honeybradger

I dont think it's over the top to say that he's arguably better than what we have now. Just having a midfielder who is willing to regularly make a tackle is an improvement, then you factor in Mattsson's ball playing ability on top of it and he looks like the complete package whereas our midfielders certainly do not. You have to consider that our midfield has been woeful this season against what should be weak opposition in Wednesday, Huddersfield, Preston and Charlton. It's not like they are performing at such a high level where you cant compare them to players who are actually performing well in weaker leagues, I would bet most teams in those leagues would look more comfortable against those opposition than we have.

Most Leicester fans would say Bilal was one of our few bright sparks last season, Ipswich fans consider Philogene and Clarke to be a joke. Perception amongst the fans that watch them week in week out is important in telling if a player is good or not, it's not all about stats.

My question is whether our scouting department are actually unaware of these players, which is unlikely, or if the reason we dont go for them is because the higher ups veto any player that doesnt meet their requirements in terms of experience. By all accounts we regularly have scouts attend matches in the Scandinavian leagues.

Considering we spent £25mil on Skipp, £20mil on Soumare, £8mil on Winks, Norwich signing Mattsson for £2.7mil who is arguably better than those 3 really hammers it home how poorly we are run and how much we consistently overpay for players.

Finn Azaz is not better than Bilal. There are loads of players who have done well at championship level similar to Finn Azaz and couldnt translate it to the PL in recent memory such as Jack Clarke, Philogene, Summerville etc. Look at what Ispwich fans think of Clarke and Philogene for example after getting 20 g+a at championship level, theyre looked upon as competition winners over there. Bilal by having a half decent season at PL level is already significantly ahead of a 20 g+a championship player who is unproven at that level.

Just noticed that Adem Zorgane went to USG for 4.3million euros. We should have been all over that, better than all our current midfielders. Although arguably USG are a more attractive club than us now.

If this is true then probably accept whatever is offered honestly and go for another attacking midfielder. We need to stop the rot at the club before it gets any worse. Not going to fully take this source at face value though as it seems unreliable.

Nail meets head. The lack of commitment from Winks has been plainly there to see on the pitch for the last year or so. Him getting frozen out by Van Nistelrooy is just being used as an excuse for him at this point. You don't need to speculate what went down between him and Van Nistelrooy when you can judge for yourself whether Winks's attitude has been acceptable. Had he never been frozen out my opinion would remain the same, we cannot rely on Winks going into this season as he checked out of the club this time last year. It's just surprising at this point that a year on and some fans still haven't caught on. I have a feeling "i defended him at the start of the season but after his performance today i can no longer do so" is going to be fairly common in a couple months time.

This won't happen. AC Milan won't want to pay the money required for us to break even on him. They probably were only looking at him as a loan as he wasnt starting for us but now he is so we won't loan him and he will likely be happier to stay.

He got moved back to u21s football then got injured against Liverpool u21s and didn't make an appearance in the most recent game against Reading u21s. Hopefully nothing too serious as with Justin and hopefully Kristiansen leaving it's the ideal opportunity for him to challenge for a starting spot.

Any news on his injury by the way?

I dont disagree (maybe £30mil was more realistic though). I was very much on the Hermansen bandwagon back in November before his injury. My original comment was in reference to fans being disappointed with only getting £20mil this summer, which is in the context of his post-injury loss of form and risk of getting re injured. Given the situation we did well to get £20mil and I think only unreasonable people were finding issue with that deal at the time. Edit: actually I think I misunderstood LFox99's comment in the first place, my bad

Before his injury maybe, even then he wasnt good at claiming crosses and corners like Trafford is I assumed the quote i was replying to was referring to us selling him for £40mil this summer, which was entirely unrealistic given his loss of form and injury risk. We did well to sell him given the circumstances.

I dont think any reasonable person was saying that Hermansen was worth £40mil...

To be fair that Botafogo goalkeeper looks rubbish. Hermansen shouldn't have any problem coming out on top against him. Maybe Areola ends up being their starting goalkeeper though.

I hate to bang on the xG, xA drum but he massively outperformed in both last season. Say he reverts to 9 goals 3 assists next season would our fans be happy with that output? Only slightly better than Ndidi was for us last time in the championship and that's not even his natural game. There are just so many better, younger, cheaper players available that this transfer just doesnt make sense to me.

Sheaf is coming back from an injury. If he was available we should be all over him but he will be a starter at Coventry when fit and likely costs too much

I remember when Ryan Fraser got 7 goals 14 assists at PL level and our fans were raving about him due to his stats, ignoring everything else about him. Unsurprisingly he never reached those heights again. This is a similar situation, yes Browhill's numbers are good but the player himself is not particularly good. There's a good chance that he never recreates those numbers he got last season in the championship again, he just doesnt have the record for it. Especially considering he will be at a new club as well I just cannot see him maintaining those numbers.

Kristiansen out and Keita Kosugi in and we're laughing. Even with just Kristiansen out and we're still laughing honestly.

Case and point even Charlton who were in league 1 last season have a better 6 in Conor Coventry. Winks is seriously average and replaceable.

To get Celtic/Charlotte FC to pay up or give a better contract?

Winks and Soumare shouldnt be used as a measuring stick for any wages going forwards, their contracts are horrific. £50k a week for a known injury prone player like Stengs is still a lot.

This was always the fear when we started making good sales was that we weren't going to be any better at buying. In the short term this transfer can backfire so easily when we really can not afford for it to backfire and in the long term he is guaranteed to be injured at some point.

With Nico Paz rejecting Spurs i can see them buying El Khannouss for our asking price. Not sure who their alternative would be.

Anselmo Macnulty's contract runs out at the end of season and has started the season strongly. Would be a good purchase if we can get Faes out the door.