Maddison is one of the standout players in league one, he can play behind the striker but his main position is out wide. He can use both feet, he's quick and can take on a man and importantly he has an end product in both assists and goals as his stats from last season proved. He's at a great age of 24 and has football league experience. I would much prefer bringing him in than a young raw winger from the Premier League as the step up from Premier League youth teams to the championship is big and they often struggle to adapt or they take time doing so, meanwhile Maddison would have a greater chance of hitting the ground running which is what we need.

Still think its unlikely as there are a lot of clubs looking at him and his rumoured price is over 1 million, but he would be a great addition.

I reckon we will see 5 perm signings and 1 or two loans.

Seems like Rothwell will play back up to dack and will probably have a similar role to Payne last season. Davenport will boost our midfield options and give us a more creative option.

Would like to think we will bring in 2 wide players and a striker and then Mayby a loan to give us cover in defence. 

According to sky we're interested in james Morrison on a free. Can't really see it myself as we've already brought in 2 midfielders 

Think our overall business has been good so far, although we are still abit off from being ready for the season ahead in my eyes. Contract extensions to key men and the 2 incomings so far have been really positive . Also nice to see that there hasn't been any serious links/rumours of our players leaving. 

I imagine our main focus will be on attacking incomings now, think chapman would be great as an impact sub out wide or even upfront with his pace and directness. However the main man I want to see us go after is Maddison, would be a real coup, he's young, quick and most importantly has got a great end product. Would be a dack esq signing imo.

2 minutes ago, Biz said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/july/new-deal-for-darragh/

the twitter account taking the piss out of Nixon made my morning;

 

Best news of the window so far 

I know it's been mentioned a couple of times but it's so refreshing to have very little/no leaks on our incomings. While it is frustrating for us fans and gets us tetchy it's how deals should be done. Think it points to the club being run a lot better than it had been in previous windows. 

Lets see whose next, wingers and a striker definitely needed. 

Relived to see this is a permanent deal. Imo a loan would of been a waste of time. As many stated last season we lack a ball playing midfielder, whittingham was brought in to be that man but he was a big dissapointment. This lad seems to be that kind of player so hopefully he has more success.

Has championship experience and got good reviews in a poor Burton Albion side so looks to be a decent signing. 

As I have personally stated I think Samuel could be a decent player for us this season. However last years record throws a lot of doubt on that possibility and at the end of the day We can only wait and see how he performs. He might not have any impact, he may surprise a couple of people, but either way let's not write him off before the season has started.

Now, anyone itk know who we may of bidded on recently? 

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Think a few videos of him working out have glossed over the fact that at a much inferior level, he failed to score post-November.

No doubt last season he was poor post November. But he was looking decent early season but I agree he has to massively step up his game to have an impact next season, just feel like he could Mayby surprise a few next season. But that's probaly just me being over optimistic!

Either way tho signing a new striker to challenge him and DG has to be a priority in my eyes. 

Abit off topic here, and this may be abit controversial as he rightly had his critics last season, but after reading the LT on Dominic Samuel I think he has identified the area which he needs and TM needs him to improve to get in the starting 11, which is his hold up. If he can add this to his game along with the pace he already has he could be a really decent player for us. His confidence took a big knock last season but I do Feel like there's a player in there and he seems to have the right attitude, however he was pretty much non-existent in the second half of last season, and if that continues this season I imagine he will be off. Going to be a big season for him.

link to the article if anyone wants to read - http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16318542.Rovers_striker_explains_decision_to_take_on_personal_trainer/?ref=mac 

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

This isn’t a dig at you but this kind of comment really grates. 

No worries this is fan forum to discuss and debate, and for people to disagree and agree with each other. We're all rovers fan at the end of the day. 

I would of course love to see the owners (or new owners) give TM big funds, as Investment is always welcome but that is not the situation we are in and significant investment is not going to presented to TM. I dislike venkys as much as any other rovers fan. But at the end of the day the club  is bigger than venkys and we've got to make do with the situation we are in regarding owners/finances and have our expectations relevant to that. 

Lets see how the summer pans out, as while I think Rothwell is a positive start, my overall judgement on our business will be reserved for when the window has closed. 

2 hours ago, JAL said:

Should be spending £5 -6m on a striker that can deliver plus add to his sell on value. 

Good luck to you guys and gals who like freebies and Sam the mule and no further progress.

Signing a 6 million striker would help us progress no doubt. Unfortunately we probaly only have half that amount to spend this summer, and secondly we can't just spend all our budget on a striker. We saw a couple of seasons ago with Rudy and Rhodes that you can have a High value strike force and it might not even get you a playoff spot.

Big signings are great, they get us fans excited and they do add quality, but they can also dissapoint, Rhodes was dissapointing for Boro(12million) McCormack and Hogan for Villa have had barely an impact (12-15 million each). Some are successes but it's always a risk, and oftern it's the cheaper players who step up and  can be the most important to the squad, Rudy was a better all round player than Rhodes and got the goals aswell and he cost 400k! Marriott last season is another example.

We can't just splash the little we have on 1 player, it needs to be 2/3players which will largely improve the starting 11, supplemented with players like Rothwell, who can overall upgrade the squad and who have the potential to push the starting 11 and become a important player for us.  

I think Rothwell is the kind of player we need to be signing. We have to realistic with the kind of money we can spend, I can only really see us spending 500k-1m on 2-3 players at the most.

Rothwell definetley resembles somewhat of a gamble, seems to be abit injury prone and inconsisitent according to OxU fans but a player who has undoubted quality. 

Sometimes when a player joins a new club its helps them step up and take there game up a notch, Id back TM to get the best out of him, and if he can then he is a player who could excel for us and have potential big resale value. So as one of our most likely cheaper signings I think this is a Decent start to our business. Only time will tell.

Sky are reporting that we are interested in  Hakeeb Adelakun from Scunthorpe, along with Hull and Bristol City, who have had a compensation offer rejected, mayby one to keep an eye on.

I would agree with TM that we don't need major surgery this summer. When looking at our squad there are a number of players who I think could do a job for us in the Championship such as Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Mulgrew, Williams, Bell, Bennett, Smallwood (if he can make the step up), Dack and Graham. Along with that we have some decent squad players in Leuwitter, Downing, Evans, Bell (who could become first choice this season), Samuel, and Travis.  So no major overhaul in the squad is really required, I think defensively we are alright, we've got enough cover in the full back areas with Nymabe, Bennett, Travis, Bell and Williams all able to play there and then at CB we've got Mulgrew, Lenihan, Downing and Williams who can play there. In centre Mid we've got Evans, Smallwood, Travis Bennett who can all play there, although I do think we need abit more quality in there so I would like to see a Centre Mid come in. The priority of the window for me has got to be wide players, we've only got Conway ATM who is probably (hopefully) only going to be a squad player next season, so we need at least 2 wide players with pace to come in, preferably Chapman and one other. We need someone as back up to Dack in that number 10 role such as a Payne ora Holmes and then I'd say we just need another striker to add to Samuel and Graham, I'd personally try and get Arma back, he's quick and seems a natural finisher, at a good age and already knows the manager and the squad. So that's about 5 perm signings with only 3 new players from last season (if we get Chapman and Arma) and aslong as those 3 new players are good quality then I think most of us most on here would be happy with that. We could also use the loan market to bring in one or two signings along with the promotion of a couple youth team players to buff up the squad abit  and then I think we would be looking in decent shape. So while we don't need major surgery we do need some quality to be brought in, only time will tell if TM has been backed.

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

Would be very happy with this from what I've seen of him, he's a great prospect and highly rated at Wednesday, but out of contract I believe - can't be true!

Indeed, seems to be very highly rated with a few prem clubs seemingly interested, would be a great signing and one to be excited about but doubt we could pull it off if there is concrete premier league interest. We do need to get a move on with signings, hoping for a couple next week.

In regards to the link to Holmes, I watched him a couple of times last season and he definitely seemed like a decent player with a bit of flair and pace. However he struck me as a behind the striker kind of player and that was his regular position last season I believe, so I wouldn't say he is a natural wide player which I think should be our priority this summer, although he would be a very decent back up to Dack aslong as we can get him relatively cheaply. I think the obvious choice would be Adelakun, on a free, pacy and young so ticks all the boxes really, but I'm sure a lot of other clubs will be looking at him.