January Transfer Window Thoughts & Rumours

[Head Honcho]

Unless they're playing in Italy Germany Spain or for PSG a three or four year contract with a Premier League team will always be more attractive to an agent and his player than the Champions League.

[Fox85]

1 hour ago, That_Dude said:

It's absolutely amazing how many have their head in the clouds. Of course he's going to leave a team a the top of the table, playing the CL, to join a mid-table club with no chance of european football just because we have the cash.

 

Seems legit.

Remember a few years back.

 

Man city

[StriderHiryu]

45 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

Surely, there must be some muppet playing for Sporting that we can get rogered for??  Come on Recruitment do your stuff for Christ's sake.

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/123761/Show/Bruno-Fernandes

 

Top scoring midfield player in Europe! Ripe for us to spend 30M on and then not score any goals whatsoever

 

In all seriousness I would like us to sign more creative players. The two spanish players Mendez and Olmo seemed promising. My hunch is that we won't sign any new players in January but in the summer regardless of who is in charge, quite a few players contracts expire so I think we will see another 3-4 total come in. But I'd love to see someone creative come in because otherwise the same type of performance we see consistently against teams in the bottom half of the table will continue. We are good enough to stay in the league comfortably but not good enough to break down teams that come to park the bus consistently. And the irony is of course that we set up to counter against the big boys it works for us! 1st world Leicester City problems!

[UniFox21]

9 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

David Silva is weak. 

Speaking of, is he growing back his mop?

Looked like he'd coloured his head in with marker pen at one point 

[That_Dude]

Just now, Fox85 said:

Remember a few years back.

 

Man city

We are still nowhere near Manchester City's spending power. We won the league and still weren't able to attract any big player.

 

The lad's in the Champions League and has great chances to get a home title with Ajax, while playing his football and getting more than enough exposure, with big clubs lurking around. Throwing all that away just to come here, mid-season, for a mid-table club in transition, in one of the toughest leagues of the world, with a lot of unknowns about the manager would be pure folly.

 

He'll never come in January. Never.

[Clarkey123]

I’d take joe Allen. Some may laugh but a solid all round midfielder who we  could realistically pinch from the championship to add some bite, would see him as a better option to have than silva

[Nick]

1 hour ago, foxfanazer said:

Not sure what was funny about that?

 

They'd set us back a fair bit I'd guess. What I mean is I don't want us stockpiling a load of panic buys in January. If we have to spend I'd like it to be on quality like Ziyech

Hey no offence it made me laugh because the post started all measured suggesting we shouldn’t spend and wound up saying well maybe a starting attacking midfielder and a striker! It went from a conservative approach to dropping 40-50 million!

[coolhandfox]

I've alway though Puel job is to be the bad cop and clear out the squad 

[siraaj_lcfc]

Really don't understand why some people want to sign Joe Allen. We're trying to improve our squad here! He ain't going to help us challenge the bigger clubs.

[Ric Flair]

17 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

Really don't understand why some people want to sign Joe Allen. We're trying to improve our squad here! He ain't going to help us challenge the bigger clubs.

I suppose it's because he would provide more goals than Ndidi and Mendy. There are better players out there but as January is a horrible month to recruit, he could be attainable to help out. Straight swap for King and Simpson.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

49 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I've alway though Puel job is to be the bad cop and clear out the squad 

Exactly what i was hoping for him to do. Sad thing is that is probably not too far off from including Vardy

[Keiriel]

I think our primary target should be a striker. It doesn't necessarily mean that I've given up on Iheanacho, but there's something that's stopping him from hitting the form that we expect from him. Whether or not it's down to a lack of confidence or a system issue, I don't know, but we can't keep over-relying on Vardy with his niggling injuries. Kelechi can still come good, but we need someone to be able to step up from the get-go so we can keep Vardy fresh for games against the top 6.

[foxfanazer]

1 hour ago, Swan Lesta said:

Hey no offence it made me laugh because the post started all measured suggesting we shouldn’t spend and wound up saying well maybe a starting attacking midfielder and a striker! It went from a conservative approach to dropping 40-50 million!

Yeah I see that now

 

I'd rather we didn't spend in all honesty but if we do I hope it ain't just for the sake of it

[Head Honcho]

30 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Exactly what i was hoping for him to do. Sad thing is that is probably not too far off from including Vardy

Well if Puel isnt going to play to Vardy's strengths he might as well go. The fact that clubs haven't really been queueing up to buy him speaks volumes. You have to be a very special player for any manager to do that and usually those special players have the ability to adapt anyway.

[siraaj_lcfc]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I suppose it's because he would provide more goals than Ndidi and Mendy. There are better players out there but as January is a horrible month to recruit, he could be attainable to help out. Straight swap for King and Simpson.

yeah but its like Ngolo again, Wilf and Papy are once a season scorers cuz they're CDM's. I mean u dont see many cdms scoring that often do you?

[MC Prussian]

Our back four looks sort of ok by now, thanks to the sudden rise of Ricardo Pereira.

 

Midfield and striker position(s) are the biggest concerns. We have too many defensive-oriented central midfielders (half of which don't play regularly) and only one who can add creativity going forward (in Maddison).

Also, our wingers - bar Albrighton - don't fill me with a lot of confidence. Gray is still too selfish in my eyes, very frustrating to watch, Diabaté has shown glimpses of genius, then badly faded away ever since and Ghezzal just doesn't look as if he's able to impose himself on Premier League matches, lightweight, error-prone and no punch going forward, harmless.

 

Not a big fan of this 4-2-3-1, Puel needs to come up with a Plan B or C, especially against teams that tend to sit back. A 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 would be nice for a change.

Vardy alone up front is not the answer, or let's say it only works if the midfield behind him is strong and physical and attacking-oriented and can support him going forward.

 

Need more punch and more creativity - and more goals from more sources. The stats with Vardy with six goals and Maddison with five as the team's leaders in that department after more than half of a season show how ineffective and tame we are on the attack.

Edited 31 December 2018 by MC Prussian

[Beechey]

4 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Our back four looks sort of ok by now, thanks to the sudden rise of Ricardo Pereira.

 

Midfield and striker position(s) are the biggest concern. We have too many defensive-oriented central midfielders and only one who can add creativity going forward (in Maddison).

Also, our wingers - bar Albrighton - don't fill me with a lot of confidence. Gray is still too selfish in my eyes, very frustrating to watch, and Ghezzal just doesn't look as if he's able to impose himself on Premier League matches, lightweight, error-prone and no punch going forward, harmless.

 

Not a big fan of this 4-2-3-1, Puel needs to come up with a Plan B or C, especially against teams that tend to sit back. A 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 would be nice for a change.

Vardy alone up front is not the answer, or let's say it only works if the midfield behind him is strong and physical and attacking-oriented and can support him going forward.

 

Need more punch and more creativity - and more goals from more sources. The stats with Vardy with six goals and Maddison with five as the team's leaders in that department after more than half of a season show how ineffective and tame we are on the attack.

Also shows how dire the league is, considering only 3 teams outside the top 6 have scored more goals than us.

[MC Prussian]

1 minute ago, Beechey said:

Also shows how dire the league is, considering only 3 teams outside the top 6 have scored more goals than us.

It's four teams - Watford, Everton, West Ham and Bournemouth.

 

Southampton are picking up the pace as of late, catching up, as well. So are Wolves.

 

For a team of our stature and league position, I for one would expect between five and ten more goals scored in our favour by now.

But that's all wishful thinking...

[Beechey]

5 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

It's four teams - Watford, Everton, West Ham and Bournemouth.

 

Southampton are picking up the pace as of late, catching up, as well. So are Wolves.

 

For a team of our stature and league position, I for one would expect between five and ten more goals scored in our favour by now.

But that's all wishful thinking...

Nah, Wolves are 1 goal below us currently. It's all irrelevant though. There are about 5 teams fighting the "best of the rest" title where the prize is nothing, the top 6 have the real competition.

I was wrong, it is 4, Bournemouth, Everton, West Ham and Watford, 3 of which are below us on the league table.

 

The issue would be so much more pronounced if our defence wasn't so solid. We have the joint lowest conceded along with Wolves outside the top 6.

Disagree on Southampton though, their last 5 games are 3 losses and 2 wins, and we're still 13 points ahead of them. I'm most worried about Everton and Wolves.

Edited 31 December 2018 by Beechey

[stu]

Well the transfer window has been open 27 minutes and we still haven’t signed anyone! Disgraceful!

 

Puel and Rudkin out!

[yks]

Betis is supposedly OK to sell Ryad Boudebouz for 12 M€.
He might be a good january buy, considering he can play AM or winger, I think he is better than Ghezzal and Puel might know him from Ligue 1.

[Ric Flair]

17 hours ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

yeah but its like Ngolo again, Wilf and Papy are once a season scorers cuz they're CDM's. I mean u dont see many cdms scoring that often do you?

Not many really, Cambiasso and that geezer from Palace who takes penos hit also scores rippers an'all.

[WestLothianFox]

On 31/12/2018 at 13:31, Head Honcho said:

Half my friends and family won't thank me for this but Alfredo Morelos could be worth looking at. Alternatively put an offer in for Arsenal's Reiss Nelson currently on loan at Hoffenheim. This kid just keeps improving.

A big no to Morelos, if you want a player from Rangers, the lad on loan from Liverpool, Ryan Kent looks decent

[Brizzle Fox]

45 minutes ago, WestLothianFox said:

A big no to Morelos, if you want a player from Rangers, the lad on loan from Liverpool, Ryan Kent looks decent

I think that just shows how awful the Scottish Prem is, as Kent was on loan at Bristol City last season and was genuinely awful. Not anywhere the class that we need.

[Deebhoy]

1 hour ago, Brizzle Fox said:

I think that just shows how awful the Scottish Prem is, as Kent was on loan at Bristol City last season and was genuinely awful. Not anywhere the class that we need.

Usual nonsense snobby bollocks.  Didn't harm Virgil Van Dyke.  BTW very few English players have made it outside England.