Reconstruction time again: the summer 2018 transfer thread

[GhostoftheBok]

Also denied by Iles, but the French youngster seems to be a goer. I'd guess no one on here will have ever seen him play, but maybe Mullayo can give his statistical breakdown...

One game, or rather part of one game, in the French league cup against Nantes. I only remember because it was a stupidly good game and he came on as a sub for one of Auxerre's more important players. So there you go, seen him play for 30 minutes so I can confirm he exists and has two arms and two legs. He started the move for their 4th goal, I think.

Presumably if he's been getting games for Auxerre he's not intended for our U23s, but the "free with a sell-on" is a weird deal if they rate him.

[GhostoftheBok]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

[mullayo]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Seems to have had a falling out with Monk but doesn't sound like he's fit at all.
How do we get him fit. At the moment we need all the subs we can get for Wildschut, Murphy and presumably Magennis.
Cup games with Wilson, Little and Murphy...

[GhostoftheBok]

Also, on the topic of measuring goalkeepers purely by how many they concede - what was Jordan Pickford's "goals conceded" to games ratio at Sunderland like? He also had one of the highest conceded rates in the league when at Everton. Yet, he's a top goalkeeper.

[Peter Thompson]

Stockdale - yes he's a decent keeper, but Grounds - no thanks he's just come back from a serious cruciate injury end of last seaon....silly from BWFC if they go in for Grounds, surely there are better LB options than him.

[mullayo]

Also, on the topic of measuring goalkeepers purely by how many they concede - what was Jordan Pickford's "goals conceded" to games ratio at Sunderland like? He also had one of the highest conceded rates in the league when at Everton. Yet, he's a top goalkeeper.

Which is why I only compare the Championship stats.
I also never said it was the be all and end all - just a means of comparison. You care about how old they are! How many goals the striker scores... Clean sheets even. Why not how many the keeper concedes? Goals count the same at both ends.

And someone that lets in 11 goals in 4 games is generally considered crappy.
Also the highs and lows of crappy teams would generally even out over a long career of hundreds of games... And keepers change teams a lot and have longer careers than other positions. So it's useful when comparing 30 year old experienced keepers as I did. It's better analysis than "I saw a game once and such and such was decent". Next week he lost his confidence or got injured and has been crap ever after... But according to your 'evidence' he remains ensconced in time immemorial as "decent".

Pickford has conceded 20 goals in 24 Championship games for .83 per game. Very good yes.

[mullayo]

Wanderers have missed out on Everton midfielder Callum Connelly, who is on his way to Wigan Athletic on loan. The 20-year-old has opted to follow his team-mate Darth Vader down the slippery slope to the Dark SIde Stadium.

That's okay we're gettig Sissoko so there!
And Jonathan Grounds!

[mullayo]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Bit slow today Ghost. I'd already gone off Grounds before you got here!
You with your logic...

[BWFC_Insane]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Bit slow today Ghost. I'd already gone off Grounds before you got here!
You with your logic...

How many times have you seen him play? As a suggestion why don’t we just see who turns up and how they end up doing before we start writing them off eh?

I will wager that Magennis ends up being a far better signing for us than Wyke would have. Yet people wanted Wyke for no really good reason other than he was a name they’d heard of and had a good lower league scoring record (until last season).

[malcd1]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Bit slow today Ghost. I'd already gone off Grounds before you got here!
You with your logic...

How many times have you seen him play? As a suggestion why don’t we just see who turns up and how they end up doing before we start writing them off eh?

I will wager that Magennis ends up being a far better signing for us than Wyke would have. Yet people wanted Wyke for no really good reason other than he was a name they’d heard of and had a good lower league scoring record (until last season).

They both talking about Grounds serious knee injury not his ability to kick a football.

[BWFC_Insane]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Bit slow today Ghost. I'd already gone off Grounds before you got here!
You with your logic...

How many times have you seen him play? As a suggestion why don’t we just see who turns up and how they end up doing before we start writing them off eh?

I will wager that Magennis ends up being a far better signing for us than Wyke would have. Yet people wanted Wyke for no really good reason other than he was a name they’d heard of and had a good lower league scoring record (until last season).

They both talking about Grounds serious knee injury not his ability to kick a football.

Let our medical staff make that call.

It’s a loan, I suspect we can’t be all that fussy. We haven’t even signed him yet.

[GhostoftheBok]

I will wager that Magennis ends up being a far better signing for us than Wyke would have. Yet people wanted Wyke for no really good reason other than he was a name they’d heard of and had a good lower league scoring record (until last season).

It's possible, but there will be no means of comparison. If Magennis is even half-decent, given the fee, I'll be pleased with the signing. His debut was probably worth 200k in modern transfer money.

[GhostoftheBok]

Let our medical staff make that call.

Hence why I said we should do a particularly stringent medical, as you'd assume we did with Hobbs and will potentially do with Ireland. Some medicals take no time and others can run over a couple of days if there's a specific concern. A mate of mine had his take 3 days once, because they wanted to make absolutely certain about his knee so they tested it at different points in the day for inflammation.

If the medical team pass a player, then that's that and it's "welcome aboard"...

The other side of it is that Stockdale is fairly universally regarded as overweight and apparently has failed to report back in the condition Gary Monk demanded, so he's out the door. Parky is a stickler for fitness, so that'll presumably come up in any discussions with the player.

[GhostoftheBok]

Have we had any indication what the finances on those deals would be? Birmingham are reported to be falling foul of FFP regs on wages and Grounds and Stockdale were recent signings (Grounds signed a new deal) on decent money. Is it looking like an Amos situation, where they just need rid of a portion of large wages and we can thus make it happen?

[mullayo]

The Birmingham "double deal" is interesting. I'd do a bloody stringent medical on Grounds. Signs a new deal in January, does his knee ligaments in February and suddenly Birmingham want rid.

Bit slow today Ghost. I'd already gone off Grounds before you got here!
You with your logic...

How many times have you seen him play? As a suggestion why don’t we just see who turns up and how they end up doing before we start writing them off eh?

I will wager that Magennis ends up being a far better signing for us than Wyke would have. Yet people wanted Wyke for no really good reason other than he was a name they’d heard of and had a good lower league scoring record (until last season).

I didn't really want Wyke either. Also a 30 year old who hasn't been training coming of knee injuries getting the cold shoulder by his manager doesn't bode well. We've already looked at Rodwell and are still looking at Ireland so don't need no more crocks. We''re a football club not a retirement home.

But if he passes our medical and gets on the field I'll be supporting him 100%.

[mullayo]

Have we had any indication what the finances on those deals would be? Birmingham are reported to be falling foul of FFP regs on wages and Grounds and Stockdale were recent signings (Grounds signed a new deal) on decent money. Is it looking like an Amos situation, where they just need rid of a portion of large wages and we can thus make it happen?

That's what I just read.
The worry is we can't or Ken won't match wages and make it happen?

If we loan him we won't want to pay more than we're getting from Millwall for Amos.

The best bet for both camps might be to sell him for stuff all and see if we can't renegotiate his salary down.
Brummies lose the reportedly hefty wages and we get a quality heftykeeper cheaper than Amos was.

He'd have to agree terms. On one hand he's been frozen out on the other he may want guaranteed first team football not just to backup or compete. Stockydale looks chunky too could be half a season getting into shape.

Also, Leeds came in for him earlier to loan. Would they come back?

http://the72.co.uk/113146/bolton-wander ... er-target/

[mullayo]

Today's the big day eh!
Bargain o'clock.
Think we'll sign anyone permanent?

My best case scenario:
Keeper: Stockdale (32) - proven keeper
Left back: Elder (23) on loan? Felipe? Someone to inject speed and energy.
Mids: Gary Gardner (26) steady and/or Abdouleye Sissoko (20) one for the future.
Striker: Apostollos Vellios (26) - someone to spell Magennis in the 4-5-1 games

[GhostoftheBok]

We seem to be rapidly moving down "the list" in terms of our options and you have to assume that the quality on offer drops each time.

My hope for deadline day is that we suddenly find a couple of decent additions become available - either players we thought had gone or others we didn't know were available. Stockdale and Grounds have been there to be had since start of the summer and we've not gone for them. That could mean we have reached the final point of desperation, or it could mean that Birmingham have and have thus massively dropped their demands - hard to tell.

If we are making a serious move for Grounds then we're not adding pace and energy. We'll be adding an experienced, solid player; but one who is very much Championship stock and one-paced. Probably an upgrade on Taylor.

On Sissako, having asked someone who knows vastly more than me about French football I'd say that if we can get him in on a free we should do everything we can to get it done. Hamburg and Schalke both looked at him last year and he was expected to get a decent move this summer. I've no idea why he be available to a club like us, but he's supposedly got a superb range of passing and the physical attributes to cut it in the Prem eventually. Plenty of players look good as kids and turn out to not be much, but sounds promising.

On Stockdale and the other options, they all seem much of a muchness right now. Strikers the same - lots of rumours and very little substance.

Hopefully we can pull one out of the hat that gets me excited on a dull Thursday. Sissako might do it, if I have the chance to speak to a mate of mine who supports Auxerre. Not heard any names yet that'd have me buying a new kit.

If it's a damp squib, there's always the loan window. I love deadline day, though, so bring it on.

[mullayo]

We seem to be rapidly moving down "the list" in terms of our options and you have to assume that the quality on offer drops each time.

My hope for deadline day is that we suddenly find a couple of decent additions become available - either players we thought had gone or others we didn't know were available. Stockdale and Grounds have been there to be had since start of the summer and we've not gone for them. That could mean we have reached the final point of desperation, or it could mean that Birmingham have and have thus massively dropped their demands - hard to tell.

I say we look for these.
We can fix keeper and left back in the loan market.
Several teams are feeling the FPP squeeze (Owls and Birmingham) and Forest have - for Insane and Prufrock - overstocked their roster, and desperately need a salary dump.
So for me, today is about exploiting that pressure, exploring mutiple options and picking up bargains. A chance to get a couple of younger players on permanent deals to form a nucleus for next year. Another Luke Murphy or two.

[GhostoftheBok]

I say we look for these.
We can fix keeper and left back in the loan market.
Several teams are feeling the FPP squeeze (Owls and Birmingham) and Forest have - for Insane and Prufrock - overstocked their roster, and desperately need a salary dump.
So for me, today is about exploiting that pressure, exploring mutiple options and picking up bargains. A chance to get a couple of younger players on permanent deals to form a nucleus for next year. Another Luke Murphy or two.

The other thing to keep an eye on is the transfer chain issue. For example, Villa just signed a new midfielder who plays exactly the role that Gardner does. So that could trigger Gardner moving today. There are a number of similar deals poised to go over the top today.