Wonder what happens with this bloke.

I like the concept of Essugo in due time, but he's nowhere near the level of Ugochukwu as of today, and shouldn't be apart of the squad ahead of Ugochukwu. Actually I believe Essugo needs to play a lot more football and could do with a loan himself.

On a pure attribute by attribute basis as well I'd prefer Ugochuwku. He's also a profile that we're lacking. Extremely tall midfielder who's comfortable in all phases of possession. Super athlete that can carry the ball across large space and very technical.

Sad the way it's played out so far with him. Never really given a chance.

1 hour ago, drool winner said:

Wonder what happens with this bloke.

I like the concept of Essugo in due time, but he's nowhere near the level of Ugochukwu as of today, and shouldn't be apart of the squad ahead of Ugochukwu. Actually I believe Essugo needs to play a lot more football and could do with a loan himself.

On a pure attribute by attribute basis as well I'd prefer Ugochuwku. He's also a profile that we're lacking. Extremely tall midfielder who's comfortable in all phases of possession. Super athlete that can carry the ball across large space and very technical.

Sad the way it's played out so far with him. Never really given a chance.

I personally can’t see it with Uguchuku. I might be missing something with him but I just see nothing aside from physical attributes.

32 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

I personally can’t see it with Uguchuku. I might be missing something with him but I just see nothing aside from physical attributes.

He's very comfortable in the first phase, press resistant and has some untapped final third attributes. He also has huge physical upside.

I think people forget he's only 21 years of age and was putting up famed performances against PSG in the league as a teen.

Was pretty much considered a generational talent coming out of the Rennes academy and was viewed as France's future six from a young age

He also had good performances last season in the league in a dysfunctional Southampton side.

Not that he's a finished article by any means, but his talent level is rare and I think it'd be a mistake to not prioritise his development for dime a dozen player like Essugo and hot take Andrey Santos who, while still a good talent, is a diet diet diet Caicedo at best.

just waiting for a witty "stop talking to yourself" post 🙂

2 minutes ago, OneTommyLangley said:

just waiting for a witty "stop talking to yourself" post 🙂

If it were a game of limbo, the bar for wit on this forum would be rivaling the standards for Mr Jehovah at the club.

1 hour ago, drool winner said:

hot take Andrey Santos who, while still a good talent, is a diet diet diet Caicedo at best.

Please stop trying to be edgy.

16 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Please stop trying to be edgy.

I like Andrey and have liked him since his first pre-season tour with us in the US under Poch

and he's developed brilliantly, I just think he's a tad bit overrated by our fanbase. I know his sofascore rating streak was out of this world and his microstats were only matched by Vitinha and Neves in L1. He's also done fantastic for Brazil and at Vasco, but watching some Strasbourg last season I felt like he was a bit behind the way our fans spoke of him.

I still think Andrey is absolutely Chelsea standard, but I rate Lesley just as high and that isn't slander. Both are super prospects for their age, just taken different paths.

My main issue is Essugo, who was alright at Las Palmas but it feels slightly Amougou-ish heading into this upcoming season.

I don't think Maresca will trust him at all to play serious minutes and he's very green. Lesley should be here instead.

All going down now. KDH too.

What a massive loss this is.

Said no one ever. Forgot we even had him.

It'll be interesting to see how much we got for him. I feel for him a bit, we gave him a loan to one of the worst teams in premier league history at 20 years old.

15 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

What a massive loss this is.

Said no one ever. Forgot we even had him.

Had an ok ish loan at Southampton who were in turmoil.

Was a pretty pointless signing for a silly amount of money, hopefully he can get his career back on track at Burnley. Good signing for them.

He's quite clearly a very good player, great technique and passing but lacking the experience to develop the off the ball stuff. I can see why we took the punt and he we picked a better loan destination things might have gone differently.

I hope we put in a buy back clause though, if he develops the mental side of his game he will be a top player.

3 minutes ago, Remodez said:

He's quite clearly a very good player, great technique and passing but lacking the experience to develop the off the ball stuff. I can see why we took the punt and he we picked a better loan destination things might have gone differently.

I hope we put in a buy back clause though, if he develops the mental side of his game he will be a top player.

He is the one player I reckon could be brilliant if he puts it all together. Can’t blame him for it not working out here, club never had a plan.

7 minutes ago, markpitts said:

He is the one player I reckon could be brilliant if he puts it all together. Can’t blame him for it not working out here, club never had a plan.

Thought he did well in Maresca's pre-season ... certainly baled him out in two of the games with late goals to secure draws against Wrexham and Inter Milan.

I was surprised when he wasn't part of the squad for the season after that. I guess what counted against him was not being bought for a large enough fee or with any personal intervention from Eghbali in the "negotiation" !

Good luck to him at Burnley anyway.

Caiceido, Fernandez, Santos, Lavia, Essugo even as a rotation he’d be looking at a substitute role in menial competitions.

Transfer makes total sense.

17 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Caiceido, Fernandez, Santos, Lavia, Essugo even as a rotation he’d be looking at a substitute role in menial competitions.

Transfer makes total sense.

Is Essugo better though? I don’t think so. He is just the new flashy thing, we could have saved the money and brought back Ugochukwu from loan instead in Jan.

How much did Ugochukwu go for anyone know the fee. Got to be more than £23m we paid?

17 minutes ago, markpitts said:

Is Essugo better though? I don’t think so. He is just the new flashy thing, we could have saved the money and brought back Ugochukwu from loan instead in Jan.

We could have saved the money we spent on Ugochukwu and kept Loftus Cheek.

Good luck at Burnley 💪💪💪

2 hours ago, markpitts said:

Is Essugo better though? I don’t think so. He is just the new flashy thing, we could have saved the money and brought back Ugochukwu from loan instead in Jan.

He is. We have found a younger version of Caicedo (wont say he will be just as good), who if it doesn't work out here for us he will absolutely go for more money than we paid. He is also deputy to Caicedo so he will be learning the trade. People cant have Caicedo, you can bet the next best thing will be of value to many clubs.

31 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

He is. We have found a younger version of Caicedo (wont say he will be just as good), who if it doesn't work out here for us he will absolutely go for more money than we paid. He is also deputy to Caicedo so he will be learning the trade. People cant have Caicedo, you can bet the next best thing will be of value to many clubs.

Are you sure? He has been loaned for half a season to a relegated Portuguese team, came back wasn’t deemed good enough for a squad role, loaned out again to a relegated La Liga team.

Well he will need to get games and see loads of mins to develop. Caicedo is 1st name on the team sheet, so bar the Cup games & CL against low opposition I can’t see where the mins will come from. Baleba at Brighton is the next big midfielder, and the closest to Caicedo.

So all I want to know is, did we make a profit or loss on this guy?

12 minutes ago, markpitts said:

Are you sure? He has been loaned for half a season to a relegated Portuguese team, came back wasn’t deemed good enough for a squad role, loaned out again to a relegated La Liga team.

Well he will need to get games and see loads of mins to develop. Caicedo is 1st name on the team sheet, so bar the Cup games & CL against low opposition I can’t see where the mins will come from. Baleba at Brighton is the next big midfielder, and the closest to Caicedo.

I do agree with Baleba, however we are not looking at Essugo as the next Caicedo for us. He is just that profile, thats all. He is good enough to fill shoes a couple of games, meanwhile increasing his value for profit in the next year or two. We have Lavia and Santos who are the replavements.

Baleba will cost north of £90m, not many clubs can afford that, so him being in the market has no effect on what we will sell Essugo for.

Fans need to realize our model which has replaced Roman Abramovich bankrolling us. We do not buy every player for our squad. The ones good enough get to be in our squad, the rest are flipped for profit. This is what we all need to understand as fans.

Edited August 4, 2025Aug 4 by Clown Lake