kingfox

Signing a Russian with the World as it currently is, the King Power Stadium windows would get bricked.

The Scandinavian radar has heated up... Probably need someone more proven, but a potential striker option...

Team Rose, but no doubt one of the pesky Americans will win it.

One of the greats, RIP Ray

#WelcomeFotisIoannidis(Probably off to Bologna or Sporting but one can dream)

Get this done ASAP so the confusion can stop on which position this lad will actually play.

We were linked with Zalazar last summer, can play in a deep midfield role or further forward, maybe we revisit the interest 🤔

I’m guessing this is aimed at me? If so, as he played off the right last season he wasn’t really someone I looked at, I was focusing more on players that had played central. After digging into Soule’s underlying creative numbers from last season, they compare very similarly to KDH, so I can see why we’re heavily interested in him.

Roma were supposedly very interested in him, but those links seem to have cooled in recent weeks. Giannis Konstantelias of PAOK would probably be a little cheaper than those I’ve mentioned. Santiago Rodriguez of New York City would probably be too much of a gamble, but his creative numbers at the start of the MLS season have been excellent. A couple of others in Belgium in Hong Hyun-seok and Bilal El Khannouss are coming off good seasons. Final shout would be Cristo Gonzalez of Arouca, he posted some excellent numbers in Portugal last season.

Both myself and Ric were eying up Azaz in January for one of the ‘8’ slots, but of course Leicester didn’t have the money and he ended up at Middlesbrough. Of course it depends on what formation we go with, do we go with two 8’s again or a single 10, but if we’re willing to chuck £30 odd million at Soule, then the following five are the standouts for me... Matt O’Reilly Gabriel Sara Oscar Gloukh Sebastian Szymanski Cameron Puertas(Who you’ve mentioned yourself)

Interesting shout mate. I’d put him on the same wavelength as Ludovic Blas and Romain Faivre, one of those players that have stood out in a lower end Ligue 1 side, but has the capabilities of potentially playing for a better team in France or a lower half Premier League team. He can be very inconsistent, but when he’s played well for Clermont, very much like Blas did at Nantes and Faivre did at Brest, Cham has looked a class above.

Isn’t that usually our theme though Ric? All our wide options last season were proficient defensively, Reid replaces Albrighton, while someone imo should replace McAteer, a back up to Mavididi was ideally needed last season. We’ll see what happens, but maybe Cooper like Maresca wants his wingers to graft defensively, rather than being the type that are too bone idle to track back.

Not many realistic British based strikers whet the appetite, but with names like Che Adams and Josh Sargent being bandied about, surely Elijah Adebayo or Carlton Morris of Luton would be better options, both managed double figures in the Premier League last season.

The Brazil Serie A season is still in its early stages so stats can be a little skewed. But his defensive stats during the 2023 season for Palmeiras make for decent reading. Successful Defensive Actions per90 - 10.24 Defensive Duels per90 - 10.41 Defensive Duels Won - 58.37% Also going through his heat maps, he seems very much a RCM, sometimes sitting in a more deeper role.

It’s been very evident over the past season that wingers with good defensive input seems to be our theme. Fatawu, Mavididi, Albrighton and McAteer all gave us good input on the defensive end last season. Replacing that defensive graft that we’ve lost with Albrighton, with the signing of De-Cordova Reid is hardly a surprise. I can’t see McAteer being good enough for the Premier League, therefore there’s an open space for someone to be competition for Mavididi. I have to say I’m not surprised Saelemaekers is linked again, going through his defensive input during his seasons with AC Milan, he averaged slightly higher than what Fatawu gave us last season, in terms of defensive actions and duels per90. But looking across the leagues, Saelemaekers is the type of player I’d rather take on loan. I’d preferably prefer someone more homegrown, I’d use Jon Rowe at Norwich for example, good potential, potentially good sell on value, can play right, left and central and had similar defensive input than Fatawu last season.

As you’ve mentioned him before @Ric Flair thoughts on Salvatore Esposito as a potential Winks alternative? Seems to be a midfield dictator, but has a bit more about him in terms of ball progression and defensive work 🤔

Wolves are the only ones to be mentioned so far mate. They could either cash in on Ait Nouri or move Hugo Bueno on from the articles I’ve seen.

Mentioned him last week as a potential target for LB, was arguably the best left-back in Portugal last season. Unsurprisingly Wolves have been linked with him, so might well be them.

Just looking at his time at Norwich, he is basically Harry Winks with a bit more bite. https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/player-analysis-oliver-skipp/ https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/a-passer-with-a-bit-of-fight-media-insight-on-oliver-skipp Quite surprised that some fans think we don’t need another deep-lying playmaker. Not every signing is going to strengthen our starting 11, there’s three back-up spots that need filling in our squad, an alternative to Winks being one of them.

An alternative to Winks is a space that clearly needs filling, it would’ve been filled last season if Sensi had joined. Putting all our hopes in Sammy Braybrooke as our back up to Winks is too much of a gamble imo. Bin off Soumare, get in an alternative to Winks(Maybe Skipp), then potentially integrate Braybrooke as our fifth choice holding midfielder.

Think he was linked a couple of seasons back if I remember rightly 🤔 A bit meh, but would add depth in the wide areas that we ideally need.

Our winger

Same Vibes.

Hopefully Bobby Mac hasn’t peaked a week too early, really fancy him to do well at The Open.