Realistic Targets for Championship | Vital Football

Realistic Targets for Championship

ZAKKY

ZAKKY

Vital Football Hero
Without wanting to tempt providence I thought it might be interesting to see which players we may be able to realistically sign this summer, any thoughts ?

The one that springs to mind is Leighton Baines, Everton are looking for new left backs so he could be surplus to requirements and a return to us may appeal I think he is still good enough.
 
ZAKKY said:
Without wanting to tempt providence I thought it might be interesting to see which players we may be able to realistically sign this summer, any thoughts ?

The one that springs to mind is Leighton Baines, Everton are looking for new left backs so he could be surplus to requirements and a return to us may appeal I think he is still good enough.
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Baines is contracted until 2019 at Everton - absolutely no way we will get any where near the wage he is currently on.
Realistically we will be looking at players that are lower league again (Dunkley , Massey for example)
Who has impressed you in this League performing against us?
I though Jon Taylor (ex youth player for us) did a reasonable job on saturday for Rotherham.
 
Rochdale had a couple of talented kids that stood out , one was the left winger very quick good feet .. Cook not into spending fortunes , also depends on this takeover they might want to spend big you never know ..
 
The little winger that played for Scunny. I think his first name was Duayne, but I can't remember his surname.
 
Cook's record at signing players isn't stellar. Aren't a lot of the current first team actually Gary Caldwell purchases?

Oztumer from Walsall is a good winger/striker and is wantaway. Portsmouth's goalkeeper and Whatmough (CB) had a bit of something about them. Jack Marriott off Peterborough. Graham Carey. Omar Beckles. Can't say there's tons of definite upper half Champ quality knocking around though, we'll have to get some established talent.
 
sevendaughters said:
Cook's record at signing players isn't stellar. Aren't a lot of the current first team actually Gary Caldwell purchases?

Oztumer from Walsall is a good winger/striker and is want away. Portsmouth's goalkeeper and Whatmough (CB) had a bit of something about them. Jack Marriott off Peterborough. Graham Carey. Omar Beckles. Can't say there's tons of definite upper half Champ quality knocking around though, we'll have to get some established talent.
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Good shout with Omar Beckles bit dirty but a good one never the less, Jack Marriott would cost a fortune. Graham Carey another good shout
 
If we can bring baines back for just one season then we should. With elder going it only makes sense. Burn Dunkley and Byrne all deserve to be solid starters next season. I think they will make the grade.

Defiantly should look into another solid midfielder too. Though MacDonald will be like a new signing. I trust Grigg will score goals. Walker will be like a new signing too. Left back and goalkeeper are priority. If we can even sign baines and resign Walton on loan I'd be happy.

Only worry I have is a actual replacement for Powell. I'd have Lang back in the first team too.

19 years old, 25 games and 10 goals for a struggling side who has not played a ridiculous amount of mintutes deserves to have a chance.
 
Personally none of the players mentioned really excite me and are, imo, no better than the players we have. For instance I think Grigg is as good as Marriott and although Beckles puts himself about a bit I think offering Elder another season is a better bet. I would like to see Cook stay with the bulk of our first team squad and try to bring in a couple of decent loanees to freshen it up. Hopefully we can hang on to Walton for another season but if not then I would certainly have no problem with Jamie Jones starting the season.

I think the problem we had last time we were promoted was that we effectively broke the squad up and lost the momentum and winning mentality. Keep the squad together and let them use the togetherness they have built up this season to provide us with a solid start, instead of bringing in new faces and having to rebuild the understanding between player combinations. We would still be able to strengthen after a couple of games if necessary and then again in January.

As far as a realistic target for next season, I think I would accept any position above the relegation places and push on again the season after.
 
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TRUE BELIEVER said:
Personally none of the players mentioned really excite me and are, imo, no better than the players we have. For instance I think Grigg is as good as Marriott and although Beckles puts himself about a bit I think Vaughan is a better bet. I would like to see Cook stay with the bulk of our first team squad and try to bring in a couple of decent loanees to freshen it up. Hopefully we can hang on to Walton for another season but if not then I would certainly have no problem with Jamie Jones starting the season.

I think the problem we had last time we were promoted was that we effectively broke the squad up and lost the momentum and winning mentality. Keep the squad together and let them use the togetherness they have built up this season to provide us with a solid start, instead of bringing in new faces and having to rebuild the understanding between player combinations. We would still be able to strengthen after a couple of games if necessary and then again in January.

As far as a realistic target for next season, I think I would accept any position above the relegation places and push on again the season after.
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this. all of this.

i think i said something like this yesterdey. keeping a strong nucleas is as good as getting new pleyers in my opineon. we pley well together. the mind set is already a given in the changing room and the skill set is actually not far of what we need for promoteon.

there will still be a need for new talent tho. keeping walton is a good shout but on the baines thing. someone said hes contracted at everton til 2019 then why not put in a cheeky loan bid for him asking everton to pick up part of his wages. you can only ask and it could sort are left back prob.

as for additeons i agree that oztumer and doyle would be worth looking at. as for midfield my preference would be for an proven champ or ex-prem pleyer. but like i said. lets not flood the team with new staff. i think it upsets the dynamic.
 
I don’t think Oztumer would work here. Cook likes his players big and strong and Oztumer is the opposite of that. If Shrewsbury don’t go up then we could look at cherry picking from them although we probably wouldn’t be alone. Lang won’t be in the first team next season. He’ll be away on loan to a L1 team rather than playing at Christopher Park as 4th choice striker. We’ve got no money so I suspect we’ll be roaming the loan market once again with the odd free transfer or two thrown in. Unless we sell someone like Powell in which case we’ll splash out a small fraction of his fee for a replacement, probably someone like Carey.
 
I think we all agree that next season will be tougher. We will be going up a division, all being well, and playing against higher quality players with more savvy managers. This season was always going to be that little bit easier because much of our squad has had experience in the higher division. I really don't think that anyone is wearing blinkers and expecting us to romp home without breaking sweat next season. It is all about how we perceive the current playing squad we have in relation to other teams in the championship. My own view is that most of the regular first team are good enough to make the step up and will be able to hold their own in the division albeit at the lower end. What we do have is a manager on the up in Paul Cook. His star is rising and if we can hold on to him and allow him to mould the squad in his style and bring in the players he feels he needs then we could do more than survive and possibly make it into a comfortable mid table position.
 
For me from our current squad i'd say Walton, byrne, dunkley, burn, morsy, powell and macdonald are championship calibre players. Cole and walker haven't been given enough chances to prove their worth, grigg and jacobs both really struggled last time in the championship. Grigg can lose confidence quickly and become a really timid player, maybe cook can change that.

So for me we need two wingers, left back, defensive mid, possibly another striker.

Left back, junior brown or greg leigh. Junior brown at shrewsbury was first choice lb until he got injured, similar to nathan byrne. Greg leigh is more defensive minded and probably doesn't suit us, but i rate him.

Left wing, ashley hunter or tarique fosu. Ashley hunter can play across the front line, fiery player with quality. Fosu athletic player that can play either wing.

Right wing, hakeeb adelakun or jodi jones. Adelakun quick, big and great at driving up the field with the ball. Jodi jones, very skillful left footed right winger, very small and lots of experience for a 20 year old, will probably sign for leeds at the end of the season.

Defensive midfield, Jake foster caskey, joe aribo or matty crooks. Foster caskey has quality with the ball, joe aribo very athletic midfielder. Matty crooks very big destroyer midfielder, has worse discipline than morsy but the only player that impressed me from Northampton this season.

Striker tom eaves, mohamed eisa. Eaves is having his first stand out season, he's mobile, tall and a threat. He could be similar to ricky lambert, different type of player but could excel later in his career. Mohamed eisa, first season in the efl. He's scored some quality goals, exciting player.

Ruben lameiras, probably my pick of the bunch, very left footed player. Can play right wing, attacking midfield or left wing. His quality of pass is excellent and a very technical player.

Sammy ameobi, kazenga lua lua and possibly Mcmanaman maybe available at the end of the season depending on their clubs situations. Ameobi and lua lua out of contract at the end of the season, mcmanaman signed until next year, but might want out. Haven't looked at the out of contract players this year, but hopefully we can pick up another Powell, Dunkley or Burn.
 
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Correct me if Im wrong believer but I thought Beckles is a left back not a striker
 
I’ll be interested to see what happens with MacDonald. He’s our second highest earner behind Powell, was part of a relegated Championship team last time around and most importantly he’s coming off the back of a massive long term injury. Cook wants his central midfielders to do a ton of donkey work, running all day and getting stuck in where it hurts. Is MacDonald going to be able to do that to the level Cook wants after his injury? I suspect we gave him a new contract because it would have been tight to release him after being injured all season. He’s apparently fit to play now but isn’t being used. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes out on loan next season if a club will cover most of his wages.
 
I don't understand the logic of because a player didn't succeed in a particular division one season then he is doomed to perform at that level again should he go back to that divison.

Take a look at Jamie Vardy. He would still be in the lower leagues had Leicester not taken a chance with him. Even more-so if you look at Mo Salah. Played in the premier league for Chelsea 13 games over 2 years and scored 2 goals. This season 32 games 30 goals with Liverpool.

I think we need to be careful that we don't end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater. This could equally apply to MacDonald.
 
I think the idea of doing most of our shopping in L1 is a good shout, plenty of talent we could get that is young and hungry. Some good suggestions so far, i dont think we would be looking to do major surgery to the team but there's lots of options to look at. The Scunny winger already mentioned by Chet was Duane Holmes i believe both him and their other winger Adelukan that Vic mentioned are on a free in the summer as is Agogo from Shrews, Newell from Rotherham and Mellor from Blackpool. All would be smart freebies.

Yanic on loan would be my number one target. He screwed us over but i think no point holding a grudge if we think we can get something out of him and Norwich will want rid and he'll be desperate to get out. I think if he came back he would regain his old form.

Marriott and Madison from Peterborough are obvious shouts but will prob be way out of our price range. Junior Morles also from Peterborough who looks a bit like a mini Akinfenwa with his build really caught my eye when I've seen him for them too.

Nolan from Shrews really impressed me but i think he'll go to bigger championship club for big fee.

I like Beckles from what I've seen but not sure if Shrews would want more than we should pay. Always liked Carey from Plymouth and never understood why we didn't get him on a free last summer he will prob cost a lot now so could be a hard one now. Oztumer is another i rate very highly but i agree with previous comments about not being sure he fits into our side as he's not a worker or battler. Hunter from Fleetwood another Vic mentioned looks like a good lad worth a look at.

I think i only saw him once but Grimes who's on loan at Northampton from Swansea looked like he could be a really good player and Tyrell Robinson from Bradford looks like a top prospect and only 20 from what little I've seen of him.

Alex Mowatt currently on loan at Oxford was a world beater at Leeds a couple of years ago but lost his spark. Unless that's down to off field issues we dont know about I really think he'll come good again with the right manager. He'd he worth a cut price move as if you get him back on song he's a potential prem player. You could certainly say the same about McMannaman who's career really has collapsed since he left us and i think Sunderland will give him away at this point. Thorne at Derby is a bit of a forgotten man due to injuries but he is a class act if u got him fit and on form again.

There's a few interesting frees in the Championship but i think many of those will have better offers than we can afford. A couple i did think were possible would be 6'5 Nuihu from Sheff Wed who has been warming the bench for years until recently and Jordan Graham from Wolves. I think Pilkington from Cardiff might also be free and I've always liked what i saw from him.

Probably no chance but James McArthur is free and that would be a wonderful return but i think he'll have no shortage of offers paying bigger money than us.

Oliver Burke from West Brom on loan would be sensational if they don't realise what they have in him.

Finally Chris Martin from Derby has had an awful season and his stock has really dropped. But he is a top striker if you can get him fit and motivated. I think people will be writing him off but I'd take a punt on him as i think Cook would get him back on song if the finances of the deal worked. But that's a big 'if' as i bet he's on a hefty wage.

Plenty of realistic good choices to pick from. No reason we can't pick up a good handful of them if we are on the ball.
 
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Re-sign James McClean from (potentially) relegated West Brom, and Callum Mcmanaman from (potentially) relegated Sunderland.


Get the band back together!
 
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