AKCJ

We did well to have Chelsea's pants down with Fofana but he was playing to a top-end Premier League standard as a teenager. It's no wonder they were keen. But every other player went for a price less than that of which they were valued at at the time of injury.

I get that these things take time but it's a bit ridiculous that the season starts tomorrow with no genuine number 9 in the squad given we've known for well over a year now that we'd be going into this season without a striker.

Worst part about this is only one of these injuries came on the pitch for a Leicester City first team league game. 1. Alves - assaulted in a youth team game. 2. Braybrooke - League cup game against Newport County. 3. Ricardo - League game against Villa. 4. Justin - FA Cup game against Brighton. 5. Fofana - Pre-season friendly. 6. Fatawu - International friendly for Ghana. 7. Souttar - Injured on loan against Burnley for Sheffield Utd. 8. Nelson - Pre-season friendly.

So since 2020 I make it 8 significant ligament injuries. 1. Alves. 2. Braybrooke. 3. Ricardo. 4. Justin. 5. Fofana. 6. Fatawu. 7. Souttar. 8. Nelson I think Ethan Fitzhugh also did his knee. The timings of them all have been horrendous too. If you were to ask us what price those players would have cost at the time you're looking at a good combined £200m I reckon.

Yep club captain for me. Clearly got leadership skills and should be a step above anything in League 1. He owes us a season IMO. Only 27 too so it's not like his career is over. He should have another 6/7 years in him.

I.e. if someone comes in and matches your wages with a longer contract you can go.

I don't think anyone would, because those finances obviously mean we'd be spending more in the 2 year scenario. Ultimately we should be signing players like Burns (players aged 30 or more) on this criteria. 1. Cheap transfer fee. 2. Cheap wages. 3. 2 years or less contract. We're in the shit financially. I don't think people realise how bad things are (still, which is mad). We are gambling the clubs future on getting out of this league at the first attempt and we'll probably end up in hot water with the EFL again for doing it. Yes Burns will be a good player at this level. Maybe not quite as great as some Ipswich fans might have you believe but still we should be getting 10-15 goal contributions from him. However, we're spending upwards of 3m on him and at the end of that he'll have no sell on fee and we already know his ceiling. Plus he's coming off the back of a really nasty injury and we have all seen with Fofana, Justin, Ricardo, Alves and Braybrooke how long it takes to get over these injuries and that you're never the same. It's just a crazy, unnecessary risk when we already have the likes of Mavididi, Alves, Watson and BDCR who are all at a similar level.

Alves, Braybrooke and now Nelson. 3 of our brightest academy prospects that, while we were in the Premier League in 2022 or so, would have been viewed as future high end Premier League players. All with major injuries, none sustained in league football. He's out of contract next summer as well which just sums it all up.

Yeah there's no way we're dropping £3m on a non-league player.

Massively exciting player but surely not now we've signed Cullen, Watson and Burns? With Alves, Mavididi, BDCR, Cullen, Watson and Burns we're surely absolutely fine in terms of wingers?

We now seem overbooked in our attacking midfield/wide options. Nice to have 4 genuine options on the wings in Mavididi, Alves, Watson and Burns who are all completely different to each other. I suspect that Chaplin and Cullen will be the two main options behind the striker (I suspect that a lot of the time one of them will be the striker). Leaves BDCR and Page really struggling to get into a front 4 but I suspect BDCR is massively on the 'sell at any price' list and I actually think I prefer Page playing from a slightly deeper role. Something like this could easily be our end of season team. This assumes Nelson's injury is serious with Skipp, Hamza, BDCR and Faes leaving. Stolarcyzk Aluko Okoli Souttar McFarlane Page Braybrooke Burns Chaplin Watson Bristric McCarthy, Joseph, Gray, Neale, Cullen, Mavididi, Alves If Skipp does leave he will need replacing. We'd be incredibly light in midfield. That squad would be very young too. Average age of roughly 23 years 250 days.

Is that emoji directed at me or the club?

It's been a big problem position for Leeds for years. Fixing it was their biggest priority.

It is but he's pretty much guaranteed to be England number 1 for a 10 year stretch. I would say that he's worth that. He's a fantastic keeper.

Lets pretend it's only 15k a week. It's over three times the annual League 1 salary... for a 31 year old with a terrible recent injury record. For three years.

20k a week is a million quid a year.

We will be paying him 3m in wages btw.

Would save us a few quid if he does.

Two of the best wingers to ever grace the Premier League??

I suspect he's got offers on the table and will likely know what he wants but he probably can't be arsed with pre-season.

He can still be a massive, massive success without hitting the heights of Yamal or Bellingham to be fair.

I don't think you have to sign players who are on Premier League/Championship money with a clear limitation (neither Cullen, Burns or Chaplin have achieved much in the Championship). So now we're signing players that will be Championship squad players on Championship first team wages next season as the best case scenario. With the worst case scenario being a failure to get promoted and having these players on massive wages for 3 years while the atmosphere turns toxic again. We had the same reviews of good behaviour and "he'll do well for you" from the likes of Palace (Ayew), Spurs (Skipp and Winks) and Fulham (BDCR). We do need experience but we need players with a point to prove. We don't need players here for their last big pay day.

It's an opportunity to transform into a club with a proud tradition of transitioning players from the academy to the first team. We're desperate to copy Southampton yet their record of bringing players through their academy in the 2000s/2010s is something we should aspire to. I also have been envious of Man United's record of naming a player in their matchday squad from their academy. I think it's something like 90 years on the trot.

But he does? Didn't pull up trees for Ipswich in the Championship or Premier League.