Chris Mepham

We don’t know how the £10m is structured. If it’s all in guaranteed income I’d be very surprised if Brentford turned that down.

No doubt a lot of the bid will be in add ons and incentives. As we have been a bit reluctant to play new signings, you can see why Brentford would have an issue if a lot of the fee is appearance related
 
I think he may have a season of bedding in but I would imagine he'd expect that almost anywhere if he moved to the PL. However, given the age of Francis then he should back himself to make a significant breakthrough in his second.

It's good forward planning from us as if Ake repeats his season then I'm going to hazard a guess that next summer someone will come in for him.

Mings also remains an unknown. We've seen in the short spell pre-Zlatan that he has the quality but he desperately needs an injury free run. I remain very hopeful for him but at the moment he can't be considered a banker.

In either scenario, as long as he performs, then he's right in the mix at worst in just over a season and maybe earlier if he takes a chance which may present itself.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Really great message to send to Jack Simpson. You’re not good enough to be our 5th choice CB. Even though you should have been starting games halfway through last season.
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No. The message to Simpson is -

Go to a championship side for 6 months, then come back ready to be a serious contender for our back 4.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Really great message to send to Jack Simpson. You’re not good enough to be our 5th choice CB. Even though you should have been starting games halfway through last season.
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Simpson needs a loan out to a championship club to get some regular football. Yes he’s very promising but it’s only due to injuries he got close to the first team.
 
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On what basis should Simpson have been starting in the PL for the last half a season? That is an extremely odd comment.

In any case the priority is not about sending messages to this player or that player it's about getting the strongest team on the pitch. Quite frankly it's not for us to worry about the players' feelings - all of them should be busting a gut to get in the team whoever they are. Charlie Daniels didn't worry about messages being sent to him when we kept on signing left backs - he knuckled down and improved and kept his place.
 
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Decent player, wouldn't go much higher than 10 mil though.

Simpson could end up being good but he's completely unproven. Baily Cargill looked good a few years ago, now he's pushing 23 and league 1 standard if he's lucky.
 
A loan spell for Simpson won’t magically make him a PL player just like it didn’t do so for Cargill.

With Cook, Aké and Mings all ahead at LCB then a loan to get experience makes sense. But let’s be real - say in 12 months time we sell Aké - are you thinking “great we can now play Simpson” or would you be demanding we sign a big money replacement?

It’s a difficult route into PL sides for young players. Especially defenders. Jack’s best chance would be, if we have an injury crisis, he gets thrown in and becomes undroppable. That can’t happen if he’s on loan. Difficult one....
 
Cargill was loaned out at L1 level and didn't excel. He needed to show himself as a class above there and then maybe even at Championship level.

A better comparison would be Fraser who went to Ipswich and was, by accounts, tearing it up and their best player before injury intervened. Then he walked straight into the first team squad upon his return.

If Simpson went away and was a stand-out player for his side in the second tier, no matter the team, and we sold Ake then I think most on here would be saying he should be getting the chance. The reality is Cook and Mings would still be ahead of him but he could be one of the four.
 
kirsikka said:
A better comparison would be Fraser who went to Ipswich
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Had Fraser not gone out on loan and bearing in mind the subsequent injuries we had in the first season, he’d have had his chance 12 months earlier.

You also need to think why Fraser was able to get a Champ loan move but Cargill couldn’t. I’d imagine 84 previous league games v 0 previous league games was a factor. How many Champ teams would be interested in Simpson’s 1 league appearance?
 
Plus it's less risky to play a young winger/striker/creative player, than a defender/keeper/midfield enforcer, we seem to natirally not trust youngsters further back
 
cockbeard said:
Plus it's less risky to play a young winger/striker/creative player, than a defender/keeper/midfield enforcer, we seem to natirally not trust youngsters further back
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Yes this is exactly it. As a defensive player rookie mistakes are more costly. And with the Championship the way it is, an untried AFCB defender is a gamble too.

I would loan out Simpson. Probably to a L1 team, but only until Jan. For his career development with us, he has to be available if we need him. It’s then up to him to take the chance.

Eddie got his breakthrough after we sold Matty H (who had been playing as a CB for us). Vokes and Pitman got their chance in that famous victory against Forest with most of the first team out injured. Hayter was recalled from Salisbury (when recalls allowed) scored v Stoke and became a regular.

These were all good players for the level we were at but their breakthrough all came about by circumstance. Had they been on loan, their circumstances would at the very least, been delayed.
 
blandford_cherry said:
Simpson needs a loan out to a championship club to get some regular football. Yes he’s very promising but it’s only due to injuries he got close to the first team.
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This might be true but surely it shows that we need PL standard cover. All it takes is Ake to turn an ankle.
 
kirsikka said:
A better comparison would be Fraser who went to Ipswich and was, by accounts, tearing it up and their best player before injury intervened. Then he walked straight into the first team squad upon his return.
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I think your memory is clouded kirsikka. Fraser did not walk int othe first team. He had one or two crappy off-the-bench cameos but didn't really impress. It was only when Stanislas was suddenly injured against Liverpool (while we were 3-1 down) that he made his mark and was from then on, undroppable (for a while at least).
This kind of makes the point made by others, which is that it's tough to get into the first team. It usually takes an injury.
 
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