Relegation Recruitment

RobWells said:
agree re jack stephens
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I really like the impact he has had on the squad, but just don’t feel that him signing would make a huge deal of sense in the grand scheme of things.

Sometimes it’s okay to think a loan player has done well, but still not be for them signing on.
 
Not many of the above for me. Well, Barnes, maybe, in the right setting. Harrison does have a motor, tbf.

What we need to be looking for are character players with a desire to win. One guy for example who gets mentioned (although in the unrealistic category) is Brennan Johnson. He looks like a guy who disappears when the chips are on the line. McKennie is another one that was drooled over at one time - but having watched him in Concacaf, at the WC and again this season, he is moody and can upset the chemistry of a team, and we don't need that either.

Team players, who can add to what we already have, bring out the best in others.
Brooksy back at peak health ........... man, what an addition.

I would love to see a big mean CB. Especially if Lerma leaves. As you mentioned, we have some tall guys, but there are not particularly scary or hard to play against.

Otherwise, not much to discuss until we know who is down, and that could well be any of six teams.

Will be a really good discussion in a few weeks.
 
KingKieffer said:
Again, no way. He is out of contract and has held off of signing a new one as there is a lot of interest from the elite clubs in him. He’ll be signing for a champions league team I’d imagine.
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I figured he'd end up going to a much better side tbh. Didn't realise his contract situation.

Nice to dream anyways.
 
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Do we really need more wingers? We already have Christie, Anthony, Dango and Tavenier as regulars as well as Brooks who we still aren’t sure will come back 100% as good as he was. Stan will leave this year and who knows what will happen to Siriki Dembele who’s on loan in France I think? For me if we do sign a winger that’ll be if Siriki leaves as well and I’d rather it be a young player who we can loan out for the future because we don’t really need any disorder in the dressing room with people not being picked and all that.

In terms of big signings I’d like to see, we need a new RB and LB in my opinion, Stacey will probably go and Smith can’t be first choice in either position. I’d like to see Vina be made permanent depending on the money and maybe a young backup or give that academy LB a chance, Greenwood I think it is. RB, I’d like to see us try to get Walker peters but it’ll be hard and if they go down maybe Aurier at forest could be an option? I can see Cook, Pearson and Kilkenny all leaving tbh and so midfielders will be important. Maybe also a backup striker if Moore leaves and definitely a CB.
 
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KingKieffer said:
For me it’s a definite no to Jack Stephens, he did a very respectable job for us this season and helped to galvanise the team at a time when we needed it. But I don’t think he is a signing for the longer term and I actually think in terms of his ability that he is pretty much a slightly inferior version of Mepham.

Seen a few mention the likes of Lavia, Barnes and KWP. Nice thought but these just aren’t realistic, regardless of how much money we have to splash these guys just won’t be coming here at this point. We saw in January that splashing money doesn’t necessarily work if there are clubs higher up the food chain involved. Lavia will end up at a top club and KWP likely at a Villa/Newcastle type.

In terms of realistic signings, and I’m making the assumption that it’s going to be Saints, Leeds and Everton:

-Patrick Bamford: know he’s not particularly well liked on here but he is a very gifted centre forward who has a very strong all round game both physically and technically. A front two of him and Dom could be very fruitful potentially. Only issue is his age, one year off of being 30.

-Che Adams: again, not a very popular shout, but I feel like he is a forward with a lot of potential who hasn’t been able to realise this at Saints. Quick, strong and a good natural finisher.

-Mason Holgate: a player we are widely publicised to have been interested in before. Had a poor season this year for Everton, but you don’t become a bad player over night and he has all of the attributes to be a very reliable squad option.

-Jack Harrison: this would be the big one for me, although I think there would be a lot of competition so this one may be verging on being unrealistic. Nearly joined Leicester for £20m in Jan. A guaranteed source of goals and assists, you simply won’t find a player with his quality and guaranteed output at PL level for that price. This one would be the dream.
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Bamford and Adams? The only reason to sign them would be they can't score against us, but as they'll be in a different division there's no need
 
Green_Cherry said:
Do we really need more wingers? We already have Christie, Anthony, Dango and Tavenier as regulars as well as Brooks who we still aren’t sure will come back 100% as good as he was. Stan will leave this year and who knows what will happen to Siriki Dembele who’s on loan in France I think? For me if we do sign a winger that’ll be if Siriki leaves as well and I’d rather it be a young player who we can loan out for the future because we don’t really need any disorder in the dressing room with people not being picked and all that.

In terms of big signings I’d like to see, we need a new RB and LB in my opinion, Stacey will probably go and Smith can’t be first choice in either position. I’d like to see Vina be made permanent depending on the money and maybe a young backup or give that academy LB a chance, Greenwood I think it is. RB, I’d like to see us try to get Walker peters but it’ll be hard and if they go down maybe Aurier at forest could be an option? I can see Cook, Pearson and Kilkenny all leaving tbh and so midfielders will be important. Maybe also a backup striker if Moore leaves and definitely a CB.
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I think it’s almost certain that all the players who have been out on loan will depart in the summer, they aren’t suddenly going to be good enough. Stan, Stacey and Zemura are all nailed on to depart too. I’d say it’s unlikely that Stephens will still be here. I really think that there is no point in Travers sitting on our bench at this point either, he needs to be playing to develop so we should look to loan him out. There will be plenty of squad space. Especially if Lerma departs too.

We also have Billing and Kelly coming into the last year of their contracts and if we can’t negotiate new ones then we may decide to sell. The one that I think people are a bit scared to talk about is David Brooks, as much as we would all love for him to come back for and firing at the top level and have a good run in the team, is it really realistic? I know it wouldn’t be a popular decision, but I really feel as though a loan move to the championship next season (with a January recall clause) would be best for all parties. I really think that he is going to have to play quite a bit of consistent football to have any chance of getting back to anywhere near the level he was at, and I just don’t think that we will ever have the luxury to give him that at PL level. It is so ruthless at this level that it will cost us points, in the championship he will have the opportunity to build himself back up. I know that this will be unpopular but it does make sense.
 
KingKieffer said:
I think it’s almost certain that all the players who have been out on loan will depart in the summer, they aren’t suddenly going to be good enough. Stan, Stacey and Zemura are all nailed on to depart too. I’d say it’s unlikely that Stephens will still be here. I really think that there is no point in Travers sitting on our bench at this point either, he needs to be playing to develop so we should look to loan him out. There will be plenty of squad space. Especially if Lerma departs too.

We also have Billing and Kelly coming into the last year of their contracts and if we can’t negotiate new ones then we may decide to sell. The one that I think people are a bit scared to talk about is David Brooks, as much as we would all love for him to come back for and firing at the top level and have a good run in the team, is it really realistic? I know it wouldn’t be a popular decision, but I really feel as though a loan move to the championship next season (with a January recall clause) would be best for all parties. I really think that he is going to have to play quite a bit of consistent football to have any chance of getting back to anywhere near the level he was at, and I just don’t think that we will ever have the luxury to give him that at PL level. It is so ruthless at this level that it will cost us points, in the championship he will have the opportunity to build himself back up. I know that this will be unpopular but it does make sense.
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Not as unpopular as you may think.....think it is a good call......also I would hope we may be setting our sights a bit above Stephens
 
SlowDownDerek said:
I thought Bamford was good on Sunday.
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I was very impressed with how well he held the ball up, and his movement. He’s a very good player, I think too many are probably judging him on his championship days where he was a scrawny kid who wore gloves in the Summer! He scored 17 league goals in his first PL season with Leeds. Different type of player to Solanke, but a very good one none the less. Don’t see us ever going for him in a million years though. More of a West Ham type signing.
 
Toronto John said:
Not many of the above for me. Well, Barnes, maybe, in the right setting. Harrison does have a motor, tbf.

What we need to be looking for are character players with a desire to win. One guy for example who gets mentioned (although in the unrealistic category) is Brennan Johnson. He looks like a guy who disappears when the chips are on the line. McKennie is another one that was drooled over at one time - but having watched him in Concacaf, at the WC and again this season, he is moody and can upset the chemistry of a team, and we don't need that either.

Team players, who can add to what we already have, bring out the best in others.
Brooksy back at peak health ........... man, what an addition.

I would love to see a big mean CB. Especially if Lerma leaves. As you mentioned, we have some tall guys, but there are not particularly scary or hard to play against.

Otherwise, not much to discuss until we know who is down, and that could well be any of six teams.

Will be a really good discussion in a few weeks.
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Agree with what you say. It’s incredibly important to get the balance between character and talent right in this league, every single game is a battle. Taking your example of Mckennie, looking at his career his talent levels are clearly a class above most players playing in the bottom half, yet his signing has only hindered Leeds. Doesn’t matter how talented you are if you aren’t up for the fight, you can survive in Italy or Spain but not over here. Similar to our relegation season, we had enough talent but not enough willing to fight.
 
red_house said:
20/21 Injury free and 17 PL goals. Has been a pale imitation since due to injury and being shite. He flourished under Bielsa, seems a confidence player.
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Doesn’t just become a shite player, he looked very mobile and physical on Saturday so don’t think his injury has changed his game. More a victim of what a mess Leeds have been since the departure of Bielsa.
 
KingKieffer said:
Agree with what you say. It’s incredibly important to get the balance between character and talent right in this league, every single game is a battle. Taking your example of Mckennie, looking at his career his talent levels are clearly a class above most players playing in the bottom half, yet his signing has only hindered Leeds. Doesn’t matter how talented you are if you aren’t up for the fight, you can survive in Italy or Spain but not over here. Similar to our relegation season, we had enough talent but not enough willing to fight.
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Odd signing in that case and decision by McKinnie... not sure what he expecting given Leeds position.

Odd situation at Leeds. They have some excellent players, but clearly the managers haven't been able to get the best out of them, as a team, yet.

That Rutter guy has been totally ineffective. Only young, but at 35 mill, I suspect the club and fans were expecting a bit more of an impact
Similar with Gnoto, who cost a little less.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Would you not want AFCB to go for him?
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I'm not sure what his contract situation is. He really splits opinion, quite languid in his style, Billing esque almost but can find the net .This season I think he's still been hampered by injury so I've been harsh to a degree but hell he's missed some sitters. I'd probably say yes then instantly regret it so thats a yes / no ;)
 
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