What Is The Clubs Transfer Strategy

[Sausage Roll]

There was a bit of annoyance on here when the story about us signing Guerrero broke, which may or may not have subsided a bit now it's come out that this is Sabri's choice - a player that he identified after that friendly vs. Olympiakos before last season. Some fans want us to buy cheap and sell dear, investing in young prospects, developing them then selling them on, and yes that sounds like a good business model. But would that get us promoted? Brentford, for all the praise they receive, haven't gone up. Same with Peterborough.

If Sabri is signing players that Sabri wants - as is reportedly the case with Guerrero and Bachirou - then should we not be happy with that? Surely it's better than when, say, 'Billy Davies' signed the likes of Djamel Abdoun, a player that never seemed to fit his profile.

Look at the players we've brought in this season so far (assuming Guerrero signs): Colback, Blackett, Taylor, Bachirou, Freeman and Guerrero. Most of them with Championship experience and the other two with experience in other top-flights and Europe. Was our team not crying out for this? How many points might have been saved last season with a few more older heads on the pitch? How many late goals might have been avoided?

In an ideal world of course we'd look long-term and buy young, develop and either keep or sell on, but Sabri doesn't have that luxury. His remit is promotion and it seems he's identified a lack of characters and experience as one of the reasons he didn't achieve it last season. OK, you can make the point that it's a very short-term strategy from the ownership, and it is. But that's what Sabri's got to work with and I think the recruitment this season reflects that. Have any clubs got promoted from the Championship with squads they've bought young and developed? I genuinely don't know.