TRANSFER THREAD - JANUARY 2021

[47er]

46 minutes ago, WIR Second Coming said:

Completely agree with this - how unsettling / de-stabilising would it be to have an exodus of players who have had a big influence on our season so far? Lets keep the home fires burning first, then worry about bringing in some new knees to warm.

Are you saying we can't run and chew gum at the same time?

Perfectly feasible to sort the contract extensions out while signing a couple of defenders---on loan or otherwise.

I would have thought current problems make this a necessity.

 

 

[philipl]

1 hour ago, AJW said:

Best business we can do this January is to tie down players like Rothwell Holtby and Nyambe , anything else is a bonus 

Agreed. At the risk of being called out of touch again.

Having the contract talks now might be the best timing from the clubs perspective and a conscious decision rather than indolence/ Pune not understanding what is needed.

I stress MIGHT

1) FFP pressure is reduced now as a result of the Covid crisis. Sure we could talk earlier but we were at our FFP ceiling and the cupboard was effectively bare for offering better terms.

2) In the summer we had one big money saleable asset and he was a long way from fitness.

3) Because of eye catching performances since September, if we are in a forced sale to avoid FFP sanctions, quite a few players individual would now raise net transfer fees to fund at least two months' operating losses.  If any one of them suffers an injury like Dack did, we will no longer lose our only get out of FFP jail card. Brereton and Gallagher might not yet command the figures we paid for them in a forced sale but we would get more than gift tokens for them based on the 16 games they have played in so far this season.

4) and this is the crunchy one- what sort of a contract do we want to give to whom? Which players would we want to retain for a Premier League squad?  Now is the ideal time to write a contract which

- recognises we are promotion contenders and no longer mid Championship trundlers

- anticipates Premier League pay

- writes in a relegation clause if we get to the Premier League (too late to include that at a reasonable wage after promotion). Talk of ending parachute payments makes relegation clauses potentially existential.

5) all the players we are looking to renew are young enough to put three year (or more) deals on the table. Holtby would only be 32 at the expiry of a three year deal.

[Sparks Rover]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

And the League 1 salary cap is £2.5m per club. So League One clubs only pay 10 players?

Its an ok league 1 wage...I'm sure there will be players on less. Calm down phil.

[Wegerleswiggle]

I personally expect the Venkys to have a real go in January as long as we are still within touch of the top 6. They will smell the financial benefits of getting promoted. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fund a couple of decent signings. 

I would imagine it would take a bid close to £25 million to tempt them to sell Arma, if that happens we can't ignore that sort of money. If that doesn't happen I would say we'll see about 3-5 million spent on incomings. 

I can see Nyambe leaving. I have a funny feeling Fulham may be the club too. I really hope this doesn't happen but if it does then I expect a quality right back to come in. 

As long as we can trigger clauses to extend Rothwell, Dack and Holtby's contracts I'll be happy. Financially selling Nyambe wouldn't be the end of the world. Out of all the sellable assets we have I'd choose him, as long as there is another right back in place. I still believe JRC is Tony's ideal wing back. I think he sees him as a TAA type player. 

After the last window, I have complete faith in Tony to get this right. 

As far as Kipre coming in, I wouldn't touch him. He made it quite clear he didn't want to be part of this project at the start of the season and I'd want somebody who will wear the shirt with pride. 

If we didn't sell or sign anyone I wouldn't be too bothered. Contracts are priority number 1 right now! 

The future is so bright at the moment and I trust Tony to keep it going! 

[Sparks Rover]

11 minutes ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

I can see Nyambe leaving. I have a funny feeling Fulham may be the club too. I really hope this doesn't happen but if it does then I expect a quality right back to come in. 

 

Do you? Mowbray hasn't bought a good defender since he came.  I'd rather keep what we got but looks like Mowbrays mismanaged Nyambe to me.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Sparks Rover

[philipl]

9 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Thats an ok league 1 salary, Phil.  Out of touch again...🙄

And we have just worked out between us probably 90%+ of League 1 players don't get paid that much following the salary cap introduction.

Quarter a million a year is still not bad and that is not out of touch. 

I wasn't arguing for him not be given an improved offer.

Out of touch, telling me to calm down-my you are having a prissy fit...

[ben_the_beast]

2 hours ago, AJW said:

Best business we can do this January is to tie down players like Rothwell Holtby and Nyambe , anything else is a bonus 

It is making me extremely nervous. They are 3 key players. I think Nyambe had made a small step up again this year. Holtby is our playmaker. And Joe Rothwell is fast becoming one of our most valuable players. No longer the myth he once was and if he was tied down to a long contract I'd see him at a minimum £10million asset with the skillset and potential to increase that over the coming years.

[Wegerleswiggle]

1 minute ago, Sparks Rover said:

Do you? Mowbray hasn't bought a good defender since he came.  I'd rather keep what we got but looks like Mowbrays mismanaged Nyambe to me.

Don't get me wrong I would love Nyambe to sign a new deal, but if there was gonna be one sellable asset that had to leave I would choose him. If his mind is already made up on leaving then so be it. I think, unless we make him one of the highest earners he'll go. Like I said I think Tony sees JRC as the future RB. 

As far as defenders go I think Ayala will prove to be a good signing. He looked class in the second half against Brentford and a real leader. It's becoming obvious he doesn't particularly play well with Darragh. So, as we know, this is gonna be a long season that will need rotation plus injuries and suspensions I can see him and Williams being a very strong partnership when Lenihan is unavailable. 

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

Don't get me wrong I would love Nyambe to sign a new deal, but if there was gonna be one sellable asset that had to leave I would choose him.

Is that you Tony.?  So, our weakest part of the team and you would sell the strongest part of that bit?  This is the Kevin Keegan school of management with poorer players.

Nyambe should be up there on one of the best wages at the club.  He can play effectively at right back, right wing back and also centre half.....

Sometimes i do wonder. 

[Wegerleswiggle]

5 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Is that you Tony.?  So, our weakest part of the team and you would sell the strongest part of that bit?  This is the Kevin Keegan school of management with poorer players.

Nyambe should be up there on one of the best wages at the club.  He can play effectively at right back, right wing back and also centre half.....

Sometimes i do wonder. 

I have already said I would love him to stay, but IF we had to sell one player that will make us money it'd be him over Armstrong, Dack, Travis or potentially Rothwell. 

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

I personally expect the Venkys to have a real go in January as long as we are still within touch of the top 6. They will smell the financial benefits of getting promoted. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fund a couple of decent signings. 

I would imagine it would take a bid close to £25 million to tempt them to sell Arma, if that happens we can't ignore that sort of money. If that doesn't happen I would say we'll see about 3-5 million spent on incomings. 

I can see Nyambe leaving. I have a funny feeling Fulham may be the club too. I really hope this doesn't happen but if it does then I expect a quality right back to come in. 

As long as we can trigger clauses to extend Rothwell, Dack and Holtby's contracts I'll be happy. Financially selling Nyambe wouldn't be the end of the world. Out of all the sellable assets we have I'd choose him, as long as there is another right back in place. I still believe JRC is Tony's ideal wing back. I think he sees him as a TAA type player. 

After the last window, I have complete faith in Tony to get this right. 

As far as Kipre coming in, I wouldn't touch him. He made it quite clear he didn't want to be part of this project at the start of the season and I'd want somebody who will wear the shirt with pride. 

If we didn't sell or sign anyone I wouldn't be too bothered. Contracts are priority number 1 right now! 

The future is so bright at the moment and I trust Tony to keep it going! 

I think the idea of them splashing out on a January spree goes against any logic based on what has happened in the past. I suspect that they arent particularly in touch with where we are in the table anyway and even when we first came up and were just outside the play offs, they had no interest in adding to the squad. Especially with COVID and the ramifications of that, any money spent in January would be a pleasant but unexpected surprise.

Even if you looked at it logically, we have less than a 100% chance of a top 6 place in which we would then have a 25% chance of promotion, so it would be a long shot if we were merely "in touch" with the play offs.

The priority has to be as you touch on getting players signed up on new deals, there seems to be a typical delay between Mowbray and Venkys to get these contracts done which as always is a worry. Nyambe is one of the key ones, any fee we could get for him with 6 months left would be fairly nominal I would suggest, Rankin Costello is shaky as a full back and Nyambe is a big player for us and for whom a deal should have been sorted long ago. Unless he goes abroad we probably may aswell keep hold of him anyway as a tribunal will still guarantee us a fee should he want to leave. Holtby may depend on where he wants to live obviously with the recent birth of his child, Rothwell and Rankin Costello I cant imagine many other teams have seen enough to be overly monitoring at the moment but it would be prudent to get them signed up for longer. Dack (year long extension assumed to be used) and especially Armstrong I suspect would be best advised to allow their contracts to run at the moment rather than commit from their own point of view although an offer to them wouldnt go amiss.

Kipre I suspect would be a difficult deal to do financially, but this idea that he "wouldnt wear the shirt with pride" is a little nonsensical. He seemingly chose a Premier League side probably offering him more money and a chance at the big time over a Championship side coming off a season in which we finished 11th. Any of us would have chose the same had we no vested interest in either side and for me the widespread bitterness towards him for making that choice is a little strange. He made the logical choice and at the moment it isnt working out for him but it doesnt say anything about his attitude or committment, he made the choice we all would had we a shred of ambition and sadly for him it hasnt worked as he would have liked, perhaps not aided by the left field signing of Branislav Ivanovic towards the end of the window.

[JHRover]

The issue with Nyambe is that if we had managed the situation proactively and properly then we would have him tied down to a 2-4 year contract right now.

The conversation about selling him then becomes radically different, because we would stand to rake in some decent cash which could arguably be used to reinvest elsewhere. At that point we could discuss the financial and sporting merits of offloading him.

As it stands we will be forced to sell him for no reason other than we will be desperate to avoid him leaving on a free transfer come the summer. Footballing decisions go out of the window and whatever small fee we get will be nigh on impossible to get better than him for.

It is a failure of strategy because it is likely to cost the club several million pounds in a transfer fee. We have allowed this situation to creep up on us just like we have with JRC, Rothwell and Dack. 

The owners should be sorting this out yet they seem quite relaxed about the situation.

Then again they let Josh King and Ben Marshall do similar so must not be bothered about it.

I just hope people remember these things when we get the FFP excuses and sob stories from Waggott about having no money.

[philipl]

Irrespective of the bail out, there will be clubs in dire financial situations in January.

We might be surprised by who is available to be picked up on reasonable terms.

[roversfan99]

16 minutes ago, JHRover said:

The issue with Nyambe is that if we had managed the situation proactively and properly then we would have him tied down to a 2-4 year contract right now.

The conversation about selling him then becomes radically different, because we would stand to rake in some decent cash which could arguably be used to reinvest elsewhere. At that point we could discuss the financial and sporting merits of offloading him.

As it stands we will be forced to sell him for no reason other than we will be desperate to avoid him leaving on a free transfer come the summer. Footballing decisions go out of the window and whatever small fee we get will be nigh on impossible to get better than him for.

It is a failure of strategy because it is likely to cost the club several million pounds in a transfer fee. We have allowed this situation to creep up on us just like we have with JRC, Rothwell and Dack. 

The owners should be sorting this out yet they seem quite relaxed about the situation.

Then again they let Josh King and Ben Marshall do similar so must not be bothered about it.

I just hope people remember these things when we get the FFP excuses and sob stories from Waggott about having no money.

Totally agree with your points surrounding the mismanagement on the owners part around contracts. 

With Nyambe though, I am unconvinced how much money we could even make on him with 6 months left on his deal. If he leaves at the end of his contract and stays in this country we would still get a tribunal fee so I do wonder whether there would be much difference between the 2 amounts.

[roversfan99]

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-contracts-update-mowbray-19419343

Same spiel with excuses rather than confidence. The cost of replacement surely exceeds the cost of signing them.

[JHRover]

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-contracts-update-mowbray-19419343

Same spiel with excuses rather than confidence. The cost of replacement surely exceeds the cost of signing them.

Interesting that Middlesbrough and Brentford to name two have successfully concluded multiple contracts with first team players during the pandemic. 

Excuse after excuse. A month from now it will be more of the same.

The pandemic didn't stop him from giving contracts to Pears and Downing. Nor will it stop rivals from coming sniffing for players in January.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

I think the idea of them splashing out on a January spree goes against any logic based on what has happened in the past. I suspect that they arent particularly in touch with where we are in the table anyway and even when we first came up and were just outside the play offs, they had no interest in adding to the squad. Especially with COVID and the ramifications of that, any money spent in January would be a pleasant but unexpected surprise.

Even if you looked at it logically, we have less than a 100% chance of a top 6 place in which we would then have a 25% chance of promotion, so it would be a long shot if we were merely "in touch" with the play offs.

The priority has to be as you touch on getting players signed up on new deals, there seems to be a typical delay between Mowbray and Venkys to get these contracts done which as always is a worry. Nyambe is one of the key ones, any fee we could get for him with 6 months left would be fairly nominal I would suggest, Rankin Costello is shaky as a full back and Nyambe is a big player for us and for whom a deal should have been sorted long ago. Unless he goes abroad we probably may aswell keep hold of him anyway as a tribunal will still guarantee us a fee should he want to leave. Holtby may depend on where he wants to live obviously with the recent birth of his child, Rothwell and Rankin Costello I cant imagine many other teams have seen enough to be overly monitoring at the moment but it would be prudent to get them signed up for longer. Dack (year long extension assumed to be used) and especially Armstrong I suspect would be best advised to allow their contracts to run at the moment rather than commit from their own point of view although an offer to them wouldnt go amiss.

Kipre I suspect would be a difficult deal to do financially, but this idea that he "wouldnt wear the shirt with pride" is a little nonsensical. He seemingly chose a Premier League side probably offering him more money and a chance at the big time over a Championship side coming off a season in which we finished 11th. Any of us would have chose the same had we no vested interest in either side and for me the widespread bitterness towards him for making that choice is a little strange. He made the logical choice and at the moment it isnt working out for him but it doesnt say anything about his attitude or committment, he made the choice we all would had we a shred of ambition and sadly for him it hasnt worked as he would have liked, perhaps not aided by the left field signing of Branislav Ivanovic towards the end of the window.

I never saw any lack of commitment from Kipre when he was out on the pitch playing for Wigan. 

[ben_the_beast]

It is ridiculous. Mowbray talking about negotiations and giving players what they deserve and power with agents/players if phones start ringing. 

These aren't transfer negotiations where you're juggling a few balls to see which one you get over the line. This is our key assets walking away for free. Even if balancing the books becomes difficult, sell one of them in the summer to pay for the rest. It isn't rocket science. It should be the clubs absolute number 1 priority right now to get these guys tied down. Asap. 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

Interesting that Middlesbrough and Brentford to name two have successfully concluded multiple contracts with first team players during the pandemic. 

Excuse after excuse. A month from now it will be more of the same.

The pandemic didn't stop him from giving contracts to Pears and Downing. Nor will it stop rivals from coming sniffing for players in January.

 

"Their agents understand that their contracts are running down and yet this club at the moment can't probably give what they feel their player is worth. It's a very difficult situation"

Very worrying comment from Mowbray.

How quickly it's changed from him originally seeing no problems with Nyambe signing. 

"If a player deserves and warrants a new contract and they are doing exceptionally well, we're in discussions with a few and yet it's not an easy time at the moment to throw money at players, and I'm sure everybody understands and recognises that"

It's a lot cheaper than spending millions replacing the likes of RN, JRC, Dack etc

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Hoochie Bloochie Mama

[TheWeasel]

I always thought Dack had a year extension we could invoke. Very worrying nonetheless you can argue a lack of funds all you want but letting several multi million pound players leave for nowt is financially irresponsible. Those players would need replacing which would cost way more money in transfer fees, agents fees and admin than it would an extra 5-10k a week. I’m sure it’s not as straight forward as that but this should be a priority and not have been left on the backburner for so long. This could and should have been dealt with by now. 

[Sparks Rover]

3 hours ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

I have already said I would love him to stay, but IF we had to sell one player that will make us money it'd be him over Armstrong, Dack, Travis or potentially Rothwell. 

I'd sell Dack of those you mention. We seem to be ok for goals.   Letting them in is our issue, so I wouldn't want to further weaken the team by selling our best defender.

[SoldierMo]

Should have saved money instead of keeping on smallwood hart etc

[SoldierMo]

Have they wven bloody started negotiations im sure one would have signed

[JHRover]

42 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

"Their agents understand that their contracts are running down and yet this club at the moment can't probably give what they feel their player is worth. It's a very difficult situation"

Very worrying comment from Mowbray.

How quickly it's changed from him originally seeing no problems with Nyambe signing. 

"If a player deserves and warrants a new contract and they are doing exceptionally well, we're in discussions with a few and yet it's not an easy time at the moment to throw money at players, and I'm sure everybody understands and recognises that"

It's a lot cheaper than spending millions replacing the likes of RN, JRC, Dack etc

 

I agree it is very worrying

What concerns me also is that even pre pandemic there had been very little by way of senior players being tied down to long term contracts. To suggest that everything was hunky dory on that front before the pandemic is nonsense. If we had been on the ball with things then assets the calibre of Dack, Armstrong and Nyambe would all have had new terms this last year, months before the pandemic arrived and Dack got injured.

Another concern which Mowbray needs challenging on is how he said over the summer window that he had factored in contract extensions to his budget and had those costs in mind when deciding how to approach his transfer targets. If true that suggests that he has approached his entire recruitment strategy with these contract extensions in mind. To then turn around in December, a few weeks before the January window, and blame the pandemic and the hit to income for not renewing those deals I think is a complete cop out. 

We are back into Venky paradox territory here. We supposedly have incredibly wealthy owners happy to bankroll substantial losses for little in return yet they don't have the gumption, foresight or sense to recognise the cost implications of losing these players for nothing.

Its going to come back to bite them, and us, on the arse big style.

Like I say, if that's the gamble they want to take, and they want to run the risk of missing out on tens of millions in transfer fees, then so be it. Its them out of pocket, not me.

But when their stooge Waggott comes along every few months whinging about no money and FFP problems then I will question what the hell we are playing at allowing contracts of prized assets to run down.

I will also question the entire point of the academy and investing in youth policy. Why bother with the initial investment, time, energy and perseverance with young players only to now get to a stage where they are doing the business in the first team and we risk flushing that investment down the toilet and get nothing back for it.

To say their first business was selling Phil Jones for big money you'd have expected this lesson to have been learned by now.

[Guest]

There's no evidence that Nyambe wants to leave the club.
There's also no evidence that Nyambe will definitely be staying.

Anything else is just a complete guesswork.