2023/2024 | Page 5 | Vital Football

2023/2024

McCreery said:
We don't know what OM's concerns are though because he rarely explains himself

He was unhappy with last Summer's business - it was the same story in January (there's a post in this very thread where he is still claiming that January gone was a poor window) but he doesn't explain why

North of 300 million spent, 4th place, CL qualification and a cup final in their first full season and he's still trying to make some pointless point abut how disappointed he is with the way things are going
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Maybe I misunderstand his point, but I definitely don't agree with OM in regards to us dallying when it comes to spending, Isak is a prime example.
 
Back after a nice break and it continues to be great not having to stress about the club's issues whilst away. Starting to get used to the normality of it now and so should us as a fanbase as a whole.

The club is in excellent hands now and the process has born fruit so it's there in front of us to enjoy and allow it to continue to be played out in how the club sees fit.

The transfer window being open is the biggest elephant in the room for many as they presume that we have to use it and to use it to buy the best that money can buy. The obvious truth here is that Ashley not only stagnated us for 13 years but set us back a further number in his asset stripping, diversion tactics and alienating of many thousands of fans as well as a lost generation.

To claw back to where we are now is nothing short of a miracle and for it to continue there can only be a small build or slight make over every transfer window and no massive rebuild due to the damage that that may cause.

Contrary to how things seem to be played out in the media, it's been fairly quiet so far in this window with us actually one of the biggest net spenders with only Arsenal, Spurs, Man Utd, Brentford and Liverpool ahead of us. In relation to incoming spend only Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool have spent more.

FFP comes into it obviously with Chelsea seeming to trump everyone with their massive spend over the last year but their £83m Summer spend has been eclipsed by sales totalling about £200m.

Next you have to factor in our target pool of players, the domino effect of transfers in that some clubs wont sell until their target becomes available from another club or agents trying to pull a fast one by leaking stuff to start an auction. There's also the small matter of the 25 man squad and wages being paid to those that dont make it or are slow in being shifted around.

Currently we have about 31 or 32 players that qualify for the 25 man squad so you can understand the willingness to wait around a bit to sell first if the club is actually doing that. Of the 31/32 players. It's obvious which players are available but there has to be takers.


You can rule out Karius and Dummett going as these have just signed new deals but you would think the list of available will be Darlow and/or Dubravka or Gillespie, Lascelles, Manquillo, Kelland Watts, Hayden, Fraser and Hendrick. I reckon we need at least 5 gone or we'll be getting one player more maximum.

In a perfect world we'd ship out 6 or more and get in another attacker, centre back and full back but it's only the 16th July and there's plenty of time in a window that hasn't got going yet.

Personally I think the club IS waiting for players to be sold but will be in a position to buy the right player if we have to in order not to lose out but would probably sell someone like Saint-Maximin to offset FFP in an emergency.

See what the next week brings.
 
As far as I can tell the reason why FFP restrictions appear to be particularly onerous for our club is actually pretty simple. We are attempting to shop for world class players, but we haven't had world class commercial turnover in the recent past. So our limits are effectively at a lower level. If I have understood correctly it's going to take time to grow the commercial side of the business in order to finance multiple world class incomings each window.
 
t00nraider said:
ASM reminds me of Ben Arfa. You know he is capable of that bit of magic no one else has in their locker. Sadly it's just not enough.

Barnes deal done? If so I'd be quite happy with transfers, anything else a bonus.
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Ben Arfa was a far better player then ASM, saying that Ben Arfa was also better than ginola in my opinion. He wasn't better than Robert though but he did have the potential to be.
 
Livramento incoming also. Based on how I think transfers are working for us now over a 5 year period and disregarding the likes of Bruno, Botman and Isak who's fees will be taking up a slice for another 5 years or so, I see us having a transfer income of £15m for Chris Wood and £30m + for Maxi with outlays of about £11m for Tonali (for 5 years), £7.5m for Barnes and potentially £6m for Livramento.

Karl Darlow is close to going to Bournemouth not to mention one or two more close to going so we could be looking at another 2 decent priced incomings.
 
Will Livramento be one with a spot in the 1st squad or will he play with the youngsters?
Seems a lot of money for a(nother) reserve player. Thought we already had cover for that place.
 
I just saw a very interesting set of stats comparing Barnes end product with Grealish over the last 3 or 4 seasons. I know stats aren't everything but Barnes came out very well.

The main gist was "Harvey Barnes has scored 12 more goals than Grealish and 1 less assist in 4 less games".
 
Toon_power said:
Will Livramento be one with a spot in the 1st squad or will he play with the youngsters?
Seems a lot of money for a(nother) reserve player. Thought we already had cover for that place.
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That would be really foolish. Livramento is actually a very good player. Don't know about the asking price, though.
 
officemonkey said:
I see the usual suspects are kicking up a fuss about us selling St Max and doubting whether it is market rate. I bet the scousers aren’t complaining about getting 40m for Fabinho, who in reality is worth about 500k. Hypocrites.
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Another smiling assassin. Kicked owt that got the better of him and shrugged his shoulders when the ref gave a decision against him
 
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