Transfer News Summer 2023 Post-Transfer Window

[unification]

Yeap, ticks a lot of boxes.

And going back to @tonyw's post about replicating what Plymouth did in January last season - it reminds me of their signing of Saxon Earley (though different position) - he too had spent the first half of the season successfully on loan in L2.

You take some significant risk out - he's not playing his first senior football. He's proven he can mix it in the FL, and is ready for that next step (L1). They did the same with Finn Azaz in the summer (excellent season on loan at Newport in 21-22). Hell, we did the same with Beadle (although he was never a risk for anyone).

You never quite know how a PL former England U-17 kid will do when they come up against Guy Branston et al for the first time (if they even make it as far as the pitch), so why not cherry-pick those who've been shown to be comfortable already?

Attainable and with an impressive (albeit early days) record. You don't have to be the first to discover someone, you just have to be the first at our level and with the ability to offer the parent club greater development for their player (Beadle) or, if not in first team plans, a permanent transfer with a decent fee (Earley).

More of these please.

Absolutely terrific that 'baby eater' Guy Branston, a player who retired nine seasons ago, is still the go-to reference for a lower league kick-em-up-in-the-air defender. The youts on TikTok won't know who he is but those ITK still do.

I'm all for the approach of picking up a loanee performing well either at a team below us in League 1 or in League 2. As you say, the risk is diminished since the outlay will be lower than signing someone permanently, they're only here until the end of the season and if it doesn't go well, nothing is really lost in doing it (Tyler Smith shuffles uncomfortably in his seat).

I get the ambition on here and the keenness to spend the £400k on someone but invest it a little more carefully and consider the loan market and your returns are likely to be better. I'd take someone like Joe Taylor + a signing for the conveyor belt from Northern/Republic of Ireland than a £400k spend on a 29-year old on a big three year deal.

Many on here were getting into a frenzy over us spending £750k on Cole Stockton. I said it was a typical lower league purple patch and there would be no return on the £750k. After a late flurry of goals at the end of last season, he's signed for Burton and hardly played due to injury. I'm so glad we avoided that.

Maybe I'm just more risk adverse, mind.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Absolutely terrific that 'baby eater' Guy Branston, a player who retired nine seasons ago, is still the go-to reference for a lower league kick-em-up-in-the-air defender. The youts on TikTok won't know who he is but those ITK still do.

Lol. Literal short-hand, exactly as you describe. I didn't even stop to consider that some might not interpret it that way or even know who he is.

Nine years? I fear that's aged me somewhat (and by implication you too).
Another to file away under "tell me you're aged 35-45 without telling me you're aged 35-45".

 

[Foley]

I will always fly the flag for Dan Agyei.

Bullied and mistreated by a rogue manager here. 16 goals for a poor Crewe side. He's got something.

Nowhere near good enough for what we want in my view. We need to aim a lot higher

 

[Nadi-]

League of Ireland forward wise
Moylan is the best forward, but is off to Lincoln.
Afalobi is similar to O Donkor.
Kenny has had to share selection, with Gaffney and Burke.
Young Hodgins is getting attention, although yet to be a regular starter.

Irish league
Magiltons picked up Ben Wilson from Brighton who’s doing well.
Was a little surprised no one took Bonis in the summer, but has been in and out since Northern Ireland selection.
Paul O’Neil is better further forward than when we we’re watching him previously as a midfielder.

 

[tonyw]

As someone who’d be delighted with signing Sam Smith, I think it’s because he fits our style far better than a poacher like Alfie May.

Manning wants someone who works hard, forces an defence to stay deep and leads the press from the front. He signed Harris, after all, and won’t want to change his approach, because it’s delivered results.

Smith and Harris would be able to cover one another, and Smith would likely be a significant goal scoring upgrade - his 15 in 46 is far more prolific than anything Harris does.

I think the point you are really sleeping on, is that most prolific goal scorers don’t move to clubs in the same division (unless they support their new club).

With Harris, we are clearly trying to identify a striker who can move from 5-15 goals to 20-30 in the right team. This happens far more often than I think you give credit for:

1. Devante Cole’s best season before now was 15 in 45 (or 10 in 28).
2. Colby Bishop scored 12 in 41 before joining Pompey.
3. JCH scored 16 in 41 before the shortened Covid season.

15 in 46 for a bad team doesn’t look too bad.

So what Harris is getting questioned for at the moment is not his all-round game. He's actually still been really good in the past week in his pressing, running the channels and some of his hold up play has been decent too. What people are questioning is pure and simply his goalscoring ability.

And if you sign Sam Smith, I'm not sure you're fixing that. I think you're signing someone who's actually very similar to Harris......before he hit a sudden purple patch at the end of last season (which, to be fair, probably kept them up), he had failed to score in 38 out of the first 44 games he played in all competition! I know Cambridge were pretty crap, but I struggle to believe they created no chances for him in any one of those.

If we're going to sign someone else in January (and we obviously should) then I think it should be someone with a different skillset to Harris. Obviously they still need to have the work rate if they're going to fit in Manning's system. But I think we want someone who's a more natural finisher, and has more confidence in front of goal.

And I think you're right that they're probably not going to come from this division. The only two that might fit the bill are JCH and Marriott, but they're likely to be expensive and they're ageing.

I'd rather be looking at someone who's not getting game time a league above (and Ladapo does look like a good fit), or tearing it up and looking like the next big thing in the league below (Olaofe would seem to fit the bill, if Stockport are not looking for silly money)

 

[WRox]

He is fairly promising on paper and falls through the cracks of such a basic search criteria, admittedly.

14 in 33 for Wimbledon is very respectable, although 4 in 14 in League Two this season (plus 0 in 3 in the cups, so it’s 4 in 17 all told) hardly sets pulses racing. He also made nine appearances in League One last season and didn’t score.

Harris has 3 in 12 one division higher (5 in 15 including cups) and apparently needs improving on.

Although he’s got a very muscly right leg that he seems keen to show off, and I like that:

View attachment 16510

Think it’s a different search criteria altogether - he’s only 21 (apparently, he looks 32 there), same age as Negru, a year older than Tyler.

If we can’t get someone like Ladapo or Marriott for sensible money, then I’d rather we looked at long term return on investment, particularly where we might be able to find a player who’s good enough to take the pressure off Harris now and young enough to improve on top of that.

 

[tatabanya]

Olaofe a great profile but wonder how hard he’d be to prise out of Stockport at this point. Will be very interested to see where Al Hamadi at Wimbledon ends up too.

Ladapo certainly the safest bet short term, but can see it being very competitive to get him. I’m not sure what his relationship was like with Paul Warne though and I’m struggling to see who else with a bigger L1 budget needs a striker as much as we do.

Given how much money they want, it's hard to see AAH signing for a League One club

 

[bashamwonderland]

Nowhere near good enough for what we want in my view. We need to aim a lot higher

Not saying he's the answer, and wouldn't want to go over old ground, but as a backup pace man to one or two preferred, first choice front men, I would have him here.

 

[Hook]

A left field option, but with Reading’s current financial predicament (meltdown) and the likely further points deduction probably rendering their season redundant, I wonder if a cheeky offer for Sam Smith might be entertained in January?

I know he’s injured currently but his goals record at this level is not to be sniffed at.

Played against Portsmouth I believe

 

[Hook]

I think Joe Taylor could be very interesting - on loan at Colchester from Luton.

Very mobile, can carry, presses from the front, scoring at an expected rate.

vs accrington goal:

vs Grimsby:

May look to have a second loan in to league one in January

Admittedly not experienced and fully proven at the level, but it’s a pretty small pool to be shopping in

Posh seemingly had high hopes for him. Not sure why they let him go so early on tbh. Looks a handful for sure.

 

[oufc1991]

Langstaff is the striker we need he's a goal scorer he's done it in the non league and now doing it in the football league. I don't think we will be able to afford him tho.

 

[Joey]

I think Joe Taylor could be very interesting - on loan at Colchester from Luton.

Very mobile, can carry, presses from the front, scoring at an expected rate.

vs accrington goal:

vs Grimsby:

May look to have a second loan in to league one in January

Admittedly not experienced and fully proven at the level, but it’s a pretty small pool to be shopping in

Looks to be on a season long loan, is it pretty typical the parent club are able to recall in January? I wonder if they even would, he's doing well and getting plenty of minutes, I'd have thought that guaranteed minutes in League 2 where he's already settled and doing well would be preferable to moving up a level but, presumably, playing far fewer minutes.

 

[ttg17]

It’s about the way Manning sets his team up. He plays a lone striker regardless of the formation but doesn’t use them as a poacher or out and out goalscorer. In the 21/22 season his top scorer was Twine, an attacking midfielder, with 20. He was on all set pieces and was the best player in the division by a country mile. After that it was Mo Eisa with 12 - nobody else got into double figures - followed by Troy Parrott with 8 (plus seven assists). Eisa is your on-the-shoulder type and Parrott is your six-foot-plus link man.

We’ve got Harris in the Eisa role, so now we need a different, more physical player to be able to switch things up based on how he sets his teams up. O’Donkor is that sort of player but isn’t good enough (yet), and Perkins is 6’1” and ticks the right box but has clearly eaten somebody’s pasta. I was told by someone who should very much know that the Marriott interest was much earlier in the summer from us, and was long gone while the press was still saying we were in for him as deadline approached. Meanwhile we signed Perkins having been interested in Cosgrove around the same time (who is absolutely flopping at Barnsley thus far), so it seems the criteria was indeed an Eisa and a Parrott.

Smith scored 13 goals in 45 League One games for a team that almost got relegated - more than Eisa scored in the MK side that amassed 89 points the season before. He’s physically strong and a hard worker, holds the ball well and is capable of scoring a respectable amount of goals while linking play. A good friend of mine is a ST holder (handy for parking when we play there) and I gave him some stick when he turned up there given his loan with us was a stinker, but he was absolutely loved and did extremely well playing for a regularly struggling side.

Were there many better options than him available? Charles, Bishop, Cole etc are all at other (bigger) L1 clubs already, so they’re out of the question because none of them are selling to us and their fees will be in the millions. Cosgrove? Flopping. Watters? Flopping. Nombe? Absolutely unobtainable - went up to a Championship club for his club’s record fee. Imagine the scene if Rhodes had rocked up at 33 with that recent scoring record. Christ alive, people would’ve moaned for weeks. Anyone claiming he was what was needed or who they wanted is indulging in some hefty revisionism. Ditto Waghorn and Chris Martin. “I thought we’d moved past these kind of has beens now that Robinson has left!” etc.

Looking at the current L1 top scorer list - Reid from Stevenage? Hoskins from Northampton? Don’t think they’re going to stop the #GoingForIt goading if they show up. After that you’re left with all the players already named above, who are not affordable or being sold to us.

Then you look at last season’s top scorer list. Who could we have got who is clearly better than Smith?

View attachment 16503

From the looks of it - McGoldrick and May. That’s about it. McGoldrick wanted to go back home to Notts County to play out his final season or two, and May is on record as saying he only wanted Charlton, as he’s from the area and all his family (Charlton fans) are there. Clarke-Harris maybe? On paper the ultimate L1 goal machine. Does he fit what Manning wants from his strikers, given he talks about wanting team players and for goals to be spread around the side? Dunno.

Beyond that, we offered Fleetwood double what they paid for Marriott six months earlier and they said no, and nobody else got him either. This talk of a lack of ambition or Fleetwood being a basket case is wide of the mark. He’s still there - they don’t need to sell. We tried. He would've been one of our most expensive signings ever.

Looking around L1 as a whole, hardly anybody has signed a striker in the summer who is ripping it up, whether they be established L1 performers, signings from lower divisions, or kids on loan from higher up. Rhodes and May are the only ones. Everyone else was already at their club and won’t be sold to any club below the Championship, or in the cases of Hoskins and Reid are having an Indian summer. I think it’s pretty clear that there was not a plethora of options across the entire league this summer, and certainly not a great many better than someone like Smith.

Top post

 

[Hook]

As someone who’d be delighted with signing Sam Smith, I think it’s because he fits our style far better than a poacher like Alfie May.

Manning wants someone who works hard, forces an defence to stay deep and leads the press from the front. He signed Harris, after all, and won’t want to change his approach, because it’s delivered results.

Smith and Harris would be able to cover one another, and Smith would likely be a significant goal scoring upgrade - his 15 in 46 is far more prolific than anything Harris does.

I think the point you are really sleeping on, is that most prolific goal scorers don’t move to clubs in the same division (unless they support their new club).

With Harris, we are clearly trying to identify a striker who can move from 5-15 goals to 20-30 in the right team. This happens far more often than I think you give credit for:

1. Devante Cole’s best season before now was 15 in 45 (or 10 in 28).
2. Colby Bishop scored 12 in 41 before joining Pompey.
3. JCH scored 16 in 41 before the shortened Covid season.

15 in 46 for a bad team doesn’t look too bad.

Even if Smith were in the team, I'd suspect Harris would still be in the 11 (either on the left or right). That seemed to be his position when at Cardiff. I don't believe it's an either or. Although having Harris' pace off the bench would be a strong card to play

 

[ttg17]

Langstaff is the striker we need he's a goal scorer he's done it in the non league and now doing it in the football league. I don't think we will be able to afford him tho.

I think going for any striker going big guns in the top 4 or 5 in the league below is just unlikely to happen in the January window. The powers that be at those clubs will, I imagine, quite reasonably, take the view that a likely promotion with that player in the side is worth more to them than making a quick buck in January. And that’s not to mention the reputational damage from the inevitable (and to be honest quite justified) fan backlash.

And I think you're right that they're probably not going to come from this division. The only two that might fit the bill are JCH and Marriott, but they're likely to be expensive and they're ageing.

I’m normally very anti the classic football fan instinct of splashing the owners’ cash. As the saying goes, it’s very easy to spend money that isn’t yours. But I do really feel the return on investment on pushing out a bit this January, assuming we’re in a similar position to where we are now, would really be worth it. As I’ve said I think in this thread, bringing in a JCH in January to share the load with Harris/offer something different would genuinely see us over the line for promotion. We weren’t misfiring by any means in 15-16 - hell I think Roofe might even have been top scorer in the league? - but we wouldn’t have gone up automatically without Jordan Bowery’s goals (Pompey, Wimbledon etc). I think we need that bit of firepower in January, and JCH in particular I think is most likely to be exactly that kind of player.

 

[tonyw]

I’m normally very anti the classic football fan instinct of splashing the owners’ cash. As the saying goes, it’s very easy to spend money that isn’t yours. But I do really feel the return on investment on pushing out a bit this January, assuming we’re in a similar position to where we are now, would really be worth it. As I’ve said I think in this thread, bringing in a JCH in January to share the load with Harris/offer something different would genuinely see us over the line for promotion. We weren’t misfiring by any means in 15-16 - hell I think Roofe might even have been top scorer in the league? - but we wouldn’t have gone up automatically without Jordan Bowery’s goals (Pompey, Wimbledon etc). I think we need that bit of firepower in January, and JCH in particular I think is most likely to be exactly that kind of player.

Agree 100% about Bowery but he was a signing with zero long-term risk. He was a free agent that just signed up for half a season. We didn't have to commit to him beyond 2015/16 (and indeed we did move him on).

Someone like Ladapo could be a signing like that (if Ipswich would loan another player to us) but JCH won't be. He'll be half a mill + a chunky two and a half year contract, I would have thought.

I hope our scouting team are taking a look at JCH (when he gets on the field - he's not always starting nowadays), and if they're still seeing the player that he's been over the past few seasons - great, go for it. But if they're seeing a player that's lost a bit of drive, or worse pace, then I think that's a deal you avoid. If you're going to spend that sort of money, much better on an up-and-coming player like Olaofe that you might get years and/or a big fat resale out of)

 

[Oxford84]

Marcus Dinanga from Gateshead?

 

[WuTang]

Any players from clubs such as Notts County, Wrexham and Stockport are impossible whilst they are contracted beyond 1 year left. Big clubs who are all very well backed at present and all pushing hard for promotion into League One.

Langstaff recently signed a contract to 2027 making him completely unobtainable unless you throw crazy money at them.

January generally provides pretty poor value for permanent transfers. We're better off looking for a loan to the end of the season.

 

[Swaby39]

Ladapo would be the one for me for a whole host of reasons if we’re to move for someone in January as expected. I don’t think there’s really anything that goes against him as an option for us where as in most other cases there’s a number of negatives, not least the cost and complexities of getting them. That would be my pick of the ‘obvious’ options but no doubt there are some more obscure ones we could look at as well.

 

[Hook]

Ladapo would be the one for me for a whole host of reasons if we’re to move for someone in January as expected. I don’t think there’s really anything that goes against him as an option for us where as in most other cases there’s a number of negatives, not least the cost and complexities of getting them. That would be my pick of the ‘obvious’ options but no doubt there are some more obscure ones we could look at as well.

Whilst this would be fantastic, I'm not convinced that Ladapo would necessarily drop down a division. If available, I suspect a whole host of championship clubs would be sniffing to take him.