Snog, Marry, Avoid: Summer 2023 Transfer Window

[boltonboris]

It wasn't Bolton who made it public. Bristol told local reporters, who reported it so it was in the public domain. Evatt couldn't just put a couple of pencils up his nose. He had to approach it head on with the media when asked about it

[Worthy4England]

Back to borrowing a teenage wingback then

Aye - until someone bids big money for Dion.....

There seems to be some links with Stoke and Watford, dunno if they're "real"...wouldn't want to lose Dion right now.

[boltonboris]

No realistic amount of money we'd get for Dion would be worth our while selling, surely

Our top scorer. Probably the 'face' of the team. Fans favourite and his goals could be the difference between going up and not. For the sake of what, a couple of million?

There's nobody within our reach that could replace him

[BWFC_Insane]

No realistic amount of money we'd get for Dion would be worth our while selling, surely

Our top scorer. Probably the 'face' of the team. Fans favourite and his goals could be the difference between going up and not. For the sake of what, a couple of million?

There's nobody within our reach that could replace him

As Evatt says every player has a valuation on them. If someone meets that valuation its up to the player.

One assumes Dion's valuation is suitably high but as you say the difficulty is that it's a bit like selling Kane - no matter what you get finding another proven 20 goal a season striker down here who does the work required by IE is going to be very hard.

Bottom line though - we are a business and player trading is a key part of that. At some point someone will come in for a key player and we'll ultimately have to sell them. As good as Santos has been this season thus far - I think we could arguably bridge his loss more easily than Charles. Toal I think could do a job there for now and we could find other promising centre backs to learn the role. Will they be as good? Maybe not. But I think finding a Charles replacement in August is basically a non starter.

[Prufrock]

Yeah, a hefty 7 figure bid would be a real tester for the board. Everyone has a price, and you'd think silly money (£5m+) they'd probably feel they have to sell. Something more like £3m, you can see makes sense to the business but not the football side of things. Hopefully it's nonsense.

Would be interesting to see how Dion reacted too. Not been averse previously to toy chucking.

[boltonboris]

£2-3m guaranteed for the player, or a possible £7-8m for the promotion prize?

That's the gamble

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yeah, a hefty 7 figure bid would be a real tester for the board. Everyone has a price, and you'd think silly money (£5m+) they'd probably feel they have to sell. Something more like £3m, you can see makes sense to the business but not the football side of things. Hopefully it's nonsense.

Would be interesting to see how Dion reacted too. Not been averse previously to toy chucking.

Quite so. Strong-willed, which is a boon when he's inside the tent p!ssing out.

He seems happy and valued. I suspect (if it's true, which it may not entirely be) he might "do a GT" and turn it down. But he is older than GT, has been prepared to up sticks, and may (I dunno) have more family to look after. Is he a wanderer or a Wanderer? Guess we'll see.

He would certainly be a big loss, even if he's a big profit.

[The_Gun]

£2-3m guaranteed for the player, or a possible £7-8m for the promotion prize?

That's the gamble

This is the crux of the matter.

We’d have to be confident that we could bring someone else in who wouldn’t diminish our chances of promotion.

[BWFC_Insane]

Thomason signs a new contract to 2027. Presumably Evatt was hoping the pen would break….

https://x.com/officialbwfc/status/16914 ... o4TppbHkNQ

[KeyserSoze]

Haha I did wonder if this would be in the offing shortly after.

[Bertie Wooster]

Thomason signs a new contract to 2027. Presumably Evatt was hoping the pen would break….

https://x.com/officialbwfc/status/16914 ... o4TppbHkNQ

It does look like Evatt wanted him to stay, however it also looks like GT has basically said I'll stay if you give me a pay rise.

[Mar]

Thomason signs a new contract to 2027. Presumably Evatt was hoping the pen would break….

https://x.com/officialbwfc/status/16914 ... o4TppbHkNQ

It does look like Evatt wanted him to stay, however it also looks like GT has basically said I'll stay if you give me a pay rise.

Wasn't it not long ago that he signed a deal already.

Makes sense to sign him on a longer deal if he and the club are happy. His contract value should represent his contribution so hopefully this puts him closer to the rest of the first teamers. He's not a youth team player anymore and that should be reflected accordingly.

Just goes to show a positive sign for all those potential players looking to sign for us. Transitional pathway and not just there to be sold.

[GhostoftheBok]

The pay-off from keeping Thomason will be due summer '25. So a contract to '27 makes loads of sense.

The calculation will be that we go up this year and his value matures after a year in the Championship. Then with 2 years left on his contract you hope to have him at the peak of his value.

We keep getting all the big decisions right when it comes to contracts.

Charles needs to be next, if he stays. You don't want to risk one of the top EFL goal scorers getting promoted to the Championship with one year left on his deal. Or leaving on a free after a year at that level. He needs an extra year. It might cost us £150-200,000 to tie him down, but the potential benefit is in the millions.

[Bertie Wooster]

The pay-off from keeping Thomason will be due summer '25. So a contract to '27 makes loads of sense.

The calculation will be that we go up this year and his value matures after a year in the Championship. Then with 2 years left on his contract you hope to have him at the peak of his value.

We keep getting all the big decisions right when it comes to contracts.

Charles needs to be next, if he stays. You don't want to risk one of the top EFL goal scorers getting promoted to the Championship with one year left on his deal. Or leaving on a free after a year at that level. He needs an extra year. It might cost us £150-200,000 to tie him down, but the potential benefit is in the millions.

IMO he wouldn't get a game for us should we go up, let's be honest if we continue playing well and getting results he won't get that many starts this season in the League. It's a move by the club to potentially get a higher transfer fee should other clubs come in for him that are nearer to home. Also if most are honest with themselves he's a decent mid table League 1 midfielder & personally I don't think that he's got that much more development in him.

[GhostoftheBok]

IMO he wouldn't get a game for us should we go up, let's be honest if we continue playing well and getting results he won't get that many starts this season in the League. It's a move by the club to potentially get a higher transfer fee should other clubs come in for him that are nearer to home. Also if most are honest with themselves he's a decent mid table League 1 midfielder & personally I don't think that he's got that much more development in him.

The club clearly feels differently. As did Bristol City's recruitment team.

[Bertie Wooster]

IMO he wouldn't get a game for us should we go up, let's be honest if we continue playing well and getting results he won't get that many starts this season in the League. It's a move by the club to potentially get a higher transfer fee should other clubs come in for him that are nearer to home. Also if most are honest with themselves he's a decent mid table League 1 midfielder & personally I don't think that he's got that much more development in him.

The club clearly feels differently. As did Bristol City's recruitment team.

So we don't now need a new DM in this window, as Thomason is a championship level defensive midfielder all of a sudden & there's me thinking he's probably currently our 6th choice midfielder.

[GhostoftheBok]

So we don't now need a new DM in this window, as Thomason is a championship level defensive midfielder all of a sudden & there's me thinking he's probably currently our 6th choice midfielder.

Were we a more transitional side Thomason would be starting most games.

We're a possession side, so he's having to pick up skills. That's improving him as a player, but it takes time. A young player can come into a side as a regular if their natural attributes fit the style, but when they don't the player has to learn new tricks.

What sets Thomason apart from most young mids is that he seems to be picking up those skills he needs, rather than just developing his existing skill set to a higher level. He's becoming a better possession player.

He started 15 games last season at 21. We do need another player in, because it's about having different tools for different problems; but that's no comment on Thomason. The player we need in doesn't look like Thomason, nor do the players we have signed.

Thommo isn't currently 6th choice anything. He's first choice 2nd-ball mid, when we need that option. Hence why Evatt put him in the play-off 11. The squad we've built offers Evat different tools to win games and we will need them all.

[boltonboris]

Well, I'd argue that he's not great on the 2nd ball. It looks like one of his biggest weaknesses to me - And "first choice 2nd-ball mid" sounds like something you've made up

[GhostoftheBok]

Well, I'd argue that he's not great on the 2nd ball. It looks like one of his biggest weaknesses to me - And "first choice 2nd-ball mid" sounds like something you've made up

Evatt specifically said Thomason was included in the play-off semi to help us win 2nd-balls against Barnsley.

The manager picked him for the biggest game of the season for that role, so I'm not sure how I'm making it up.

If you don't like the phrase...what would you prefer?

[BWFC_Insane]

Well, I'd argue that he's not great on the 2nd ball. It looks like one of his biggest weaknesses to me - And "first choice 2nd-ball mid" sounds like something you've made up

Evatt specifically said Thomason was included in the play-off semi to help us win 2nd-balls against Barnsley.

The manager picked him for the biggest game of the season for that role, so I'm not sure how I'm making it up.

If you don't like the phrase...what would you prefer?

Christ I agree with Ghost. To me it’s pretty obvious that if you expect more transitions you pick Thomason over Sheehan or Morley because he’s going to cover the ground better and win the ball back better.

If you expect to dominate possession then Sheehan and Morley are more comfortable on the ball.

I would say though that Thomason for me is better at tempo on the ball…he is more of a move the game along type and at times that is where Morley and Sheehan get it wrong.

But Evatt in his summer coaching podcast was pretty clear about different skills sets for each position and I’m certain Thomason is that anticipate and react to the transitions pick.