January Transfer Window

thornburyiron

Read in one media report, I think it was Talksport, that Liverpool were watching Bowen last night and he has said he’s open to a move in the summer if the two clubs can agree a fee.

Hamstew

So glad you said Talksport

Bazshuayi

The Chelsea player Broja, on loan at Southampton... They're interested in a permanent deal but apparently so are other clubs. He's 20, fast, strong and looks like a confident goal scorer. Do we fancy him?

Lukerz

thornburyiron said:

Read in one media report, I think it was Talksport, that Liverpool were watching Bowen last night and he has said he’s open to a move in the summer if the two clubs can agree a fee.

Football Insider was the source, so rubbish

They populate a lot of clickbait headline articles & fire in ‘exclusives’

Lukerz

Noble ruled out for at least a month - according to Ex

thornburyiron

Lukerz that explains it. I could see him going to Liverpool if he thought he had a better chance of getting in the England squad, given that our allocation is only one player at a time but City, Utd Chelsea and Spurs are allowed up to 5 or 6.
On the other hand is girl friend is down here and he probably values his relationship and his jewels he won’t cross his potential father in law.

Kuchinghammer

The quality of the ploughed fields in Liverpool is also rubbish. He'll not be moving if they can't sort that out.

Slacker

He’ll also have to cope with wearing a black armband every week.

Dodger58

Looks like an interesting new transfer strategy for us postulated by Hammers News:
West Ham could take Carvalho on board, give him to the chance to strut his stuff for a few years before selling him on for a massive prophet.

PrestonHammer

So what massive prophet are we thinking of? Mohamed or would he be too massive?🤔

Dodger58

They also say we are looking at a 6ft 6in French forward, but not sure he’s also a prophet

ASLEFshrugged

Hammers News - the epitome of poor online "journalism"

If you follow the link to the original article on TeamTalk there's absolutely no mention of Carvalho going anywhere in January, rather that he will stay at Fulham for the rest of the season and leave on a free in the summer.

Southampton were linked in October, Tottenham and Liverpool are favourites to sign him while we have "shown interest". All the rest was made up by Antony Martin with absolutely no evidence to support his claims


Prophet? Has to be Abraham. Abe turned out for three top flight religions before making appearances for the lower league side AFC Druze and a stint in MLS at Salt Lake City. Mo very much a one club player like Noble or Le Tissier

Dodger58

Agreed ASLEF, I wouldn’t normally quote them, but that was difficult to resist

Lukerz

C&H claims Kral’s loan May be terminated this month & we have decided not to sign him permanently.

steve

Anyone think we might parade a new signing before tomorrows game ........No me neither

OldCastleSwift

steve said:

Anyone think we might parade a new signing before tomorrows game ........No me neither

Another couple of weeks until we're active, if at all. Cresswell and Zouma returning have probably pushed the defensive reinforcements back to the summer, and given Moyes has waited over a year to sign Haller's replacement, I can't see that he'd necessarily mind waiting another six months.

Honestly wouldn't surprise me if we didn't bring anyone in.

Fortuneseeker

OCS, IF that is the case it will really hamper our aspirations in the remainder of the season IMHO.

claretandbluesky

I can only imagine it's a personal thing with Kral as he has looked pretty good when he has had the chance yet Moyes has played Noble in his place and Lanzini or Fornals last week. I feel for the guy as his attitude when he has got a chance looked good, he really put himself about and showed up well in my view, not going to dislodge Soucek or Rice but I would have had him as first reserve for those two.

buffybegood

I get that Moyes likes a smallish group of players, and that he wants the right players here, but we've been hugely fortunate to have had Rice and Soucek available (bar Rice's short spell out after international duty) solidly for a season and a half. We saw a noticeable drop in form when Rice was out, and Noble is less able to cover now than he was a year ago. If Kral goes, we need someone in this window to replace him (although, knowing us, I'd be surprised to see it happen), which would mean 2 CM as a minimum in the summer even if Rice doesn't go.

ASLEFshrugged

Maybe Kral has decided that with Rice and Soucek in the team he has little hope of a regular starting place. Hardly surprising that a 23yo with 29 caps wouldn't want to be a bench warmer!

Dodger58

Good point ASLEF, but in some of the matches against the stronger teams I would like to have seen Kral playing the more defensive role with Arica and Soucek - but I don’t expect to see that now.

Lukerz

I think the issue is that there is an agreement to sign for a set fee after so many matches & Moyes maybe doesn’t feel he wants to trigger that given what he has seen or maybe doesn’t feel the price agreed reflects his ability.

Whitehorsehammer

It would be a shame to see Kral go so soon, yes, it has been difficult for him with Rice and Soucek in place but he will get his chance. From the little I have seen of him I think he can play at this level. Hopefully it is just another unfounded rumour during the transfer window.

OldCastleSwift

buffybegood said:

If Kral goes, we need someone in this window to replace him (although, knowing us, I'd be surprised to see it happen), which would mean 2 CM as a minimum in the summer even if Rice doesn't go.

I was thinking about this yesterday, but I actually believe Moyes is more likely to go with Noble, Lanzini and Fornals as CM options rather than bring in someone to replace Kral if he goes.

Lukerz

Lanzini has proven himself a decent CM option. I know people like to have ‘proper’ players in their proper positions, but if you have a player who can play in a different role & do it well, that gives you another option. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a make-do until we sign a ‘proper’ CM.

ASLEFshrugged

Lukerz said:

Lanzini has proven himself a decent CM option.

I think that has just been disproven by Leeds

Lukerz

I said CM, not DM

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I've been a big defender of the club/Moyes Re. Transfers as its not always as easy as it seems and big transfers can often end up being a big financial mistake for clubs of our size

I also think that Moyes is right in that we should be targeting the right players and think on the whole he's done a brilliant job with his additions

But that comment on Antonio irked me

As someone (Lukerz?) Said earlier I struggle to see that there isn't a single player in Europe who could come in an help the squad, there are plenty of forwards and no they won't be Antonios quality but it would at least let us rest him when he has games like he did yesterday

Can't be reliant on Yarmolenko/Masuaku as attacking options, one is a LB and one is only here because we can't shift him

Lukerz

Imagine in 3 years when Antonio hangs up his boots. Won’t be playing with a striker from that point onwards.

OldCastleSwift

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

But that comment on Antonio irked me

As someone (Lukerz?) Said earlier I struggle to see that there isn't a single player in Europe who could come in an help the squad, there are plenty of forwards and no they won't be Antonios quality but it would at least let us rest him when he has games like he did yesterday

Can't be reliant on Yarmolenko/Masuaku as attacking options, one is a LB and one is only here because we can't shift him

Yeah, as I've just said in the Leeds match thread, this is my biggest frustration. A second striker doesn't even necessarily have to better than Antonio. To improve the squad they just need to be better than our next best option, which is an out-of-position Bowen or Yarmolenko. Surely that can't be too difficult for a PL club to find.