25/26 Recruitment

[DeesideRed]

Thought id have a muse over this whilst we await news on the manager situation and possibly to take us through the international break which can always be a bit dull. 

So last season we had a relatively settled starting XI

Sels  
Aina
Serb
Murillo
Neco
Sangare
Ando
Elanga
MGW
CHO
Wood. 

So at the end of the season the plan was essentially as i recall to address the backups which was the area which we felt needed strengthening, particularly replacing Sosa and Jota with quality backups for Elanga and CHO. 

There was also the need to have quality backups for Aina (with one eye on the AFCON) and Neco with an actual left-footed left back to offer variety outside of CHO. 

In central midfield, perhaps someone to mix it with Sangare and Ando and also a backup number 10 for MGW to cover injury/form. 

Finally, a striker to replace Taiwo who was struggling to show anything like his previous form and a backup GK as Miguel was a bit rubbish. 

As far as i see it, that was the general idea, quality over quantity and of course as early as possible. 

Targets were relatively well known but along with others like Palace, Fulham etc we really struggled to get any business done early. But then, lets look at who came through the door. 

So in terms of a backup GK, we signed Gunn out of the blue and left it til late to get Jhon. It wasnt a huge priority so perhaps this can be left out of discussion really. 

The full backs. Now, normally i'd say capable full backs are ten a penny and id venture to say you could have had Walker-Peters on a free and find an able left footed full back in the championship or indeed anywhere. this could have been done relatively early, as theres not a great deal of negotiation really for full-backs unless theyre top class. Truffert was a target but may have preferred Bournemouth, who knows. After that though we didnt do anything until the 30th August and last minutes of deadline day.

I know people say Aina injury is unfortunate but these 2 signings, made when season had already started just make no sense to me at all. I'm not yet sure what Savona is and Zinchenko is not the left-footed bomb-on-past-CHO full back we were looking for. I've a horrible feeling this area is going to cost us this season. 

Jair added as a young centre back, sound. no issue. Morato is capable enough backup / 3rd CB. 

In midfield our backups were Yates and Danilo. Did we do anything to improve this? we courted Luiz all summer but thats a gamble, seems even more so when you let Danilo go? For such a key area, again it seems we just didnt really address it, other than hoping MGW can slot in. Looks worse when you look at Anderson playing all summer. Magassa was apparently identified but never close. Think letting Danilo go was a huge error, especially with Luiz injury record. 

backup 10 - McAtee took longer than it should but to fair to the club, City were overreaching. Could it have been done sooner? who knows but ultimately he was identified and signed. Fine. 

Wide areas. 
Elanga went, no real surprise but we then need to replace the asset of getting up the pitch quickly. Hutchinson was apparently identified and did this for Ipswich and England U21. Made sense. £35m release clause to get it done early, no we left it to mid August. Dan N'doye isnt really that explosive winger. We all know which greased up explosive winger was identified but a big wedge on N'Doye does seem out of kilter with our approach on other players. Was it because he can play Right Back? Bakwa, young, tricky, certainly more in keeping with what we'd been looking at previously but again came in late in bloody September. The quality of these wide players is yet to be confirmed obviously but they were all signed later than they should have been, particularly given the system we were employing under Nuno.

Striker. Jesus. Done early, great price. sound. 

I saw lots of 10/10 comments on our dealings and reflecting on that, i'm not sure it gets past a 6/10. Some odd decisions and of course the lateness caused issues which dont need discussing here. Recruitment here not the politics  :Funny:

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Good post DR, surprised it hasn’t been mentioned more.

In hindsight it certainly doesn’t look 10/10. You say steer clear of politics and I will but it certainly played a significant part which wasn’t (always) helpful.

My problem is the lack of strategy which is something we have seen before. Seems to be a “sign the player first, look at whether they fit later” approach. I dont mean just in the position they play more if they would work with style of play. This is where going from Nuno straight to Ange doesn’t help, to have diametrically opposed styles of play and then shoehorning random wingers into the equation is never going to be smooth.

Personally I don’t think we needed 3 new wingers at a cost of over £100m. Looks even more the case now when 2 of them have barely played. I think the idea of McAtee as cover for MGW is good and he should also have been the 4th wide option if you like, unfortunately not seen anything from him to suggest he will be successful.

Kalimuendo again different option fine but has anyone thought how he fits? Again seen nothing to suggest it will work and nobody seems to know how to get the best out of him.
Anderson desperately needs a break in midfield but we bring in Luiz who has a genetic condition we knew about that affects how much he can play.
Full back situation Zinchenko good on paper, in reality looks a liability defensively. If Savona is a right back Im a ballet dancer, he is a right sided CB. Looks a big lack in attention to detail here.
Jair I still hope will be quality but just wish some of the money we spent on forwards had been for an oven ready CB. No Morato is not good enough, did well yesterday but totally unsuited to Ange ball. We knew we needed a pacey centre back and didn’t get one.

Overall, for ambition fantastic and I appreciate the investment is unprecedented. Reality unfortunately is 6/10.

[wassy04]

Good post DR, surprised it hasn’t been mentioned more.

In hindsight it certainly doesn’t look 10/10. You say steer clear of politics and I will but it certainly played a significant part which wasn’t (always) helpful.

My problem is the lack of strategy which is something we have seen before. Seems to be a “sign the player first, look at whether they fit later” approach. I dont mean just in the position they play more if they would work with style of play. This is where going from Nuno straight to Ange doesn’t help, to have diametrically opposed styles of play and then shoehorning random wingers into the equation is never going to be smooth.

Personally I don’t think we needed 3 new wingers at a cost of over £100m. Looks even more the case now when 2 of them have barely played. I think the idea of McAtee as cover for MGW is good and he should also have been the 4th wide option if you like, unfortunately not seen anything from him to suggest he will be successful.

Kalimuendo again different option fine but has anyone thought how he fits? Again seen nothing to suggest it will work and nobody seems to know how to get the best out of him.
Anderson desperately needs a break in midfield but we bring in Luiz who has a genetic condition we knew about that affects how much he can play.
Full back situation Zinchenko good on paper, in reality looks a liability defensively. If Savona is a right back Im a ballet dancer, he is a right sided CB. Looks a big lack in attention to detail here.
Jair I still hope will be quality but just wish some of the money we spent on forwards had been for an oven ready CB. No Morato is not good enough, did well yesterday but totally unsuited to Ange ball. We knew we needed a pacey centre back and didn’t get one.

Overall, for ambition fantastic and I appreciate the investment is unprecedented. Reality unfortunately is 6/10.

I think it's way too early to write this window off, players always take time to settle in.

Savona seems like a weird signing and a mistake, however aside from that I maintain it was as good a window as we could've hoped. 

Jesus looks like a bit of a bargain potentially, Luiz looks good if he can stay fit (which its not like he's never been fit enough to play). The three wingers all have potential and it's just way too early to judge them right now, Elanga is an established 55m winger that they are trying to replace, that's tough. Can't say I've been enthused by any of them but I think we need to see at the end of the year and judge. 

Aina getting injured was tough to take, and pretty unlucky timing and I doubt we find a better backup CB than Morato who wouldn't just get the same criticism. Dominguez also just coming back from injury which will help give us more options alongside Luiz, I guess he'll need time to build his fitness though.

I'm still pretty hopeful really, I think the bigger issue is some of the existing players just aren't as good as sometimes is believed. I'm thinking of the likes of Sangare (we as a fanbase know how good he is lol), CHO, plus MGW no-one seems to be able to find a good position for him, Wood had an incredible season but was previously a journeyman striker and is old. Aina is injured a lot, Milenkovic suited a specific style of tactics etc.

[Username]

FWIW, outside of the goalkeeper replacement, no club should ever sign “back ups”, especially if we are competing on four fronts.

The problem with doing so is that when you ultimately sell the likes of Elanga, Anderson, MGW and Murillo you are essentially trading down.

[wassy04]

FWIW, outside of the goalkeeper replacement, no club should ever sign “back ups”, especially if we are competing on four fronts.

The problem with doing so is that when you ultimately sell the likes of Elanga, Anderson, MGW and Murillo you are essentially trading down.

Who are the backups?

[Username]

FWIW, outside of the goalkeeper replacement, no club should ever sign “back ups”, especially if we are competing on four fronts.

The problem with doing so is that when you ultimately sell the likes of Elanga, Anderson, MGW and Murillo you are essentially trading down.

Who are the backups?

I was referring to the phrase used by the OP.

[wassy04]

FWIW, outside of the goalkeeper replacement, no club should ever sign “back ups”, especially if we are competing on four fronts.

The problem with doing so is that when you ultimately sell the likes of Elanga, Anderson, MGW and Murillo you are essentially trading down.

Who are the backups?

I was referring to the phrase used by the OP.

Think that's just his way of saying long term replacements, we attempted to sign long term replacements that we hoped were good enough to grow to the level of the players they will replace.

[DeesideRed]

Good post DR, surprised it hasn’t been mentioned more.

In hindsight it certainly doesn’t look 10/10. You say steer clear of politics and I will but it certainly played a significant part which wasn’t (always) helpful.

My problem is the lack of strategy which is something we have seen before. Seems to be a “sign the player first, look at whether they fit later” approach. I dont mean just in the position they play more if they would work with style of play. This is where going from Nuno straight to Ange doesn’t help, to have diametrically opposed styles of play and then shoehorning random wingers into the equation is never going to be smooth.

Personally I don’t think we needed 3 new wingers at a cost of over £100m. Looks even more the case now when 2 of them have barely played. I think the idea of McAtee as cover for MGW is good and he should also have been the 4th wide option if you like, unfortunately not seen anything from him to suggest he will be successful.

Kalimuendo again different option fine but has anyone thought how he fits? Again seen nothing to suggest it will work and nobody seems to know how to get the best out of him.
Anderson desperately needs a break in midfield but we bring in Luiz who has a genetic condition we knew about that affects how much he can play.
Full back situation Zinchenko good on paper, in reality looks a liability defensively. If Savona is a right back Im a ballet dancer, he is a right sided CB. Looks a big lack in attention to detail here.
Jair I still hope will be quality but just wish some of the money we spent on forwards had been for an oven ready CB. No Morato is not good enough, did well yesterday but totally unsuited to Ange ball. We knew we needed a pacey centre back and didn’t get one.

Overall, for ambition fantastic and I appreciate the investment is unprecedented. Reality unfortunately is 6/10.

I think it's way too early to write this window off, players always take time to settle in.

Savona seems like a weird signing and a mistake, however aside from that I maintain it was as good a window as we could've hoped. 

Jesus looks like a bit of a bargain potentially, Luiz looks good if he can stay fit (which its not like he's never been fit enough to play). The three wingers all have potential and it's just way too early to judge them right now, Elanga is an established 55m winger that they are trying to replace, that's tough. Can't say I've been enthused by any of them but I think we need to see at the end of the year and judge. 

Aina getting injured was tough to take, and pretty unlucky timing and I doubt we find a better backup CB than Morato who wouldn't just get the same criticism. Dominguez also just coming back from injury which will help give us more options alongside Luiz, I guess he'll need time to build his fitness though.

I'm still pretty hopeful really, I think the bigger issue is some of the existing players just aren't as good as sometimes is believed. I'm thinking of the likes of Sangare (we as a fanbase know how good he is lol), CHO, plus MGW no-one seems to be able to find a good position for him, Wood had an incredible season but was previously a journeyman striker and is old. Aina is injured a lot, Milenkovic suited a specific style of tactics etc.

I think my reflection on the window won't necessarily be how the wingers fare, more the lack of full back cover (would actually have given Toff another year at this rate!) and not replacing Danilo

[ozzyten10]

Ndoye is actually starting to grow into it. He has had a demonstrable impact with goal involvements and assists. He had a decent game on Sunday too for me- looks to have started to get to grips with the physicality of the league.
Bakwa - really wanted this one so a bit dissapointed so far. Cant fathom why he’s not been tried at RWB when he played there for stassbourg.
Cunha- like what I see
Hutchinson- some decent cameos and things do happen when he is on the pitch
Jesus- like him - will score goals for us
Kalimuendo - mmm not impressed so far but young and may end up an astute signing
mcattee - wasn’t convinced - thought he was lightweight and anonymous for the u21 - and same when he has come on for us. A glimpse at Swansea of his potential but not at all sure…
John- not seen enough
Savona- is he a right back? Not impressed with this one
Luiz- injury prone but a very good player. No coincidence our best football has been with him on the pitch
Zinchenko - great footballer - awful defender… missed him in our last 2 matches.

[Chicago]

We didn't miss Zinchenko at all against the Geordies. The Newcastle wingers would have eaten him alive. Have him further up the field like a 10 but nowhere near the defence. He is a calamity waiting to happen. I disagree with you about Savona. I like the cut of his Jib. He played well against Newcastle. Bombing up the wing and actually being back when we needed him. Thought he had a decent game. Kalibueno has the first touch of a Taiwo. i actually prefer Taiwo. He is a big burly striker and has proved he can cut it when he's fit. Give him a run. You never know he may come good. McAtee looks like a 12 year old boy. We missed a massive massive trick by not going after O'Reilly. I am glad we didn't get Lewis because he has the lightweights about him too. McAtee and Lewis are very skilled players but when it comes to battle I fear they will fail.

I find it interesting that the Benfica bloke who looked impressive (head of recruitment) ended up buggering back to Benfica. Was that because of EDU? I suispect it was. Luiz is excellent but he cannot stay healthy. I thought our Ryan had a decent game on Saturday. Never been a fan of Sangare and he could have been replaced this summer with Magassa but that bugger went to the Shammers. Nuno was gagging for Mathius Fernandes. Ironic that he is now working with him. Missed a trick with that one.


We build from the back and need to do so again. Cunha, Savona and a lesser extent Abbott are very young but extremely talented. We need someone solid back there whilst Aina and Murillo are buggered. This is the problem because Boly is just taking up a space.

Anyway, that is my 4 pennies worth. Just need a manage who knows what to do with them. Marco Rose for me.


Chicago: Grasping at straws.

[wassy04]

Good post DR, surprised it hasn’t been mentioned more.

In hindsight it certainly doesn’t look 10/10. You say steer clear of politics and I will but it certainly played a significant part which wasn’t (always) helpful.

My problem is the lack of strategy which is something we have seen before. Seems to be a “sign the player first, look at whether they fit later” approach. I dont mean just in the position they play more if they would work with style of play. This is where going from Nuno straight to Ange doesn’t help, to have diametrically opposed styles of play and then shoehorning random wingers into the equation is never going to be smooth.

Personally I don’t think we needed 3 new wingers at a cost of over £100m. Looks even more the case now when 2 of them have barely played. I think the idea of McAtee as cover for MGW is good and he should also have been the 4th wide option if you like, unfortunately not seen anything from him to suggest he will be successful.

Kalimuendo again different option fine but has anyone thought how he fits? Again seen nothing to suggest it will work and nobody seems to know how to get the best out of him.
Anderson desperately needs a break in midfield but we bring in Luiz who has a genetic condition we knew about that affects how much he can play.
Full back situation Zinchenko good on paper, in reality looks a liability defensively. If Savona is a right back Im a ballet dancer, he is a right sided CB. Looks a big lack in attention to detail here.
Jair I still hope will be quality but just wish some of the money we spent on forwards had been for an oven ready CB. No Morato is not good enough, did well yesterday but totally unsuited to Ange ball. We knew we needed a pacey centre back and didn’t get one.

Overall, for ambition fantastic and I appreciate the investment is unprecedented. Reality unfortunately is 6/10.

I think it's way too early to write this window off, players always take time to settle in.

Savona seems like a weird signing and a mistake, however aside from that I maintain it was as good a window as we could've hoped. 

Jesus looks like a bit of a bargain potentially, Luiz looks good if he can stay fit (which its not like he's never been fit enough to play). The three wingers all have potential and it's just way too early to judge them right now, Elanga is an established 55m winger that they are trying to replace, that's tough. Can't say I've been enthused by any of them but I think we need to see at the end of the year and judge. 

Aina getting injured was tough to take, and pretty unlucky timing and I doubt we find a better backup CB than Morato who wouldn't just get the same criticism. Dominguez also just coming back from injury which will help give us more options alongside Luiz, I guess he'll need time to build his fitness though.

I'm still pretty hopeful really, I think the bigger issue is some of the existing players just aren't as good as sometimes is believed. I'm thinking of the likes of Sangare (we as a fanbase know how good he is lol), CHO, plus MGW no-one seems to be able to find a good position for him, Wood had an incredible season but was previously a journeyman striker and is old. Aina is injured a lot, Milenkovic suited a specific style of tactics etc.

I think my reflection on the window won't necessarily be how the wingers fare, more the lack of full back cover (would actually have given Toff another year at this rate!) and not replacing Danilo

If Aina doesn't get injured though, not sure you'd have that view. We'd have eased Savona and Zinchenko in via rotation and we'd probably think they looked interesting.

Luiz replaced Danilo surely?

[Trailer Park Tom]

You can tell Ndoye is highly rated because both Nuno and and Ange want to get him settled into the team and adapted to the Premier League quickly.

I give the recruitment 2 out of 10. 

Too many unnecessary signings that have come at a high cost financially and with squad morale and stability.

It's pretty much cost us a manager and made us completely start again. We needed a bit of fresh competition for the first team and some strength in depth.

As we've seen before some of these signings will turn out to be amazing and some will come on over the next 18 months, but like I said we've seen it before and it's stupid   :Funny:

I know we can go through player by player and say who would you not have ect but I'm a firm believer that some of the less glamorous players we have moved on or not given a proper chance are only a few percent technically worse off than most of the incomings. You're better off working with them and bringing in some quality and purpose back up players.

The stability is worth more.

We can still come good but it's just f*****g pointless.