There are question marks about his work rate which has been publically questioned. He has pace and trickery but even beyond attitude, his end product is usually non existent. I watched Birmingham last week and he was hooked at half time.

Dembele was left out purely due to selection, as he was on a few occasions last season. So he is a player who struggles to make an 18-20 man squad for a now League 1 club.

Not the best performance and quite fortunate to take a point but showed good spirit in doing so. We looked absolutely knackered worryingly early (even allowing for it being early in the season) with everyone blowing throughout a very submissive second half. We are devoid of any speed and looked so slow and tired. Gueye does a lot of good work as a focal point in the first half but doesnt offer much goal threat. Whereas Ohashi does barely anything yet seems to have a knack of popping up with a crucial goal already. Weve upgraded in this position clearly and its still early days as to how good they will be, but promise in both. The JRC on the wing experiment needs to end, he isnt suited to playing there. We badly need a couple of quick wingers before the window ends. Pears is a terrible, terrible keeper. I remember people saying that he is at least good with his feet. Clearly untrue. And its not people going looking for mistakes when they are so blatant.

What does he think about Dembele as a player?

Is that based on this? As it seems a very dodgy source. He has scored 2 today and is in a similar position to Dembele where he is young and highly rated without the years and years of underachievement and failure to kick on afterwards.

I feel like I have been clear on my thoughts on why Dembele being an underwhelming signing. His decision making is poor and his end product more often than not is lacking. There are also big questions about his application especially running back which was a reason mentioned by Rowett (I think) as to why he couldnt even make the bench. He hasnt really built on his early promise at Peterborough. It might just be a selection decision. Birmingham have a number of attacking options and have changed all 3 behind the striker, and still have their big money signing from Go Ahead Eagles and Miyoshi on the bench. So again, he may just not be seen as good enough to make their squad. In League 1. Which tells you alot.

Dembele isnt in the Birmingham squad today. He didnt make the squad at times last year so might be selection based. Would be an underwhelming addition if 2 plus 2 equals 4.

I like Carter but I think he is still a bit off attracting massive interest. He comes off the back of a very poor and injury punctuated season. He is 25 in December so he is not a young talent that Premier League clubs will see as a raw talent. If he gets back to and beyond the levels of 22/23 then he could potentially get a move to a top end Championship club but I dont think for massive money.

I dont get how anyone could be anything other than seriously pissed off should it only transpire that we sign 1 further permanent player considering that we have nearly brought in £40m in sales across a year. I dont think we will sign a flurry of permanent signings but I cant yet lower my standards to in any way be content with how these bastard owners run this football club with such disregard. Im not one to dismiss the loan market but we are so short across the team that we need a few permanent additions and a couple of loans on top.

Moran was certainly a disappointment of a signing but he wasnt one of our very worst players nor as bad as @Paul Mani is suggested. He never played in his best position and for a few months contributed when we were dominating teams before we fell off a cliff and he really went into his shell and out of the team. It wouldnt totally shock me if, especially playing in his best position, he mirrored Morton in having an underwhelming loan spell here and then a much more productive one elsewhere. Hirst definitely did not offer more than Gallagher in a Rovers shirt, he offered absolutely nothing. Gallagher had his worst season by far last season, often being injured, and hes never been great, but he tended to score 7/8/9 goals in every season prior and offered other things even if he will never be a natural goalscorer nor better than a low end striker at this level.

Of course, I wouldnt be gutted and he would add pace but he has proven over a number of years that he has failed to really progress especially in terms of his end product. Dembele didnt particularly flourish under Eustace so its hardly like Warnock taking players like Paddy Kenny everywhere to run the dressing room. Although football in general sees much less of that nowadays and such a policy hasnt done Ten Hag much good.

Really poor game to start the season and based on skys coverage, you wouldnt know that Fulham were playing. Hard to look past City for the title and the 3 promoted teams tumbling back down. Who says money has made English football predictable?

Its always a stupid argument when someone questions or criticises a suggested target, to say well who would you sign then. We dont have access to or knowledge of players across Europe and beyond. I hadnt heard of Gueye or Ohashi. So we arent in a position to be suggesting potential targets. We can only comment on the limited pool of domestic targets that we know and have seen. I agree with you @islander200 in terms of IF, and its a big if, Eustace prefers to pick out players like that from Birmingham, it would be really underwhelming. It would be lazy to just go back to his Birmingham side. We can comment on Dembele as we know him and I agree, end product is poor.

Im not sure he will too often. Ipswich have paid good money for Delap and want Armando Broja.

I think with Szmodics leaving, any potential new winger perhaps will be even more important in as well as being fast, providing end product. I know at this level that it is difficult to find someone with pace and end product consistently but surely, perhaps across Europe, we can do better than Dembele. His decision making is very poor in the final third and he has stagnated since the promise he showed at Peterborough. Birmingham fans seem keen for him not to be selected/to move him on and he couldnt even make their bench at times last season. Who cares if Eustace knows him? That doesnt justify signing him. Khadra is also inconsistent but does have much more about him but im not sure how realistic that would be. It seems common that people just list names that Alan Nixon has linked to us and say id be happy with them, I get that none of us have widespread knowledge of targets but it might take more creativity.

Sigurdsson is a reasonable finisher, but otherwise, hes slow, he cant take people on, hes not technically great and he is soft and doesnt work hard.

Hutchinson is 8 years younger though, thats the key difference. Szmodics is a more effective player now, but Hutchinson has another big sale or two if he does well, Szmodics doesnt.

Excuse being the operative word. And never one that has actually come from the club. Even if the appeal is a success, its not going to make any difference to this window, or likely at all. Even if anything is spent in this window, it will be just a fraction of the Szmodics money irrelevant to this case.

I touched on the cash flow issue, totally understand how accounts and FFP calculations are done on an accruals basis rather than the misconception that installments of fees etc make a difference. FFP isnt anything close to the problem, as you touch on. Even if say we prior to fees in and out make a £20m loss a year, another thing that people dont mention is how many expenses are exempt from calculations. But going back to cash flow. I get that other expenses wont be on the same generous payment terms. But we have made so much in sales that we will still have a substantial sum already received. And crucially, any purchases would also be in installments so say we spent £6m we might only need £2m now. And even if it did still require a bond to reinvest £2m, then it would be with the significant collateral of definite fees coming in consistently due to those sales. So no excuses for Venkys.

They surely wouldnt have to even put an equivalent amount in a bond. We have brought in so much in sales, well beyond the usual losses that we would make, in the June 2024 accounts we will show a profit and thats before the Szmodics and Raya money. I know people will mention installments as it might be seen as more of a cash flow issue but we would also be buying in installments.

Adequately as in to the same level? It will be Dolan playing there it seems.

The ripping out of anyone of any value continues, another gutting loss to the club to lose by far our best player. Thats £40m ish brought in over 12 months. At most, £2m is spent. There is absolutely no excuse not to get spending, and absolutely no chance of it happening. If a team is gutted of its best players and the money isnt reinvested then it only leads in one direction. This is all on the owners. Again.

Why Dembele? Lacks an end product, doesnt work hard, couldnt get in the Birmingham squad towards the end of last season, and will be seen as dispensable by a League 1 side. Just feels like the same names repeatedly banded about regardless of quality.

Someone compared us to Hull recently. Theyve had their 2 best players in Greaves and Philogene picked off. Theyve started a flurry of permanent signings. Now im not commenting on the individuals and their quality. They are signing Burstow from Chelsea who I dont rate and the keeper theyve bought made a big error yesterday. Theyve also bought Giles permanently, theyve bought Liam Millar, an attacking midfielder from Germany, they are getting Hughes from Wigan, another midfielder and are in talks to buy a few more. Investing in a number of assets, some of whom in particular are young and can grow.

Not in this instance, because they have totally different objectives, Venkys dont want the same as what we want for the club. Whatever the fee is, its very relevant to Venkys. Doesnt benefit us.