camp/

Indeed. There were plenty who were empurpled by the signing of Kevin Davies.

[The_Gun]

Jones, Santos, Aimson, Johnston, John
MJ, Lee, Sheehan, Dempsey, Morley
Isgrove, Kachunga, Sadlier, Darcy
Baka, Bod, Dapo, Charles

You could argue four signings is enough, but I'd want one or two more.

We need at least 4 just at the back, or at least that's how it seems to me. We could play a smaller, more versatile squad; but we got badly burnt over winter and hopefully we learn from that.

Fossey/clone, replace Gordon, replace Baps and add an additional CB/Utility if we intend to play a 3 a lot

I suppose we could do a lot of our attacking work in the youth market (Ty Simpson, please), but things are tight.

Ty Simpson appears to be an American college football player according to Google. Who are you referring to?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I suppose we could do a lot of our attacking work in the youth market (Ty Simpson, please), but things are tight.

Ty Simpson appears to be an American college football player according to Google. Who are you referring to?

I would assume Tyreece Simpson at Ipswich (who was at one stage offered a pro rugby contract)

[Bruce Rioja]

Has anyone mentioned Eoghan O’Connell at Rochdale? 26 years old CB and captain, and by the looks of things a free agent in June.

I only know of him because my Rochdale-supporting friend/former colleague sent me the clip below.

However, it did lead me to read up a little on the guy and from what I have read he sounds a bit like a poor man's Alan Stubbs / Paul Jones type. The sort of player I like to think Evatt can do summat with.

His goal from last week's on here, starting around 1min 35 secs.

[brommers95]

Yeah I wrote a few words about him in my potential CB signings article.

Has got good L1 experience, a good character by the sounds of things, a solid defender and can play with the ball at his feet.

Not the most athletic though, so might not be a great replacement should Santos leave but I’d think he’d be an upgrade on Aimson.

[Bruce Rioja]

Good stuff - cheers.

[GhostoftheBok]

“WANDERERS plan to have most of their summer recruitment completed by the time they travel to a training camp in Portugal on June 19.”

Evatt quotes: quality over quantity, he knows what needs to be done, they’ve had the conversations, plus an interesting one warning fans not to make instant judgements on player history (eg non-scoring strikers). That chimes with Ghost’s notion of hiring someone undervalued in another team’s system.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ning-camp/

Evatt and Markham have earnt a little trust at this stage.

For me, this is the best recruitment set up we've had in my time as a fan. Not in terms of scale and funding, but in the sense that everyone is in there on merit and they are recruiting to a clearly defined, long term plan. I'm prepared to go on a little faith if they rock up with a player that I'd otherwise turn my nose up at.

It'd be interesting to know what kinds of players they are targeting. I know how I want to see the team evolve, but I can't say I'm totally confident that I've got a handle on their way of thinking.

I suspect most of us have an idea in our head of what a decent summer of recruitment would look like. Last summer was about par for me, with both the Januaries going above and beyond in most areas (and the players I was worried about turning out better than I'd thought). If we can have a January summer, as it were, I'll be delighted.

[GhostoftheBok]

Has got good L1 experience, a good character by the sounds of things, a solid defender and can play with the ball at his feet.

Not the most athletic though, so might not be a great replacement should Santos leave but I’d think he’d be an upgrade on Aimson.

My question this summer is going to be "Would I want us to have signed him had we got promoted?"

We've a few in the squad right now who, for me, don't make the cut in a Championship squad. I think every player we add in this window has to be able to form the core of a Championship squad the season after.

I really like O'Connell, but I think he's a good League One player rather than a decent Championship player.

[bw@bw]

Has got good L1 experience, a good character by the sounds of things, a solid defender and can play with the ball at his feet.

Not the most athletic though, so might not be a great replacement should Santos leave but I’d think he’d be an upgrade on Aimson.

My question this summer is going to be "Would I want us to have signed him had we got promoted?"

We've a few in the squad right now who, for me, don't make the cut in a Championship squad. I think every player we add in this window has to be able to form the core of a Championship squad the season after.

I really like O'Connell, but I think he's a good League One player rather than a decent Championship player.

Don’t we need to win League 1 first?
The top half has been so competitive this year and I can’t believe it will be less so next year

And can we afford Championship wages on league 1 income???

[GhostoftheBok]

Don’t we need to win League 1 first?
The top half has been so competitive this year and I can’t believe it will be less so next year

And can we afford Championship wages on league 1 income???

Anyone we bring in on a permanent who is good enough to get us out of this division is likely to come in on a 2-3 year deal. That means that we have to reckon with how they'd keep us up, not just get us up...if you'll excuse the slightly pornographic phrasing.

I'm not suggesting we pay Championship wages, I'm saying that we need to identify under-valued assets who we think can be effective at Championship level in our system. I don't think our wage budget would have massively increased had we gone up and I think some of the players on our list would have been targets regardless of going up or not - it just changes how hard the sales pitch is.

We'll have been making that pitch for months - either direct to players or to their reps. We'll have a good idea where we stand. We knew promotion was a long shot after the winter collapse and we won't have been putting months worth of slog into too many deals that are contingent on going up.

[brommers95]

Has got good L1 experience, a good character by the sounds of things, a solid defender and can play with the ball at his feet.

Not the most athletic though, so might not be a great replacement should Santos leave but I’d think he’d be an upgrade on Aimson.

My question this summer is going to be "Would I want us to have signed him had we got promoted?"

We've a few in the squad right now who, for me, don't make the cut in a Championship squad. I think every player we add in this window has to be able to form the core of a Championship squad the season after.

I really like O'Connell, but I think he's a good League One player rather than a decent Championship player.

Yeah that’s what I’ve been finding tough when trying to come up with potential names to sign this summer.

Evatt has spoken about how he wants to sign guys that can go on to make a core of a Championship squad, easier said than done on a L1 wage budget and definitely a job for people with a lot more knowledge of football than me

I wouldn’t be unhappy with some solid L1 pros though such as O’Connell, I think we need some players like that to guide the youngsters that we’re looking to turn into Championship players - Morley, Johnston etc

[GhostoftheBok]

I wouldn’t be unhappy with some solid L1 pros though such as O’Connell, I think we need some players like that to guide the youngsters that we’re looking to turn into Championship players - Morley, Johnston etc

Having good pros about the place is always valuable and if we got him in I'd be a long way from throwing a hissy fit.

I just think we'll aim a bit higher.

[The_Gun]

Raiding L2/soon to be L2 clubs for their promising younger players seems like a sensible way to go. I know we're unlikely to hit on a Morley every time, but in terms of the wages we'd have to offer and the attractiveness of our club, I'd suggest it's a more realistic hunting ground for us than Championship rejects.

I think it was George Graham who said never sign players who feel like they're taking a step down to join you. I obviously don't think we should blanketly refuse to look at players from higher divisions, of course, but I do think there's a lot to be said for signing hungry players who are keen to progress up through the leagues.

I wouldn't have a clue whether the likes of Rochdale, Oldham, Carlisle, Barrow, perhaps even Salford still have any players worth us picking up, but I'd hope and expect Markham and his team to be closely monitoring what's going on at our tier 4 neighbours.

[BWFC_Insane]

Raiding L2/soon to be L2 clubs for their promising younger players seems like a sensible way to go. I know we're unlikely to hit on a Morley every time, but in terms of the wages we'd have to offer and the attractiveness of our club, I'd suggest it's a more realistic hunting ground for us than Championship rejects.

I think it was George Graham who said never sign players who feel like they're taking a step down to join you. I obviously don't think we should blanketly refuse to look at players from higher divisions, of course, but I do think there's a lot to be said for signing hungry players who are keen to progress up through the leagues.

I wouldn't have a clue whether the likes of Rochdale, Oldham, Carlisle, Barrow, perhaps even Salford still have any players worth us picking up, but I'd hope and expect Markham and his team to be closely monitoring what's going on at our tier 4 neighbours.

You want a mix. Sam Allardyce showed the benefit of signing fading world stars to rejuvenate their careers. And I think we lack that experience at times. And we’ve seen with Bod the advantage of signing players from a level up, in that they literally are a level up on what you’ve got.

So I say a mix. It’s unrealistic we will win league one next season just picking off potential from league two. It’s also unrealistic we will sign every player from our level or above that we need.

Bod is a good measure of what higher level ability and experience can bring, for me that’s needed at the back alongside maybe a pro like the Rochdale lad BR mentioned. The same in midfield. We lack what I’d call high level experience in these areas.

[GhostoftheBok]

Raiding L2/soon to be L2 clubs for their promising younger players seems like a sensible way to go. I know we're unlikely to hit on a Morley every time, but in terms of the wages we'd have to offer and the attractiveness of our club, I'd suggest it's a more realistic hunting ground for us than Championship rejects.

Bodvarsson and Lee are both Championship rejects.

The thing with our recruitment is our players don't really have a profile, other than that they're mostly misfits. Santos, John, Jones, MJ etc all had skillsets that were undervalued in standard systems.

The club will be looking at every level of the game. Dapo came from Prem reserves, whereas Morley came from League two.

We will be looking for Championship ability/potential, not necessarily for Championship players. There are plenty of players in the Championship who aren't good enough for that level and there are players in League Two who might be good enough to play in the Premier League one day.

We shouldn't limit ourselves to trying to find one "type" of player.

[GhostoftheBok]

The same in midfield. We lack what I’d call high level experience in these areas.

Dominic Ball.

[BWFC_Insane]

The same in midfield. We lack what I’d call high level experience in these areas.

Dominic Ball.

Would cover lots of positions and utility would be helpful.

[GhostoftheBok]

Would cover lots of positions and utility would be helpful.

As ever it's money and willingness to drop down a level. He's someone who a couple of years ago will have seen himself as on a path to the Premier League. I think he's the highest level "remotely possible" player of the type we'd ideally sign. Fits Evatt's profile of an elite academy product who hasn't fulfilled his potential, but has still shown he can cut it at a high level.

I doubt we'd get him, but he's on my list of "if we get players like this we've had a ridiculously good window" possibles. There was some talk around London that we had an interest, but that may have very much been dependent on going up.

If we were to pick up a similar type of player I'd be delighted.

[BWFC_Insane]

Would cover lots of positions and utility would be helpful.

As ever it's money and willingness to drop down a level. He's someone who a couple of years ago will have seen himself as on a path to the Premier League. I think he's the highest level "remotely possible" player of the type we'd ideally sign. Fits Evatt's profile of an elite academy product who hasn't fulfilled his potential, but has still shown he can cut it at a high level.

I doubt we'd get him, but he's on my list of "if we get players like this we've had a ridiculously good window" possibles. There was some talk around London that we had an interest, but that may have very much been dependent on going up.

If we were to pick up a similar type of player I'd be delighted.

Agreed. He’s the perfect example of higher level experience and quality. Perhaps out of range but you just never know. Exact type we need too if we want to be better than we are in midfield.