Just now, matt83 said:

As it stands I think we need a left back to replace Pickering (Styles), 2 centre halves at least one permanent and realistically one on loan (hopefully van hecke), a right sided midfielder (bowler), minimum of one striker and 2 if/when sell Brereton.

Not going to be easy but they inherited a big rebuilding job from their predecessor 

To be honest I would be more than happy with 1 CB 1 LB and a genuine winger.

GK: Kaminski, Pears

RB: Brittain, JRC

CB: Ayala, JPVH, Wharton, Carter 

LB: Pickering, Styles

CM: Travis, Buckley, Edun, Morton 

RW: Markandy, Bowler

CAM: Dack, Szmodicks 

LW: Dolan, Hedges 

ST: Gally, Vale

Youth players: Wharton, Garrett, Phillips, Barnes, Burns 

I feel like that’s a fairly realistic window for us from here with remaining budget and portion of Diaz money covering Styles, JPVH and Bowler. 
 

Interested to see who we are next linked with as the main rumours have now been tied up with Styles, Bowler and JPVH having been linked for a while   

Just something interesting I’ve come across. I’ve seen that Levi Colwill is set to join Brighton, either apart of a deal for Cuceralla or separate.

May free up Van Hecke…

14 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Only because we’ve had 3 pages filled in 10 minutes about total nonsense 😂 

Update is that apparently Szmodics has been seen in Barrow so I imagine that will be tied up soon.

Also a posted noted that Barnsley had accepted a bid off a championship team…Not sure how true it is but I hope it’s us!

 

Can’t find the post about Barnsley accepting a bid, what’s the info? 

Honestly if we were to add Bowler and Styles to our team our starting 11 would easily look play off material.

kaminski 

Brittain Ayala Wharton Styles

travis Buckley

bowler dolan Diaz

Gally

Serious potential in that team. If you were to add VanHecke in aswell then it would be impossible to not be hopeful about our chances this season. Would still be serious questions about the squad depth though 

Carter out for a few weeks…

Just now, Sweaty Gussets said:

Very attacking! I like it

Carter injured .

1 minute ago, ItsRoverZ said:

1mil to 1.5mil and its pretty decent business,  but 2.5mil is very steep for someone who's struggled in the championship before and who's 27 so most likely won't have big sell on value

It’s more that it’s not a probalem position for us. I’m more than happy with Dack and Dolan being the competition for the number 10 spot this year.

To spend 2.5m on Szmodics when Bowler is available at roughly the same amount is crazy - because I’m telling you now there’s no way we sign both. 
 

Bowler for 3m great business - easily worth 6/7m on a long contract.

Szmodics for 2.5m less so - however could be a hidden gem considering his season in League one last year. Harsh to judge him when playing in a very poor Peterborough team and still managed 7 goals. Would be a pass from me tho at that price 

Buzzing for this. Been way to long 

1 minute ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Someone who works in football, that's all I know. The person who told me doesn't normally tittle-tattle and I would be surprised if there isn't something in it.

I've been burned on here before though after passing info on that turned out not to come to fruition.  

I feel like there isn’t anything too close with Bowler otherwise more realisable sources may have picked up on it.

However there’s defo something going on in the works with Rovers whether that’s a bid or negotiations. No smoke without fire… 

Kaminski 

Brittain Carter Wharton Edun

Travis Buckley 

Markandy Dolan Diaz 

Gally

Feel as tho Carter and Edun are better fits for the system than Ayala and Pickering and while I’m very tempted by Vale, I just want to see Gally given a proper go down the middle.

Heart says we’ll win but knowing Rovers I can see this being a 1-1 draw. Expecting us to look very good for opening 15 and then perhaps a little average after that. Going to be a work in progress.

Is anyone driving up from London on the Saturday to watch this? 

Seems like a slow a day… anyone heard anything? 

36 minutes ago, callumrovers said:

Maybe just a coincidence, just seen on twitter JP’s brother wearing a Rovers shirt. 

Add this to him not being in the Brighton squad for their friendly and JPH commenting on Travis instagram plus Buckley liking comments about JP coming back to Rovers….

Looks to me like somethings happening.

 

Sadly he was in their squad for the game against reading yesterday 

1 minute ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

I think there’s a misunderstanding as to what Rich Sharpe does, which is not to print gossip a la Nixon who gets 95% of it wrong. He only prints news that has been confirmed, which will always be later than any gossip that preceded it, especially as the club clearly doesn’t like gossip getting out. Alf Thornton only broke transfer news because there was no internet, although maybe Ron Kennedy always scooped him first.

Tbf to Nixon these days he’s fairly on the money with his exclusives. 
 

It’s his extremely vague and useless replies on Twitter that are frustrating. 

Means nothing but VanHecke commenting on Travis’s insta… 

13 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

By the looks of it he's played 96 total minutes for Fulham, so I assume your flatmate goes to a lot of Academy games?

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jay-stansfield/profil/spieler/696346

Has had a season ticket for about 15 years - also watched a lot of there youth games. 
 

He does have a tendency to overate Fulham academy players though so I’m defo not convinced. Not the kind of signing I want us to be making anyway. 

18 minutes ago, Tom said:

Never heard of him but he makes me feel old, son of the tragically departed Exeter legend Adam Stansfield 

Seem’s have have bagged a shed load in the youth teams and a belter in the Carabao Cup

My flat mate is a Fulham fan and he absolutely raves about him. 

Personally I have no interested in a loan move - would only block Vale.

19 minutes ago, unleaded said:

Looks like the Styles deal is not happening Besiktas have come in & have agreed personal terms with the player 8 K a week …..
Negotiations continue with Club Barnsley…….Valery is pushing for him …

 

Have you heard anything on the Rovers side? Does he prefer a move to Besiktas?

6 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

Be interesting given Barnsley in advanced talks with Rovers confirmed at both Barnsley and Rovers side, guess it will come down to players preference as fee not an issue

Do you have any idea how far along it is with Rovers and have you had an update since yday? 
 

thanks for the info 🙂

13 minutes ago, unleaded said:

Looks like the Styles deal is not happening Besiktas have come in & have agreed personal terms with the player 8 K a week …..
Negotiations continue with Club Barnsley…….Valery is pushing for him …

 

It’s all falling apart 

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Brighton can’t surely be looking for anywhere close to that for Van Hecke when he’s out of contract next summer.

I’d happily take him for 6m

It’s been an exciting few days…

At the moment in an ideal world we could be set for:

RB Brittain (1-1.5M) - Confirmed 

CB VanHecke (5-8M - Special case) - Speculative 

CM/LWB Styles  (1.5-2M) - Close

CM Morton (loan) - Close

RW/LW Bowler (2-3M) - Strong linked 

Surely would be our best set of business since big Sam?

1 minute ago, Phil123 said:

Barnsley fan in peace here and I just thought I'd stick my nose in and give what I hope is a honest opinion of Callum Brittain now you've signed him.

When he arrived from MK Dons, the general opinion from their fans was that he was very good going forward (often played on the right of midfield for them) but that he was too weak defensively to play as a RB in a back 4.  

In the first season at Barnsley he played RWB and we finished 5th. He was outstanding for much of this season (in Ismael's system he pushed very high & rarely had to defend in his own half). This suited his game as his energy levels were superb and his close control and running with the ball stood out in many games.

His composure and final ball was still lacking and it became a running joke as to whether we would ever see him score for Barnsley. Having said that, he was great at getting himself into scoring positions and finding space as a wing back.

Last season, like every other player, he was extremely poor in many games. A lot, if not all, of this can be attributed to the fact we had 2 Sunday league level coaches and none of the players ever looked like they had a clue what they were meant to be doing.

The thing that got some Barnsley fans was that out of the entire squad, Brittain probably had the biggest drop in form from the previous season.  At times under Ismael he looked Premier League quality, but last season he looked, like many others, like a L2 player.

All in all, he 'should' be an excellent signing and if he is played to his strengths (as a wing back and high tempo) then the rumoured £1.5m will be a bargain.  If he is played as a conventional RB in a 4 he would probably struggle against the best Championship wingers as his tracking back and positional sense defensively aren't his best qualities.

I'm too old to be 1 of those fans who decides anyone who leaves our club was 'sh*t anyway!' and when he has clarity and confidence, he should add plenty to your team.

 

This is greatly appreciated. General consensus on here is that’s is a great signing for us.

What are your thoughts on styles?