[Albion] Mercurial, majestic, magnificent Mitoma [20/10/23: New deal signed]

[Swansman]

Burn, we could have kept if we wanted but his boyhood team came in for him, so we did the honourable thing.

Maupay is not good enough for us.

Fair enough on the other two. But bissys contract was up so not much we could do there.

Absolutely and that is part of the process... next summer it might be Trossard who isn't good enough, or the honorable thing could be to let someone leave to Barca or Real for a smaller than otherwise fee, with a third moving for a gigantic fee to some PL team. You never know. I just don't think keeping all players aside from one sale every 18 months is going to be possible - once a player wants to leave, it is very difficult to stop it.

 

[macbeth]

Is very optimistic unfortunately... usually when a smaller club finds this amount of talent, the club gets pillaged every summer. Very difficult to deal with as it is currently with player/agent power.

Lost four starters/almost-starters in 2022 - Burn, Cucurella, Bissouma and Maupay. If it can be kept down to 2-3 important players leaving this year, its pretty good.

well the way I see it, practically, we're probably losing caicedo and mac this summer. tbh I'd be disappointed if we sold more than those two. but maybe I need to prepare myself for that

 

[Justice]

If Antony’s worth £80m who’s a bit shit then what’s Mitoma’s value? He will end up scoring a goal a game before long.

 

[jimhigham]

There are literally dozens of Japanese at the Amex every game now and that number seems to be growing with every game. They are all spending fortunes in the shop and are there for one player. He’s going to become a superstar.

However at what point do all these players suddenly look at each other and think - we could win things HERE if we stay together to a bit?

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. I think we can all agree that as wealthy as Mr Bloom is, he simply does not have the means to match the spending power of Arsenal, City, United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea or Newcastle. That’s seven teams straight away, which shows the scale of the task required to break into the European places at the end of the season.

We simply don’t have the financial clout to compete with these teams. I consider us absurdly lucky to be owned and run by a fan, who is far more inclined to consider the long term future of the club when going about it’s day to day running than any sovereign wealth fund manager. So we are faced with the question of how do we retain our best players within our existing structure? The overriding answer, sadly, will simply be that we can’t.

We appear to have nurtured something of a golden generation: a squad of sufficient talent and depth to have a genuine tilt at breaching the top seven. It is possible that for some players, a simple appeal to hang on for a season to see if we can achieve that goal might be enough. There might be one or two who are enjoying their time here so much that they feel they can afford to wait one year. However, to be able to secure the services of the entire squad, that appeal would probably need to be allied to a financial incentive to stick around that extra year. Right away, the risks become evident. Not only would we be engaging in the financial arms race that did for the likes of, say, Portsmouth, but we’d also be creating a potential point in the future at which an exodus might ensue if the goal is not met. Then the subsequent rebuild is made all the harder.

Even assuming that we did choose to circle the wagons and protect this squad, who’s to say that the bigger clubs wouldn’t break the impasse with increasingly daft, frankly irresistible sums of cash?

In conclusion, we are very close to the limit of what should reasonably be possible with a budget such as ours and that to climb the table much further is going to be really bloody difficult.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. I think we can all agree that as wealthy as Mr Bloom is, he simply does not have the means to match the spending power of Arsenal, City, United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea or Newcastle. That’s seven teams straight away, which shows the scale of the task required to break into the European places at the end of the season.

We simply don’t have the financial clout to compete with these teams. I consider us absurdly lucky to be owned and run by a fan, who is far more inclined to consider the long term future of the club when going about it’s day to day running than any sovereign wealth fund manager. So we are faced with the question of how do we retain our best players within our existing structure? The overriding answer, sadly, will simply be that we can’t.

We appear to have nurtured something of a golden generation: a squad of sufficient talent and depth to have a genuine tilt at breaching the top seven. It is possible that for some players, a simple appeal to hang on for a season to see if we can achieve that goal might be enough. There might be one or two who are enjoying their time here so much that they feel they can afford to wait one year. However, to be able to secure the services of the entire squad, that appeal would probably need to be allied to a financial incentive to stick around that extra year. Right away, the risks become evident. Not only would we be engaging in the financial arms race that did for the likes of, say, Portsmouth, but we’d also be creating a potential point in the future at which an exodus might ensue if the goal is not met. Then the subsequent rebuild is made all the harder.

Even assuming that we did choose to circle the wagons and protect this squad, who’s to say that the bigger clubs wouldn’t break the impasse with increasingly daft, frankly irresistible sums of cash?

In conclusion, we are very close to the limit of what should reasonably be possible with a budget such as ours and that to climb the table much further is going to be really bloody difficult.

“Top 7” - sigh, I remember when it was the Top 4.

 

[Justice]

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. I think we can all agree that as wealthy as Mr Bloom is, he simply does not have the means to match the spending power of Arsenal, City, United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea or Newcastle. That’s seven teams straight away, which shows the scale of the task required to break into the European places at the end of the season.

We simply don’t have the financial clout to compete with these teams. I consider us absurdly lucky to be owned and run by a fan, who is far more inclined to consider the long term future of the club when going about it’s day to day running than any sovereign wealth fund manager. So we are faced with the question of how do we retain our best players within our existing structure? The overriding answer, sadly, will simply be that we can’t.

We appear to have nurtured something of a golden generation: a squad of sufficient talent and depth to have a genuine tilt at breaching the top seven. It is possible that for some players, a simple appeal to hang on for a season to see if we can achieve that goal might be enough. There might be one or two who are enjoying their time here so much that they feel they can afford to wait one year. However, to be able to secure the services of the entire squad, that appeal would probably need to be allied to a financial incentive to stick around that extra year. Right away, the risks become evident. Not only would we be engaging in the financial arms race that did for the likes of, say, Portsmouth, but we’d also be creating a potential point in the future at which an exodus might ensue if the goal is not met. Then the subsequent rebuild is made all the harder.

Even assuming that we did choose to circle the wagons and protect this squad, who’s to say that the bigger clubs wouldn’t break the impasse with increasingly daft, frankly irresistible sums of cash?

In conclusion, we are very close to the limit of what should reasonably be possible with a budget such as ours and that to climb the table much further is going to be really bloody difficult.

Depends if you think it’s all down to budgets, personally I can see the PL changing for the better. Brentford, Fulham, us are rewriting the script to some extent by doing things differently. Top European clubs are paying a close interest to the way the Albion do business as clubs can’t continue to keep spending stupid amounts for players.

I was gutted we didn’t have our strongest squad out for Arsenal I was interested to see how far we were away from the League leaders in terms of on the pitch. Many of these players aren’t worth the fees paid by the so called top six, I think we priced Nunez about right lots of potential although for £80m you would want the finished article he can’t finish to save himself at present. Antony another not worth £80m considering Mitoma cost £4m outstanding value and long may it continue.
You post suggests it’s going to collapse when we sell a few more top players it hasn’t so far has it? have some faith in the project. We sell players at the right time Bissouma I’m convinced is a system player he looks lost at Spurs and wasn’t that great when he first arrived, Cucurella looks half the player he was with us which is weird considering he has the same manager, I actually prefer Pervis, Ben White is a good player granted although we don’t miss him. There is no way we will have a fire sale so need to panic.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Could the next contract be an Albion first and include image rights?

Agree with the comments of clubs circling our amazing squad but we need to be careful to let too many go at once if the production line isn’t keeping up.

 

[jimhigham]

Depends if you think it’s all down to budgets, personally I can see the PL changing for the better. Brentford, Fulham, us are rewriting the script to some extent by doing things differently. Top European clubs are paying a close interest to the way the Albion do business as clubs can’t continue to keep spending stupid amounts for players.

I was gutted we didn’t have our strongest squad out for Arsenal I was interested to see how far we were away from the League leaders in terms of on the pitch. Many of these players aren’t worth the fees paid by the so called top six, I think we priced Nunez about right lots of potential although for £80m you would want the finished article he can’t finish to save himself at present. Antony another not worth £80m considering Mitoma cost £4m outstanding value and long may it continue.
You post suggests it’s going to collapse when we sell a few more top players it hasn’t so far has it? have some faith in the project. We sell players at the right time Bissouma I’m convinced is a system player he looks lost at Spurs and wasn’t that great when he first arrived, Cucurella looks half the player he was with us which is weird considering he has the same manager, I actually prefer Pervis, Ben White is a good player granted although we don’t miss him. There is no way we will have a fire sale so need to panic.

I don’t really disagree. I’ve just not really made myself clear.

I’m only really worried about our model collapsing if we sell too many players at the same time. That’s why I’m concerned about trying to retain the squad with the “promise” of European football that might not materialise. It could create a rush of sales if we fail to meet that goal, which then jeopardises our current, more incremental system.

Our model so far has worked superbly. It would seem that we are capable of maintaining momentum and our league position while selling on two or three key players each season. If we can continue to consistently sell players on at a considerable profit then we will also improve our financial position over time. Once again, my only concern is if we place too great a strain on the model by selling more players than we can reasonably replace in a short space of time.

One thing I might gently disagree with you though is your hope that the PL might change for the better. I think that there are definitely signs some of the old stalwarts might be replaced by leaner, better run clubs, as last night’s result suggests, but I think the money train at the top is locked in and isn’t going anywhere. We had a big six. Now, in purely financial terms, it’s a big seven. The push to financially bludgeon a club’s way to the top table is actually growing. People have been predicting the bursting of that bubble since not long after the PL’s creation but it’s still inflating thirty years on.

We do magnificently well to compete through our smart model but I’m not kidding myself that we’ll ever be able to break into the top four with it. That’s fine. I’m happy with that. I’d really hate to see us go down the Newcastle route.

 

[Stat Brother]

Could the next contract be an Albion first and include image rights?

Agree with the comments of clubs circling our amazing squad but we need to be careful to let too many go at once if the production line isn’t keeping up.

Have you not seen the size of the contracts?

They all contain Image Rights and have done for years.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Could the next contract be an Albion first and include image rights?

Agree with the comments of clubs circling our amazing squad but we need to be careful to let too many go at once if the production line isn’t keeping up.

I used to worry about losing our best players, but losing Bissouma and Cucurella without missing a beat has taught me that I needn't fret. It is all part of the master plan.

Trossard will leave, we've already replaced him with Mitoma and can now cash in.

So to might Robert Sanchez, but Jason Steele is an able deputy and Carl Rushworth, Barcelona target, is waiting in the wings.

Moises and Alexis will also leave, probably in the summer. But already we have Modder, Gilmour, Kozlowski, Moran and Buonanotte ready to step up.

And so it goes, Lamptey, Enciso, Sarmiento the next generation all moving closer to becoming first team regular starters.

If we don't sell players, how can the club make space to allow these unbelievable talents to blossom? Selling is not a danger, its a necessity, like coppicing a forest.

And as a result of good planning, Tony gets to recoup a portion of his enormous investment.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

At what point do the more attractive clubs than us in England, Spain and Italy (15 or so as a rough estimate), and less so Germany, have all the players they need without having to continually raid us? May sound like the stupid question it is, but we aren’t the only club worldwide they can raid, plus our players would hopefully look at how realistically they are going to make the first eleven regardless of the stature of the suitor club, bigger wages aside. Time to circle the wagons and push for Europe. Forza BHA.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Mitoma is frighteningly good. Like Haaland, he’s making Premier League football look easy. He’s gliding across the pitch and making good defenders look stupid every week, his touch is outrageous.

I can’t remember many players in the league coming in and taking to it quite as naturally as he has. If he carries on this trajectory he will be a superstar.

 

[raymondo]

“Top 7” - sigh, I remember when it was the Top 4.

We've certainly broken into the top 15 in the last couple of years

 

[raymondo]

Yesterday evening, one of the Albion or BBC text updates on the game said 'brilliant pass from Caicedo, poor first touch from Mitoma, but the bounce was lucky for him and he goes on to score' ...
Poor first touch?!?! rubbish,Mitoma knew what he was doing, took out the fullback completely with that heavy looking first touch. He has a brilliant footballing brain IMO.

 

[Richy_Seagull]

Quite hard to fathom the speed of his progress in the last few months (one of which we didn’t have any fixtures!)

His ability to carry the ball is already one of the best I can ever recall for an Albion player. He beats men so easily it’s actually laughable at times. And he looks so calm and collected when presented with a chance (apart from his head, maybe!) you always back him to slot it in.

The guy is already something else, and it’s still early days.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Have you not seen the size of the contracts?

They all contain Image Rights and have done for years.

Should have said image rights that generate a decent income, would love to know how many Mitoma shirts we are shifting in Japan now

 

[jimhigham]

I can’t remember many players in the league coming in and taking to it quite as naturally as he has. If he carries on this trajectory he will be a superstar.

Caicedo?

 

[worthingseagull]

Mitoma is frighteningly good. Like Haaland, he’s making Premier League football look easy. He’s gliding across the pitch and making good defenders look stupid every week, his touch is outrageous.

I can’t remember many players in the league coming in and taking to it quite as naturally as he has. If he carries on this trajectory he will be a superstar.

he's shit at headers though

 

[The Fits]

Caicedo?

I think it's slightly different. Caicedo has come straight in and looked one of the best midfielders in the league instantly. But with Mitoma it's something else. He has an ability to beat players that is almost surreal in its proficiency.
He gets the ball, sails past people, and you just think 'yup'. Then you're suddenly reminded he is playing top level football against some of the (supposed) best players in the world and think 'huh?'. It's unreal. And it's not like Lamptey. You don't double up on him. You could. But it just wouldn't work. His brain and feet feel at least a second ahead of anyone. We might all look very silly in a few games if his head drops, but I genuinely feel he's the one. We've found worldies in defence and midfield, and Tross can be outstanding when he's good, but Mitoma is the one. Dribbling, creating, scoring. Genius. Superstar status.

 

[A1X]

He reminds me of the difference Knocky made when he joined us, he was clearly a massive step up from anything we'd had before in that role and moved us onto the next level