Deal or no deal? - Summer 2022 Transfer gossip!

[Prufrock]

Yes I can hear you, Lucias Vine.

Tbf, I already know everything I need to know about him.

[brommers95]

Looks like Manchester United under-23’s Connor Stanley was the other Wanderers trialist.

From the Walsall match report:

4360D029-B192-4850-8C3E-694E42614CAF.jpeg (226.37 KiB) Viewed 859 times

A winger apparently. He’s even got a Wikipedia page and everything

Made 27 appearances for Atlanta Utd 2 last year, who play in the USL Championship (second tier of US football, same as Brocky). Bagged a goal and 3 assists in 1,585 minutes according to Transfermarkt.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Looks like Manchester United under-23’s Connor Stanley was the other Wanderers trialist.

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A winger apparently. He’s even got a Wikipedia page and everything

Made 27 appearances for Atlanta Utd 2 last year, who play in the USL Championship (second tier of US football, same as Brocky). Bagged a goal and 3 assists in 1,585 minutes according to Transfermarkt.

DOB 30/12/2001, so still underage next season (and agonisingly close for the one after).

For comparison, that's a year younger than Thomason, 14mths younger than Darcy and 6mths older than Matty Alexander.

[GhostoftheBok]

You mean your grapevine doesn't extend to Aldershot U23s?

I'm ashamed of myself, obviously.

[GhostoftheBok]

Stanley's issue seems to be that he's not developed physically at all in the past couple of years.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Stanley's issue seems to be that he's not developed physically at all in the past couple of years.

Don't tell BWFCi, he likes his men strapping and wilful

[jmjhb]

Get him on a pastie diet

[sonicthewhite]

Cardiff City now trailing Dapo as well as Fulham

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... mmer-move/

[sonicthewhite]

The other thing with Dapo is that Fulham have been keeping a close eye on him. If they were seriously interested then a possible Fossey + cash deal could work.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

The other thing with Dapo is that Fulham have been keeping a close eye on him. If they were seriously interested then a possible Fossey + cash deal could work.

Swaps are rare because they multiply the faff in the Age of the Agents. The Mr 10%s don’t want their numbers reducing.

In this particular instance I suspect it’d also lead to us being offered less money. I don’t suspect Fulham would ask much for Fossey, but if he becomes a bargaining chip suddenly he’s the next Cafu. In that way, perhaps it’s good that Cardiff are sniffing too - theirs would be a cash offer with which we could keep Fulham’s bid high.

[officer_dibble]

Is he ready for premier league? He’s good, would improve with better players around him as well…I’m not sure. Can see him leaving for the championship I think. Santos is a risk as well given his contract length. That would change the dynamics of the squad considerably.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Is he ready for premier league? He’s good, would improve with better players around him as well…I’m not sure. Can see him leaving for the championship I think. Santos is a risk as well given his contract length. That would change the dynamics of the squad considerably.

Interesting choice Dapo might have, if those two "interests" bear fruit.

Moving to Cardiff, 17th in the tier up, might not seem a great leap forward. Fulham, a London side in the Premier League, much more so - but would he get in? And are they going to get absolutely battered up there, and he'll get like 7 minutes a month off the bench?

Losing Dapo and Rico would be a blow, but presumably a well-compensated one. I like both as men and players but I feel Rico would be the bigger "miss" in terms of Evattball and replaceability. Not that Dapo's easily expendable but the world doesn't stop when he's on the bench; Rico is fundamental to the way we play out from the back. And we've already got a sizeable strengthening job to do back there...

[GhostoftheBok]

I agree with DSB's position (and with others who've said the same/similar) that Rico is currently harder to replace, or live without, than Dapo.

I'm not sure that would remain the case next season if he stays, as I think he looks likely to kick-on again whereas we're probably 2 years away from Rico's next "level up." Figuring out a new position and sorting a few technical things tends to come more quickly than improving "match brain" stuff that most player get better at as they age.

Unless Dapo signs a new deal he's probably at peak value for us to sell now and unless Rico signs a new deal he's on a free - so if they won't commit then selling would seem to make sense.

[nicholaldo]

Unless Dapo signs a new deal he's probably at peak value for us to sell now

This is a crucial point. If we want to extract maximum value from our playing assets it's no use selling them, as we so often have in recent years, with a short period of time left on their contracts.

Clearly, we have no control over the quality of the offers we might receive so there's a balance to be found, but we need to try and sell at the most financially beneficial time for the club.

[nicholaldo]

But I'd be surprised if he moved to either of the clubs rumoured to be interested in him.

[The_Gun]

Fulham seems a stretch for Dapo at this point, but of course having multiple clubs interested would be very much in our favour.

I know as fans we often tend to be optimistic when it comes to player valuations, but what could we realistically expect for Dapo? He'll have a couple of years to run on his contract so we don't have to accept pennies, but would £2-3m be realistic?

[nicholaldo]

Fulham seems a stretch for Dapo at this point, but of course having multiple clubs interested would be very much in our favour.

I know as fans we often tend to be optimistic when it comes to player valuations, but what could we realistically expect for Dapo? He'll have a couple of years to run on his contract so we don't have to accept pennies, but would £2-3m be realistic?

That's the kind of ballpark figure I'd expect.

[officer_dibble]

I was more 4-5, inflation an all that

[BWFC_Insane]

The thing I’d say is have we looked considerably worse defensively without Santos? I’d argue no. We’ve looked less competent aerially in defence which we need to address regardless.

We don’t have the same quality on the ball in building attacks he offers especially the long range pass.

But I’m unconvinced overall we’ve been noticeably worse and frankly we’ve not been convincing back there for much of the season.

I just think we can find defenders better at defending than he is who would be as effective at winning us points. Maybe I’m wrong.

Dapo is an interesting one. I’m not convinced he’s had a great second half of the season. But his goals and ability are clear and it’s obvious how he adds something to the team that we don’t have elsewhere. However, again a big enough offer could let us add in two or three players that improve us beyond what we could do otherwise. We might not get a direct replacement but become overall stronger.

I’d add to the above that we can’t afford to let our talent go on a free or very reduced deal. So selling at peak has to be part of the plan. Also that selling both in one summer would be too risky if we are serious about promotion as it would be taking two risks and arguably going too far. So hopefully it will be one or none.

[The_Gun]

Santos I think we'd be extremely reluctant to part with, but ultimately he can effectively force our hand if he chooses not to sign a new contract. As you say, Insano, we cannot afford to let our top talents go on frees, so if he's not signing then he's getting sold. We'd really want some kind of bidding war to develop, as we wouldn't be in a fantastic bargaining position.

Dapo I really like and I think if we're playing with a front three he'd be one of the best players in the division, however, he's been way less effective when deployed as a nine or 10, so if 4-3-3 is no longer going to be our main formation I can see the sense in cashing in this summer.

If we were offered £4-5m for Dapo, OD, I think we'd be biting potential buyers' hands off. That kind of cash would allow us to bring in a number of very good players, and would almost certainly put us in a better position as opposed to retaining Dapo.