Ex-Player Thread Will Lankshear

MJB said:
That's assuming we do sign a new striker! Wouldn't entirely surprise me if we line up with Harris, Prelec and Goodwin next season.
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One proven in League One.
One I could see doing a decent job as a bruiser, not scoring a ton, but at least double figures
One... The less said, the better.

Potentially (if his injury is fully behind him) we also have Leo Snowden to jump up into the first team squad.

Whilst it's always nice to get a new striker in, and what the fans always go wild over - I wouldn't be shocked if it's not the main priority position for recruitment.
 
Emilio said:
One proven in League One.
One I could see doing a decent job as a bruiser, not scoring a ton, but at least double figures
One... The less said, the better.

Potentially (if his injury is fully behind him) we also have Leo Snowden to jump up into the first team squad.

Whilst it's always nice to get a new striker in, and what the fans always go wild over - I wouldn't be shocked if it's not the main priority position for recruitment.
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I'd get Snowden out on loan personally. And GoD too, if we think he has a future here.
 
Spurs have loaned us Scarlett and this year Big Willy and Donley.
They obviously trust us to help in there young players development.
If we cant have him back is there another young striker on there books they could send our way?
 
MJB said:
That's assuming we do sign a new striker! Wouldn't entirely surprise me if we line up with Harris, Prelec and Goodwin next season.
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Was literally about the say the same thing. Don’t think we’ll see one come in tbh
 
Hypothetically, would people be happy (using the word reservedly) with us accepting new additional striker (relying on Harris, Prelec and Goodwin) but activating the option on Donley?

I appreciate his season has been a mixed bag, both with Stoke and us. But he's still got a lot of potential and has proven capable in L1. A good season in L1 could see him being more than we would have to pay for him, as well as likely helping to push us up the table with goals and assists. I'm undecided. I thought he's looked quite good in some games and a bit of a passenger in others.

That said, only Konak has been the consistent performer from the Jan window.
 
carefreeoufc said:
Hypothetically, would people be happy (using the word reservedly) with us accepting new additional striker (relying on Harris, Prelec and Goodwin) but activating the option on Donley?

I appreciate his season has been a mixed bag, both with Stoke and us. But he's still got a lot of potential and has proven capable in L1. A good season in L1 could see him being more than we would have to pay for him, as well as likely helping to push us up the table with goals and assists. I'm undecided. I thought he's looked quite good in some games and a bit of a passenger in others.

That said, only Konak has been the consistent performer from the Jan window.
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I liked Donley but I think it's extremely unlikely. Isn't the buy-out rumoured to be north of £3m? That would have been a stretch in the Championship but seems entirely out of our price range in League One.
 
holdsteady said:
Is he not out of contract?
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"Oxford United have taken up the option of a one-year extension for Gatlin O’Donkor, whilst also offering the forward a new long-term deal."

www.oufc.co.uk

Oxford United Confirm Retained List | Oxford United Football Club

Oxford United have confirmed the list of players to be retained and released following the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.
www.oufc.co.uk www.oufc.co.uk

There hasn't been an update, from what I've seen, that O'Donkor has accepted the long term deal. Strange that he hasn't had a loan and has been intermittently rolling out in the 21s
 
Vancouver Yellow said:
Was literally about the say the same thing. Don’t think we’ll see one come in tbh
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Isn’t Goodwin a little injury prone . The forum has been crying out for a striker to come in over the last few transfer windows but Lanks was a stop gap but a loan once again and not permanent.
 
No, it wouldn't suprise me if we didn't bring in a new striker - but it would still be an awful decision.

I would even go one step further and suggest that it is the most important area to strengthen - almost regardless of who we lose this summer elsewhere. I would try for two oven-ready options.

BDK, Currie, Spencer - all loses in terms of quality, but all in areas where we have alternative decent League One options. If we were to recoup say £4m from player sales, I would (even recognising that a relatively small percentage would be re-invested) spend anything we can on strikers.

Look at Plymouth - absolutely decimated in the summer. Squad made up of (with all respect) some very average League One players - but they're in with a chance because they invested £1.5m on two strikers (Tolaj and Pepple) that have 16 League One goals apiece (and neither has been available/utilised consistenty).

I think we're likely starting from a stronger position than Argyle. But we shouldn't be naive to the need for goals. We got promoted with a reasonable tally but we were still reliant on Harris and Brannagan (who scored 1/3 of them between them) and there is no guarantee that either will manage those numbers again.

League One, moreso than arguably any division of the Football League, is won and lost by out-and-out goalscorers. We consistently looked like challengers when we had Matty Taylor. That's the model.

We could have Currie and Spencer looking too good for this level all season, McDonnell destroying everything in his path and some real pace with Emakhu and Mills - but that alone won't win promotion.

I don't think we can rely on significant goals from anyone currently in the squad - of course, I can make a case for Harris getting 10+, or for Tyler getting 8 etc - but it could also go the other way.

We need two more strikers, to give us options. I'd look to get another Tolaj (sure thing from below) and then try and unearth a Pepple too (maybe a loan from above).

What we simply can not do is be complacent about it. We will still have more financial clout than most at this level. And we will have the bones of a Top 6 side for sure. But we must recognise where our shortcomings have consistently been and remedy that if we want promotion next season.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
League One, moreso than arguably any division of the Football League, is won and lost by out-and-out goalscorers. We consistently looked like challengers when we had Matty Taylor. That's the model.
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Whilst I do agree that I think we need another striker in......

.......also worth pointing out that Lincoln have won the league and picked up 100 points, despite the fact that their main striker has scored 9 goals in 45 appearances.

There's multiple ways to skin a cat, even League One, and if the quality of your supporting forwards is sufficiently high and your main striker is good at bringing them into play (as seems to be the case for Lincoln) then they have pretty clearly shown that you can win with that.

It's also possible that Prelec is the sort of player who could do that. But it would be a helluva risk to pin all our hopes on him after the variability in his play we saw this season.
 
tonyw said:
Whilst I do agree that I think we need another striker in......

.......also worth pointing out that Lincoln have won the league and picked up 100 points, despite the fact that their main striker has scored 9 goals in 45 appearances.

There's multiple ways to skin a cat, even League One, and if the quality of your supporting forwards is sufficiently high and your main striker is good at bringing them into play (as seems to be the case for Lincoln) then they have pretty clearly shown that you can win with that.

It's also possible that Prelec is the sort of player who could do that. But it would be a helluva risk to pin all our hopes on him after the variability in his play we saw this season.
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Goodwin to score 20 and then leave on a free. :)
 
Digby said:
Isn’t Goodwin a little injury prone . The forum has been crying out for a striker to come in over the last few transfer windows but Lanks was a stop gap but a loan once again and not permanent.
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Im not saying I don’t think we need a striker.. we’ve been crying out for an out and out striker for years.

But what I think we need vs what the club will do are two entirely different things.
 
Essexyellows said:
Maybe it aligns that Will returns? The lad seemed to have really enjoyed his time here, was getting games and scoring goals............ who knows.
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There’s enjoyed your time somewhere then then there is enjoy it so much that you cost yourself a lot of money, I doubt he enjoyed it that much.

It’s just not going to happen, he won’t be playing for us next season.
 
The amount of people I’ve seen suggest that Lankshear clearly loves the club and might fancy a League 1 shot next season is bizarre.

We had our shot at having players like Will Lankshear leading the line for us consistently and we chose that League 1 was more our level as a club.

We will have a Will leading the line. It won’t be Lankshear
 
greatunclekip said:
The amount of people I’ve seen suggest that Lankshear clearly loves the club and might fancy a League 1 shot next season is bizarre.

We had our shot at having players like Will Lankshear leading the line for us consistently and we chose that League 1 was more our level as a club.

We will have a Will leading the line. It won’t be Lankshear
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Is this particular Will always on fire? The defence are usually terrified also.
 
greatunclekip said:
We had our shot at having players like Will Lankshear leading the line for us consistently and we chose that League 1 was more our level as a club.

We will have a Will leading the line. It won’t be Lankshear
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When I go to sleep I still like to imagine that we're a draw (at Millwall, this weekend) away from securing a 12th place finish in The Championship.

Ciaron Brown can't get in the team, Jamie Cumming has been usurped by the 19 year old Dutch kid we signed on loan in January, and Will Vaulks is being touted for the vacant managerial job at Mansfield having just finished a successful loan spell there.

And our biggest concern, on this forum, is the very real prospect of losing (15 goal) Tobias Lauritsen to Burnley for £9.5m.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
When I go to sleep I still like to imagine that we're a draw (at Millwall, this weekend) away from securing a 12th place finish in The Championship.

Ciaron Brown can't get in the team, Jamie Cumming has been usurped by the 19 year old Dutch kid we signed on loan in January, and Will Vaulks is being touted for the vacant managerial job at Mansfield having just finished a successful loan spell there.

And our biggest concern, on this forum, is the very real prospect of losing (15 goal) Tobias Lauritsen to Burnley for £9.5m.
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No Ciaron Brown? I’m out.
 
MJB said:
I liked Donley but I think it's extremely unlikely. Isn't the buy-out rumoured to be north of £3m? That would have been a stretch in the Championship but seems entirely out of our price range in League One.
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And he’s not worth that, wasn’t overly impressed!
 
greatunclekip said:
In league 1 it’s a very different story. Not for that price (though League 1 prices are inflated thanks to Brum and Wrexham). He’s outstanding at that level.
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Just to be clear, I’m referring to Donley!

I’d have to see him at League One level to say whether he’s outstanding at that level, but I feel there must be better out there!!

At least we agree that he’s not worth £3.5m though!!
 
A fee of around £15m is being floated for Ballard, who's the same age as Donley.

Playing for Orient, aged 19, Donley had the most assists in the league (10) and scored a few too (8). Incidentally Ballard scored 3 in his loan spells at Cambridge and Blackpool that season (playing 35 games).

My question is: if Orient had managed to sign Donley as well as Ballard last summer, what sort of fee would Donley be getting touted for now? And is it seriously likely to be anything less than £3.5m?

I think it was Jerome on The Dub saying that his signing would be a signal of intent (which might convince others to stay).

Admittedly the fee probably is much too high for us, but as an investment I still think it's viable.
 
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