Are there though? Many accounts? Stating he definitively will be a dud? I must have missed that.

We should be able to pre-contract him right now if his contract is up in January. Except for the little matter of the ESC slots of course...think we need to get Siggy's permit done to have a space?

Wannabe ITK fud? You may not be aware, but Fabrizio Romano is hands down the most reliable transfer guy in the business. Not to say that everything he says pans out, but he's as close as it gets.

Last year our budget was even worse. The bulk of our recruitment team is probably still the same anyway, though two or three of the higher placed ones have changed, which has hopefully improved the filtering process. I don't think it's necessarily a Leo vs Balazs debate btw, more that they fit a similar profile that carries a large degree of risk in a position that is by far the most important this summer because our alternative there is quite frankly crap. And that one shiny highlight reel that isn't any better than the last lad's shiny highlight reel doesn't make him something to get excited about. It's very much a 'wait and see' with Balazs, which is fine if it works out, but I was hoping to be coming into the last day of the window feeling confident that we had a reliable number one for the season ahead.

Exactly. That reel isn't any worse than the new lad's was. I've no idea why you've got two downvotes there, it's a very fair point.

I don't actually consider any of those saves 'exceptional'. Most keepers would have some saves like that on their reel. Some of them are very good saves but there wasn't one that made me go 'wow'. The key will be how consistently he can make saves like that and minimise errors. Based on what we've heard from the guy Jackson spoke to in the LT, I'm also a bit concerned about him getting involved in that tippy tappy crap we like to play at the back. He said the Hungarian league is a lot slower with less pressing, so I expect he may struggle playing the ball around in defence (not that I like that aspect of the modern game anyway).

That's absolutely insane.

Been touted as permanent.

I don't agree with that whatsoever. A shot from Messi is very different to a shot from Chris Brown. A cross from Beckham is very different to a cross from Jake Batty, or even someone like Conway who was very good at them. Power, accuracy, swerve. The positioning and aerial ability of the opposition players in the box. All of these things and many more differ between professionals and leagues. A league ranked about 12 below ours I think it was, and with a lot less money in it, is going to be poorer in these aspects and both saves and catching crosses will inevitably be easier. If we followed your logic he'd be one of the best keepers in Europe, clubs would be all over him, and he wouldn't be available at anything like a million. Maybe he turns out brilliant at this level too, but it absolutely is a punt. One I'm not too comfortable with given our goalie situation. If we were also selling Pears and bringing in a proven performer like Iversen, Rushworth etc, I'd be very happy with it, but now we desperately need the lad to be much better than Pears.

We will be getting a lot less for him in January than we would now. With 6 months on his deal he can sign a pre-contract. A club would only pay for him if they don't want to wait and get a guaranteed freebie. Only a foreign club can do the pre-contract I believe, but I'd say going abroad is by far his most likely destination.

Baker actually has 18 goals in 86 Championship games for Stoke...so he just typoed it.

Particularly strange when it's just Baker...doesn't seem like a signing we'd have to worry about being gazumped for within a couple of hours.

Exactly. We have brought in experienced players, and that's definitely something the club needed, not questioning that. But it's almost all we've done, in a year we brought in 40 million in sales (and allegedly have no impediments to funding the club, but they're clearly not putting anything in). I'm happy with most of the signings so far, think the recruitment team have boxed clever with them to a degree given the scandalously shit budget they've been given, but where is the next development for a big sale coming from to keep us funded at even this bollocks level? Mafoumbi seems like the closest thing to that, but he's not pulling up trees so far even at youth level. Hoth is a decent enough age, but keepers at this level don't net big fees even if he turns out ace, hell we sold someone as good as Kaminski for 2.5 mill. The only other one with a potential for very high resale would be Gueye at 26, and whilst I like him and think he will be a very useful asset for us, I don't see that turning into an 8 mill plus sale, as I think he'll be a menace at this level but not prolific enough for those numbers. I understand the recruitment team have their hands tied and we have probably chosen to bring experience to ensure we stay up, but the longer term strategy doesn't seem to be here. God we need rid of Venkys!

Pears has terrible positional sense and decision making, it's not just the howlers. He has decent reflexes, that's about as close as he gets to 'excelling' at anything, though I'm not sure I can use that term for it.

It rhymes with incontinence, which is actually quite apt.

You're right, contracted until 2026, that'll teach me to pay attention to what the 72 say. I suspect his contract at his previous club would have expired next summer and they've used that info. Anyways cheers for the correction. Wonder what they paid for him...making a quick easy profit it seems. Means he was also available for less a couple of months ago.

We received pretty much what we paid.

Just like that?

Just seen Toth's contract expires next summer too? 1 million really seems a silly fee to pay for him at face value. I could understand if he was a Hungarian international or something perhaps, but he has 1 U21 cap to his name it seems. Perhaps the quoted fee is miles off, as it was with Ohashi. Edit - correction, his contract expires in 2026, I was using a crap source.

This is the absolute last position we should take a gamble on. Tbh, I'd spend 90% of the budget on a top notch goalie if that's what it took. Our need is that dire.

Exactly. Seems like madness to me. I suppose the Szmodics money wasn't confirmed yet, but realistically that was always going to come.

There's a lot of past tense there. Have I missed something and the deal is off?

Whilst signing a keeper is crucial, I'm struggling to get excited about this one. It really doesn't fit the profile I'd have wanted. And the 1 million I'm seeing being quoted seems high for his CV. Guess it's one of those where you just have to trust the scouting team, as not a one of us will have seen him play, and the Hungarian league really isn't one you can compare to the Championship. I'd really have preferred someone from a stronger league, especially given how weak our other goalie is, but we won't know what we're getting til he puts the gloves on, if he does. But if he somehow turns out to be a cracker, the recruitment team will earn a hell of a lot of trust from me. Personally I'm suspecting this one is a bit of a Wahlstedt, Stergiakis type signing. Coming from a weak foreign league into one they're just not ready for.

Strange thing to say from somebody posting under the name Patrick Valery....

Yeh that's what I'd have expected. Just all the references to the transfer were free transfer rather than to be set by tribunal. Gave the impression there was no tribunal. Not that I looked too extensively.