Winter Transfer Wishlist

[[email protected]]

I agree.

I don’t think our issues with failing to improve the squad are simply about Levy being tight.

I am mostly concerned about our transfer setup. We cannot in general buy players over the likes of City.

We will not improve if we buy players the likes of Everton want.

So our best method is buying players who have the ceiling of being at our level but are not there yet.

Last year we got Davinson. We now need a player ready to take over from Eriksen and Dembele.

Winks may be the player to take over from Dembele. Not sure where our Eriksen replacement is coming from.

Oo I think I have a possible answer to your last question: how about the lad Grealish at Villa? He has "the ceiling of being at our level", I don't think "Everton want" him, and I'm pretty sure he's of no interest to "the likes of City"......Can't understand why we didn't get him! I'm sure it's not "simply about Levy being tight". Well I wonder what some people in the know had to say on the subject: how about the then-Manager, Steve Bruce, who stated, that Grealish ‘would have been a Tottenham player’ had the club pulled their finger out and made their approach earlier, rather than wait in hope of securing a better deal.
"It’s fair to say we were in such a bad position financially that if Tottenham had have done their work early, then I’m sure he would have been a Tottenham player". But I'm sure you're right, it can't be "simply about Levy being tight", or his brinkmanship, or his attempt to rinse every last pound out of every deal; even the seemingly straight forward ones. No, I'm sure "our issues with failing to improve the squad" must be down to someone else who..might er..negotiate the..erm..transfers. (But definitely never about Levy's reluctance to just pay the money! No, we can't even entertain that possibility ?)

 

[dontcallme]

Oo I think I have a possible answer to your last question: how about the lad Grealish at Villa? He has "the ceiling of being at our level", I don't think "Everton want" him, and I'm pretty sure he's of no interest to "the likes of City"......Can't understand why we didn't get him! I'm sure it's not "simply about Levy being tight". Well I wonder what some people in the know had to say on the subject: how about the then-Manager, Steve Bruce, who stated, that Grealish ‘would have been a Tottenham player’ had the club pulled their finger out and made their approach earlier, rather than wait in hope of securing a better deal.
"It’s fair to say we were in such a bad position financially that if Tottenham had have done their work early, then I’m sure he would have been a Tottenham player". But I'm sure you're right, it can't be "simply about Levy being tight", or his brinkmanship, or his attempt to rinse every last pound out of every deal; even the seemingly straight forward ones. No, I'm sure "our issues with failing to improve the squad" must be down to someone else who..might er..negotiate the..erm..transfers. (But definitely never about Levy's reluctance to just pay the money! No, we can't even entertain that possibility ?)

Lol, didn’t say Levy had no part did I?

By all means keep spouting your one singular thought into every discussion, not boring at all.

 

[Lighty64]

I think our diverging and differing feelings at the moment are significantly more to do with the last transfer window than other factors. And with respect, Lighty (I enjoy your posts and your humour), I’m not convinced we couldn’t have got a decent central midfielder in if the will was there for this to happen. Dier, Wanyama, Winks and Sissoko are not even close to world class, let alone the ‘very good’ category- it would be relatively easy selling the idea of being a regular starter to a decent CM based on our personnel alone. Dembele is genuine class but he’s past his best physically and this is well known. In an area that was, and worryingly still is, our weakest point- how hard would it really be for the club to coax a quality, up and coming central midfielder? Unless of course we weren’t prepared to stump up the cash necessary in this market (50-60 million seems the going rate). This is where we fucked up. And there should be no excuses, given our upward trajectory as a club.
Grealish was a weird one- it felt opportunistic but blew up in our faces spectacularly when we dithered and, typically for us, a new buyer arrived. I wasn’t fussed either way if we signed him, but the broader context of our strategy here and how we made promises to Grealish and then fucked around before backing out (lots of prominent itk were critical of this) was embarrassing to say the least. I’m not anti Levy fan- he’s done some amazing things for our development as a business but our recent on field successes are down to Poch, and because of this I hope he’s backed in the market the next time round

totally agree about a CM, and due to memory I remember Trix saying we hoped to get 2 in. who those 2 no one knows, but the only name that cropped up was Grealish and as has been mentioned by many they see him as a AM. do we really know who was on Pochetinos list? do we really know if we made enquiries? do we know that those players for certain wanted to leave?

we spent most of the window discussing the warchest, Grealish, Toby and possibly Martial and Zaha. de Ligt went very quiet the minute Raiola got involved oh and for some of us Bale. yes I know there was bundles of player threads, but all from media rumours, and the media just want hits.

I do actually blame Levy for an embarrassing window, and really don't think the WC helped, the failure to sell the deadwood, and the stadium. as all the anti Levy fans keep banging on about he is only worried about bricks and mortar, and making a profit, but with the window closing early, his failure to get what he wants for the stadium sponsor, and the stadium I think he put to much of his time into the stadium and before the end of the window he had the news of the faults, and us fans and Poch are the ones feeling the pain. if we don't gain a CL place this season, the transfer window will be the reason, and if we fail he won't be able to consider selling until (IF) we get back.

at the moment my biggest worry is the lack of news about contracts, we know Poch (and his team) Sanchez, Kane, Son Lamela, and a few youth signed, but by now I'd of expected to of heard about the rest of the squad. hopefully the stadium will be ready to go soon, then the contracts sorted by January, then hopefully the deadwood goes very quickly, because Levy won't pay wages to them and new players, while the deadwood are still being paid.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

totally agree about a CM, and due to memory I remember Trix saying we hoped to get 2 in. who those 2 no one knows, but the only name that cropped up was Grealish and as has been mentioned by many they see him as a AM. do we really know who was on Pochetinos list? do we really know if we made enquiries? do we know that those players for certain wanted to leave?

we spent most of the window discussing the warchest, Grealish, Toby and possibly Martial and Zaha. de Ligt went very quiet the minute Raiola got involved oh and for some of us Bale. yes I know there was bundles of player threads, but all from media rumours, and the media just want hits.

I do actually blame Levy for an embarrassing window, and really don't think the WC helped, the failure to sell the deadwood, and the stadium. as all the anti Levy fans keep banging on about he is only worried about bricks and mortar, and making a profit, but with the window closing early, his failure to get what he wants for the stadium sponsor, and the stadium I think he put to much of his time into the stadium and before the end of the window he had the news of the faults, and us fans and Poch are the ones feeling the pain. if we don't gain a CL place this season, the transfer window will be the reason, and if we fail he won't be able to consider selling until (IF) we get back.

at the moment my biggest worry is the lack of news about contracts, we know Poch (and his team) Sanchez, Kane, Son Lamela, and a few youth signed, but by now I'd of expected to of heard about the rest of the squad. hopefully the stadium will be ready to go soon, then the contracts sorted by January, then hopefully the deadwood goes very quickly, because Levy won't pay wages to them and new players, while the deadwood are still being paid.

Yep, contracts are key here. There was a story doing the rounds a few days ago that Eriksen was being offered money in the same region as Kane so hopefully this one comes good.
One of the most remarkable things about our season so far is we’ve been playing poorly by our standards but we’re only a couple of points off the top. The sooner we get our key players back from injury, the better. I’d be delighted if we sneaked a fourth place- can see us and Arse scrapping for this, but CL and the new stadium will be essential in giving us more leverage in the market

 

[dondo]

don't think we will see this unless a billionaire who doesn't care about the financials take over

ENIC have done a great job with us so far. The team is unrecognisable to the one when they took over and we have a new state of the art training ground and stadium (eventually). But they are not going to spend 100s of millions to make us a real contender in the long term.
I personally believe ENIC will sell within the next 3/4 years and hopefully to someone with billions to spend, the platform has been set

 

[coys200]

Actually wonder just how highly the club rate Troy Parrott. Another hatrick today for Ireland. It seems like he could almost be a Kane clone. Big strong eye for goal who can also play as a 10. Physically he looks like he could be ready for the bench next season at 17 and if he gets on our bench will get straight in Ireland seniors. Age wise he could almost perfectly dovetail with Kane. Have a couple of seasons on the bench much like winks did with dembele. By 19 he should be ready if good enough. Would be a bit of a gamble but we still have Son and moura who can fill in as well. As said be a gamble but looking at our record with 2nd strikers not sure would be that much more of a gamble than buying. And other big clubs have given young strikers a chance Rashford and ihenacho.

 

[daryl hannah]

If you can't sell the deadwood/players who want out then we can't bring anybody in.

Edit: If you can't sell the deadwood/players who want out at Levy's prices then we can't bring anybody in.

Toby - £75m
Rose - £50m
Dembele - £25m

=

£150m (Warchest)

 

[wirE]

There's a CM in Argentina whom I didn't want to propose as I want to keep in my team, but I think it will be hard to keep him after this season.
Exequiel Palacios. 19 yr old CM that plays for River, and has already played for the national team twice, being the best player on the pitch.
The videos on youtube don't show completely how good he plays. He's a box to box, but can play anywhere in the middle.
He's very young but exactly what we need

Any chance he's related to Wilson, Milton, Jerry and Johnny?

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

If you can't sell the deadwood/players who want out then we can't bring anybody in.

Edit: If you can't sell the deadwood/players who want out at Levy's prices then we can't bring anybody in.

Toby - £75m
Rose - £50m
Dembele - £25m

=

£150m (Warchest)

War chest is an anagram for raw chest, which is apt because that phrase really gets on my tits these days

 

[[email protected]]

Lol, didn’t say Levy had no part did I?

By all means keep spouting your one singular thought into every discussion, not boring at all.

Lol, didn't exactly state that Levy did play a part, either, did you?
No need to get shitty. You could just debate or contest the arguments made in the post; you know, like adults do. But of course, if all that proves too taxing for you, you could just resort to being shitty.
I'm genuinely interested to know if, a) you think we need to recruit in January, b) if so, who?, and, c) if you think it's likely that Levy will spend any money? But I understand if any or all of those questions are too "boring" for you.

 

[coys200]

Pretty underwhelming 45 minutes from de ligt and de jong there. De ligt was very shaky. De jong is very tidy but tbh he looks very similar to winks or Skipp. In fact winks looks to have a lot more zip about him. Obviously can’t judge on 45 minutes but was a bit disappointed. Stand out player was depay, actually can’t believe he’s only 24.

 

[Sandro30]

Agree that Depay has been decent. Would quite like us to bring him back to the Prem but probably not the type of player we need now with Lucas and Son.

 

[sausage]

That'll be the Sheik Mansour that is "prepared to spend that considerable wealth on footballers", but not to buy a Stadium?

£800m+ difference in investment that you're ignoring there

Out of interest @McArchibald , what exactly do you disagree with on these things? I've noted you have a habit of disagreeing with facts which, whilst I would probably say it's a prerequisite of being a SDoDL, makes me wonder if you either:

a) Live in a parallel universe, or;
b) Actually believe in some alternative version of the truth.

The fact is, Man City are artificially propped up by slave money. If 'Etihad' suddenly withdrew their fake inflated sponsorship, the club wouldn't be sustainable.

That's a reckless way to run a club, but if you want a reckless owner who will purchase trophies then you've picked the wrong one.

 

[McArchibald]

I''ve disagreed with your observation that 800m has been invested by ENIC in the stadium, @sausage. They've done nothing of the sort.
The stadium has been built almost entirely from retained earnings and loans taken out at the club's expense. A fair deal of that money could have gone to strengthening the squad, had ENIC's owners actually invested some of their own capital in the club, say by issuing new stock and buying it all themselves, to help it build this unparalleled asset portfolio.

There is absolutely nothing benign or selfless in Levy's and ENIC's running of the club. They are not in it for the benefit of THFC, they do not care about winning trophies and are only looking at maximizing the growth of the clubs resale value. If I disagree with with comments it is usually because they suggest some altruistic motives on the part of those running the club. Those motives simply aren't there...

 

[Lighty64]

I''ve disagreed with your observation that 800m has been invested by ENIC in the stadium, @sausage. They've done nothing of the sort.
The stadium has been built almost entirely from retained earnings and loans taken out at the club's expense. A fair deal of that money could have gone to strengthening the squad, had ENIC's owners actually invested some of their own capital in the club, say by issuing new stock and buying it all themselves, to help it build this unparalleled asset portfolio.

There is absolutely nothing benign or selfless in Levy's and ENIC's running of the club. They are not in it for the benefit of THFC, they do not care about winning trophies and are only looking at maximizing the growth of the clubs resale value. If I disagree with with comments it is usually because they suggest some altruistic motives on the part of those running the club. Those motives simply aren't there...

but surely as owners then it's ENIC's money, and ENIC's debt.

no new owner would buy the club and also be lumbered with the debt as well.

Also if ENIC are only in it for massive profits, they won't sell the club till the NDP is finished and sold, so enjoy the moaning for another couple of years, or until the loans are paid off and someone takes a chance on us. when Chelsea and City where taken over as play things, they where purchased for a hell of a lot less than ENIC expect, and I really can't see someone coming in with a bid of 2b and then throwing another 200+ million on the team, and raising the wages to match all the big teams.

I also would then start worrying even more about our decent manager, the pressure will be ramped up on Poch to definitely win trophies in a way he doesn't like, Poch doesn't want billy big bollox players at the club, he wants players that want to play for the team.

 

[hakano]

but surely as owners then it's ENIC's money, and ENIC's debt.

no new owner would buy the club and also be lumbered with the debt as well.

Also if ENIC are only in it for massive profits, they won't sell the club till the NDP is finished and sold, so enjoy the moaning for another couple of years, or until the loans are paid off and someone takes a chance on us. when Chelsea and City where taken over as play things, they where purchased for a hell of a lot less than ENIC expect, and I really can't see someone coming in with a bid of 2b and then throwing another 200+ million on the team, and raising the wages to match all the big teams.

I also would then start worrying even more about our decent manager, the pressure will be ramped up on Poch to definitely win trophies in a way he doesn't like, Poch doesn't want billy big bollox players at the club, he wants players that want to play for the team.

You really think Poch will be here by then?

 

[sausage]

I''ve disagreed with your observation that 800m has been invested by ENIC in the stadium, @sausage. They've done nothing of the sort.
The stadium has been built almost entirely from retained earnings and loans taken out at the club's expense. A fair deal of that money could have gone to strengthening the squad, had ENIC's owners actually invested some of their own capital in the club, say by issuing new stock and buying it all themselves, to help it build this unparalleled asset portfolio..

That's interesting - we've managed to make enough money to clear all debts, buy all the land that was required, relocate all the businesses, buy the land for the training complex, built the fucker, extended it...


...all without ENIC investing any money!

Does that sound realistic to you? Or a bit 'against the evidence'?

There is absolutely nothing benign or selfless in Levy's and ENIC's running of the club. They are not in it for the benefit of THFC, they do not care about winning trophies and are only looking at maximizing the growth of the clubs resale value. If I disagree with with comments it is usually because they suggest some altruistic motives on the part of those running the club. Those motives simply aren't there...

So you think that DL has spent the best years of his life transforming the club into one with one of the best stadiums and training grounds in European (if not world) football, clearing all the debts and turning the club from a crumbling turd into one that benefits from regular Champions League football, in a time where at least 5 other rival teams are owned by billionaires who are trying to spend their way to the top, for some sort of selfish reasons?

If they are doing that for 'resale purposes', why is it that the long term season ticket holder that runs the place hasn't sold up? DL has always said that his modus operandum has been to make sure the club is sustainable - something that it wasn't, and hadn't been since several decades prior.



I don't know why such waffle goes on about how the club "don't care about trophies" either - we've got a squad that should be winning them. If Portsmouth and Swansea can nick an FA Cup every now and again, it'd suggest that it's something to do with the team, right? Unless I missed the game where Levy came on as a sub, skied a penalty, grabbed a microphone and said "fuck trophies, visit the club shop".

 

[coys200]

It’s an easy argument to say it isn’t ENIC money but ultimately they own the club so any profit is their money. They could if they choose take the money out the club. Instead they’ve invested £1bn back into the clubs infrastructure with the training facility/lodge and stadium. This basically secures the clubs future for the next 100 years. What have Chelsea got if Abramovich walks away tomorrow. Yes some nice trophies but they could easily end up mid table or worse in 10 years. ENIC have secured the clubs future and made it totally self sufficient and not dependent on a sugar daddy.

 

[Lighty64]

You really think Poch will be here by then?

I doubt it to be honest, but if he isn't it will be due to walking rather than being sacked, but if he isn't and Levy doesn't find someone that can get and keep us in the CL, that will make it even longer before they can sell, or they definitely won't get the 2b they want.

the new stadium will lose so much money if we aren't in the CL, because they will have to reduce the price of season tickets big time, most probably lose out on match days too, and they won't ever have a full stadium in the EL unless it's v a big team and in the QF or semi's

I really hope Levy is worried about the Pochettino situation, because if he doesn't do something in January and we do lose out at the end of the season, I wouldn't blame Poch for walking

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

That's interesting - we've managed to make enough money to clear all debts, buy all the land that was required, relocate all the businesses, buy the land for the training complex, built the fucker, extended it...


...all without ENIC investing any money!

Does that sound realistic to you? Or a bit 'against the evidence'?

It is a fact, ENIC haven’t put in any money after they bought the club other than a highly dubious share issue where they totally screwed the minority shareholders, some of whom were willing to buy out ENIC. There is ample “evidence” you know things like accounts filed with Companies House to show all the capital investments have been funded by cash flow from operations I.e. payments by the fans - whether in person or armchair - and latterly a large amount of debt.