Just now, dermott said:

That's my issue. Yet another hybrid forward. For that matter I've never really seen him produce at a high level.

Scores about every 250 minutes in the PL, won't start in the 10 over Palmer, we're signing Gittens for the left.

Just seems like a signing for the sake of a signing instead of actually getting what we need to improve the XI again.

Just now, dermott said:

That's my issue. Yet another hybrid forward. For that matter I've never really seen him produce at a high level.

To be honest, i agree.

I worry we overpaid (paying based on potential rather than ability) for Gittens. But at least I can clearly see what he does and why we are short of options in the role he does.

But Pedro is basically here to replace Nkunku whose leaving because he isn't happy with the amount of football he is getting.

Is Pedro really going to displace Palmer in the side? Are they going to play together very often if their roles overlap so much?

I also noticed we seem to be buying before selling, which definitely puts us at a disadvantage when negotiaiting a sale (as now there is definitely no place for Nkunku or Felix and clubs know we are going to sell them for whatever "pennies on the dollar" we can get for them.

It's also a risk, that bit us last season (namely Chilwell and Stirling) to freeze a player out and then either not be able to find a move for them (in Chilwell's case) or a poor one where we are paying half the player's wages (in the case of Stirling). You are "counting your chickens before they hatch" to assume all these players we have to sell (Disasi, Stirling, Chilwell, Veiga?, Badiashile?, Nkunku, Felix, Gilchrist?, Uguchuckwu?, KDH?, Datro Fofana, Broja, Guiu?) will find new clubs for solid fees and won't be firesold for nothing on the last day of the window or left to rot in the reserves?

Edited July 1, 20251 yr by Qaz

32 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Surely you're joking, right?

No, that is what their site says. I don't make the judgements on someone's transfer value. I am not an expert on that. But that is what it says.

1 minute ago, evissy said:

No, that is what their site says. I don't make the judgements on someone's transfer value. I am not an expert on that. But that is what it says.

So are we fair to say that Clearlake's plan is a colossal failure to date as the only player they're making imaginary Transfermarkt profit on is Palmer?

Joking aside, its abundantly clear to anyone that watches the PL that Pedro isn't a 60M player and he isn't an upgrade on what we currently have within the squad.

2 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

So are we fair to say that Clearlake's plan is a colossal failure to date as the only player they're making imaginary Transfermarkt profit on is Palmer?

Joking aside, its abundantly clear to anyone that watches the PL that Pedro isn't a 60M player and he isn't an upgrade on what we currently have within the squad.

I haven't watched Brighton that much but he looks like a very talented footballer. You can see there are the signs why he is considered to be expensive player. He is also a pretty safe bet that if it doesn't work out we can probably still sell him for around 40m. In terms of risks he is not a Lukaku.

4 minutes ago, evissy said:

I haven't watched Brighton that much but he looks like a very talented footballer. You can see there are the signs why he is considered to be expensive player. He is also a pretty safe bet that if it doesn't work out we can probably still sell him for around 40m. In terms of risks he is not a Lukaku.

Where does he start for us?

2 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Where does he start for us?

I think he was thought to be replacing Nkunku/Felix. I don't get this buy 100% but I think his versatility is why he was interesting to us. I can't tell to be honest.

7 minutes ago, evissy said:

I think he was thought to be replacing Nkunku/Felix. I don't get this buy 100% but I think his versatility is why he was interesting to us. I can't tell to be honest.

Shouldn't we be concentrating on getting those two out of the club before we sign any more generational talent? We still have Stirling...

Looking forward to all those twitter rumours about the bomb squad whipping Marescas first team over the course of the season.

Just now, salmonjumper said:

Shouldn't we be concentrating on getting those two out of the club before we sign any more generational talent? We still have Stirling...

Looking forward to all those twitter rumours about the bomb squad whipping Marescas first team over the course of the season.

The talks are (again not sure how reliable) we will go for a central defender and clear out after that. But we need a pretty big squad for the coming season as well.

Sterling will be very hard to move. But that is no news.

18 minutes ago, evissy said:

The talks are (again not sure how reliable) we will go for a central defender and clear out after that. But we need a pretty big squad for the coming season as well.

Sterling will be very hard to move. But that is no news.

Sorry, out of interest how big do you think the squad should be? What should happen to the players who don't make the squad? Isnt it a better idea to get rid of players like Stirling, Chilwell, last seasons Stella signign Felix etc rather than have them stink the place out again?

nearly four years in and we still dont have a settled squad. if this is praise worthy in terms of management culture, its no wonder we're not seeing the development.

9 minutes ago, salmonjumper said:

Sorry, out of interest how big do you think the squad should be? What should happen to the players who don't make the squad? Isnt it a better idea to get rid of players like Stirling, Chilwell, last seasons Stella signign Felix etc rather than have them stink the place out again?

nearly four years in and we still dont have a settled squad. if this is praise worthy in terms of management culture, its no wonder we're not seeing the development.

Chilwell, Sterling and Felix are not very easy to move if you want some money off them. Buying Felix I never understood although he was pretty good in some games. His head is gone. He is a vagabond.

Many of the young players we have are much easier to maneuver. Clubs want top talents and we have a couple of them. Not all of the will work out. Never seen a club do 100% with player dealings. If we do buy Sporting we will have another club to nurture talent. I think Strasbourg worked. Having satellite clubs in general is another conversation.

I don't know the exact squad size but we need at least the same amount as this season. Naturally PL+UCL is a different animal than PL+UECL but I don't think the club looks to win UCL. I think making out of the group stage should be a good result.

Anyway selling is a big task for the club in the summer. No qualms about it.

45 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Where does he start for us?

A question I've been asking myself. I think the obvious answer is the 10 role, Palmer can't play every game and we can't just rest him for the Conference League this season. Maresca has also experimented a bit with Palmer playing off the flanks during this CWC, giving more chance of Pedro playing centrally at times. Pedro has played a decent amount coming off the left so he could rotate well with Palmer during a match. I also don't think Gittens is going to be a nailed on starter, Pedro could be a left forward with Neto giving width on the other side, correct me if I'm wrong but didnt Enzo have something similar working a Leicester at times. He did wear the number 9 for Brighton so there's also a chance he could play up top on his own or as part of a front two on the odd occasion?

I do think he's a clever player and will have more influence in the creating rather than just goal scoring. Could Maresca have just used Nkunku in these roles possibly. Does he strengthen our squad? I think so. Is he the guy to win us the league? doubtful. Is he a knob? Absolutely.

Just now, evissy said:

Chilwell, Sterling and Felix are not very easy to move if you want some money off them. Buying Felix I never understood although he was pretty good in some games. His head is gone. He is a vagabond.

Many of the young players we have are much easier to maneuver. Clubs want top talents and we have a couple of them. Not all of the will work out. Never seen a club do 100% with player dealings. If we do buy Sporting we will have another club to nurture talent. I think Strasbourg worked. Having satellite clubs in general is another conversation.

I don't know the exact squad size but we need at least the same amount as this season. Naturally PL+UCL is a different animal than PL+UECL but I don't think the club looks to win UCL. I think making out of the group stage should be a good result.

Anyway selling is a big task for the club in the summer. No qualms about it.

the answer is 25. we can only have 25 players registered in the Premier League and Champions league squads. The player numbers dont add up and we continue to sign mediocre talent that will be difficult to shift.

See Datro Fofana, he's still on our books right? Washington... back at his former club after we laundered 20 million through them. If this isnt investageted as a criminal enterprise soon...

I dont think Pedro has been signed to play as a striker through the middle... which will upset a number on here because it means Jackson wont be going anywhere either.

1 minute ago, salmonjumper said:

the answer is 25. we can only have 25 players registered in the Premier League and Champions league squads. The player numbers dont add up and we continue to sign mediocre talent that will be difficult to shift.

See Datro Fofana, he's still on our books right? Washington... back at his former club after we laundered 20 million through them. If this isnt investageted as a criminal enterprise soon...

Although both of those mentioned are not the brightest talents we can still potentially make money of them. Washington is 20 years old and we paid 16m Euros. DDF is 22 and we paid 12m Euros. Transfermarkt has them on half of the value we paid but find a good place and have a good season and it is back to what we paid or more. Not the most risky players to have on the books in any shape or form.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

I haven't watched Brighton that much but he looks like a very talented footballer. You can see there are the signs why he is considered to be expensive player. He is also a pretty safe bet that if it doesn't work out we can probably still sell him for around 40m. In terms of risks he is not a Lukaku.

This again! Sell to who though? The ones currently in our “bomb squad” have little or no interest. Put it this way; Gittens is probably a £25m-£30m player max. At that price a few other team might have been interested. We have baked in a £25m-£30m on what we anticipate his talent might be in 3yrs time. At the £55m price we paid, there was no competition. He was on £50k/w which is around what a top 4 European team will pay for a talent. Problem is we have now bumped this to £100k/w, with zero competition for his services.

If in 2years he is a flop; the starting point for his value decline won’t be £55m but the £25m-£30m which is his true worth. Any buyer won’t come in at £40m. A bigger problem will be the £100k/w wages. That is why we are struggling to move players on. At £100k/w there is a very limited market; probably 4-6 clubs on the continent who won’t be interested in a flop. The English market is where we would most likely find a buyer, but none of the top 6 clubs would buy a player who has flopped with us. The other clubs in the PL that can pay that fee want a sure thing, not a gamble. What you end up with is a player on a ridiculously long 7yr contract with no buyer.

Edited July 1, 20251 yr by ducavis

1 hour ago, evissy said:

I think he was thought to be replacing Nkunku/Felix. I don't get this buy 100% but I think his versatility is why he was interesting to us. I can't tell to be honest.

This is the issue. We're spending 60M to replace two 110M signings that don't have a role in the squad.

6 minutes ago, salmonjumper said:

I dont think Pedro has been signed to play as a striker through the middle... which will upset a number on here because it means Jackson wont be going anywhere either.

I don't want Jackson to go anywhere. He is what he is but a useful player to have. Two red cards won't change a thing. I think the boy is learning some valuable life lessons here. Neither of his crimes ended up hurting us.

Pedro is not number 9 for sure.

16 minutes ago, ducavis said:

This again! Sell to who though? The ones currently in our “bomb squad” have little or no interest. Put it this way; Gittens is probably a £25m-£30m player max. At that price a few other team might have been interested. We have baked in a £25m-£30m on what we anticipate his talent might be in 3yrs time. At the £55m price we paid, there was no competition. He was on £50k/w which is around what a top 4 European team will pay for a talent. Problem is we have now bumped this to £100k/w, with zero competition for his services.

If in 2years he is a flop; the starting point for his value decline won’t be £55m but the £25m-£30m which is his true worth. Any buyer won’t come in at £40m. A bigger problem will be the £100k/w wages. That is why we are struggling to move players on. At £100k/w there is a very limited market; probably 4-6 clubs on the continent who won’t be interested in a flop. The English market is where we would most likely find a buyer, but none of the top 6 clubs would buy a player who has flopped with us. The other clubs in the PL that can pay that fee want a sure thing, not a gamble. What you end up with is a player on a ridiculously long 7yr contract with no buyer.

We can throw these "if's" back and forth but not sure that is necessary or that interesting.

We can also talk about players like Lukaku. Not sure if that makes any of our days any better either 😃

In regards to comments about where he will play, it will mostly be striker in my opinion. He is a striker, he's just not the out and out sort. Think more like Firmino at Liverpool.

He gives us something different when Delap isn't working with the added bonus of being able to play alongside Delap and Jackson, should he remain.

Sooooooo everyone excited by our new signing?

This thread has derailed so much that I lost interest in this signing and now have concerns with the clubs' technical directors.

The optics are terrible

1 hour ago, DarkMata said:

Sooooooo everyone excited by our new signing?

In a market where Eze & Xavi Simons are available, we signed Joao Pedro.

20 minutes ago, ducavis said:

In a market where Eze & Xavi Simons are available, we signed Joao Pedro.

Cunha, Kudus, Mbeumo?

I'll try and get it back on track...

He looks good in the air!

There, that should do it.

1 minute ago, BordeauxBlue said:

I'll try and get it back on track...

He looks good in the air!

There, that should do it.

He also likes taking them early....

......shots that is. He likes his taking shots early.

Edited July 1, 20251 yr by DarkMata