The January 2026 Transfer Window

[bluebruce]

9 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

How would scouts know a players final valuation that between the clubs in negotiations

they identify players strengths weaknesses and profile the club might be looking for that could possibly fall within their budget

th selling club slapping in unrealistic price tag on to a player isn’t the scouts issue or fault 

let’s take the Barnsley striker coming 29 this year never played above league one 18 months left on contract and he’s valued by his club at 5million? Not realistic nor matches what his real valuation on the open market would be 

Scouts aren't only supposed to look at players. They're supposed to have contacts, put out feelers. Have a general understanding of whether a player might be realistically in reach. Like you said 'that could possibly fall within their budget'. They don't really have a great sense of that if they've recommended someone who will cost 5 times what we can offer.

I think the 28 year old striker one is fair enough to be surprised by, that's an outrageous fee to demand. But the young, promising Cleary was likely always out of reach.

[Emerald Isle Rover]

Just now, bluebruce said:

Scouts aren't only supposed to look at players. They're supposed to have contacts, put out feelers. Have a general understanding of whether a player might be realistically in reach. Like you said 'that could possibly fall within their budget'. They don't really have a great sense of that if they've recommended someone who will cost 5 times what we can offer.

I think the 28 year old striker one is fair enough to be surprised by, that's an outrageous fee to demand. But the young, promising Cleary was likely always out of reach.

On the market he likely is in reach, Cleary in every single market value I can find is under 1mill. Can scouts possibly have addition contacts with their ears to the ground yes maybe but again back to the main point which was whoever scouted this fella seems on initial viewings of him made a good call but valuations lye with the clubs not the market in which most scouts use

[Tomphil2]

Scouts will know exactly the ball park figures in regards to the cost of the players they are required to scout.

If a club, agent or player makes bigger demands once the ball is rolling that's on them.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

I have, but when it's  constantly looking for and pointing out negatives, then putting anything remotely positive down to luck, then it all becomes a bit pointless having a discussion. 

It hardly needs to be looked for.

Alebiosu is a very good bit of recruitment for example. But we actually signed him because he was a realistic target within budget. No use finding players well out of our budget.

[RevidgeBlue]

28 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

How would scouts know a players final valuation that between the clubs in negotiations

they identify players strengths weaknesses and profile the club might be looking for that could possibly fall within their budget

th selling club slapping in unrealistic price tag on to a player isn’t the scouts issue or fault 

let’s take the Barnsley striker coming 29 this year never played above league one 18 months left on contract and he’s valued by his club at 5million? Not realistic nor matches what his real valuation on the open market would be 

Can't agree with any of that.

If the selling Club dont want to sell a particular player they can put whatever price tag they want on his head.  It's not really up to you or me to decide if a price is unreasonable and if the interested Club dont want to pay it they dont get, unless they can reach a compromise.

Now our scouts may not know exactly how much a Club wants for a player but I refuse to believe they haven't got a fairly good idea otherwise all the work they do would be completely pointless.

And how long does it take us to ring up and find out what the asking price is anyway? Unearthing a player available for £5m when we  only have £1m to spend isn't good scouting and having found out the asking price, we shouldn't have pursued it further by putting in a derisory offer, it just makes us look a joke.

As for the more recent link - if any Club are willing to meet Barnsley's asking price they'll get him. I highly doubt it will be us so if it's not, that will be another dead end and waste of everyone's time.

 

[rigger]

Remember the Adam Wharton quote, that nobody could have seen how good of a player he was. My take on that is that we have employees that cannot see how bad some of our players are.

[roversfan99]

I dont understand how a price tag can be unrealistic. Teams arent obliged to put price tags on their player at a certain level. It depends on so many factors, Barnsley clearly dont need or want to sell, he has a long contract, hs is young so his value will go up and West Brom have a huge sell on clause.

Obviously its subjective but if you had 2 of the exact same player at 2 different clubs, yet they were valued at different amounts. The one wanting more isnt setting it at an unrealistic amount.

If Barnsley wanted 5x what we were prepared to pay, then he clearly wasnt a realistic target.

I still am unconvinced as to why we wanted a winger when we dont use them anyway, but its irrelevant anyway as he wont be coming.

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

On the market he likely is in reach, Cleary in every single market value I can find is under 1mill. Can scouts possibly have addition contacts with their ears to the ground yes maybe but again back to the main point which was whoever scouted this fella seems on initial viewings of him made a good call but valuations lye with the clubs not the market in which most scouts use

The likes of transfermarkt etc are not a remotely reliable show of value, if that's what you mean. A look through our own squad will show that.

[bluebruce]

44 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

 

And how long does it take us to ring up and find out what the asking price is anyway? Unearthing a player available for £5m when we  only have £1m to spend isn't good scouting and having found out the asking price, we shouldn't have pursued it further by putting in a derisory offer, it just makes us look a joke.

 

Exactly. There has been plenty of time before the window opened for us to get in touch with clubs of prospective players and see if there is a realistic chance of signing them. Whether it's the scouts or other personnel, the point remains the same - we have wasted time on this one.

Honestly, it just reeks of the usual 'we tried' policy of bidding for players we know we can't afford so that we look like we have ambition. Then spending a paltry amount. We see this every January and most summers, it's hardly our first rodeo.

[KentExile]

8 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Scouts aren't only supposed to look at players. They're supposed to have contacts, put out feelers. Have a general understanding of whether a player might be realistically in reach. Like you said 'that could possibly fall within their budget'. They don't really have a great sense of that if they've recommended someone who will cost 5 times what we can offer.

I think the 28 year old striker one is fair enough to be surprised by, that's an outrageous fee to demand. But the young, promising Cleary was likely always out of reach.

Also, there is nothing stopping Rovers from actually asking the clubs what they are looking for for X player.  Obviously, there is always wriggle room, but only if you are in the same ballpark

The exception to this may be financially stricken clubs such as Sheff Wed, who may ideally want £x for a player, but lower their expectations when a bill that they cannot pay becomes due.  Which is exactly how we got Hyam from Coventry

Edited 5 hours ago by KentExile

[Lancaster Rover]

We’re all forgetting the one factor that makes Rovers think they are the ones to defy business/football logic - the arrogance of Gestede and Pasha. They’ll believe they’ve unearthed a gem and can swipe him from ‘lowly’ Barnsley for peanuts. Not realising that the lad os being watched by virtually every championship club and Barnsley are well aware of his market value and value to them. Like any well run club have him tied to a sensible contract. Leaving the ball very much in their court with all the negotiating power

[KentExile]

3 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

We’re all forgetting the one factor that makes Rovers think they are the ones to defy business/football logic - the arrogance of Gestede and Pasha. They’ll believe they’ve unearthed a gem and can swipe him from ‘lowly’ Barnsley for peanuts. Not realising that the lad os being watched by virtually every championship club and Barnsley are well aware of his market value and value to them. Like any well run club have him tied to a sensible contract. Leaving the ball very much in their court with all the negotiating power

Exactly this which makes them think that as they sold Leonard (who is the same age, & has scored more in the same division as Cleary) for peanuts, that they can therefore pick up Cleary for peanuts

It couldn't be that they have severely misjudged the market could it?

[Emerald Isle Rover]

7 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Can't agree with any of that.

If the selling Club dont want to sell a particular player they can put whatever price tag they want on his head.  It's not really up to you or me to decide if a price is unreasonable and if the interested Club dont want to pay it they dont get, unless they can reach a compromise.

Now our scouts may not know exactly how much a Club wants for a player but I refuse to believe they haven't got a fairly good idea otherwise all the work they do would be completely pointless.

And how long does it take us to ring up and find out what the asking price is anyway? Unearthing a player available for £5m when we  only have £1m to spend isn't good scouting and having found out the asking price, we shouldn't have pursued it further by putting in a derisory offer, it just makes us look a joke.

As for the more recent link - if any Club are willing to meet Barnsley's asking price they'll get him. I highly doubt it will be us so if it's not, that will be another dead end and waste of everyone's time.

 

Missing the point completely - that’s not a scouts job thatl be up to someone above the scout to call and enquire 

[Emerald Isle Rover]

7 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I dont understand how a price tag can be unrealistic. Teams arent obliged to put price tags on their player at a certain level. It depends on so many factors, Barnsley clearly dont need or want to sell, he has a long contract, hs is young so his value will go up and West Brom have a huge sell on clause.

Obviously its subjective but if you had 2 of the exact same player at 2 different clubs, yet they were valued at different amounts. The one wanting more isnt setting it at an unrealistic amount.

If Barnsley wanted 5x what we were prepared to pay, then he clearly wasnt a realistic target.

I still am unconvinced as to why we wanted a winger when we dont use them anyway, but its irrelevant anyway as he wont be coming.

Exactly so a scouts job is to find players within ‘market value’ the rest is on the clubs 

[Emerald Isle Rover]

6 hours ago, bluebruce said:

The likes of transfermarkt etc are not a remotely reliable show of value, if that's what you mean. A look through our own squad will show that.

But to the original point where the scout was praised and then shot down that’s not the scouts job to find another clubs valuation 

[wilsdenrover]

I wonder if we filled this vacancy…

https://irecruit.efl.com/popups/displayfile.aspx?StoredFilePathID=AQmvdpkZgAYNZ7wWGf93AQ

[roverblue]

8 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Can't agree with any of that.

If the selling Club dont want to sell a particular player they can put whatever price tag they want on his head.  It's not really up to you or me to decide if a price is unreasonable and if the interested Club dont want to pay it they dont get, unless they can reach a compromise.

Now our scouts may not know exactly how much a Club wants for a player but I refuse to believe they haven't got a fairly good idea otherwise all the work they do would be completely pointless.

And how long does it take us to ring up and find out what the asking price is anyway? Unearthing a player available for £5m when we  only have £1m to spend isn't good scouting and having found out the asking price, we shouldn't have pursued it further by putting in a derisory offer, it just makes us look a joke.

As for the more recent link - if any Club are willing to meet Barnsley's asking price they'll get him. I highly doubt it will be us so if it's not, that will be another dead end and waste of everyone's time.

 

I am sure I read a report saying Rudy was sat at a recent game with their director of football/owner. So if he didn't know the price it just shows he is even more amateur than I thought.

[Wegerleswiggle]

Ismael Boura an attacking left back from Troyes being targeted apparently 

[Torgeir]

29 minutes ago, roverblue said:

I am sure I read a report saying Rudy was sat at a recent game with their director of football/owner. So if he didn't know the price it just shows he is even more amateur than I thought.

Sometimes the goalposts move, especially when someone puts on a good performance like Cleary did last night. We also don't know the details of the negotiations. Seems like a lot of people on here will side with whoever suits their agenda best. £5m is a lot for a player, and I highly doubt Gestede would've been present at a recent Barnsley game if he hadn't been encouraged somewhat either by Clearys agent or Barnsley themselves. 

Who on here thinks he's worth £5m? 

[Torgeir]

2 minutes ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

Ismael Boura an attacking left back from Troyes being targeted apparently 

Troyes are top of the Ligue 2 table. Haven't seen Boura play but hope it's true that we're chasing an attacking left back. 

[Browjd]

Cleary is such an opportunity for the recruitment team and Rovers as a whole. Stump up the cash - you absolutely have it! 

 

[Torgeir]

10 minutes ago, Browjd said:

Cleary is such an opportunity for the recruitment team and Rovers as a whole. Stump up the cash - you absolutely have it! 

 

£5m?

 

[Browjd]

He's clearly(!) going to be a serious talent and will be worth significant multiples of that. We absolutely have £5M - but we won't because we have no ambition. 

[MarkBRFC]

46 minutes ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

Ismael Boura an attacking left back from Troyes being targeted apparently 

Just another one that O'Rourke has thrown out there, us along with a few other clubs.

Which tells me it isn't going to happen.

Edited 1 hour ago by MarkBRFC

[TugaysMarlboro]

Strikers please. Two of them.

Then everywhere else. We couldn't finish our tea at the moment.