2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[philipl]

Got to remember how Hyam arrived with club and player taking advantage of a striken Coventry.

Unlike Travis and Tronstad, he has been offered a contract renewal.

He is more likely to move to Watford this week than not.

[sverrehh]

36 minutes ago, lraC said:

Forget football for a second, as sometimes you need to stand up to people in life.

If you can see someone being bullied, or you yourself are being bullied, then you can sit back and take it, or stand up for yourself and your colleagues.

It’s pretty obvious that there are bullies at the club, right now, as we saw on the recent podcast. If a couple of players have called that out, then fair play to them, as doing nothing, is sometimes not the right option. 

which podcast and episode?

[MarkBRFC]

23 minutes ago, Ricky said:

I’d have Leonard around the first team or at worst a league 1 loan. I think there’s a player in there. 

I agree to an extent.

I think he's worth a loan in league one and assess again next summer.

Does him or us no good for him to be hanging around here as 3rd choice this season.

We need to see if his body can handle playing twice a week at the level below before having him around the squad here for me.

[Tomphil2]

8 hours ago, Andy said:

I'm sure the club advised of a c£5m budget this summer - and we've spent just under that, so far.

Maybe Travis leaving has finally freed up a bit of additional funds.

A possible take on it is they were told about 10% of previous sales is available for initial fees to re-invest in players hence Gestede's comments the budget is set regardless of further sales.

Another angle is now Waggot has gone and Suhail is under scrutiny they are actually intent on spending all that budget.  Something the other two i believe were reluctant to do in the past and always liked to keep some in the pot, presumably to impress the owners.  Also maybe allow for a bit of movement in Jan loan wise or change of coach etc.

To be fair Vs track record of backing new managers and coaches in the first proper window stands up to scrutiny, i think.

It's what usually happens after that causes the issues.

[Tomphil2]

8 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's such a poor athlete.

He's clearly quite technically gifted (and yes he plays with no urgency), but good lord he looks like he's running in treacle. 

He's got significant physical disadvantages compared to a lot of others, short legs, stocky build so i'd say the fact he has carved the career he has so far is a big credit to not only his effort but the ability he does actually posses.

He's like a modern day wide attacking Ronnie Hildersley, if you remember him. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Leonard missed his opportunity I think. When he did get a few games under his belt, his finishing let him down.  He was competitive and made decent runs leading the line - a bit like Yuki  but he's not overly physical or quick enough to really trouble 2 centre backs at this level yet. 

He's been very unlucky with injuries but unfortunately that's how the game goes for some. 

Reminds me of Butterworth from a few years prior, some talent but back injuries  hampered his progression.  Now seems to have established himself in league 2 after a quick Google.  

Leonard needs to do the same in my opinion. Lower league will make or break him. 

If you’ve got a disc problem you’ve got a friend for life one way or another.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

11 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

🤣He's got significant physical disadvantages compared to a lot of others, short legs, stocky build so i'd say the fact he has carved the career he has so far is a big credit to not only his effort but the ability he does actually posses.

He's like a modern day wide attacking Ronnie Hildersley, if you remember him. 

How can we forget him?

Arrived on a free from 4th Division Preston, maybe even seeking re-election at the time. I can just imagine the reaction on here if we were to sign a similar player now.🤣

[callumrovers]

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Leonard missed his opportunity I think. When he did get a few games under his belt, his finishing let him down.  He was competitive and made decent runs leading the line - a bit like Yuki  but he's not overly physical or quick enough to really trouble 2 centre backs at this level yet. 

He's been very unlucky with injuries but unfortunately that's how the game goes for some. 

Reminds me of Butterworth from a few years prior, some talent but back injuries  hampered his progression.  Now seems to have established himself in league 2 after a quick Google.  

Leonard needs to do the same in my opinion. Lower league will make or break him. 

Yuki is a much better finisher than Leonard. 

[Mercer]

6 hours ago, lraC said:

I think there is more to the Leonard situation than meets the eye. Some sort of a fall out, possibly him saying it as it is with the shenanigans.

Not sure there is a conclusion on his back injuries - two stress fractures (?), what's causing them?  Understand because of this, the lad is naturally a wee apprehensive to push himself to the max.

It's a difficult one and for me the only answer is to let the lad go out on loan to a League 1 or 2 club to play week in and week out and for him to give it his all and try to overcome any psychological barriers that may be there - it could then be make or break for his career.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Mercer

[briansol]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

I agree to an extent.

I think he's worth a loan in league one and assess again next summer.

Does him or us no good for him to be hanging around here as 3rd choice this season.

We need to see if his body can handle playing twice a week at the level below before having him around the squad here for me.

There is certainly a player there. Saw quite a few games when he was in the youth team with Wharton etc. Good fotball intelligence, decent on the ball and good finisher. Clocked him then as someone who would probably be effective when he's older and bulked up. Might end up like Danny Graham, who dropped down a league to Carlisle, bulked up and made his way back up again. Whether Rovers is going to wait for that, remains to be seen, but I'm certain he is going to have a career in pro-football and might become Championship material in a couple of years. 

[BRFC.]

9 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Yeah that's a disgusting way to treat your players - especially Academy graduates!

Exactly, Leonard still a good talent and I know Bucko has struggled in recent years but I don’t like this from the club and it perfectly sums this 15 years under this regime. 

[Neal]

27 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Exactly, Leonard still a good talent and I know Bucko has struggled in recent years but I don’t like this from the club and it perfectly sums this 15 years under this regime. 

I think there's a lot more to this than we know. I get the feeling there are a lot of players who don't want to play for Ismael or who have come back to pre season and he feels aren't up to the demands of how he wants to play. Therefore instead of pussy footing around have just decided to clean house and get in players that can. I'm not against this approach either tbh, if they've appointed him then they need to back him and if there are players who aren't 100% in line with the manager then they need moving on.

 

Time will tell, I think a bedding in phase and a lack of cohesion will cost us points initially but I'm hoping we do the opposite to what we usually do... Start well, disaster post Christmas. Slow start, bed in the players, try not to get into too much trouble and have a strong finish to the season. 

[Tomphil2]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

How can we forget him?

Arrived on a free from 4th Division Preston, maybe even seeking re-election at the time. I can just imagine the reaction on here if we were to sign a similar player now.🤣

He could play a bit Ronnie but he was tiny and if i recall correct a centre mid ?

I remember an older guy we knew at the time who was a staunch PNE fan said they called him the weeble, easy to knock over but bounced straight back every time.

[ROVER_N_OUT1978]

Legia fans not happy about losing RM and feel €2m is a steal : 

 

[Polky]

 

[Neal]

Also, I'll be amazed if Pickering is still here. Seems very much one of the old guard and doesn't fit the athletic profile Ismael seemingly wants. 

[Tom]

I can’t see anything we’ve done wrong in terms of Buckley, he’s had plenty of chances but never consistently showed enough, in his short spell at Wednesday he didn’t do much either.

Best for all that he moves on

[DeeCee]

9 hours ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Also factor in the wages for ACD, Sanderson, Woodrow, Beck and Dennis

And Lowe 🤔

[JHRover]

4 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

 

Venkys have brought every bit of this on themselves, but imagine being £200m+ in the red on a deal and having us lot call you “Tight” 🤬🤣

A bloke who has shelled out tens of thousands on mortgage and credit card repayments over the last 15 years can still be tight. He's simply repaying what he owes / living costs which is what the '£200 million' to Venkys is - the tab - going back a decade and a half - for running costs and negligent mismanagement. 

[yeti-dog]

53 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Exactly, Leonard still a good talent and I know Bucko has struggled in recent years but I don’t like this from the club and it perfectly sums this 15 years under this regime. 

Come on, I know it fits the 15- year narrative, but players told they have no future and to find a new club is a story as old as time and not unique to us.

It could actually be argued both have been given every opportunity to make it here. Unfortunately, for different reasons, it hasn't worked out.

[Tomphil2]

They seem to be intent on clearing out everyone signed or promoted from the academy under Waggots tenure as CEO.

Maybe coincidence but maybe not, new chapter being the recent buzzword.

[JHRover]

3 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

They seem to be intent on clearing out everyone signed or promoted from the academy under Waggots tenure as CEO.

Maybe coincidence but maybe not, new chapter being the recent buzzword.

I give it 2 years maximum and then there will be a new manager and new 'Head of Football' only it will be lots of talk about how we need to use the academy more and not rely on loads of foreign signings, that there's too much money going into the academy to not use more players from it.

We've seen all this before - lurching from one 'project' to the next every couple of years. Realistically now we're onto our third radically different approach in the space of 3 years. We had the Broughton / JDT approach which was heavily focused on bringing through academy lads and worked as well as anyone could expect with the number that graduated through to the first team.

Then with Eustace there was a total shift in the opposite direction to relying on proven experienced players and hardly any academy focus

Now with Ismael he talked a good game about the academy when he joined but based on recruitment to date and likely departures it is clear that there's little appetite for bringing through more youngsters or relying on those already senior who have come through the academy.

Just making it up as they go along .

Either that or a decision has been made already to downgrade the academy and save a couple of million a year there so offloading all academy graduates and adopting a foreign model is the precursor to justifying that. 

[BankEnd Rover]

Does any know if Morishita is in England? Doing a medical?

On the balance of previous signings and our tiny budget this one really excites me...I'm just waiting for another club to come swooping in... 

[philipl]

Social media posts that Morishita is here for what it's worth.

[TruRover]

The Morishita deal seems to good to be true…

Waiting for Jackson to confirm/squash it but as it is bank holiday I don’t feel we will have an update until tomorrow.