honeybradger

You could argue they have been set back 3-4 years. They would both be looking at lower championship/league one loans in the 23/24 season had they not been injured. Instead 3 years later they are both yet to have a full season at that level.

They played together for the England youth teams and Braybrooke was the better player at that time. Sadly Braybrooke got injured meanwhile Wharton started getting minutes for Blackburn's first team in the championship and eventually made the step up to Prem level while Braybrooke's career pretty much stalled until last season. Just goes to show how volatile football players' careers are but theoretically, if nurtured and trusted properly, there is a better player in Braybrooke than any we could reasonably attract in the market.

I'm not suggesting spending money or loans on backup players. I'm saying we should look to the academy. Why bring in Devenny when we could play Logan Briggs. One of the worst transfers we made in Soumare could have been avoided by trusting Dewsbury Hall.

The problem is that we bring in players to make up the numbers and they end up starting and tanking the club (Ayew, Cordova Reid) or they come in and aren't trusted enough to play (Édouard, Carranza, Aribo). Bringing in players to make up the bench just blocks opportunities for our own players.

We all know that's not how it works. We will have some stragglers next season and game time for our young talents is never guaranteed. Remember we brought in Aribo last season to keep Page off the bench. Bringing in a 3rd rate player to make up the numbers is never a good idea.

He's the Crystal Palace version of Hamza Choudhury, perhaps a worse player than Choudhury. Just because he's a squad player at Prem level doesn't mean he will be good as a starter at league one level. We have Braybrooke who was considered a bigger talent than Wharton before his injury FFS, just play him. Page as well has a future as a prem starter, something Devenny will never be. Look at what Palace fans have to say about him

Yh they were a nightmare to deal with on Dennis Praet and Victor Kristiansen. ...actually perhaps they were just being sensible not matching our asking price for rubbish players.

The senior players come back from holiday later don't they?

Had a pretty poor loan at Portsmouth. The question is whether that version of Conor Chaplin that tore up league 1 and the championship with Ipswich still exists or did he push himself past breaking point.

I guess I'll have to concede as he will know better than me. My understanding is that Peterborough are a similar team to us, trying too hard to be fancy and not doing enough of the basics, with Collins being no different. In my opinion we don't need more of what we currently are, we need hard working players. If that is actually what Collins is then he sounds like a good signing.

One of our biggest issues is that we get overrun in midfield too easily. That was also one of peterbough's biggest issues last season. A lack of defensive solidity and energy in midfield, at which Collins was supposedly the defensive component of. Collins is more of the same type of midfielder we already have and which has got us into so much trouble. A midfield controller without enough energy or defensive nous to sit at the base of midfield.

I think it's where you pass the ball around your backline to make sure the opponent doesn't have it.

Jose Fontes, Roma's current Head of Recruitment was probably the main big name scout we had on our books. Although he left in 2021. Back then we used to have around 15 first team scouts, now we only have academy level scouts and domestic recruitment analysts. Edit: we apparently have Sean St Ledger working as an international scout but he might be the only one.

Only Harry Winks could have the last two seasons he has had and still have fans refer to him as a top player. He's miles off the level of what should be expected from a starting midfielder for Leicester City. He's just a significantly worse version of Nampalys Mendy.

The Coady one was especially bad as Everton turned down a significantly lower option to buy (£2.5mil?) a month before we signed him. So somehow he wasn't worth £2.5mil to Everton, who aren't well run themselves and are known for overpaying. Yet we go and pay 200% more than that.

This was his last game for Monaco. If he hadn't soiled the bed in this game he might have got his move.

He needs that money to invest in property in the Heath.

The same Okonkwu that was ousted from Wrexham's starting XI by Danny Ward? F me.

He's going to be starting for us next season isn't he...

Mukasa still got almost as many minutes in half a season as Monga did in the whole season. You also had fans using Mukasa's early form as a stick to beat our academy players with. Lots of "this is why we can't call our talents generational as this guy is so much better". Also it didn't make sense as generational is only used from a Leicester perspective, we don't produce talents like Monga often. Of course he's not a once in a life time player from a national perspective.

The sad reality is that if Monga was on loan from Arsenal last season he would have gotten more game time and fans would have been more lenient on him when he wasnt impacting matches despite limited minutes.

It shows that there's a disparity between what the club expected of Winks and what he has delivered. Yes he was good alongside Dewsbury Hall, Ndidi and a fitter Ricardo but outside of that dominant squad he's been mediocre in the championship, nowhere near the level that his Prem wages would suggest.

Everyone would be happy if we signed the best young midfielder from league two who is also suited to the way our manager wants to play. We just happen to already have that player on our books so let's make use of him.

90k, 60k, 45k, doesnt matter. It's still far more than we can afford and what he deserves. The average championship wage is £10k a week and the average league one wage is £5k a week so Winks should be somewhere between that.