The Transfer Window

Lukerz

Personally (& I could be wrong, this is not me saying it’s fact) I feel we’re wasting time on the Kostic deal.

It’s a very hard deal to complete given the timing; free agent in 12 months, able to negotiate with foreign clubs in 4 months, Champions League football this season, his age, the fact he may be looking for an improved deal at Frankfurt, the fact he may be looking to engineer interest from other clubs. It’s a tough deal to do & I don’t see it ending with us signing him.

It would make very little sense for him & his agent to join a club now when he could play CL for a season, have a pick of any club he wants & benefit massively from financial bonuses (plus his agent), all the while waiting patiently to see if Frankfurt offer him an improved deal.

PrestonHammer

Move on to Cornet.

IronHerb

Is Cornet better than anyone we already have? Apart from a couple of screamers last season he hardly set the league alight.

PrestonHammer

Barcelona sign Kounde and have put in a 5 billion euro buyout clause hahaha

OutcastLondoner

IronHerb said:

Is Cornet better than anyone we already have? Apart from a couple of screamers last season he hardly set the league alight.

9 goals in 26 games is pretty good, I think. He’s fast. He played as striker for Burnley but for Lyon he’s played as a winger and a left wing back.

Think he could be useful.

Fortuneseeker

Imagine what Cornet might do if he was in a better team?

Slacker

Always thought he was a bit flakey myself.

All week………

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Fortuneseeker said:

Imagine what Cornet might do if he was in a better team?

Think this argument doesn't always hold up

Always this assumption that players will deffo do better with better players around them which on paper makes sense

What also can happen is they aren't at the level of their new team mates so they end up on the bench

I'd take Cornet, can't imagine him playing a LWB as I've only ever seen him as a CF

But I'd rather we went for someone more natural in the position for LB/LWB

Fortuneseeker

WHU, I am all for getting a proper LB, I might have mentioned this a few times on here already. 😉 😃

Pearces_Left_Foot

Rather get the lb from Leicester he fits the red bull model

PrestonHammer

PrestonHammer said:

Barcelona sign Kounde and have put in a 5 billion euro buyout clause hahaha

Sorry, it's a 5 year deal with a 1 billion euro buyout clause.

OutcastLondoner

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Fortuneseeker said:

Imagine what Cornet might do if he was in a better team?

Think this argument doesn't always hold up

Always this assumption that players will deffo do better with better players around them which on paper makes sense

What also can happen is they aren't at the level of their new team mates so they end up on the bench

I'd take Cornet, can't imagine him playing a LWB as I've only ever seen him as a CF

But I'd rather we went for someone more natural in the position for LB/LWB

He was playing it in the Champion’s League the season they did really well and knocked out City and played it a lot in his last season for Lyon. Transfermarkt seem to list the LWB performances as either LB or LM but some of those were definitely wing back games (I’m not sure transfermarkt is actually very good at recording wing back formations).

First time I saw him he was playing LWB and he seemed fine. Agree he’d be better bought as a CF or winger but if he is being targeted I wouldn’t be surprised if they have that ability to play deeper in mind.

whupathman

Having scored a pen for Everton apparently sully has put a bid in for Paul Stratton , well played Everton btw

Lukerz

Kostic deal is off according to Ex

Hamstew

No idea why this was even a thing. In champions League why would he move. Just constantly waisting our time.

Fortuneseeker

Lukerz, Gives us time to finalise the three or 4 signings we are rumoured to be keen to complete.

OldCastleSwift

Fortuneseeker said:

Lukerz, Gives us time to finalise the three or 4 signings we are rumoured to be keen to complete.

If we haven't left it too late. Our supposed Plan B (Cornet) is reported to be close to joining Everton.

buffybegood

OldCastleSwift said:

Fortuneseeker said:

Lukerz, Gives us time to finalise the three or 4 signings we are rumoured to be keen to complete.

If we haven't left it too late. Our supposed Plan B (Cornet) is reported to be close to joining Everton.

Cornet, no, he's just the cream on top.

Bazshuayi

Newcastles failed 40M for Maddison... Apparently they're looking for 50M. I know its an outlay, but he's class and whilst I don't expect us to get him, an ambitious club should be trying to. It does seem like Leicester are struggling financially. We fired bids of that level for Raphina and Phillips (didn't we?). I'd say a creative playmaker who is also great at set pieces would be an amazing signing for us

buffybegood

There have been quite a few reports that suggest he's not the sort of personality that Moyes would usually bring in.

Slacker

I don’t quite understand why people are so negative about the transfer situation.
It looks very much like Rice is staying, we’ve signed 3 international players including the much wanted striker, a promising young midfielder and yet still the moaning continues.
Just don’t get it.

alderz

Slacker said:

I don’t quite understand why people are so negative about the transfer situation.
It looks very much like Rice is staying, we’ve signed 3 international players including the much wanted striker, a promising young midfielder and yet still the moaning continues.
Just don’t get it.

I think most people are fairly open with why they are worried. The general consensus is that we are weak at left back, and lack depth in the attacking positions and central midfield.

The rumours coming out of the club are that Moyes wants another 3-4 (I think that is unlikely) but it seems like we’re not particularly close to any signings right now.

I also wouldn’t characterise most comments as ‘moaning’, personally. For me, it’s a fan base that hasn’t enjoyed pre season, and still thinks we lack depth.

Slacker

I must be different then I s’pose, I think we’ve done pretty good in this window.

PrestonHammer

Pre season has been woeful, now I know it's all about fitness but we haven't looked very prolific or even creating many chances. That is what worries me most. Now it may become very different when the season kicks into gear but at the moment it's not looking good.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

alderz said:

Slacker said:

I don’t quite understand why people are so negative about the transfer situation.
It looks very much like Rice is staying, we’ve signed 3 international players including the much wanted striker, a promising young midfielder and yet still the moaning continues.
Just don’t get it.

I think most people are fairly open with why they are worried. The general consensus is that we are weak at left back, and lack depth in the attacking positions and central midfield.

The rumours coming out of the club are that Moyes wants another 3-4 (I think that is unlikely) but it seems like we’re not particularly close to any signings right now.

I also wouldn’t characterise most comments as ‘moaning’, personally. For me, it’s a fan base that hasn’t enjoyed pre season, and still thinks we lack depth.

Think people were moaning before the pre-season games tbf

I think we are weak in the areas you suggested but who doesn't need reinforcements?

The club have made 4 senior signings and spent circa £80mil plus while retaining our best players (unlike Everton, Leeds, Brighton who have lost big players).....would MUCH prefer us working like this than how we operated in 15/16 window getting in 11 senior players on the cheap and had an awful season

Just because we haven't had a perfect window, shouldn't make this a bad window

If transfer windows were that easy every single team would improve season by season which obviously is impossible

Moyes is clearly targeting someone for the left side and typically we make 2 loans moves a season whereas so far we've made none....don't see 4 signings being out the question

OldCastleSwift

I actually think it's a myth that pre-season is all about fitness. It's also about playing yourself into form and integrating new players and tactics, IMO.

Bottom line for me is that I don't believe that we've done enough for where we are in pre-season. Yesterday we saw Fornals as a False 9 and a LWB. We saw a right back at LCB, Rice end the game there and started at least two players that Moyes doesn't really trust in Benrahma and Masuaku. That's far from ideal preparation for a new season.

I totally get that there are four weeks left, and I won't judge the window completely until 1st September, but my concern is that we're now going into a period of seven important games with a still incomplete squad, with two of the main areas of concern still not addressed.

Pearces_Left_Foot

I think if we address the weakness at lb we will be in a pretty good position having addressed the striker issue extra cB cover and another body in midfield without losing any starting 11 players. We of course could do with more but every team fans would say that

Lukerz

We all know the side against City will be (injuries permitting):

Fabianski
Coufal - Dawson - Zouma - Cresswell
Soucek - Rice
Bowen - Lanzini - Fornals
Antonio

With a likely bench of:

Areola, Ogbonna, Johnson, Masuaku, Coventry, Downes, Vlasic, Benrahma, Scamacca

IronHerb

I give little credence to any games where there is nothing riding on the outcome and played at 75%. I firmly believe pre season is about fitness and sharpness.

As for the transfer window then it's so far so good. We are actively looking at more signings and the level of player we are looking at is probably the best it's been. Everton, Brighton, Wolves, Leicester, United, Fulham, Bournemouth and Chelsea are, at this stage, having a mare of a window so it's not all plain sailing.

You can plan as much as you want for a transfer window but as Mike Tyson said -"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"

OldCastleSwift

I don't think the comparisons with other clubs business is particularly relevant because I don't know that their needs are as great as ours.

Leicester haven't done much (any?) business, but arguably they have a balanced squad. Sure, as with any club they could do with improving in quality, but they appear to have decent depth of squad already, whereas one of our biggest problems is lack of genuine options in certain positions.

I'll use RW as an example; we've known for a long time that Yarmolenko was going, but I can't see what our plan is to replace him. We have one right winger in Bowen, so if he gets injured in the week who plays wide right against City?

It might all come good over the next four weeks, but I still think we've been slow.