[Albion] Chelsea have asked about...

[The Fits]

Yalcouyé plays AM or on the right currently. Not sure he’s ever started a professional game as a central DM yet.

 

[The Fits]

If we’d kept Ali Mac and Caicedo last season I suggest we would have gone MUCH deeper in the Europa League and maybe won it. We aren’t going to even be in the mix for the Europa league this season and if we continue to sell our star players within months of them being at the level required we won’t be getting there again. The incremental improvement has ground to a halt because of it imo

I guess you will be happy to see Baleba gone in the summer?

Ergo attracting even more players.

 

[Justice]

Disagree. The key metric for footballing success is the strength of your core starting eleven. Ours gets gradually eroded year on year. And squad-wise over the Summer we spent way too much money on way too many bang average players who have had negligible impact

Our current midfield is a weak point Baleba is good although you never know when the next pen give away or red card is coming his way. Ayari is bang average weak in the tackle not a great passer and can’t score for shit.

 

[Mancgull]

Also if we dig our heels in too hard about players leaving, the next generation of Caicedo , MacAllister won’t come to Brighton.

I think we get it spot on, one of the reasons we have a reputation for being such a well-run club.

Precisely. If we get a reputation for standing in the way of players progressing then they won’t come to us in the first place.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

If we’d kept Ali Mac and Caicedo last season I suggest we would have gone MUCH deeper in the Europa League and maybe won it

MacAllister had a release clause, he was gone. We couldn't have kept him. Yeah, we'd have been a better side with Caicedo, but he also could have been injured or lost his form. The point is that we are still building that squad value relative to other teams, thats a long-term process and the fee offered was too good to turn down. We rejected offers of 70,80,90 million, but everyone has their price. Maybe cost us a few league places, highly doubt it cost us any progression in the Europa League considering Steele would still have been in goal in Rome. But all that is transient and ultimately irrelevant in the bigger picture.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Disagree. The key metric for footballing success is the strength of your core starting eleven. Ours gets gradually eroded year on year. And squad-wise over the Summer we spent way too much money on way too many bang average players who have had negligible impact

How do you consistently have a strong starting eleven? I strongly disagree that it can be achieved by buying eleven excellent players, hoping they stay fit, stay excellent, and stay at the club, and replacing them like for like when they move on.

 

[Flounce]

MacAllister had a release clause, he was gone. We couldn't have kept him. Yeah, we'd have been a better side with Caicedo, but he also could have been injured or lost his form. The point is that we are still building that squad value relative to other teams, thats a long-term process and the fee offered was too good to turn down. We rejected offers of 70,80,90 million, but everyone has their price. Maybe cost us a few league places, highly doubt it cost us any progression in the Europa League considering Steele would still have been in goal in Rome. But all that is transient and ultimately irrelevant in the bigger picture.

The bigger picture is that we are stalled and maybe even going backwards and that’s before this summer‘s sales

Shall we just agree to disagree?

 

[Rdodge30]

To be honest we don’t really know how good our core starting eleven is because of all the early season injuries … I’m guessing in a perfect world Hinshelwood and Kadioglu would be part of that 11.

 

[Flounce]

To be honest we don’t really know how good our core starting eleven is because of all the early season injuries … I’m guessing in a perfect world Hinshelwood and Kadioglu would be part of that 11.

You have a point but we are mid season and we have a host of sick notes in our squad. Unlikely to get better either.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

The bigger picture is that we are stalled and maybe even going backwards and that’s before this summer‘s sales

Shall we just agree to disagree?

I've already agreed that you disagree with me, just want to point out to people reading this where you're wrong.

Our squad value is higher than it has ever been, so its just very very silly to type things like 'we've stalled and maybe even going backwards'

 

[Flounce]

I've already agreed that you disagree with me, just want to point out to people reading this where you're wrong.

Our squad value is higher than it has ever been, so its just very very silly to type things like 'we've stalled and maybe even going backwards'

So it is all about money not league position? The squad value is not proving to mean a better squad than we had before we offloaded our best players. The replacements are not as good and will be on their way if they come close to it.

We are not as good as we were

 

[Stato]

That bloke from TeamTalk has tweeted 18 transfer rumour stories in the last 24 hours. Four different ones about Evan Ferguson.

 

[Rdodge30]

You have a point but we are mid season and we have a host of sick notes in our squad. Unlikely to get better either.

I know- it’s driving me crazy and it’s been going on a lot longer than this season. I know a lot of teams suffer with injuries but we are struggling

 

[Berty23]

The bigger picture is that we are stalled and maybe even going backwards and that’s before this summer‘s sales

Shall we just agree to disagree?

We have been affected by injuries this season far worse than anyone else. Other clubs can moan but our injuries are ridiculous compared to others. Who is to say how we might have done had o’Riley not got injured? Wieffer was as starting to look good, Pedro, Pervis, still not got solly fit, Welbz, then chuck in Ferdi K etc etc. new coach who has never had close to a settled side.

I love the idea that Caicedo and Ali mack would have performed just as well if fed up.

It is all a balance.

Keeping players against their will is never going to end well is it?

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

So it is all about money not league position?

Right now? In this simplified equation of yours? Yes. But we know they go together hand-in-hand, so you don't really need to choose.

But you are misguided to say it is about money though? If it was about making money, then the £110m for Caicedo would have been converted into a Mediterranean superyacht for Tony. But its not, its invested in the squad. And provided the recruitment and player development stays good, then that value will ALWAYS be there. Our squad value has been perennially increased by £80m or so purely by the virtue of having Caicedo on our books for 2 or 3 years. Which is worth more in the long-run by finishing 8th last season rather than 11th.

Its a simple treatise really, to consistently qualify for Europe and consistently get good results and good positions require us to consistently have a good squad, rather than lucking into one and then throwing money at those individual players to keep them together for 2 or 3 years. Building a consistently good squad requires money - and importantly, to raise more money than our competitors, so player trading is the only way to do that, under current PSR rules. And to raise more money than our competitors means not only higher transfer fees, but more of them, so raising money quicker than our competitors, so we should always take the option to trade than not to trade. There are a LOT of very good young footballers in the world, all of whom would see their value raised by being at Brighton. Don't get hung up on the ones that are already here.

 

[Rdodge30]

Keeping players against their will is never going to end well is it?

That is a very good point which very often gets overlooked on here in discussions about transfers

 

[DJ NOBO]

If we’d kept Ali Mac and Caicedo last season I suggest we would have gone MUCH deeper in the Europa League and maybe won it. We aren’t going to even be in the mix for the Europa league this season and if we continue to sell our star players within months of them being at the level required we won’t be getting there again. The incremental improvement has ground to a halt because of it imo

I guess you will be happy to see Baleba gone in the summer?

We will always be a selling club, but at least we often do it well.
Bought Caicedo for peanuts, his head was well and truly turned And we sold him for mind blowing money.
Same with Cucurella.
Great pieces of business.
We undersold Mac, but he had us over a barrel unfortunately.

 

[Berty23]

That is a very good point which very often gets overlooked on here in discussions about transfers

I think some people don’t live in the real world who want us to keep our best players and would rather that we became a club that either
1) only got considered for 3 year deals by players who then ran contracts down to leave for free
2) paid wages we can’t afford and risked the future of the club.

I don’t see how we could keep attracting players and not be 1 or 2

 

[Motogull]

I wonder how other smaller clubs manage to hang onto most of their best players beyond their breakout year.

Well, Beaky fibbed to Dibley.

IIRC City pulled out on Cucurella at £30M and Liverpool on Caicedo at £70M

I thought Liverpool matched Chelsea’s bid and the tit chose Chelsea.

 

[Taybha]

Chelsea have asked about