Deal or no deal? - Summer 2022 Transfer gossip!

[GhostoftheBok]

I think it’s pretty clear we’re still in the market for a CB having missed out on Tucker.

Despite the signing of Bradley I wouldn’t mind another RWB to compete for the starting spot with the youngster.

I’d also feel we’re missing another defensive midfielder to push MJ and a proper no.10 wouldn’t go amiss to add some more creativity in the final third.

I also wouldn’t be upset to see the back of Kachunga and a punt taken on a younger forward. I can’t see anyone taking on his wages though.

It seems likely that Darcy will be loaned out (or have his contract terminated) which would mean there’re still four squad spaces (for players over 21) for the four positions mentioned above: CB, RWB, CDM, CAM.

I think the RWB thing is tricky due to the injury to Izzy. Evatt has said he likes that he has no surplus players and if (let's imagine a happy Bolton fanbase) Marlon were to rock up out of the ether then I think Izzy becomes surplus. That's fine, until you think about how many clubs would take his entire wage off us after such a significant spell out. I'm not sure it's a long list and that would probably mean paying a decent whack of his wage during a loan, or paying him off to leave - neither of which seems very likely to me.

Maybe we'd take the hit to get the right long term player in?

[irie Cee Bee]

I believe the ship has sailed for Fossey. I no longer think about him. I like Izzy and do hope he gets back to full fitness when the season starts. Our money is better spent getting a good #10 or strong Defensive Midfielder than on a back up Fossey.

[officer_dibble]

I think if there is a chance to swap Isgrove with Fossey we would all take it. I just don’t think there is a chance!

Centre half and another wide forward option please.

[Prufrock]

I'm less bothered about another RWB, and don't think we'll particularly see Isgrove much in the league. By the end of the season we'd gone from very much a 352 to that hybrid which was as much 4231 as it was 352 (and which got more out of Dapo, and got Sadlier in. The more it looks like Daps is staying I think there will be plenty games Sadlier will play down the right. Can see it being 352 with Jones and Bradley (and if the young lad does well maybe more) but also think we might see him covering for Geth a fair bit as a RB. Especially if Barkhuizen signs (who I reckon would be mainly competing with Sads for that RWB/RW hybrid role).

[nicholaldo]

Evatt claims we want to make two more signings.

He also claims we've missed out on two transfer targets, one who made it into his current club's first team and went on to play in the play-off final (he doesn't state which) and another who signed for a club in the Championship.

[TANGODANCER]

Evatt claims we want to make two more signings.

He also claims we've missed out on two transfer targets, one who made it into his current club's first team and went on to play in the play-off final (he doesn't state which) and another who signed for a club in the Championship.

Might be me, but that sounds a bit like a "one size fits all" managerial statement that gets you out of jail if needed. Like I say, it might just be me.

[brommers95]

Evatt claims we want to make two more signings.

He also claims we've missed out on two transfer targets, one who made it into his current club's first team and went on to play in the play-off final (he doesn't state which) and another who signed for a club in the Championship.

I have a feeling Dominic Gape (mentioned on here previously by DSB) was the playoff final player.

Assuming the player that went to the Championship went from a League One club (and assuming he's not talking about Fossey), these are the realistic options:
Conor Washington
Will Boyle
Ebou Adams
Kane Wilson
Mark Sykes

Come to think of it, maybe he was just referring to Fossey...

[bw@bw]

Evatt claims we want to make two more signings.

We have two months left of this transfer window.
One signing per month then.
Hardly any advance leaks about prospects
Not the most exciting window ever

Not that that will dampen speculation

A good side effect of the January window successes

[GhostoftheBok]

Didn't Evatt say "at least two more" to Iles?

[LeverEnd]

It's been a bit of a non event but this iredale sounds decent. Also we're no weaker than the team that won the last 4. Maybe not title contenders but good enough to be up there around the top 6. Maybe we'll work our January magic again?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Oxford lose another player - centre-back Luke McNally to Burnley for summat like £1.6m. Money to spend, sure, but weakened. They now have two senior centre-backs, and one of them is very senior indeed at 36.

[Worthy4England]

Oxford lose another player - centre-back Luke McNally to Burnley for summat like £1.6m. Money to spend, sure, but weakened. They now have two senior centre-backs, and one of them is very senior indeed at 36.

Didn't Dean Lewington play for MKD last year. 44 times, aged 37. In the second tightest defence in the League? Not sure age necessarily comes into it. Hopefully, Oxford's "leakier than Bolton's" defence, just got a bit leakier, though!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Oxford lose another player - centre-back Luke McNally to Burnley for summat like £1.6m. Money to spend, sure, but weakened. They now have two senior centre-backs, and one of them is very senior indeed at 36.

Didn't Dean Lewington play for MKD last year. 44 times, aged 37. In the second tightest defence in the League? Not sure age necessarily comes into it. Hopefully, Oxford's "leakier than Bolton's" defence, just got a bit leakier, though!

John Mousinho (for it is he) has appeared in 13 league games in two seasons, and 11 of those have been as sub. So in this case I'd suggest age comes into it quite a lot. In fact he's learnt so much from being on the bench all that time that he's already got his UEFA Pro Licence and has spent the last year as PFA chairman.

Weakier and leakier? That's the hope. What we could learn from them is the nice habit of picking up players (McNally was at St Pats - Eoin Doyle's team now) and selling them up the league for seven-figure sums - they seem to do so with centre-backs every summer. Last time it was Rob Atkinson (snapped up from Eastleigh) to Bristol City for a similar fee; before that it was Rob Dickie (Reading U23s) to QPR, summer before it was Curtis Nelson to Cardiff (though that was a freebie). True, you wouldn't necessarily want to lose a player every season, and also true that we could have sold Rico, but you get the picture.

[Worthy4England]

Don't come round here, bypassing legitimate debate, with facts! Grand.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Don't come round here, bypassing legitimate debate, with facts! Grand.

Yours was a fine counter-argument, my good man, just rendered irrelevant in this case

[jmjhb]

I believe Rob Atkinson was on trial with us before his Oxford move

[Spartan2]

I think we definitely need a CB. When you look at the different permutations and who's likely to cover who, we've only got 5 covering 3 positions, if John were to get injured, Iredale would be the obvious choice to replace him, leaving us 4 CBs for 3 positions, it's very light. Someone who is good in the air, so when we're being bombarded by certain teams Iredale/Santos/New Signing can deal with it.

Beyond that I don't think there's any position we're desperately short it, the squad is looking really good to me. I'd like a LWB to compete with John, then maybe a CM (depends on how good Dempsey is, how soon/well Sheehan recovers) and maybe another striker / wide forward.

[Bruce Rioja]

Oxford lose another player - centre-back Luke McNally to Burnley for summat like £1.6m. Money to spend, sure, but weakened.

There's an interesting tipping point aligned to their priorities here, no? Money to spend on what? Servicing/paying off debt? Finishing their ground off? Sumptuous boardroom dinners? Players?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Oxford lose another player - centre-back Luke McNally to Burnley for summat like £1.6m. Money to spend, sure, but weakened.

There's an interesting tipping point aligned to their priorities here, no? Money to spend on what? Servicing/paying off debt? Finishing their ground off? Sumptuous boardroom dinners? Players?

Quite so - with all clubs, but perhaps particularly with Oxford. Mate of mine who's a fan claims they actively don't want promotion. Such things have been said before but the club don't own the ground - their ex-owner still does, and charges them hundreds of thousands per year to play there; they want to move to a new stadium. It's a mess.

@Spartan - You can chuck in Isgrove, Darcy and Kachunga but that doesn't take away from your main point, which is a lack of depth in the (R)CB department. Thickens the "wide forward" pool a bit though.

[Prufrock]

The worst ground I've ever been to