woodsaint1

They're annoyed it seems. A sign of how far they've come....yet still finished below us last season even after we couldnt win a game in 2021.

Must be alot more european clubs interested in him, or perhaps hes set his sights on playing in the PL. If we're genuinely interested I would hope we could get it done over Palace or Norwich (Vestergaard putting a good word in or his awareness of Ralph from his time in the Bundesliga). Would bring another dimension to our midfield and has plenty of experience.

Its the SWF way. Write the teams chances off before the season has even started 🤪

The usual drivel on here whenever players who are linked with a move away. Can Ings not have an off day without claims that hes not trying?

I cant see him going anywhere for anything less than £50m, and I cant see Villa stumping up that much imo

I'd be worried if we werent trying to address the gaps in our squad, but its clear we are trying and theres been plenty of links. I still expect us to make another 2 signings but they may come near the end of the window when the market develops. Other teams will likely be leaving it late also

Who around us are improving? Newcastle have signed nobody, Palace have lost half their team/their manager and face a race against time to get signings in before the season starts. Brighton are losing their best defender and may lose Bissouma also. Wolves have done no real business/lost their manager and theres talk Neves is on his way also. Burnley just plod along doing little to no business of note. Then you've got the three promoted clubs who will have a difficult time staying up.

No mention from Ralph tonight about us pursuing an attacker, but then you see this. All very bizarre. An exciting talent, but not sure we would want anything to do with this circus

Would be a good signing on a free. Wages will likely be a stumbling block and for that reason I could see him ending up at Palace or elsewhere

Sounds like sour grapes that hes leaving, bit like us at the moment with Ings tbh. Buendia had the most assists in the league, Olise was second. And one of those strikers on the wing was a certain Sam Gallagher, who had a grand total of 3 assists all season. Honestly wont know if hes PL quality until we see him in the PL. Thats the risk with Championship players, same as we had with Adams (who has given us a decent return imo). Think hes worth the risk, but closer to 15m than 20+m

They're also going to have new players making up a large part of their squad this season. Sometimes too many signings at once can be a hindrance and it affects the continuity (like Fulham a few seasons back) Throw into the mix that they've a new manager who hasnt managed at this level before. Although their business to date has been decent (not convinced with Guehi though), I would still rather be in our position than theirs. They'll be one of the contenders for relegation from the outset

Its like we're the only club who've made mistakes across multiple transfer windows. Plenty of other clubs are in the same position as us, but they either have an owner willing to invest further money or have sought out cheaper alternatives or loans. WHU a good example of the latter with the signings of Coufal, Lingard, Soucek and Dawson last season. Those players made a significant difference and contributed to them going from relegation candidates to EL contenders in one season. Those cheaper alternatives are out there but we seem to be haggling over every penny

That experience in La Liga is all well and good, but he also needs to adapt to the physicality of the PL and quick. Salisu was badly bullied by Calvert-Lewin last season, it was actually hard to watch at times. If Vestergaard goes, I dont think Salisu is ready to lead our defence (great potential but has he even hit double figures in appearancesnyet?). Jury is also out on Bednarek after his performances last season. Thats why a good replacement for Vestergaard is imperative. We should be looking at somebody who will improve our defence straight away and move Bednarek to third choice. If Simeu is good enough he'll be putting pressure on those ahead of him. As others have posted, two injuries/suspensions at CB and we could be down to Bednarek/Stephens and Simeu. Yikes.

Looks a promising player. Im all for adding further depth to CB and hes one that can be developed further (we dont have many under 23s beating the first team door down). I would be firmly against moving on Vestergaard and not replacing him just because we've signed Simeu. We would essentially be replacing an established PL and international CB with an under 23 player. Thats taking our CB depth backwards, and in case we all forgot, our defence shipped 68 goals last season. Even Sheff Utd conceded less

And 'for your information' 4 of those 7 appearances were for a whopping grand total of 22 mins. He only played 90 minutes twice, for a struggling championship club. In fact, when Bowyer came in and he wasnt involved they improved dramatically. Hes just not good enough

😂😂😂 Chill out Yan. You're not good enough, best you move on because you're just not PL quality

The fact that we were prepared to shift him out on loan for the remainder of last season and not replace him (despite trying with both Williams) or recall him when we got injuries says it all. Ralph didnt rate him then so whats changed now? Yes he may be applying himself well in pre season training, but in games he will get exposed like he has previously. The only reason I can see him staying is if we're unwilling to pay Brandon Williams loan fee and need to divert funds towards other positions. Again it would be a sad reflection of our current finances, because if we had any money about us Valery would be replaced as hes not a good enough squad option. He has regressed badly since his decent 18/19 season, which could be due to off field issues

Hes really not, hes pure shite. Couldnt even get a game at Birmingham. If we keep him its a sad reflection on our current finances

6 weeks ago there probably werent any offers on the table

Just shows how fickle football fans are. United fans stormed the ground demanding a change in ownership, yet fast forward a few months and the same fans are creaming themselves over the amount of business they could potentially do this summer. It was all to do with the debt the Glaziers were saddling the club with and nothing to do with being in City/Liverpools shadow. Yeah right

Cant really compare him to Watkins when he had only signed a new 4 year contract the summer before he joined Villa

People commenting that Guehi to Palace is great business. Didnt look up to much in the playoff final and will cost up to 20 million. Palace have lost half their team, Eze is out for a long part of the season, Zahas future still in doubt and Vieira is unproven in management at this level. Can only see them struggling at the moment

No idea what went on at Birmingham, sometimes its difficult for players joining on loan midway through the season to garner the managers faith, particularly given that they were firmly in a relegation battle. What I can judge Valery on is his performances in a Saints shirt and he falls way short of what we should expect as a first team squad full back. He had that run during the 18/19 season and looked decent, but his performances since then have tailed off badly (off field issues could be a factor, who knows). While we had 11 shockers in the 9-0 defeat to Leicester, his performance was abysmal. Defensively weak, which for some full backs can be countered by good attacking qualities, but not the case with Valery. Can see him being sold to a French team and we could a few mill for him.

A player we've been linked with in the past. Coming off another excellent season for AZ. Wonder if another CM/AM is a target for us this window given that we've let Jankewitz go and Lemina will likely follow suit. Also its still not clear when Smallbone will return. On another note, we often find ourselves linked with the same players as Rennes/Atalanta (Salisu and Maehle come to mind).

Its looks like N'Lundulu or Obafemi are off according to Obafemis recent social media