The "I know its only September but..." transfer thread

alderz

Gossip Column said:

West Ham have made an approach for Rubin Kazan and Georgia forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 21. (Football Insider)

If football manager is anything to go by, this dude is fast and works hard. He’s like the Georgian Jarrod Bowen but he plays on the left wing.

ScotHammer

He could be excellent, but we need a centre forward first. No more messing about with converting wide players or other midfielders!

EXETERHAMMER

Ben Brereton Diaz from Blackburn would do us. £20million plus would probably get him.

claretandbluesky

The rumour mongers have barely let their Christmas dinner go down before gearing up for the new window. Apparently on Aston Villa news they are looking to complete the transfer of Lanzini but facing competition from Leeds!

And we are looking to sign an Austrian body builder.

steve

Seems about right

nychammer66

claretandbluesky said:

The rumour mongers have barely let their Christmas dinner go down before gearing up for the new window. Apparently on Aston Villa news they are looking to complete the transfer of Lanzini but facing competition from Leeds!

And we are looking to sign an Austrian body builder.

Is this serious? Lanzini has come good lately. And we are depleted right now. Why on earth would we sell him?

claretandbluesky

I can't imagine it has much substance, just pre window trying to start up a bit of rumour.

If suspending disbelief for a second it may have been credible earlier in the season as he was getting very little game time but has been getting much more lately and with Benrhama going to AFCON I can't imagine we would allow him to leave.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Yesterday was we are keeping him until summer then he is going back to river plate on a free

PrestonHammer

Breaking Transfer News!

I'm about to transfer myself from upstairs to downstairs on a free, to make a cup of tea. Oh, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it

Slacker

PrestonHammer said:

Breaking Transfer News!

I'm about to transfer myself from upstairs to downstairs on a free, to make a cup of tea. Oh, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it

What shirt number are you getting?

PrestonHammer

18, to denote my mental age 😁

Giant_Hammer

18 Preston? That’s pushing it.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

New CB is a priority

Neither Dawson or Diop are good enough and we score enough goals that I'd rather a CB than a CF

Fortuneseeker

Really looking forward to the magic Rob Newman must do early in January 2022. 🙏

Lukerz

At the moment we are suffering from a lack of competition. Diop & Dawson know their positions are safe for another few games until we sign a CB. Rice & Soucek know that Kral is not good enough to replace either of them & Noble is too old now for a PL starter. Antonio is also guaranteed games as the alternatives are nobody. That’s 5 players who have no real competitors for their positions. You could throw in Cresswell when he’s fit but Masuaku is at least an option & to be fair Cresswell doesn’t seem to suffer from a lack of form despite being more or less a guaranteed starter. It’s only at RB & the three positions behind the striker that we have genuine competition.

claretandbluesky

It will be interesting to see who Moyes plays alongside Soucek at Watford, I think it should be Kral as he has looked pretty good when he has played, but he may go for Noble out of loyalty to the captain. If so kral must wonder why he signed.

ASLEFshrugged

Pearces_Left_Foot said:

Yesterday was we are keeping him until summer then he is going back to river plate on a free

Unlikely we'd let Lanzini go anywhere on a free as he signed a 4-year deal in 2019 (with another 2 year option)

Yeoldhammer

Yarmolenko has to go. I'd rather chance a youngster for the remainder of the season. If it can happen, save some wages.

IronHerb

Lukerz said:

At the moment we are suffering from a lack of competition. Diop & Dawson know their positions are safe for another few games until we sign a CB. Rice & Soucek know that Kral is not good enough to replace either of them & Noble is too old now for a PL starter. Antonio is also guaranteed games as the alternatives are nobody. That’s 5 players who have no real competitors for their positions. You could throw in Cresswell when he’s fit but Masuaku is at least an option & to be fair Cresswell doesn’t seem to suffer from a lack of form despite being more or less a guaranteed starter. It’s only at RB & the three positions behind the striker that we have genuine competition.

So you are saying that they aren't really bothered?

Lukerz

No I am not saying that but there is a limit to what levels the motivation can reach.

Fortuneseeker

Competition for places is supposed to be healthy atm there isn’t much in a few key positions. ☹️

BubblesNeverDies

Sad state of affairs when being paid tens of thousands of pounds per week is not motivation enough.

alderz

BubblesNeverDies said:

Sad state of affairs when being paid tens of thousands of pounds per week is not motivation enough.

But it makes sense. Most people say if they won the lottery they would quit their job. Because working isn’t so important when you’re financially secure for the rest of your life. More money isn’t really an incentive if you have enough money.

That said, I don’t think it’s that they aren’t motivated. I just think that having your place in the side under threat lights a different kind of fire.

MrsGrey

Fires up the competitive instinct - an instinct without which no athlete makes it to the top level.

Lukerz

It’s like saying if you run the 100m on your own, do you set the world record time. Not likely.

MrsGrey

BubblesNeverDies said:

Sad state of affairs when being paid tens of thousands of pounds per week is not motivation enough.

But their salary isn't performance based.

So why would it motivate them?

Personally speaking, I think its a good state of affairs when the size of the paycheck isn't a factor in their level of motivation. Id rather a player was motivated by competition/results/glory/trophies/winning/praise/camaraderie/the badge/whatever... than ££. I think it shows they are a better person than the one who judges how much effort to put in by the number of zeros on the end of their salary.

Edit: Of course, the idea that they aren't motivated is pure fabrication, but I'm just commenting on the concept rather than the reality.

Bazshuayi

Lukerz said:

It’s like saying if you run the 100m on your own, do you set the world record time. Not likely.

I just tried it, came up a bit short

Bazshuayi

Perhaps its a case of tired minds and limbs? Also, if you look at a lot of our best scoring performances in the last 18 months, perhaps the other teams are now wary of our style of play? Also, players like Benni, Fornals and Antonio's form were higher which makes a big difference. Bowens form has got better and stayed at a level but for us to be winning, all the four need to contribute (and players like Lanzini and Vlasic need to be up there when rotating). Having Zouma, Oggy and Cresswell out hardly helps defensively or with our set plays...

Its probably a combination of a few things but I admit I cant be too hard on the team as theyve done so well for ages. Hopefully we'll rise again soon and maybe some fresh January legs can help too

BubblesNeverDies

So if there were competition for their places, would they still be motivated if their wages were cut in half?

alderz

BubblesNeverDies said:

So if there were competition for their places, would they still be motivated if their wages were cut in half?

I think from a competitive perspective, yes. But a lot of them wouldn’t be at the club if we had offered half the salary, so it’s moot I reckon