Dack needs to roam and arrive in the box no matter which formation. His worst spell was when he was either a striker or man-marked playing of the forward. I think our style is a bit more varied now which should suit Dack. But there is a real chance the balance of the team can be upset when he is back.

If our scouting leaves a lot to be desired, how about that Newcastle team. It must've been at least 100+ mill pounds spent on that team. Joalinton, Almiron, Richie and Murphy was at least 80+ mill, just the 4 of them.

Yes he was. I think he played midfield throughout the youth career as well as some senior appearances. He needed some persuasion to become a defender. Far better center-back than midfielder. Would probably a L1/L2 midfield workhorse if not.

Wouldn't Ayala fit that criteria? Esp if he has went to Saudi Arabia and changed his mind?

Not much. Seen him a couple of times on TV and some highlights. Definitely a type we need. Dubbed the next Michael Carrick by Solskjaer. All-action midfielder with a goal threat. United fans have been claiming for his inclusion in the first team for a couple of years. Good chance he would be the best midfielder at the club if he came.

I agree. If we are able to land James Garner on loan, I think he could be a major player for us with Travis.

It was said he rejected us for an offer to go to Saudi Arabia. I guess he went there and found out that money isn't everything. That also fits the quarantine aspect of the story.

If we are going to replace Mowbray we have to aim a lot higher than Paul Cook. He has operated under similar budgets to Mowbray and still finished below us in both Championship seasons (even if you don't subtract their 12 point penalty). Had a lot of turnover of players in the last two seasons. Bought a lot of duds as well as some good ones. Even with deflated transfer values, has he produced a gem like Dack og Armstrong? Swapping Mowbray for Cook would be like for like. If we work on limited resources you might consider promoting Damien Johnson and pair him with a good assistant manager. Then you have a decent chance to harvest the talent pool from the academy.

10-15k pw should get you far regarding players outside the top European leagues, as well as the second tier clubs in the top leagues. Take Norway for example. Bar a handful of players, the rest in this league would be less than 1 mill pound and easily fit the wage structure. Not many are good enough to play in the Championship however, but there are gems to be found. Our regular national left-back should be looked at. Alessami currently out of contract after relegation with his club in France (League 1). Have a good pedigree from Italy and France and is a two-way fullback far better than Bell. He is 29 and should fit the criterias the club is looking for. English clubs however will pay a premium, as foreign clubs assume PL money trickles down.

Yes he did mention him in the interview when talking about our wage cap. He made a comment in line about Bristol City must have stretched their wages to get him. Not sure if we ever looked at him or whether it was a general observation.

FFS! I'm raising three girls, I come here for a break from drama. This thread never stays on topic and end up in a teenage drama queen sniping match. In the end it's going to end up an echo chamber wondering where all the people went. Let's hope we win today and get some players in!

The U23 beat Carlisle U23 4-0 https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/september/report-rovers-u23s-4-0-carlisle-united-u23s/ Davenport and Wharton played full 90 mins to gain match fitness. 18-year old Sam Burns with a hattrick and Luke Brennan (who got a goal vs Fleetwood) got the other. Will be exciting to see if Burns can continue his progress at U23 level. Watched him when the U-18 smashed Arsenal in the FA Youth and was impressed. Very fast and energetic. Also quite stocky build which made him hard to brush aside. Was also impressed by Jared Harlock in midfield. Playmaker who dictated the tempo in that game. Another one to keep an eye on for the U23.

Make no mistake, the contract is binding and enforcable. Dack signed it. It's solely in the club's hands. If Dack wants to leave in the summer, the club can and will enforce the option so he won't be able to leave on a free this summer.

Great performance, but what's up with Travis? Looks slower and less energetic all pre-season. His passing game is Just pushing it to Nyambe. Davenport looks far better atm.

I get your point, but we might not have the choice. Clubs might not want to pay enough next summer, so it could have more value for us having him one more season for a promotion push and letting him leave on free.

Yeah sure. He'll be 28.5 years by then, so probably his last chance for PL football. I think he will be sold if he wants to leave anyway either with current contract or a new one. His injury and age probably makes him less attractive for PL clubs to take a punt on him now, so still rate our chances for him staying for a while.

Of course a manager would say compete publicly. You always leave room for an existing player to think he can raise his game and keep the shirt, even if the new one is thought to be a starter. Even so, there are different categories to players you bring in. Some are expected to be starters, some are brought for potential and some are brought as backups (reserve goal keepers). Common theme is if you perform well enough, you should keep your shirt.

The club has a 1 year option on Dacks contract, which you'll imagine they will exercise, so it's basicly 2 year left.

I'm wondering what pigeons WBA is using. It's been a week since they were supposedly signing Kipre, still no confirmation.

They did a brilliant move there. Watkins already had a season there as Forward right. They changed him to central striker and brought in Mbeumo in his position. Played out well for them. Worth noting they brought in Watkins from league 2 for a good sum at that level (2.5 mill) I think, and he hit the ground running immediatly. They are very good at keeping track of the lower leagues.

No doubt Brentford is best in class in finding potential gems, and operative with net negativ spend. They do however have a pretty high turnover of players. For every gem there is also at least 2-3 duffs. Last year they bought 11 players, where Mbuemo is the best. The most impressive thing seems they manage to keep at coherent, exciting team even when having to replace key players each season. Benharama and Watkins is expected to leave, so it they need to find good replacements to have a similar seasons. They just bought Ivan Toney for 5-10 mill which is probably a replacement for Watkins. Benharama will take some genious work to replace though.

Could be Scandinavian-based. Seasons here are within calendar years, so contracts here often expire in 31th of december. Might apply to other leagues as well.

I don't think passing has to be the main criteria for a centre-back. I'd rather have a defender with position awareness, who can defend. The main miss from Tosin might actually be his pace. He was able to get back on occasions when strikers were through, which is a bit rare in centre backs. Anyway they should force whoever they get to watch the this video from defensive maestro Maldini:

Agreed. Love him as an impact sub, put we should be careful to not put too much expectations on him. Now he is playing without pressure and everything is a bonus. Too many young players have struggled badly with coping. Thinking of Danni Cadamatri, Francis Jeffers, our own Jay McEvely etc. Some pointed out that he gives you the "Duff" feeling when watching, which agree on. Credit to the recruitment team for bringing him in. Think he was going to Carlisle before Rovers came. There is a lack of leaders in the team.With Graham, Mulgrew, Downing out of the picture, there is seems to be few "men" left in the building.

He came on a free according to soccerbase.com