Reconstruction time again: the summer 2018 transfer thread

[Bruce Rioja]

I'm not surprsed about Morais at all. He was a backup at best.

You do know that we need 'backup' players, don't you? And Morais is exactly the sort of player who can make an impact in the last 15 minutes coming on off of the bench.

[GhostoftheBok]

The Morais story doesn't say the club made no attempt to contact him, nor that they didn't inform him. It says he only found out when he saw it online and that they hadn't spoken to him directly. If he's been off with his academy project then they could have attempted to contact him and failed.

It'll all come out in the wash. The article is phrased very carefully.

[mullayo]

I'm not surprsed about Morais at all. He was a backup at best.

You do know that we need 'backup' players, don't you? And Morais is exactly the sort of player who can make an impact in the last 15 minutes coming on off of the bench.

As a backup fine but I'm guessing he wanted more wages or more of a role so they kept him in their back pocket until Oz signed or they were sure of Cotterill/Ameobi. Oz covers his set piece skillset too.

I think the approach they've shown is to sign upgrades and take cheap chances with backups.
Morais (33 games, 32 years) is a known quantity and an unknown younger, taller, tougher... cheapie is a better bet at this juncture.

[GhostoftheBok]

I'm not surprsed about Morais at all. He was a backup at best.

You do know that we need 'backup' players, don't you? And Morais is exactly the sort of player who can make an impact in the last 15 minutes coming on off of the bench.

As a backup fine but I'm guessing he wanted more wages or more of a role so they kept him in their back pocket until Oz signed or they were sure of Cotterill/Ameobi. Oz covers his set piece skillset too.

I think the approach they've shown is to sign upgrades and take cheap chances with backups.
Morais (33 games, 32 years) is a known quantity and an unknown younger, taller, tougher... cheapie is a better bet at this juncture.

Given that Morais said he could "make a step up" I'm assuming he knew the writing was on the wall and PP thought he needed better next season. Morais is 32 and a League One player. I like him, but the reality is that if we want to try and push for a midtable position, rather than scrape by, we need better in the squad. PP used Morais as back-up to players that were themselves not good enough, so I don't think we can be too surprised he's gone.

[mullayo]

BREAKING NEWS: From Iles under utterly misleading headline Connor Hall eyes first team footbal.

TS Clayton Donaldson from Blades on Parky's radar.
Free transfer for back-up role.

34 year-old, 6ft 1in, Jamaica international with 37 Champ level goals in 139 appearances at goal per 270 mins.

30 games (avg 43 mins) last year from the bench mainly and 5 goals (1 per 256 mins).

Also after another higher calibre Champ team striker too.

[mullayo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_rLxJZkwI

Clayton Donaldson goals from 15/16 season.
Tall but more rangy than powerful. Leggy and athletic but all his goals seem scuffed in within the six yard box or headed.
No sign of dribbling or strikes from distance.

[palindromeofbolton]

Seems as though Iles has deleted that tweet. Hmm...

[GhostoftheBok]

Not a huge fan of Donaldson as a Championship player. Very good in League One, but I used to go watch Brentford quite a bit and his runs and ability to find space are iffy for the top two leagues. At 34 he might be worth a squad place, but I'd not want to rely on him as a first choice player over a season. If he were 24 rather than 34 I'd be fine with it, but when you rely on your athleticism then age is a factor.

I know we're in a tough position for money and can't be too picky - he's not the answer for me, though. If he's for squad numbers, no issue.

[TANGODANCER]

Still nothing on Sammi Ami?

[mullayo]

Still nothing on Sammi Ami?

Yeah, he's the one i'm holding on for. He's one of ours, there's no reason not to announce unless...
No news is bad news...
Re-signing him would be a real shot in the arm.

Ireland, Cotteril; et al probably need evaluation on the training ground or a physical at least and could be late calls.

[mullayo]

Seems as though Iles has deleted that tweet. Hmm...

It was weird I clicked on the Connor Hall story and it was all about Clayton Donaldson and mystery Champ striker...

Picture was Connor Hall (and three others) too... Hmmm....

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Thing is, if we are limited to free transfers, and we are prepared to stretch to something like £12kpw for one striker as has been suggested, who can we get for that? £12kpw for a striker is probably below average at Championship level. And there aren't many free transfer strikers around. Donaldson would probably come here for much less than £12kpw, and I am not sure we can do much better. The article does say backup striker, so this is our 2nd physical striker. I personally like the idea. Maybe we can use the £12kpw to re-sign Ameobi?

[GhostoftheBok]

I'd rather keep Ameobi than lose him, but if we have a tight wage structure I'd not break it to keep him. He's a decent player at this level, but you only break a wage structure for something really special and he's not that.

Are we likely to find better? Probably not. Are we going to piss players off if we give him (for us) big money when he's pretty average and we've told them we can only offer that money to a special player? Probably.

Given the state of the finances, team spirit is going to be a massive part of any success we have. Bringing in a serious player would lift the squad. Giving big money to someone already here will likely sour things.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'd have presumed we're more likely to get a target man – especially the nominal "back-up" - stepping up from the lower leagues rather than a Donaldson who's been hanging about for years and is presumably on a higher wage

Mind you, when you look at last year's League One top goalscorers:
1. Jack Marriott (Peterborough, 27 goals) – 5ft 8in and wanted by Celtic/Rangers
2. Brett Pitman (Pompey, 24) - Jersey boy, never played north of Ipswich and hardly likely to start now at 30 years old
3. Will Grigg (Wigan, 19) - they've been promoted, won't sell. Also, riskily combustible
4. Bradley Dack (Blackburn, 18) - promoted
5. Tom Eaves (Gillingham, 17) - fits the profile, but it's Tom Eaves... (contracted to 2019, too)
6= Charlie Wyke (Bradford, 15)
(Oztumer and Nick Powell also got 15: selected names from here)
9= John Marquis (Doncaster, 14) 6ft1in but contracted to 2020
9= Eoin Doyle (Oldham, 14) - 1yr left on contract but Preston looking to sell

Then you're into players like Lyle Taylor. Craig Davies scored 11!

[mullayo]

Mystery striker idle conjecture.

Reading between the lines does it sound like we're paying a fee for the mystery saviour?

If not here's some of the leading frees.
NO

Steve Morison (34). Too old.
Darren Bent (34), Too old.
David McGoldrick (30). Already ruled out earlier apparently.

UNPROVEN
Frederic Gounongbe (30), Cardiff. 6ft 1in. No goals in 15 Champ games over 2 years.
Joseph Mendes (27) Reading. 6ft 2in. Unproven only 15 Champ games in two years for 3 goals.
Greg Luer (23) Hull. 5ft 11in. 3 Champ games total.Too young to be a recognised goalscorer yet.
Jack Storer (20) Birmingham. 4 games.Same as above
Jamie Philpot (21), Millwall. Same as above.

MAYBE
Gabriel Agbonlahor (31) Villa. 5ft 11in. Only played six games Champ last year. But 322 Prem games and 73 goals (47 assists) at 355 mins per. Left wing is main position too.

Lee Gregory (29) Millwall. 6ft 2in. 10 goals in 43 Champ games last year at 339 mins per.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (27) QPR. 6ft 2in. Didn't play last year??? But has 126 Champ games for 19 goals at 356 mins per. Avg 53 mins per appearance. 14 assists too. Stats suggest a target man.

[mullayo]

I'd have presumed we're more likely to get a target man – especially the nominal "back-up" - stepping up from the lower leagues rather than a Donaldson who's been hanging about for years and is presumably on a higher wage

Mystery striker is supposedly already in a Championship team. Heard that twice now from Illes... Hence me killing an hour at work making a table of champ free agent strikers.

[GhostoftheBok]

Depends who you view as a "striker" and whether players who play as forwards count. I'd not be surprised to see Kazenga Lualua at the Macron, but he's more of a winger.

For proper strikers, Nouha Dicko is supposedly available for loan and I'd not be shocked by that either - but there are a lot of "failed" strikers in the league at the moment.

[Bruce Rioja]

all his goals seem scuffed in within the six yard box or headed.
No sign of dribbling or strikes from distance.

Ah. The won't count then. Damn.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Jack Earing signs a pro contract.

[irie Cee Bee]

Happy we are offering contracts to our top young players. Donaldson, a reasonable good player who will give defenders problems as a target man. Good back up.