[Albion] Transfer Strategies

[Bold Seagull]

It occurred to me on another thread, that we haven't signed a player we anticipate going into the first team with experience of playing in England for 2 seasons (I'm not including reserve keeping or squad players, maybe unfair on Burn).

2018/19
Jahanbakhsh Eredivisie
Bissouma Ligue 1
Bernardo Bundesliga
Montoya La Liga
Andone La Liga 2
Balogun Bundesliga

2017/18
Locadia Eredivisie
Izquierdo Jupiler Pro League
Propper Eredivisie
Ryan La Liga
Suttner Bundesliga
Schelotto Liga NOS
Gross Bundesliga

Unless I am mistaken, none of those 13 main transfers have played in English football before.

Compare that to say Burnley, who have barely made a single signing in 3 seasons that hasn't been playing in English football. Burnley's comfortable home win to lift them clear was achieved with 6 starting players they have signed from the Championship (or a team relegated to it) in the past 3 seasons.

This going 'all in' on discovering talent around Europe, hasn't delivered players that seem know what a proper scrap is in the English game. I'm not talking about English nationality, purely experience of playing in England.

We are now left with a starting XI on Saturday, where 4 of them haven't played football in England before going into this season, and 1 of them only from last January, a further 2 starting from last season. I thought it showed. I'm seeing players in recent matches at home, Burnley, Southampton and Bournemouth, where across the park we were out fought, the opposition seemed to realise what these games were about more than us.

We need the kind of review of all our business we had when we were relying so much on loans. If we do survive, we cannot afford to sign another player that doesn't know what a scrap means playing in this country.

 

[GT49er]

Propper, Gros and Ryan went straight into the first team, and stayed there.

 

[Napper]

It is a bit of a factor but bad recruitment is bad recruitment . .

We always look for value which you don't tend to get in England.

The demand always pushes the price up

Can't see this approach changing but would be good to sign some exciting English talent

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

It occurred to me on another thread, that we haven't signed a player we anticipate going into the first team with experience of playing in England for 2 seasons (I'm not including reserve keeping or squad players, maybe unfair on Burn).

2018/19
Jahanbakhsh Eredivisie
Bissouma Ligue 1
Bernardo Bundesliga
Montoya La Liga
Andone La Liga 2
Balogun Bundesliga

2017/18
Locadia Eredivisie
Izquierdo Jupiler Pro League
Propper Eredivisie
Ryan La Liga
Suttner Bundesliga
Schelotto Liga NOS
Gross Bundesliga

Unless I am mistaken, none of those 13 main transfers have played in English football before.

Compare that to say Burnley, who have barely made a single signing in 3 seasons that hasn't been playing in English football. Burnley's comfortable home win to lift them clear was achieved with 6 starting players they have signed from the Championship (or a team relegated to it) in the past 3 seasons.

This going 'all in' on discovering talent around Europe, hasn't delivered players that seem know what a proper scrap is in the English game. I'm not talking about English nationality, purely experience of playing in England.

We are now left with a starting XI on Saturday, where 4 of them haven't played football in England before going into this season, and 1 of them only from last January, a further 2 starting from last season. I thought it showed. I'm seeing players in recent matches at home, Burnley, Southampton and Bournemouth, where across the park we were out fought, the opposition seemed to realise what these games were about more than us.

We need the kind of review of all our business we had when we were relying so much on loans. If we do survive, we cannot afford to sign another player that doesn't know what a scrap means playing in this country.

Yes, good post and particularly relevant when it comes down to playing in scrappy games.

After Saturday the biggest frustration was that Bournemouth seemed to have recruited from the UK much better than ourselves.

Whilst I think you are right, i would continue to consider Germany and the top half of Serie A as a source. We seem to rarely touch Italy.....




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[Don Tmatter]

And what I can’t understand is, that we buy youngsters from abroad and then loan them to clubs back in their own/another country (Tau & Arce excepted as no work permit), Surely they’d get used to English conditions quicker by being loaned to L1 or L2 clubs

 

[SollysLeftFoot]

I think people overthink this nationality problem.

Burnley play to the strengths of their players, have a clear formation and every player knows their role. Contrast this to us, we've switched from a 4-4-1-1 to a 4-3-/4-5-1, where we expect our attacking players to be more defensive. We know Knockaert is a defensive liability, but we still expect him to be a wing back of sorts as our full backs tuck in. Same could be said of Davy Propper, who plays much further up the pitch for the Dutch national team and has scored regularly for them there and at Brighton, is expected to be more of a defensive mid.

I think we should be concentrating more on players who suit the formation and attributes we require for our overall playing philosophy than whether they're English/played in England before.

 

[Stat Brother]

I can't wait to think of anything more depressing than signing a player without an umlout or ß.


All Smith's can fook off.

 

[Weststander]

And what I can’t understand is, that we buy youngsters from abroad and then loan them to clubs back in their own/another country (Tau & Arce excepted as no work permit), Surely they’d get used to English conditions quicker by being loaned to L1 or L2 clubs

Copying the Chelsea model ... if it comes off, you make an overall profit with later sales.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It occurred to me on another thread, that we haven't signed a player we anticipate going into the first team with experience of playing in England for 2 seasons (I'm not including reserve keeping or squad players, maybe unfair on Burn).

2018/19
Jahanbakhsh Eredivisie
Bissouma Ligue 1
Bernardo Bundesliga
Montoya La Liga
Andone La Liga 2
Balogun Bundesliga

2017/18
Locadia Eredivisie
Izquierdo Jupiler Pro League
Propper Eredivisie
Ryan La Liga
Suttner Bundesliga
Schelotto Liga NOS
Gross Bundesliga

Unless I am mistaken, none of those 13 main transfers have played in English football before.

Compare that to say Burnley, who have barely made a single signing in 3 seasons that hasn't been playing in English football. Burnley's comfortable home win to lift them clear was achieved with 6 starting players they have signed from the Championship (or a team relegated to it) in the past 3 seasons.

This going 'all in' on discovering talent around Europe, hasn't delivered players that seem know what a proper scrap is in the English game. I'm not talking about English nationality, purely experience of playing in England.

We are now left with a starting XI on Saturday, where 4 of them haven't played football in England before going into this season, and 1 of them only from last January, a further 2 starting from last season. I thought it showed. I'm seeing players in recent matches at home, Burnley, Southampton and Bournemouth, where across the park we were out fought, the opposition seemed to realise what these games were about more than us.

We need the kind of review of all our business we had when we were relying so much on loans. If we do survive, we cannot afford to sign another player that doesn't know what a scrap means playing in this country.

Seems to me that teams like Burnley and Bournemouth have a pretty settled core first team that knows each other well and plays together as a unit. Never get that feeling with the Albion first team nowadays. Far too much rotation of average squad players to be able to build much of a solid first team core, and the genuine team spirit that comes with it.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It is a bit of a factor but bad recruitment is bad recruitment . .

We always look for value which you don't tend to get in England.

The demand always pushes the price up

Can't see this approach changing but would be good to sign some exciting English talent

I don't actually mean 'English', just experience of playing in England.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Seems to me that teams like Burnley and Bournemouth have a pretty settled core first team that knows each other well and plays together as a unit. Never get that feeling with the Albion first team nowadays. Far too much rotation of average squad players to build much of a solid first team core, and the genuine team spirit that comes with it.

I agree, last season we were pretty settled in terms of squad and formation. We were also fortunate that we had no real injury issues or disruptions. Last season we also had some genuine match winners even when not playing well, Izquierdo and Gross in particular conjuring goals out of nothing - we've not been seeing that either, perhaps with the exception of Knocky at Palace.

 

[zefarelly]

last season we got lucky, no injuries and a settled team.

this season has been completely different, hence the worse performances.

It appears the 'strategy' is a longer term one . . . . which backfires massively if we go down ?

 

[East Staffs Gull]

Seems to me that teams like Burnley and Bournemouth have a pretty settled core first team that knows each other well and plays together as a unit. Never get that feeling with the Albion first team nowadays. Far too much rotation of average squad players to be able to build much of a solid first team core, and the genuine team spirit that comes with it.

Agree wholeheartedly. We’ve just about got two reasonable players in every position now. This Summer we need to significantly improve on what we’ve got in midfield and up front, by signing some quality “first name on the teamsheet” players.

 

[Justice]

Hughton policy of always going back to what once worked for him is his downfall. Balagon was superb against Liverpool away then dropped he didn’t deserve that. Play well and get dropped for Hughton’s old guard is never going to rally the squad.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Hughton policy of always going back to what once worked for him is his downfall. Balagon was superb against Liverpool away then dropped he didn’t deserve that. Play well and get dropped for Hughton’s old guard is never going to rally the squad.

Balogun was awful at home to Chelsea, a litany of errors in games that followed, if there is one thing Hughton has got right, is Burn moving up the pecking order to reserve centre back. Balogun has been given plenty of chances, but is coming well short for what is required in this league, as are quite a few of our signings this season especially - hence the thread.

Once you've got it in your mind to blame Hughton for everything, then there is probably no shaking you of that.

 

[blue-shifted]

Yes our transfer strategy is clearly a part of the issue.

We have a clear policy of going for speculative signings from other leagues who may or may not be able to adapt to English football. I can see why do this. Let's say we want to recruit a player from a Premier League rival who would genuinely improve our team. Just as an example, (not saying we should) say we tried to buy Chris Wood. Two questions. How much would Burnley want as a transfer fee to sell to us? And how much would we have to offer in wages to make the deal happen? Both figures would be eye watering

Now clearly we would be getting a proven premier league goalscorer at a good age, but I can understand why we're not trying to play that game.

What we have to remember is that for all the speculative foreign signings where the jury's still out, (Locadia, Ali J, Montoya Andone), there have been plenty which have turned out to be shrewd signings, (Gross, Ryan, Bernardo, Bissouma, Izquierdo).

I think with this transfer strategy we have to accept, that firstly there will only be a 50% success rate and we're likely to have to put up with an adjustment period.

The alternative is that we turn from a £50K per week club to a £100k per week club, which I know some people want, but plenty of those have gone down and if we do, that puts us in trouble as a club.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Hughton policy of always going back to what once worked for him is his downfall. Balagon was superb against Liverpool away then dropped he didn’t deserve that. Play well and get dropped for Hughton’s old guard is never going to rally the squad.

If Hughton always went back to what once worked he’d drop this 4-3-3 crap and go back to his 4-4-1-1. Fingers crossed.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Talksport, Ian Holloway:

"Tony Bloom would be better off looking at their scouting and transfer business than their manager in my opinion"

 

[A1X]

You can't do the Premier League "on a budget". Sure you don't want to go nuts like Fulham have done because that's just stupid, but there is a happy medium.

There were options available last summer. I wanted us to sign Rondon, but instead we went after the cheaper foreign imports. Rondon has scored 10 goals this season for Newcastle (including a few big ones recently) and as such they're safe. Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond at Southampton have also outscored anyone in our team bar Glenn (who hasn't scored in yonks). Even Mitrovic in a poor Fulham side has outshone our forwards.

Yes you have to pay more money for these players. But that's because they're worth it. We spent £15m on Locadia and we're STILL waiting for him to come good 15 months later, had we spent £5m more we could have got someone capable of producing the goods for the last 12 at least.

 

[Springal]

There is some merit in this, but I think work rate plays a big part. Burnley are a niggly team that work hard from start to finish. They might not necessarily have the talent to win some games but they battle.

There is very little in our squad that seem to want to get stuck in