[Standaman]

A few observations on this week's transfers.

The Whale is in the House

Sancho from Dortmund to United has landed at last for £76m the biggest single fee paid for 3 windows. There is nothing not to like about the player really but I still look at United and think "badly constructed fantasy team" but unlike a fantasy team this thing has to cross the line and play together. As ever how good this is depends a lot on what else they do. Dortmund have a big bag of money to spend. Wurst & Beer or players?

Life Comes at you quickly

Damari Gray has been an promising youngster for as long as I can remember now I find he is 25 that means he's all grown up and a proper footballer. Before long he'll be 30 and in his post peak years like Andros Townesend without ever fulfilling the promise of his earlier years. Everton signed both in the same week and I am left wondering if Everton's recruitment is done by a random number generator or a human being.

It doesn't seem all that long ago I was watching Dario Simic play for Inter and Croatia. I woke up to the news that his son Roko has been snapped up by RB Salzburg they have loaned him out to second division Liefiering although only 17 there is a little bit of a buzz around Roko who is a Centre Forward. 

The lunatic fringe

Liverpool's fringe is on the move like a horde of hungry locusts devouring the bankrolls of the gullible and unwary. They shipped out two fringe players this week Marko Grujic to Porto on loan with an option to buy for £10m not a terrible deal for Porto but the £6m for Taiwo Awoniyi to go to Union Berlin looks less good. To be fair Union had him last season so they know what they are getting but this does represent the biggest fee by some distance that the Berlin club has ever spent on a player I hope it goes well from them.


I don't want to go to Chelsea (or rather stay there)

Marc Gueh moves to Crystal Palace for £21m this is impressive stuff from a Palace perspective getting one of the best up and coming Centre Backs signed up to 5 year contract although Chelsea retain a financial interest through sell on and matching clauses in the deal.

Another deal that will probably have slipped under most people's radar is 18 year old Lewis Bate who chose not to renew his contract at Chelsea and has joined Leeds for £1.5m.

Also as mentioned by Baggies earlier Myles Peart-Harris has also moved across London to Brentford on a free (fee to be set by tribunal).

Maybe there is a pattern emerging here?

My Perfect Cousin

Brentford are irritating they are so good at this recruitment malarkey. Now I don't know whether their latest signings will work but they are exactly the type of deal that they do and have generally worked for them in the past.  Two deals this week Centre Back Kristoffer Ajer in from Celtic for £14m and Central Midfielder Frank Onyeka for £9m from FC Midtjylland both young with significant upside potential will work for them regardless of which division they find themselves at the end of the season.

We can see you sneaking out

Even generally smart clubs drop the odd clanger Alireza Jahanbakhsh departure from Brighton to Feyenoord for just £1m is one such occasion. The South Coast club spent £17m on him only 3 years ago and things never quiet worked out for him.

Christian Atsu departes for Saudi Arabia an 8 year career with first Chelsea and then Newcastle mainly in 20 minute cameo's.

Florian Lejeune moves from Newcastle to Alves after an injury hit 4 years. Eibar had managed to sprinkle some magic pixie dust on him back in 2017 to turn him from a £1.2m to the £9m player inside 12 months. Never happened wasn't great and plagued by injury. 

Balancing out the Transfer Universe

There is an iron law that every time one of the rich and dumb clubs do something that is on the face of it really smart then they have to do something equally dumb to restore the balance. Arsenal have signed Albert Sambi Lokonga young deep sitting playmaker from Anderlect for not much money. Their next move in the market is going to be an absolute doozy (Ramsdale & White a combined £80m would do it)

Championship Corner

Tumbleweed blowing through here 3  players joined Championship clubs this week, none of any significance.

[Baggies]

Surprised to see Andre Ayew also move to Al Sadd in Qatar.

On Bate, from everything I'm reading he might just be the most important teenager from a national team perspective we have. A deep lying play maker who can operate as a defensive midfielder as well, a player rarely produced by English football but who all good nationals teams need.

[WBArgo]

Demari Gray for £1.7 million is great business.

They could sell him tomorrow for triple that with ease.

[johnny Cash]

Demari Gray for £1.7 million is great business.

They could sell him tomorrow for triple that with ease.

Agreed! I imagine Grays made a lot of money too but from a career perspective I think it’s a poor move.  I suspect it’s somewhere else he won’t play.

[Standaman]

Not sure that we can still buy Dimari Gray on his upside potential the lack of consistent performance is a concern. The fact that things blew up for him in Germany and Bayer Leverkusen didn't even try to charge any sort of premium on his swift return to England speaks volumes.

[LiamTheBaggie]

Have Everton gone back in a time warp? Begovic, Gray, Townsend

Anyone would think they’re trying to stay in the division.

[Baggies]

I'll caveat this by saying it's the Sun and they aren't much more reliable than a clockbait website, but the rumour is that Blackburn have turned down a £15m bid from Watford for Adam Armstrong. They apparently want £25m. Absolute madness for a typical Chamoionship goalscorer. If he goes for £25m, we really should be getting £30m for Pereira. I just don't get this market.

[Standaman]

Armstrong it would seem only has one year left on his contract if Watford have offered £15m Blackburn might be well advised to take it. I can't see Watford paying £25m or anything close to it, I'd doubt they will pay £25m for a player this window and if they do it won't be for Armstrong.

[gazberg]

Blackburn are being dafties regarding the valuation because they owe Newcastle 40% of any fee due to the sell-on clause inserted when they bought him but they have to be careful not to cut their noses off to spite their face.

[Standaman]

Blackburn are being dafties regarding the valuation because they owe Newcastle 40% of any fee due to the sell-on clause inserted when they bought him but they have to be careful not to cut their noses off to spite their face.

I kind of understand if they are handing over 40% of the fee then they only get £9m . It's almost worth taking a swing at promotion with one last good year from Armstrong and hoping of the best.

[gazberg]

I kind of understand if they are handing over 40% of the fee then they only get £9m . It's almost worth taking a swing at promotion with one last good year from Armstrong and hoping of the best.

I agree Stan. I think they have to decide now do they want a decent amount of money to re-invest in the squad or go balls out for it. I think they are a little bit short of promotion personally but stranger things have happened!

[Standaman]

I agree Stan. I think they have to decide now do they want a decent amount of money to re-invest in the squad or go balls out for it. I think they are a little bit short of promotion personally but stranger things have happened!

They along with about half a dozen teams if they have a bit of good fortune might snag a play-off spot and after that it is 3 cup games which compared to a 46 game season is a bit of a coin flip. 

[Standaman]

Things are starting to hot up not so quick summary of the deals that went down last week

Championship Corner

Last week there were three deals in a week. This week Fulham signed two players in a day. Harry Wilson £12m for the Liverpool winger not sure I like the deal. I think it is quite likely to be the most any team spends on a single player in the Championship. The other player being Goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga on a free from Spurs still only 29 I think he has spent too long as an understudy at Spurs and should have moved for 1st team football sooner but should be a good signing for Fulham.

QPR picked up ex Albion loanee Stefan Johansen from Fulham past his best but does have experience at Championship level, maybe another reasonably astute signing for the R's.

Barnsley trust the process but selling Connor Chaplin to Ipswich for just £750k seems a strange decision. However they have signed Josh Benson from Burnley and forward Obbi Oulare from Standard Liege.

Leif Davis who is a 21 year old Left Back joined Bournemouth from Leeds
 
Spurs Get Busy

The Spurs squad that got through to the Champions League final just 2 years ago continues to be reshaped 12 players from that squad including the entire back 4 have left the club and more might leave this window.

Player swaps are rare things but Spurs have traded a slightly careworn Erik Lamella for a nice shiney Bryan Gill they have also paid Sevilla £22m for the left winger who is one of La Liga's rising stars.

Toby Alderweireld has moved on for £13m to Al-Duhail who play in the footballing hotbed of Qatar.

Ex Villa Goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini joins Spurs on loan at the age of 26 the player completes his fifth move between Italy and England.   

Man United do something odd

Rarer than player swaps Man United spend a bunch of money (£60m) on a player in a position they need to strengthen.  Raphaël Varane joins from Real Madrid not absolute peak Varne but still an upgrade on Lindelöf.  Olly like Frank last year will no doubt be finding out  that all the new expensive players come with raised expectations.

Palace Rebuild continues

Joachim Andersen joins from Lyon for £15m another astute signing following an impressive loan spell at Fulham and Euro's campaign this might be the best pound for pound signing of the window.

Palace also snapped up Connor Gallagher on loan from Chelsea. I think that this is about Connor’s level. He will make a major contribution to Palace but will not make it at Chelsea unfortunately he has a long contract there so this is unlikely to be his forever home.

Arsenal restore the balance

Ben White for £50m is bad and further evidence that there isn’t a linear relationship between player’s transfer fees. White does not have 3 times the ability of Andersen. On the evidence of last season there is a strong argument that Andersen is the better defender, less error prone and much better in the air. White might be better on the ball although this might be seen as a secondary consideration with a Centre Back. The only explanation is that White is young and English. Maybe a £25m defender with a £25m passport. 

Meanwhile in Germany

Dortmund spent £27m of the money they got from United for Sancho on buying former Arsenal youngster Donyell Malen from PSV. Malen has been playing through the middle but could equally play anywhere across a front three, the thought of him and Haaland being unleashed on Bundesliga defences is scary.

Another young player lost at a big English club finding a move to somewhere that is hopefully better for his development is Lukas Nmecha moving to Wolfsburg from Man City where he joins younger brother Felix who also left Man City this summer. 

Something is cooking down on the Cote d'Azur

Mario Lemina joins Nice from Southampton for £5m not the English Club's best work in the transfer market but at least he's off the books. Not content with that just a day or so later they picked up another Defensive Midfielder Pablo Rosario from PSV. They have also picked up Justin Klievart from Roma on loan. 

Coming soon.......

The Grealish madness and everything that flows from it.

[Baggies]

Rumours also going around that Fulham are close to completing the signing of Brazil striker Rodrigo Muniz from Flamengo. Neil Warnock appears to have confirmed that his Boro side have missed out to Fulham.

Hard to know the details at the moment, some suggestions are £8m quid but I find that unlikely as Boro wouldn't have been in for him with those numbers.

Little information available, a few translated twitter posts from Brazil suggests he was third choice behind Barbosa (Gabigol) and somebody I've not heard of. He was however showing promise in the games he played and is only 20.

[johnny Cash]

Rumours also going around that Fulham are close to completing the signing of Brazil striker Rodrigo Muniz from Flamengo. Neil Warnock appears to have confirmed that his Boro side have missed out to Fulham.

Hard to know the details at the moment, some suggestions are £8m quid but I find that unlikely as Boro wouldn't have been in for him with those numbers.

Little information available, a few translated twitter posts from Brazil suggests he was third choice behind Barbosa (Gabigol) and somebody I've not heard of. He was however showing promise in the games he played and is only 20.

Boro have been rumoured for a while to be close to another South American, Martin Payero for £6m who was Part of the Argentina Olympic Squad.  Very little about him online but he’s young and a few clips have people excited.

Rumoured fee of £6m so Boro have found some money from somewhere! Maybe Gibson sees this as a year to try and take advantage. They could be one of the first clubs to be trying to take advantage of better permit rules for South American’s too.

[Baggies]

With Villa about to have £100m burning a hole in their bank account, in addition to the intriguing Leon Bailey signing, it now looks like they are going to bid for Todd Cantwell as Grealish's replacement. I don't really get that signing, they have signed Buendia already, do they really just want to recreate a midfield that finished bottom of the Premier league 2 years ago?

Cantwell is a decent player but for the price Norwich would ask for, surely it wouldn't make financial sense for Villla? Don't be shocked if they come in for Pereira if that doesn't work out.

[Standaman]

The fee that Norwich are talking about for Cantwell is £40m which pretty much is a not for sale price but if Villa completely lose their minds Norwich will take their money.

I say that as someone who quite likes Cantwell and as part of a 3 or 4 player package he might more than compensate for the loss of Grealish. However spending £40m on the Cantwell probably means they won't get the quality elsewhere from the windfall.

Villa have been heavily linked with Leon Bailey who is left footed and can play either wing or inverted wide forward for £30m.

I can see something quite good taking shape but at £40m I think I'd be looking at alternatives to Cantwell.

 

[Mister AT]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Grealish situation.

Does he go?

Seen hundreds of posts on Twitter second guessing what he will do, will he go, will he stay and build with villa.

He apparently trained today which many city fans assumed he would be in Manchester for a medical.

The one good thing from this all is, I’ve seen some villa fans already turn on him, calling him a money grabber, diver, another delph etc etc. Saw one fan call him a coward because he’s taking the ‘easy’ option in winning trophies with city which will be ‘pointless’ as opposed to staying at villa and building a legacy 

I wouldn’t be suprised if villa came knocking for Pereira if Grealish does leave. At prices of £40million for Cantwell, MP is much better value for money.

[SmethDan]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Grealish situation.......Seen hundreds of posts on Twitter second guessing what he will do,.....The one good thing from this all is, I’ve seen some villa fans already turn on him, calling him a money grabber, diver, another delph etc etc. Saw one fan call him a coward because he’s taking the ‘easy’ option in winning trophies with city which will be ‘pointless’ as opposed to staying at villa and building a legacy  ......

My thoughts centre around the utter hilarity of the Viler meltdown. Read a Twitter post from a City supporter earlier where the bloke sympathises with Blues and Albion supporters having to deal with Vilers all the time. He ended his tweet with the following observation of Vilers. 'These people are not normal'.....

https://mobile.twitter.com/Kushagra9320/status/1420767974894411778

....... they've been ripping into the W(itton) anchors for days  .

[LiamTheBaggie]

At £100m villa would be stupid not to accept that.

The big issue is how they cope without him because their record without Grealish is quite frankly woeful.

[seteefeet]

Hope he goes because it weakens them dramatically. They can then have Pereira in the hope that he has an absolute stinker and then downs tools following their relegation.

What I would bet though is, if Grealish goes to Man City, he will automatically play more for England, even if he gets less minutes, and has less impact, for City.

[Mister AT]

Hope he goes because it weakens them dramatically. They can then have Pereira in the hope that he has an absolute stinker and then downs tools following their relegation.

What I would bet though is, if Grealish goes to Man City, he will automatically play more for England, even if he gets less minutes, and has less impact, for City.

Would be interesting to see how Pep plays Grealish, if he plays him out wide or keeps Foden there. If he improves him then that benefits England.

I have a sneaky feeling he might stay at villa though. I’ve seen villa fans putting money on them being top of the league at Christmas as it’s 80/1 and it’s ‘easy’ money.

[johnny Cash]

I actually think it’s the right move for Villa and and the poor result for Villa in the long run would be him deciding to stay and getting £250k a week.

[SmethDan]

That's an awful lot of money for someone when City are being linked with Haaland and Kane.

[alex1]

Joe Hart looks like he's on his way from Spurs to Celtic (according to Fabrizio Romano). Might Tottenham be looking for another keeper?