StriderHiryu

Definitely possible. I think it's notable that the two interested teams are an MLS team and a Championship team. Why is that? Most likely because it's hard to gauge how good a player is in the Norwegian league. At the same time Stephy Mavididi for me at the start of the season did not look like a Premier League player, but in recent months after acclimatising to our system and gaining confidence does now look like one. So I imagine this player is at around that level. We know we tried to get James McAtee in the summer, and with Sheffield United likely to go down, we might be waiting for him?

Dean Smith is now head coach in the USA and his new team are making a bid for Gronbaek. At this price, surely we would be interested? Smith is known for using a data led approach to recruitment, so no doubt saw Albert popping off in the progressive carrying and passing stats in Norway.

No, because he’s been disappointing on the pitch thus far. But what we do know is that he was signed by Inter and Chelsea and was both Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner at the U20 World Cup. In that tournament he genuinely looked excellent. The potential is there.

The biggest difference for me today was his decision-making. In the past, Casadei has looked lost out on the pitch. Today he played several forward passes first or second time into great areas to give opportunities to others. He found Cannon a few times for example. His assist showed he can play a first time ball into a dangerous area. His touch still worries me a bit. There was a moment where he picked up the ball, spun and then drove forwards imperiously. And then... a clumsy touch and the move was over. For him to get to the next level, at that moment of the move he needs to pick the right pass and execute it. He’s been guilty of that type of thing far too often in his time here so far. I have a feeling he might be with us again on loan next season, but he'd have to have a lot more appearances of this quality to achieve that.

How much did we pay? 8.5M? That looks a bargain based on the last few games! This guy can finish. In terms of composure and instinctive finishing, he looks like the best we have at the club. He should have scored more than one goal today, but this is his first run of games in the team, and even his misses were pretty close. I am impressed!

Very good in the cup game. He played as the Winks replacement and in this one, the opposition pressed up high and tried to disrupt the double pivot. Hamza didn't put a foot wrong all game long, and several times received the ball under heavy pressure and dealt with it very well. Not just playing it back the way it came, but moving it onwards progressively. Defensively, he was also excellent. I was critical of him in the last game, in this one he was my MOTM. In that position, you need confidence that if you give him the ball, he will look after it and get us out of trouble. I felt he did that all game long and Stolarczyk should have used him more often!

Lucky to win that, but we made a lot of changes, so perhaps not unexpected. Ben Nelson was really solid and quietly impressive. Casadei had his best game for me. Still made a few brainfart decisions, but he played some great passes into Cannon and got himself a goal and assist. This was the first time I thought "he could have a future with us". Cannon is very exciting! I think he should have scored more than one though! Choudhury for me was man of the match. Never gave the ball away and made some great defensive contributions.

I would agree with you. Cannon to me does look like a natural finisher. At the time of writing he missed a one on one, but even then the way he got onto it, set his body shape and wrapped his foot around the ball was all excellent, ultimately the keeper made a great save. Cannon's movement, instinct to be in the right place and instinctive snapshot / decision-making is very good. There are some strikers that just are seemingly born with composure and don't rush their decision at the most important moment. In his time at Preston and now in his small number of appearances here, it looks like we have a ruthless front-man. There are lots of other areas that could do with improvement, but overall it makes a lot of sense why we've signed him. Finishing is the hardest thing to improve for a striker. Link-up play and positional awareness is easier, especially when you play inside a system like we do.

Wow Cannon looks legit! His composure is fantastic. Earlier on he had a great shot with his left foot that was also the hallmarks of a top player. Very exciting to see!

Millwall had a fantastic half, peppered our goal with shots, but are 2-0 down. Football, it's a funny old game Not a surprise to see a disjointed performance with so many changes, but also a testament to Enzo and his team's coaching that we can score goals like the second one.

What a fantastic move that was! Sexy one touch passing and finish! Casadei one goal and one assist

Always rated Casadei

Feels like he's putting pressure on the club to get some signings done. Especially as he's let slip the Ndidi news! I'm not stressed though, someone will come in for sure. We've got the money, the appeal and now the space to register one more player!

I agree with that, but to be fair, no one that came into his place looked anywhere near as good as Wilf did. We were never going to go through this season without at least one notable injury, given how many games there are. In fact, it's inevitable that this happens to more players. It's a shame for Wilf though, I hope that doesn't spell the end of his career. I think he's done enough to get a new contract, though he's someone I think will end up in Saudi as they will probably jump at the chance to sign him for no transfer fee and the wages they are willing to pay are insane.

Good luck to him, did a decent job for us in trying circumstances. This opens the squad up for a new arrival, so looking forwards to seeing who comes in.

Soumare is technically very good on the ball, and has experience playing in a double pivot. He might have been able to play the Harry Winks role in the team. The biggest downside to our system for Soumare is that when we lose the ball, we look to recover it extremely quickly, we are clearly implementing the "8-second rule" Guardiola devised when losing the ball. Winks doesn't get that many tackles and interceptions stats wise, but in EVERY game we play, his defensive work is outstanding. As soon as someone loses it (let's be honest, it's rarely Winks that loses it), he busts a lung to get close to the opposition and crowd them out along with 2-3 other players. Soumare has always struggled in that aspect of the game. Someone could get a tune out of him, but I don't ever see him becoming a French national team player.

I agree, another 8 would make the biggest difference. The level between KDH / Ndidi and Casadei / Yunus is very notable. However, to get a really top class one, it might make sense to wait till the summer. Players are more likely to move in the summer and as a Premier League club definitively, will have more pull. That said, Gronbaek looks like a good player to me.

https://theathletic.com/5137265/2024/01/04/leicester-city-january-transfer-window-2024/?source=user-shared-article TLDR: A left-footed defender and No 8 are priorities Previous January transfers haven't been too successful We need to let people leave first We have a number of senior players coming to the end of their contract We need to add some competition around the midfield

Maresca wants 2 players for every position. By the start of next season we will have 2 sets of high quality wingers for each side!

I think Diallo would start, even over Fatawu. He's seriously good!

That’s an interesting one because his preferred foot is his right foot. But like JJ he can play either side and perhaps more crucially I believe he could play in the inverted fullback role and is extremely versatile. He’d be exactly the sort of signing we’d have made during the Macia era where we signed players like Maddison, Ricardo and Ndidi. He’d be a great pickup.

We were after him in the summer, but his injury scuppered any move to either us or Sunderland. His best foot is his left, but he's not too bad with his right either, so in theory could provide competition for both sides. The player we signed instead of Diallo worked out massively in Fatawu, but for the Premier League we need competition for both Fatawu and Mavididi. Yunus seems better as CAM, McAteer might end up being loaned again to the Championship next season. It's an easy yes from me, he's a great player. Might have even more potential than Fatawu!

Finn Azaz is a good championship player, but I'm not sure he'd cut it in the Premier League. Same with Jordan James. Both have potential though for sure. Harry Winks was an amazing signing because you knew he'd be a good Premier League player. I always had some reservations with Coady (didn't get into the Wolves team, Everton didn't want him) but he still fits the bill of being a player that is good enough to play in the top flight. That's why the Carvalho signing makes some sense, though if it's not gone an option to buy then I'm not sure if it's such a good signing either, though who knows maybe it will end up being an 18 month loan deal instead. Andrey Santos I'd be keen on having a closer look at. Can we trade in Casadei to get him? Of all the people we've been linked to Gronbaek is by far the most interesting, now that Beraldo went to PSG.

I feel like things are lining up for something like this to happen. It's funny because our relegation was 100% self-inflicted, the club didn't act to remove Rodgers fast enough, even two more games earlier probably would have made the difference. But at the same time, that season it we could not spend due to FFP, whereas other clubs did. Forest signed like 25+ players that same season. Leicester City would be well within their right to sue the shit out of those clubs / the league if we adhered to the rules and others didn't. Given the stakes of the Premier League, it's not outrageous to suggest we could end up with quite a big windfall as a result, though it would probably take years to go through various courts. I think we will end up with a pretty decent chunk of change from all this, given the precedent of West Ham paying Sheffield United 30M after the Tevez affair.

Riccy P should have had a hat trick today!