KentExile

Apparently Baradji & Mafoumbi have the same agent, so it should be easy enough a deal to do , some money owed could be slid over from one to the other, especially if Baradji is as desperate to come as has been written

Like Kargbo Truly a stupid decision to give him such a short contract I would imagine even given the limited gametime he has had, his performances & subsequent expected wage would be beyond what the bean counters are prepared to offer now

The press was impressive in the early pre season games. Hopefully given a full week with Henriksson working with the rest of the advanced midfielders & forwards, that can come together a bit more. It certainly needs to

He was direct at Barnsley, sightly less so at West Brom & by the time he was at Watford he was very much playing out from the back

Is anyone actually surprised?

might also have something to do with them losing 3 out of their starting back 4 from a large portion of of last season Ahmedhodzic, Soutter & Gilchrist were all in Sheff Utds top 10 most used players in the Championship last season

Hope he doesn't end up falling into the same trap as last year, when he spent months travelling with the first team squad as "21st man"and not getting on the bench (and therefore also not playing for U21s)

Either injured or being sold would be my guess (which is apparently incorrect - as he is in the arrival video) Ismael well known for liking to overload his bench with forwards, so cant imagine its anything else - so I am stumped as to why LMM would be on the bench ahead of Tyjon

If you are based in the UK, you will have to either - use a VPN (Italy or Spain are both nice at this time of year) for the option to come up OR - buy a NOW TV pass/watch on sky

Start today for O'Riordan - won 2-1 - played the full 90 Connor O'Riordan 7 - Another generally solid showing, with the giant loanee impressing once more in his partnership with Pearson. Provides a big threat from set-pieces too, as shown plenty here.

The U21s are also due to play Derby are some point today too Edit - U21s lost 3-0

Well, 5 players.. can only have a max of 5 loan players in a matchday squad

Yep, although Alebiosu (and players of his ilk... English "unknowns" playing abroad) might also come into the equation... especially if/when our ESC slots dry up

2 regular English starters is my guess. At least until Travis and Cantwell leave

It wouldn't surprise me if Google had tried to use AI to sort/order/categorize something, at it got itself mixed up and combined our Rovers, with these lot somehow

Kargbo looked exciting last season, and also in pre season. I have nothing to back this up, just a thought, I do wonder if he struggles to keep up that energy for 90 minutes, or even 60? After his initial 10-15 minutes against NEC, he did get much quieter (which may have been due to other factors than simply his energy/stamina) If so, then it is maybe why he has been coming off the bench in pre season rather than starting. That pace, especially against tired legs could be a real game changer late on

Every so often, I see club X bids £YM for Rovers player Z, and for a split second, I think, that's a decent deal, we should take that, we could reinvest/buy/sign up W to a new contract....... but then my mind snaps back to our unfortunate reality

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. In which case, I am not in favour of them leaving. In an ideal world, I would like to see Travis etc tied up to proper contracts reflecting their worth But given the current owners, that wont happen, so I would prefer to keep them, and have them leave on frees so Venkys lose more money

Because it is easier & cheaper to let them leave. No "pesky" contract renewals (or the wage rises that will accompany that), & creates a "pathway" for our academy players

But they would save on his wage, and that's all that counts... right?

Thanks, amended my post. I suppose also Baker, Woodrow, ACD, Sanderson etc all also played a part in the calculation too, & no longer here As always, it feels like cost cutting in the here & now (foreign esc players are cheaper than the English players we had/currently have), but no thoughts to the future... 1 (at most) esc slot next season so the transfer "plan" goes out of the window. Although I suppose then, they will just pad the squad with U21s

Yep, but "getting rid" of an esc player can mean either selling one, or converting one to a standard GBE work permit. Either way, with fewer English qualifying players in and around the first team, even now before any more are sold off (already lost Dolan, Batth,, JRC & Brittain - along with several English loanees, from last years calculation, with Pears & Pickering no longer regular starters), it is very unlikely we would get anywhere near the required amount of minutes played by English qualifying players to keep the 4 esc slots we currently have. If they do want to get Baradji (or any other potential esc signing) in, they had better do it this summer (or possibly January at the latest) as we will highly likely not be able to sign any next season. It is entirely likely that if Travis & Cantwell leave, that Rovers will have well under the required 20% of minutes played by English players to have even 1 esc slot next season 24/25 onwards Criteria However, from this season onwards clubs will be able to plan for the number of ESC slots that they have, with the possibility that they could only have one if the number of minutes for EQP is lower than 20%. Number of available ESC places Weighted EQP minutes % Premier League Championship League One League Two >= 35% 4 4 2 2 >= 30% 3 3 1 1 >= 25% 2 2 – – >= 20% 1 1 – –

I wouldn't mind too much if that was all it was 😉

I think its different rules for broadcasts if there are no top flight games on a 3pm on a Saturday

Surely on his way out on loan? Which is best for his development rather than him sat on the bench/i the U21s