roversfan99

Their signings certainly make them stronger. Kyogo should score plenty, hes not the youngest so hes not a project to sell on but not every signing needs to be. Doyle has proven himself as a very good midfielder at this level and they already have Iwata and Paik, seemingly they arent adopting our mindset of signing unwanted Plymouth players adopting an attitude of "well we cant get players as good as our current first choice so we wont even bother trying to get someone to push them." Osayi-Samuel is a useful squad player who is versatile and has done well at this level before. Not 100% sold on Gray but their current squad didnt have much pace and theyve got 2 quick players there.

Theres no way that a Premier League club now holds a serious interest in Carter. He isnt a young player so you wouldnt be paying for potential, hes injury prone and in the last 2 years his performances have been poor.

If there is any truth to Al-Sahafi. He was part of the Saudi Arabia squad at the Gold Cup until the 29th June so presumably his pre season involvement would be limited due to a potential holiday.

Its not just about having 2 warm bodies per position, we need sufficient quality. You concede that Al-Sahafi would be a risk. Out wide has been a weak position for a while and was an area we really needed to strengthen this summer. Im not saying either this Al-Sahafi (if there is truth in the rumour) or De Neve don't have ability and wont do well in time, but they are cheap, young punts and replace our only proven and competent winger. Al-Sahafi - his only football at a reasonable standard was half a season at a Belgian club that got relegated. He is 21 and would need time to settle. De Neve - quite young, has barely any goals or assists to his name, again relegated from the Belgian league and has often played at left back. Kargbo - barely been seen, but again we dont know what we have with him. Appears raw. Hedges - offers a similar attacking threat to Toth Thats not a set of wingers that would give me any sort of excitement or confidence. It would put untold pressure on the 2 newbies (one who has very little senior experience) settling into the country to hit the ground running. And it would inevitably mean that Hedges who even as his biggest fan you concede should just be a squad player will play week in week out. Get a Gassama or whatever on top of these and at least you could have some confidence in someone who has shown that he can perform well at this level. Putting less reliance on the cheap punts. I mean, we do have the Nixon warchest, right?

Where is the loan to buy bit from? Surely he wouldnt cost much to buy. Loan screams barely plays and is never seen again.

Assuming any of these assumptions regarding him being in Manchester mean that we are signing him. Might depend on the circumstances. If he is a cheap permanent deal alongside a more proven wide man, a development project, can see some logic. If he is the only winger coming in and its him, Kargbo, De Neve and Hedges, its purely to build as cheap a squad as possible. If hes on loan like he was last season, pointless.

Its a fair point and one I agree with. Its the hypocrisy though.

Presumably that also shows a negative, glass half empty mentality based on his own logic.

We win far more often when he leads the line compared to Gueye and I dont think thats a coincidence.

Ohashi has been a good signing. Gueye I just dont think is up to it unfortunately. Only 6 goals and a considerably poorer record when he starts games. That West Brom performance seems the exception rather than the rule.

I think criticism or a lack of is one thing, but to have total faith in this recruitment setup is obviously down to each individual, but IMO misguided and premature. I dont think that the recruitment last season overly improved us, in particular when we spent around £1m. None of Toth, Kargbo and Gueye can be seen as proof that we can trust them implicitly yet, although the first 2 have not had enough game time either way to show.

Wasnt it your 9 year old daughter that called it? Either way, he wont end up in League 1 on a one year contract. He will either be in the Championship or abroad on a far more competitive salary than he was offered here. Hes nothign special but if we were signing a player that had provided what he did either in the Championship last season or even in a lesser league, we would see it as a very good signing.

The idea of you of all people suggesting a lack of balance in someones posting is laughable. Its called debate, both positives or negatives. What I have said about and think about Gassama is that he is a good player, hes quick, young and has had a good season just gone. I merely questioned how he would potentially fit into the team, seeing as he is perhaps better suited to being off the left. If you see that as being negative or glass half empty, then that is a problem with you. As we have seen, you simply do not have or choose not to display the ability to question things. You take everything at face value, believe everything and can not fathom any potential questions or doubts that could lead to conundrums or issues down the line. There is no way that there is even a slight doubt to you that any signing will be anything other than a 100% success. I dont think people missed what Nixon said about having money to spend. We have heard it all numerous times before, often though so people dont get all giddy when we see it again. Actions speak louder than words. Again, because its written down, its 100% accurate.

What are you on about? I am saying that it is our biggest position of need, therefore I would want a decent chunk of our resources to spent on it if necessary. A 21 year old who has spent all but 6 months playing in Saudi Arabia aside from a Belgian league relegation wouldn't shout to me, without knowing him, a player who is just gonna come in and make that position his own. This has all snowballed from someone saying he is in Manchester so he probably wont be signing anyway.

What are you on about? I am saying that it is our biggest position of need, therefore I would want a decent chunk of our resources to spent on it if necessary. A 21 year old who has spent all but 6 months playing in Saudi Arabia aside from a Belgian league relegation wouldn't shout to me, without knowing him, a player who is just gonna come in and make that position his own. This has all snowballed from someone saying he is in Manchester so he probably wont be signing anyway.

Obviously I dont know either way. Why would I? But I also don't know if Alan Nixon knows either way. And before you dig it out, I don't need your list of players that your mate has claimed to reveal prior to signing. We may be interested, I will assume we are to some degree. Although I only care about whether they actually sign, and even he was only claiming inquiries.

Our weakest position is out wide on the right. Thats where most of our resources go. I wouldn't be comfortable if he was our only signing there, if indeed he is even likely to join which seems speculative. We need someone who can come in and play regularly, big ask of someone with such minimal experience and at a low level.

I dont see why it always has to be boxed off as being positive or negative. And I dont think my post about not implicitly trusting this particular recruitment team at this stage has to be perceived as a negative. When I listed the players, some like Kargbo and Toth have barely played yet so I am not saying that they are bad (or good) signings. With Cantwell, I am hoping that a full pre season leads to a much better season. My point was more that they (Gestede, Owen) havent yet (if they ever will, I dont know) made me comfortable enough to just blindly assume that they know exactly what they were doing. I think those comments have been perceived as a negative because you have the mindset that I am a negative individidual, so its confirmation bias. Last season IMO was not really down to having a particularly successful transfer window. It was built on a very talented manager and players either recruited by people who have now left or that came through the academy. I have praised certain bits of recruitment elsewhere, both in terms of speed and individual players, but with more foreign recruitment, a number of signings I dont know anything about. And I dont think Gueye has been a good signing, 6 goals is hardly denting that Szmodics void and I dont think hes up to the level. Mind you, as our second choice striker he replaced Telalovic so I suppose he is an upgrade on him.

But equally, should we be grateful just because we arent one of 2 clubs not to be under embargo and restrictions? That is a low bar. Its obviously down to personal opinion but I dont understand fully trusting this current (an ever changing part of our club) recruitment set up. Im not saying that a strong distrust is necessary, but at best the jury is out for me. Last seasons higher than expected position was built on a very talented (and now departed manager) getting the best out of a core of predominantly pre existing players signed under other regimes, Brittain/Hyam/Tronstad by Broughton, Dolan by Mowbray, Travis obviously as an academy graduate and then Batth who to be fair was part of last seasons recruitment, albeit had Eustace's prints all over it. There are a lot of signings made under Gestede that at best are yet to prove themselves. 3 cost £1m or at least close to, Kargbo only signed mid way through and got injured so we dont really know either way. Toth only played a few games and didnt have much to do in them so again we dont really know. Gueye we have the most evidence on, only 6 goals and not looking up to it most of the time does not bode well. Cantwell was a high profile signing and he struggled. Ohashi is nothing remarkable but he certainly is a very useful player and more than value for money to be fair. Batth was very good, Beck was good, Ribieiro ok and the rest, best not to say. I dont see how that body of evidence leans to having total trust in this recruitment setup personally. Some of them may go on to prove to be really shrewd signings, but at this stage I personally cant understand having full faith.

The most probable reason for him not to sign here is financial. He had 18 months left on a deal signed when he had yet to really establish himself, so safe to say he was on peanuts. Had we offered him a competitive Championship wage then it wouldnt have made sense not to sign. A narrative has been created that he is greedy and big headed which suits the club but seems to me a little unfounded. It isnt greedy to want to be paid what you feel like you deserve.

How has he done him bad? We assume that its down to agent advice but he may aswell hope for a Prem move even if its unlikely, it doesnt mean that its that or nothing. His only decision so far is not to accept the contract weve put in front of him, which presumably is still there waiting if absolutely necessary. But he will easily get a Championship move on a reasonable wage or even a foreign club like this Turkish club who play in European competition.

How? His effort has in no way wained and he has become more effective as a result Fair play to him if hes demanding a 1 million euro salary, so about £16,500 per week. If they or indeed anyone pays it, then hes worth it. I wouldnt be surprised if he could get that or at least close to in the Championship especially with only a compensation fee for the club to pay. Hes a decent Championship wideman who wont have been paid as such here.

The contract situation though is more relevant than just saying that we are owned and run by twats. Its very relevant to what happens this summer. Its probably the most important bit.

I think we need a couple more on top of that. Definitely some competition both at right back and for Cantwell in attacking midfield. Obviously the "if we lose nobody else" bit is the biggest question mark. I dont know if its true but I have seen that maybe PSG have a high sell on % on any fee.

Why would I pay him money to question him? I never said that we dont have interest in either player either. Hes a journalist, its in his best interests to try and make his potential stories as glamorous as possible to get people to pay him, as you do. Like any salesman. Its one thing us having interest in them, but it was mentioned on here that he had said that we have numerous bids in. These stories suggest inquiries and interest rather than us actively having bids in, so he has oversold to draw people in. I dont have a problem with that, its something he regularly does.