No. My point is that TigerTim says we won't sign players in January and that's just a myth. We bought MacAlister, Ulloa, Caicedo, Lamptey, Mooy, Moder and Mitoma in January along with others.
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[Albion] The Great Albion Midfield Rebuild - Summer ‘24 edition
- Thread starter Hugo Rune
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The thing about having a bunch of young, talented players, is you actually have to trust them to play so that they get better.
I said on another thread, but I really don’t think we should sign Gruda - we need to give those minutes to Enciso, Buonanotte, Hinshelwood, and maybe Sarmiento.
What we really do need is a quality right-back. Sign one and then Hinshelwood can compete for a CM spot.
I said on another thread, but I really don’t think we should sign Gruda - we need to give those minutes to Enciso, Buonanotte, Hinshelwood, and maybe Sarmiento.
What we really do need is a quality right-back. Sign one and then Hinshelwood can compete for a CM spot.
I've heard credible sources say they made a bid that was turned down, and I've heard fecking Paul Barber himself saying they don't want to sell Billy, which is a rare statement.
Very little indicates to me that Billy will be joining Napoli. All I see is agents pushing the lukewarm interest of Napoli in order to fatten up a new contract. If they wanted him, they would have paid more, if we wanted the sale, we wouldn't put Barber in front of a camera being transparent both about the bid and our wish to keep him - any serious negotiation would happen behind locked doors.
I'm 83% certain Billy will be around for the next season.
The Fits
Well-known member
- Jun 29, 2020
- 10,106
Suspect Fergi is our number one target for this very reason. It's an ambitious one but his signing makes so much sense.
Nobby Cybergoat
Well-known member
- Jul 19, 2021
- 8,771
OK. Some fine players in there. But do you take the point that none of those were able to help us that season. They were all ones for the future. So the notion that we will spend in January to get us through the rest of the season is unlikely.
The time we most needed a player was this January, where we had a crippling injury list, players with international commitments and a one off chance to go to the latter stages in Europe. We still didn’t boost our squad (for a variety of reasons which I understand).
The point I’m making is that we need to get the players we need for the season this summer. I still think we’re one short in midfield. To me it seems we have a big liability on Weiffer and or Baleba being injured
Totally agree @Nobby Cybergoat and I'm sure we will buy more players.
Also worth noting that MacAlister, Caicedo, and Mitoma were all signed in the off-season from their clubs at the time. For those leagues and parts of the world we're always going to see January transfers because it is easier to buy players after the season is over. Same for Barco, Facu, Ayari, Ferguson and O'Mahony.
They just like to put across the idea that we don't want/need to sell to encourage bigger bids. Only recently we were told that we weren't expecting to sell Groß!
Nobby Cybergoat
Well-known member
- Jul 19, 2021
- 8,771
Well yes
And I suppose the special thing about a January transfer window signing, is that they can cover a position where you have loads of injuries from xmas or give a tiring squad a boost.
But if you only sign players in January, who you are sending straight back out on loan or putting in the u23s, not to feature for 6, 12, or 18 months, then there is no significance to them being a Jnauary signing, we could have signed them at any time. So a list of the 3 or so a year we sign in January is meaningless in that way.
I've got no issue with us working like this. I'm just aware that we were running at between 5 and 10 injured players at any one point last season and we have to assume we likely will again.
If you are thinking about whether we have enough players to get through the season, a useful thought experiment is to look at the list of the whole squad, then at random cross out 10 of the names, then pick a matchday squad from whatever is remaining. If it still looks competitive you have enough. I'm not sure we do
Munchkin
Well-known member
Gruda is coming. Fear not.
Baleba - Gruda - Wieffer
That is a massive upgrade on
Gross - Gimour - Lallana
Baleba - Gruda - Wieffer
That is a massive upgrade on
Gross - Gimour - Lallana
What we don't want to do is what we did last season:
'Shall we sign a right back?' - 'Nah, Gross and Milner can play there'
'Shall we sign a midfield pivot?' - 'Nah. Gross and Milner can play there'
'Shall we sign a back up right winger given Solly's out all season?' - 'Nah, Adingra, Gross and Bounanotte can play there'
'Shall we sign a left winger give Mitoma's out all year?' - 'Nah, Adingra Fati and Gross can play there'
We need an additional midfielder OR a right back at absolute minimum and we need to be able to replace like for like when we get injuries.
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brighton_tom
Well-known member
- Jul 23, 2008
- 5,624
I mean that was a month ago. At this point it could have seemed like Gross might stay. A month in a transfer window is a long time for developments to happen.
Probably a first on world football in that case.
Yep, I've noticed a lot of clubs filling their 25 man squads with 15 strikers, 2 keepers and 8 left backs.
"Replace like for like" surely means that the injured player should be replaced by a player of the same quality, no?
I meant same type of position. Obviously what you've described doesn't happen. What I don't mean is someone 'filling in'. Just because you CAN play somewhere doesn't mean you should. See Milner, J.
Happens in the best of teams. Rodri had to play CB for City, Ben White has been RB for Arsenal etc. Its a part of football because teams can't have three players for each role.
White played RB for us and Leeds at times. At Arsenal he and Tomiyasu are the interchangeable right backs, no one thinks of White as a CB at Arsenal.
Rodri can only play effectively at centre back if you can replace him in midfield (and you can't, he's Rodri).
Gross could play anywhere but was a lot more effective in the pocket than at left back.
We scored fewer goals last season when we had one fit winger in the whole squad than when we had four.
etc etc etc.....
Dorset Seagull
Once Dolphin, Now Seagull
Got a Florian Wirtz vibe about him