Summer Transfer Plans

[silverlion]

On NAD GR talks about a rethink regarding our striking options following the emergence of the partnership between Jed and Bennett. Between them they have scored the same number of goals as Ken, Smith Bradshaw and Bod combined. He reveals that the club extended the contract of Bradshaw for one more year as he had that option on his deal. Bod has scored just one goal in 37 appearances and has one more year to run on his contract. Ideally the club would like to move him on at the end of this season but I really can’t see a queue forming to sign him! His work rate is good but his success in front of goal is poor. For me, you could almost say the same about Bradshaw but it looks as if we are saddled with him for another year!

 

[monkeymfc]

My worry is that he will keep Zohore.

 

[SEL]

Strikers should come with clauses in their contracts that state they can be sacked on the spot if they do not score enough goals in a season.

 

[silverlion]

I am not sure whether Ken fits the profile of what we need up front and also whether he would fit into our budget. WBA signed him from Cardiff for eight or six million to play in the Premier league. He has shown WBA that he is not up to it. He clearly is not on minimum wage and I have heard from different sources that he is on £16k a week and we are paying half of it. Now that Skalak has gone and freed up the £16k he was on our highest paid could be Mahoney on £12k a week along with Jed.
You really would expect a Premier League striker to get into double figures with us. Two goals is a fairly poor return for the number of appearances he has made. I have often said on here that there are times that he looks the part but his goals per game return and his injury concerns both count against him regarding whether we would want him next season. Mindful of what GR has said today about looking again at our up front needs next season and the success that we have had with the Jed/Bennett partnership I am not sure that Ken fits the Bill. GR also talked about signing a goal scoring midfielder and that sounds to me a backhanded way of saying that Ken will not be needed next season.

Another way of looking at it would be whether, as a scout for another club and knowing that Ken could be available in the summer, you would advise a club looking for a CF to take a punt on him. I doubt it. And if you were his agent you would be hard pressed to say he was in a rich vein of form with two goals (one of those a pen!) and his injury record. I would like to think that GR was a bit more astute in his judgement of Ken and would be looking at other players who could fit our profile a bit better.

 

[Millwall-84]

Strikers should come with clauses in their contracts that state they can be sacked on the spot if they do not score enough goals in a season.

Could say the same thing about Goal keepers and not keeping clean sheets, luckily we have one that does.

 

[HappyLion]

My worry is that he will keep Zohore.

No one would be that stupid.

 

[Mike58]

No one would be that stupid.

 

[mfcjohn]

Squad should be 2 keepers (Bart & Fielding)
2 rb/rwb (Danny & Marlon replace if romeo goes)
2 lb/lwb (Malone & Ferguson may need to replace both if ferguson leaves for first team football and we fuck up the singing of malone)
5 cb's (Hutch, Cooper, Wallace, Pearce New player, may need to replace Pearce if he is out of contract?)
5 cm from (Evans, Mitchell, Dutch, Mahoney, Thompson and Leonard)
4 cf (Bennett, Wallace, Bradshaw & Bod)

All others can be brought in from the u23's

That's not a bad squad, ideally we would like to replace a few, but with money being tight I don't see it happening.

If we had the money replace Romeo, Pearce and Bod

We know Badshaw is going nowhere
Williams time is up
Thompson is skating on thin ice
Smith will leave for first team football along with Ferguson I believe

That leaves us with Woods, a player GR knows all about, a good CM for brentford but has shown only a good few touches and 3 good passes since he has been here, if GR signs him and plays him the same way he has been playing this season, GR is looking for compensation from Millwall as he will get the sack.

 

[BigPaul]

Thompson is skating on thin ice

I saw what you did there.

 

[whiskylion]

My worry is that he will keep Zohore.

A depressing thought.

 

[silverlion]

My squad thoughts are that you need two for each position.

Bart is good but Frank may be released as in his moment of glory against Bristol City in the cup he let in three and looked nothing special. I did think that Sandford might be the back up but two or three indifferent performances for the U23’s might put that strategy in doubt.

RWB Danny and Romeo, the latter is rated by GR and I think football ability is his only consideration.
Four CB’s should be Hutch Cooper Murray and maybe Muller. If we need more experience then sign a fourth CB. Pearce is a spent force.
Molly is good for LWB but I am not sure that Fergie is physical enough. We may need a new signing.
CM we have Mitchell, Dutch, Evans and need one more. Budget limitations could decide the fate of Woods. Ben is not quite good enough and Williams is running out of shelf life and will be retained in a coaching capacity only.
Four upfront would include Jed and Bennett plus Burey and Mahoney as wide men. Ken is an expensive luxury. I’m not sure that Alexander, Abdulmalik and even Oloafe are up to it yet....but what do I know?

 

[Poplar Lion]

Evans is a centre back not a midfielder, so CBs Hutch, Cooper, Wallace, Evans, Muller.

 

[mfcjohn]

Evans is a centre back not a midfielder, so CBs Hutch, Cooper, Wallace, Evans, Muller.

Think you got that wrong, GR said himself that Evans is a CM but can play at CB.

 

[whiskylion]

CM we have Mitchell, Dutch, Evans and need one more. Budget limitations could decide the fate of Woods. Ben is not quite good enough and Williams is running out of shelf life and will be retained in a coaching capacity only.

Williams' shelf life expired five years ago.

And if things were up to John West standard, he would have been rejected in the first place...

 

[DensLions]

Rowett said in January that he wanted to reduce the age of the squad. On that basisI Fielding, Pearce, Willliams, Ferguson and Smith who are all 30 or older will be released. Thompson as well because he is no longer Championship standard. Woods and Zohore back to parent clubs. That is 8 players to be replaced and the club should be looking at young Premier League Academy players like McCormack at Chelsea and promising young League 1 players who won't break the bank with their wage demands.

 

[Poplar Lion]

Think you got that wrong, GR said himself that Evans is a CM but can play at CB.

That's more worrying then. Thought it was the other way round. Looked ok at the back but don't look convincing in the middle.

 

[mfcjohn]

That's more worrying then. Thought it was the other way round. Looked ok at the back but don't look convincing in the middle.

Does a ok job in the middle, not done anything special, not done anything to lose us points.

 

[mfcjohn]

I guess the squad will all depend on what the main formation GR will use, and we all know it will be 5-3-2

Saying that we will need 6 centre backs, (2 for each position) 4 if you use a u23 like muller and evans can play there also, with Hutch, Cooper and Wallace, so 1 new centre back in if Pearce leaves

6 Central midfielders, we have Mitchell, Evans, Dutch, Mahoney and Leonard, maybe Thompson will be the 6th?

I think we will look to get 1 new forward when and hopefully zahore leaves and a new lwb if ferguson leaves also a gk if Fielding goes.

I don't see any other business unless we sell anyone.

 

[WealdenLion]

I think that we have to be realistic about next season - there is an opportunity but we are in a covid world and finances are not what they might be. After all, the Chairman has already done a great deal and we are lumbered with some players on contract that we may not be able to get rid of.

Ideally, the squad should look like, assuming 3/5/2 formation:

GK - Bart plus one (try to move Fielding on if possible)
RWB - Danny plus one (sell Romeo to bring in some cash), recall Brown form St J as reserve.
LWB - sign Malone if at all possible plus one (preferably younger), release Fergie.
CB - Coops, Hutch, Wallace, plus two (one could be Muller)
CM - Mitchell, Leonard, Evans, Dutch Mike plus one attacking player (not a winger), sell Thommo and Mahoney, loan out Burey).
CF - Jed, Mason plus one, with Alexander as a reserve.
So (GK x 2, RWB x 2, LWB x 2, CB x 5, CM x 5, CF x 4 plus 2-3 squad players)

So, sell Romeo, Thommo and Mahoney, release Fergie and Pearce and try to move on Bradshaw and Bod (hopefully). Do not sign Zohore or Woods (both too expensive). If we are going to try to play passing football with smaller forwards they need to be better quality, but that brings us to the problem - we cannot afford to pay the wages of other Championship teams and can only afford Prem youngsters, out of favour champ players, occasional div1/2 players and some foreigners.

A wing back could be a youngster (Prem youngster perhaps), a CB needs to be more established (D1 or Scotland), CM attacking and CF is where most of our money needs to go (abroad or Prem youngsters).

All of the above will cost money, hence the need to sell one or two - a CM may cost £3m, a CF may cost £4-£5m so say £10-£12m in total, offset by say £5 if the players that anyone else may purchase.

This is asking a lot from the Chairman!

 

[Millwall-84]

Any transfer rumours floating about yet or what ?