January Transfer Window Thoughts & Rumours

[Gerard]

On 26/10/2018 at 10:36, StriderHiryu said:

My personal opinion is that Puel intended for the right inside forward position to be filled by either Diabate or Gray who would compete with one another. However, Diabate had a shocking pre-season, so Puel deicded to buy a "stop-gap" or squad player. IE someone that could come in and add some value, but wouldn't be a marquee signing and prevent the opportunity for Gray and Diabate to play.

 

Compare Chilwell and Gray's situation. Chilwell *was* put ahead of Fuchs and though it took a little while to learn he's now undisputed first choice for both Leicester and arguably England. But Gray was behind Mahrez who we were trying to keep and is one of the best players we've ever had. So he didn't get the opportunity to play and so is behind Chilwell development wise. If we signed another blockbuster signing, then Gray would realise he would never get a first team opportunity because after being behind Mahrez, he'd be behind the next player we signed too and would probably leave.

 

With Ghezzal I think the idea is that it's Gray who is first choice and Ghezzal that rotates with him for cup matches or to come on as a sub. This way we have a more experienced player to call on but Gray gets his game time. Before he got injured, Gray was quite good... not on Chilwell's level but definitely the best we've seen him for the club so far. Ghezzal has been average at best, but he has scored two goals and made some assists. So he might be indifferent, but he's added some value.

At least this is my take on it.

 

Should have got Ghezzal on loan if that was the case. Monaco were desperate to get rid and would have been open to a loan and we could have had an option to buy. He looks what we thought he would be. Not terrible but mediocre and we'll struggle to move him on. At 26 there is little hope for improvement either.

 

Monaco managed to shift their forward to Southampton for £19m who was awful for Monaco and now awful for Southampton. These foreign clubs must love PL clubs who spend their money without due diligence. 

[Gerard]

On 26/10/2018 at 11:06, StriderHiryu said:

Well you got me there!

He did bring him on to the right wing versus Huddersfield second half though, with Nacho, Vardy, Maddison and Gray all playing up top. So we might go for that again?

Regardless I do think we should have got a better quality winger as not replacing Mahrez like-for-like was always asking for trouble. But we were linked with Patrick Roberts in a swap deal so it seems like we were always thinking about a younger player instead of the finished article, probably as part of the plan to bring through more younger players. 
 

That looks like a bullet dodged.

 

Went to two bob Spanish outfit Girona and has made six sub appearances. 

 

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/136462/Show/Patrick-Roberts

[lcfc sheff]

2 hours ago, Bablemikey said:

Might be really entertaining to have Zlatan up front for half a season.

From LA to Leicester 

[JamesWelshFox]

Out - Wes (top bloke but gone at this level), Simmo (like Wes gone at this level), Ghezzal (just not suited to this league), Iborra (think he has gone over the hill too), James (good lad but never fit), Shinji (absolute star but we need a striker who scores goals), Nacho (just not happening for him here, not sure he is going to kick on at this level).

 

Keep Kingy he is Mr Leicester and will sure fill the boots vacated by The Birch someday. He is also a brilliant example of a good pro and can pass a lot on to our youngsters.

 

Puel, I am so mixed. He is moving us forward, changing the way we play and bringing on our youngsters, but is he getting enough out of the talent we have and can he manage the likes of Vards ?

 

If we are serious about moving on I think Top is going to have to break the bank to get a top manager who will bring some top talent with him. I can't fault Top or the money he has put into our Club but now is about his ambition more than anybody else. Break the bank financially, challenge Simeone to show how good he is and that he is as good as other top managers in this division, and give him the cash. Maybe not realistic.

 

So get Eddie Howe, get him to bring Wilson and King with him, maybe Frazer too, think he would be a good fit for us

[Fightforever]

We really need a vardy partner and/or eventual successor as a transfer priority now.

Vardy can't work as a alone striker.

[Master Fox]

Callum Wilson. 

 

 

[lgfualol]

29 minutes ago, Fightforever said:

We really need a vardy partner and/or eventual successor as a transfer priority now.

Vardy can't work as a alone striker.

He could have had a few goals in the last few games but keeps fluffing it. Not sure it is always the systems fault.

[lcfcsnow]

4 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

He could have had a few goals in the last few games but keeps fluffing it. Not sure it is always the systems fault.

I know I keep going on about it but changing boots at this stage in his career was wrong. He’s had 3/4 years wearing Nike hypervenom and now he’s gone to an Adidas boot. It’s not just his finishing it’s his general touch and passing it’s reminiscent of when he first joined which leads me to think he’s not comfortable playing in them.

[Fightforever]

3 hours ago, lgfualol said:

He could have had a few goals in the last few games but keeps fluffing it. Not sure it is always the systems fault.

True,

But even then a target man wouldn't do us any harm and plus he's only goning to get older.

[sacreblueits442]

On 26/10/2018 at 14:20, Stadt said:

We need a RB, a CM, a LW, and a RW. We won't even get all of those in the summer let alone in January

....Clyne as a RB, we need someone who can run the team, pulling all the strings like a Shelvy type... so Shelvy, switch Ricardo to left wing and get Roberts in on the right. 

 We would still be holding to the Puel policy of youth but just bringing in some experience for balance. 

 

[Mehrez]

We should go back in for Malcolm, there were reports we were interested in the summer before Barcelona came in and his move there hasn’t worked out playing only 114 minutes since joining and seemingly is out of favour. Could provide that touch of class at RW we’ve been missing.

[surrifox]

50 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....Clyne as a RB, we need someone who can run the team, pulling all the strings like a Shelvy type... so Shelvy, switch Ricardo to left wing and get Roberts in on the right. 

 We would still be holding to the Puel policy of youth but just bringing in some experience for balance. 

 

How is Roberts going to improve the team ?

[urban.spaceman]

57 minutes ago, Mehrez said:

We should go back in for Malcolm, there were reports we were interested in the summer before Barcelona came in and his move there hasn’t worked out playing only 114 minutes since joining and seemingly is out of favour. Could provide that touch of class at RW we’ve been missing.

No chance sadly. They paid £40m for him so I doubt they’d be willing to make a loss on him. 

[RumbleFox]

                   Kasper

Ricardo Maguire Evans Chilwell

          Ndidi Loftus-Cheek

  Rashford Maddison Gray

                    Vardy

[Mehrez]

1 hour ago, urban.spaceman said:

No chance sadly. They paid £40m for him so I doubt they’d be willing to make a loss on him. 

Agreed they won’t make a loss, but if we want to be challenging for the top 6 we will have to match those who are also competing (Everton). Do you know what our net spend ended up as in the summer? Some ITK’s on here reckoned we had 50 mil to spend add on the Mahrez money and I’d guess there’s a fair bit left

Edit: just found it, £85 mil in and £103 mil out, so £18 mil net 

[MGLCFC]

Unless Vardy is not fit, I feel that he has lost a yard of pace, unless defenders are getting quicker. If he has lost pace, then his main asset has gone and he may only score 10 to 15 goals this season. (3 I believe so far, 2 from open play). We need new blood and not just base our attack around Vardy in my opinion. Would like a target man, who doesn't mind being on the bench (I thought someone like Crouch could have done a job for us in the last 15 minutes of a game if we were chasing it. We have no one in that mould playing for us at the moment). Is KI the answer, probably not.

I am sure our scouting staff will be on top of this, but like most purchases it could be a real gamble if we only pay peanuts. If you want to compete with Everton and potentially West Ham, upwards of 50 million on a top class striker is required.

[mozartfox]

For a target man, Milan Pavkov?  Seems to know where the goal is, all be it in the Serbian League.  Should be cheaper than getting fleeced in Portugal.

[Gav_LCFC14]

The ironic thing is, Krameric would be a perfect fit in the team now. 

[Blue ROI]

Piatek from genoa would be a good option. 

 

Would cost a fair bit though. 

[Guest]

Rashford.

[m4DD0gg]

Someone capable of holding the ball up

[lcfc sheff]

Rashford on loan would be brilliant, don’t want to panic but that contract for vardy seems a little silly now 

[lcfc sheff]

We should probably raid Ligue 1 for players again, anyone will do x

[Master Fox]

Agree with Rashford. Would fit into our team perfectly. 

 

Here's a list to send to Rudkin and Top. 

 

Rashford

Callum Wilson

Loftus-Cheek

Malcom 

 

Job done. 

[StriderHiryu]

Too much emphasis on transfers to fix our team without giving time to the players we already have. Slimani, Silva, Musa... all among the most expensive signings the club has ever made but not worked out. (I had high hopes for Silva but he can't even get into the match day squad). Transfers aren't always the solution.

 

Prior to the Burnley game we had scored in every game this season. Against them we had an effort cleared off the goal line, a header against the bar, Gray was one on one versus the keeper, Albrighton hit it straight at Hart and Shinji had a free header at the end. We did everything but score! And given the emotional trauma and tiring trip to Thailand in the last two weeks I have never been more proud of my club or city. It was a really decent performance that deserved a win.

 

We are clearly missing Mahrez, which is like saying the Sky is blue. He is a top class player and showing that for Man City. He might have been greedy but Mahrez after Vardy was our next highest goalscorer and also chief creative influence. Any team would struggle to replace a player of such quality. We can blame our recruitment team for not getting an adequate replacement, but it's meant that Gray can start more games and he had a great game yesterday and needs more game time to improve. Even Riyad took a full season to really adapt to the Premier League before he smashed it, Vardy took a while, etc. So we must be patient.

 

Also in terms of similar players that other teams have brought:

- Elynoussi of Southampton is nicknamed "Anoymoussi" by their fans.

- Schurrle has scored a few goals for Fulham, yet they are bottom of the league.
- Jahanbasksh of Brighton has not scored or assisted yet.
- Felipe Anderson has been very good, but was a huge purchase.
- Bernard was very good against us, but don't think we ever stood a chance to get him.

- Ghezall has scored twice (one in the cup) and had some decent games. I thought he was quite good versus Burnley and showed his adaptability by playing as the 10 in Maddison's absence.

So I don't think we've really missed out massively on anyone that perhaps we could have signed. A lot of posters say sign another striker, but we let go of Ulloa and Slimani because we are only going to play one up top. If anything you could make an argument for bringing back Slimani and / or Barnes who both have an eye for goal though are currently in weaker leagues. Those talking about Kramaric are spot on though, he's class we knew he was class and it was a bit reckless to sell him and sign Slimani / Musa instead to put it mildly.

 

I know midtable isn't pulling up any trees but it's giving our young players time to develop. I think giving Gray and Maddison time to develop this season will improve us a lot, but there is no short cut to getting experience for players like this. And realistically in terms of transfers we'd be hoping the team pull another rabbit out of the hat to really find another star turn, and transfers like Kante / Mahrez don't happen often. Diabate looked very good initially, but what's happened to him? He failed to take his chance it seems.

The elephant in the room for all of this is Ihenacho. He's had some good games for us but had way too many average ones. Yesterday was another example of him coming on... but us playing worse. He is young, but extremely frustrating to see play. Gray went through a similar spell and seemingly has started to improve again, so I hope the same is true with Nacho, but he and Silva so far given their price tags have been the biggest disappointments of the current squad for me.

In summary, I think we should stick with what we have and make decisions in the summer. We won't go down, so let's give our young players time to develop and then assess the situation.