Football 2024/25

[thetime]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

Ah yeah I'd forgotten about him. But still, a huge number of the big names going to Saudi are 30+

 

Yes 100%

 

 

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, thetime said:

 

 

You really think a player is turning down Newcastle down for Man Utd, because of money? Unless you are Shearer you are not doing it. 

 

Which Champions league qualifiers has he turned down? Can't imagine it being Liverpool, Arsenal or City. 

The Athletic's David Ornstein, widely regarded as a trusted source on transfers, named Arsenal and Newcastle as teams interested. I had thought I'd seen Spurs as well but can't find proof of that one.

 

Admittedly I am always of the opinion transfers rumours should only be believed when they are completed. 

[thetime]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

The Athletic's David Ornstein, widely regarded as a trusted source on transfers, named Arsenal and Newcastle as teams interested. I had thought I'd seen Spurs as well but can't find proof of that one.

 

Admittedly I am always of the opinion transfers rumours should only be believed when they are completed. 

 

I think Gykores will be the preferred choice for Arsenal. Newcastle and Spurs, I dont see either as real competition in signing players. No matter if utd are in the champions league or not. 

Edited June 4, 2025 by thetime

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, thetime said:

 

I think Gykores will be the preferred choice for Arsenal. Newcastle and Spurs, I dont see either as real competition in signing players. No matter if utd are in the champions league or not. 

Maybe not us - Gyokeres has great potential and a friend of mine who watched him at Coventry said he looks great. But he would be expensive as a back-up for Isak. I think the only way we'd end up with him is if we sold Isak.

 

Mbuemo fits our bill better as we'd like a right-winger, which he is, given its unsustainable to think Murphy can be brilliant forever as he was this season while Gordon & Barnes aren't as good on the right as they are on the left. But if he's not gonna join, we'll just have to see who else is around. Maybe not one of the OT discards - Garnacho also seems better on the left while Sancho and Antony seem better suited to leagues outside England.

[thetime]

12 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Maybe not us - Gyokeres has great potential and a friend of mine who watched him at Coventry said he looks great. But he would be expensive as a back-up for Isak. I think the only way we'd end up with him is if we sold Isak.

 

Mbuemo fits our bill better as we'd like a right-winger, which he is, given its unsustainable to think Murphy can be brilliant forever as he was this season while Gordon & Barnes aren't as good on the right as they are on the left. But if he's not gonna join, we'll just have to see who else is around. Maybe not one of the OT discards - Garnacho also seems better on the left while Sancho and Antony seem better suited to leagues outside England.

 

I think you are being over ambitious on the players Newcastle can attract, even with champions league football. 

 

As previously discussed, there's no way Newcastle can fast track like Chelsea/City. Newcastle have done well on transfers, to get to the 3rd-7th place level. But out of the 6 clubs in the champions league, they will be the 6th option out of them for players. Thats not even counting the pull from utd and maybe even Villa. 

[Skip997]

Transfer all you like, it’ll be irrelevant if Liverpool acquire all their targets 

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, thetime said:

 

I think you are being over ambitious on the players Newcastle can attract, even with champions league football. 

 

As previously discussed, there's no way Newcastle can fast track like Chelsea/City. Newcastle have done well on transfers, to get to the 3rd-7th place level. But out of the 6 clubs in the champions league, they will be the 6th option out of them for players. Thats not even counting the pull from utd and maybe even Villa. 

I think Mbeumo was quite a realistic target. Gyokeres less so, even if we're switching systems. I think we have a really good spine (if Botman is fit), with two exciting young fullbacks. A player has to be really quite good to improve our first 11.

[Neil]

3 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Transfer all you like, it’ll be irrelevant if Liverpool acquire all their targets 

lets hope they don't that'd be as boring as the utd years.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, thetime said:

 

I think you are being over ambitious on the players Newcastle can attract, even with champions league football. 

 

As previously discussed, there's no way Newcastle can fast track like Chelsea/City. Newcastle have done well on transfers, to get to the 3rd-7th place level. But out of the 6 clubs in the champions league, they will be the 6th option out of them for players. Thats not even counting the pull from utd and maybe even Villa. 

 

6 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think Mbeumo was quite a realistic target. Gyokeres less so, even if we're switching systems. I think we have a really good spine (if Botman is fit), with two exciting young fullbacks. A player has to be really quite good to improve our first 11.

Yeah I thought Mbuemo wasn't that far fetched a target. But I'm aware a lot of the league's big money clubs wanted him too given how great he was at Brentford. Similar with Liam Delap, who was linked with us and about 8/9 other clubs before Chelsea signed him up for Infantino's folly next week. I was assuming Gyokeres was going to Arsenal tbh.

 

I thought the 3-4-3 used in the final games of last season was out of necessity due to full back injuries and having to play Murphy further back. I don't think it worked so well though so presume that's the Plan B rather than the outright Plan A next season.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Transfer all you like, it’ll be irrelevant if Liverpool acquire all their targets 

You'll still be convinced they're going to blow it.

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, charlierc said:

 

Yeah I thought Mbuemo wasn't that far fetched a target. But I'm aware a lot of the league's big money clubs wanted him too given how great he was at Brentford. Similar with Liam Delap, who was linked with us and about 8/9 other clubs before Chelsea signed him up for Infantino's folly next week. I was assuming Gyokeres was going to Arsenal tbh.

 

I thought the 3-4-3 used in the final games of last season was out of necessity due to full back injuries and having to play Murphy further back. I don't think it worked so well though so presume that's the Plan B rather than the outright Plan A next season.

Oh yeah, but Newcastle adding 30% to his wages to put him on about par with Isak and Bruno and offering CL I thought was a pretty strong offer. I've read that Howe and the board have agreed that no signing goes on higher wages than those two unless they're proven in the Champions League, which seems fair?

 

We can sign the stars of mid-table clubs, the cast-offs of the big clubs, or we can sign from abroad. Given the cast-offs of the big clubs are being sold for a reason and we don't want to break the wage budget, we're going to be looking at players from Brentford and similar first.

 

With Delap we supposedly had an offer accepted but he thinks he'll get more game time at Chelsea compared to being Isak's understudy. I think between the extra games and that Howe did play Isak and Wilson together a fair bit when they were both fit, we've got room for another striker to feel like a first choice player, but probably not another star striker.

 

I think Joelinton's injury also played into the 3-4-3. Willock's defensive game isn't anywhere near as strong as Joelinton's, and with Gordon having never seemingly regained full fitness after his injury into ban this season, I think it felt like there wasn't going to be as much tracking back to help cover the full-back positions anyway.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

Oh yeah, but Newcastle adding 30% to his wages to put him on about par with Isak and Bruno and offering CL I thought was a pretty strong offer. I've read that Howe and the board have agreed that no signing goes on higher wages than those two unless they're proven in the Champions League, which seems fair?

 

We can sign the stars of mid-table clubs, the cast-offs of the big clubs, or we can sign from abroad. Given the cast-offs of the big clubs are being sold for a reason and we don't want to break the wage budget, we're going to be looking at players from Brentford and similar first.

 

With Delap we supposedly had an offer accepted but he thinks he'll get more game time at Chelsea compared to being Isak's understudy. I think between the extra games and that Howe did play Isak and Wilson together a fair bit when they were both fit, we've got room for another striker to feel like a first choice player, but probably not another star striker.

 

I think Joelinton's injury also played into the 3-4-3. Willock's defensive game isn't anywhere near as strong as Joelinton's, and with Gordon having never seemingly regained full fitness after his injury into ban this season, I think it felt like there wasn't going to be as much tracking back to help cover the full-back positions anyway.

Yeah I think the 3-4-3 also became an option due to Trippier and Hall being out as well as Joelinton. Guess we'll have to be adaptable to having different formations if need be given next season promises an extra 8 matches.

 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what players we can obtain. A bonus is we don't have to do ridiculous PSR related player trading shuffles like what happened with Minteh and Anderson this time.

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, charlierc said:

Yeah I think the 3-4-3 also became an option due to Trippier and Hall being out as well as Joelinton. Guess we'll have to be adaptable to having different formations if need be given next season promises an extra 8 matches.

 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what players we can obtain. A bonus is we don't have to do ridiculous PSR related player trading shuffles like what happened with Minteh and Anderson this time.

Oh yeah, I think if 2 out of Hall/Livramento/Trippier are fit, then Joelinton's absence is fine and the defenders are trusted to take care of themselves.

 

I'm vaguely worried that we'll just end up getting overpriced Guehi + a keeper and not strengthen the forward line. While I understand the desire to sign a CB, I don't think it's as big a priority. It's also weird having had our director of football recently leave.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

Oh yeah, I think if 2 out of Hall/Livramento/Trippier are fit, then Joelinton's absence is fine and the defenders are trusted to take care of themselves.

 

I'm vaguely worried that we'll just end up getting overpriced Guehi + a keeper and not strengthen the forward line. While I understand the desire to sign a CB, I don't think it's as big a priority. It's also weird having had our director of football recently leave.

 

Wouldn't you guys go for Grealish? Can't see any other place he would go, unless its back at Villa or maybe Spurs. 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Wouldn't you guys go for Grealish? Can't see any other place he would go, unless its back at Villa or maybe Spurs. 

I'm not convinced he's the answer. Not because of his talent or the idea Pep has coached the joy out of him but because he's best on the left hand side, like Gordon and Barnes. We're looking for another option on the right, ideally.

 

Think Elanga was somebody we admired and tried to sign a year ago, but Forest are probably not going to want to sell on the cheap.

[charlierc]

Crystal Palace’s Europa League place in doubt after Uefa rejects owners’ blind trust move | Crystal Palace | The Guardian

 

Well I guess that's one way to puncture the joy of winning the FA Cup.

 

Also, this is the same UEFA that let Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig compete in the same Europa League group in 2019/20 and where clubs with mutual owners are routinely in the same competition. The f**k are they suddenly on their high horse about?

[thetime]

44 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 

 

Think Elanga was somebody we admired and tried to sign a year ago, but Forest are probably not going to want to sell on the cheap.

 

Can't see much difference in Forest to Newcastle, would be an odd choice for Elanga. Got spurs all over it for me. 

 

Edited June 5, 2025 by thetime

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

I'm not convinced he's the answer. Not because of his talent or the idea Pep has coached the joy out of him but because he's best on the left hand side, like Gordon and Barnes. We're looking for another option on the right, ideally.

 

Think Elanga was somebody we admired and tried to sign a year ago, but Forest are probably not going to want to sell on the cheap.

I think I'd prefer Semenyo over Elanga. Just looks more ready for a step-up.

 

Although I dunno how much of that is he wrecked us.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think I'd prefer Semenyo over Elanga. Just looks more ready for a step-up.

 

Although I dunno how much of that is he wrecked us.

Semenyo has been linked a few times with us before and could also be a fairly valid shout if that deal works. Though yes, part of this could also be because of the fact Bournemouth have had our number recently. But he also seems to have the high-pressing attributes and creative spark we'd ideally want in a new right-wing option.

 

Either way, maybe it'll be the case nothing happens in this weird pre-Club World Cup window then we get involved in the second part.

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Semenyo has been linked a few times with us before and could also be a fairly valid shout if that deal works. Though yes, part of this could also be because of the fact Bournemouth have had our number recently. But he also seems to have the high-pressing attributes and creative spark we'd ideally want in a new right-wing option.

 

Either way, maybe it'll be the case nothing happens in this weird pre-Club World Cup window then we get involved in the second part.

I think this early mini window is mostly going to be clubs trying to make sure that the likes of Chelsea/Real moving in for their targets resolves quickly so can either get it happening without worrying too much about Chelsea moving fast, or know it's not and can identify/move on to other targets.

[lost]

Sounds like Frank could be going to Spurs. I wonder if Bournemouth/Brentford's production line is going to be as good as Brighton or if we will see one of them struggle next season.

[charlierc]

I wondered what would happen with the Ange will-they-won't-they sack him question given last season gave perfect reasons both to keep him as the first trophy winning manager there in 16 years and to sack him for such a hopeless Premier League season. Guess we now have an answer.

 

If Brentford were to lose both Frank and Mbuemo, it certainly would require quite the rebuild job.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think this early mini window is mostly going to be clubs trying to make sure that the likes of Chelsea/Real moving in for their targets resolves quickly so can either get it happening without worrying too much about Chelsea moving fast, or know it's not and can identify/move on to other targets.

Well this early mini-window is explicitly to help clubs for the Club World Cup balls. It's why that Saudi club who have qualified were trying to spend big cash to buy Bruno Fernandes and why Infantino seemed to be trying to nudge Ronaldo into joining someone that will be at the tournament before talk of that fell through.

 

In any case, the window's long so I'm not worried just yet. An early signing would've been nice, but just gotta wait and see for the right target. Though the departure of the Sporting Director and another reshuffle there has been a complicating factor.

[kaosmark2]

34 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I wondered what would happen with the Ange will-they-won't-they sack him question given last season gave perfect reasons both to keep him as the first trophy winning manager there in 16 years and to sack him for such a hopeless Premier League season. Guess we now have an answer.

 

If Brentford were to lose both Frank and Mbuemo, it certainly would require quite the rebuild job.

I think if Brentford lose Frank a bunch of teams will circle at quite a few players. Wissa is the obvious other star but I imagine a few teams would throw chancey bids to see if they can nick an unsettled player on the cheap.

[Neil]

On 05/06/2025 at 19:21, thetime said:

 

Wouldn't you guys go for Grealish? Can't see any other place he would go, unless its back at Villa or maybe Spurs. 

yeah he seems like a spursy type of player