Summer Transfer Suggestion Thread 2023

[Kernow]

22 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

Completely agree with you and would be shocked (and a bit disappointed) if he is not under consideration.

saying that, @Kokosnusswill be along shortly to tell you why you’re wrong about Smith 😉

I'm sure lots of clubs in this league have him under consideration, I'm just surprised that there's no real links from any reputable journalists about interest.

My guess with players like Smith, who are still free agents at this point in July, is that they're holding out for better interest than they currently have. He may well have had contact from top teams in League One, but fancies himself at a Championship side. It would fit in with Warne's wishes of wanting players who want to, and probably can, player higher than League One. It would be nice to have one on the way up rather than dropping down this time.

[Ghost of Clough]

 

44 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I wondered who players like Sam Smith and Wes Harding (frees that have been suggested a fair few times) are actually linked to. I had a bit of a browse online and I can't actually see any solid links anywhere, which is pretty strange given that it's been nearly a fortnight since their contracts expired with their old clubs.

The more I look into it, the more I think Sam Smith would be a really good option for us. In his last two seasons in League One, he's missed 1 game. That's very impressive on his own. He's managed 28 goals over two seasons, so you're looking at around 1 in 3. He's played for Cambridge United in both seasons, who finished 20th last season, surviving by 1 point, and 14th the season before, so faring a bit better. Last season he scored 13 of Cambridge's 41 goals, that's more than twice as many as their second highest scorer managed (6). He pretty much kept them up single-handedly.

He's a player who came through at Reading but never really got a chance there, and was shipped around to 6 different clubs on loan over 5 years and didn't have a great scoring record at any of them. As soon as he found a new home as the main man, he's been impressive and he definitely deserves a chance at a better side than Cambridge now.

He's 25 and the kind of player where 1 or 2 good seasons would see the opportunity to make a decent profit on him. His strength is listed as finishing, and his weakness as offside awareness, so clearly he's a player who will look to run behind and take any chances he gets, he sounds like a very good option to rotate with Washington.

He's also capable of scoring goals like this, which is worth a punt just on its own.

 

Tyler Walker would be my top free transfer option based on age and record when playing regularly. Only down side is he isn't any better in the air than Collins or Washington. Godden would be a better player overall, but only has 2 years left in him. 

Smith would give us something very different two out current CFs. However, he's pretty unreliable with the ball, losing the ball often by having a poor touch or losing it from dribbling.

My top choice overall is Aaron Pressley. I thought Brentford would be looking to loan him out again, but it seems they're open to selling him this summer instead (only 1 year left on his contract). Supposedly can be signed on a 'free' but with a sell-on percentage. He's a monster in the air, better all round game than Smith too. A lot of competition for him from L1, L2 and Scotland.

[May Contain Nuts]

1 hour ago, Nuwtfly said:

Completely agree with you and would be shocked (and a bit disappointed) if he is not under consideration.

saying that, @Kokosnusswill be along shortly to tell you why you’re wrong about Smith 😉

I meeeeaaaannnn.... 😉🙃

I'm not saying either of you are wrong, but your patience might be tested a bit if we fail to win a game because he's on his 10th, 11th appearance and 35th attempt at goal in a row without a goal or assist to his name!

Seriously though, I'm only asking questions based on the limited information available, not making final, irreversible judgements or saying he should be dismissed as an option!

We've already ascertained that he's more of an aerial threat than anyone else we have in attack and even a league leader in that regard (although it would appear that only 1 of his 6 headed goals last season came from a set piece, unless I'm reading it wrong) so that's something. It could be one of many things, or it could be the only thing 

We('d) need a lot more statistical info to figure out the rest of his game, or preferably first hand accounts from people who've watched him regularly to know what the real deal is, with proper context.

I'm just not going to declare him to have single handedly saved Cambridge from relegation or declare him ready to play at Championship level based on little more than the number of goals scored and the occasional wonderstrike - he wouldn't be the first nor the last player to stand out in a crap team and flatter to deceive when surrounded by better players.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Kokosnuss

[Black ('n' White) Sheep]

Someone we were linked with a few years ago, but how about Tom Bayliss from Shrewsbury to play CAM? Young (24), fairly highly rated, scored 6 from midfield last season in a team that didn't create much and only got a year left on his contract, so wouldn't cost the earth.

[Carnero]

1 minute ago, Black ('n' White) Sheep said:

Someone we were linked with a few years ago, but how about Tom Bayliss from Shrewsbury to play CAM? Young (24), fairly highly rated, scored 6 from midfield last season in a team that didn't create much and only got a year left on his contract, so wouldn't cost the earth.

And he's a Derby fan!

[Jubbs]

I'd love Owen Moxon as our Knight "replacement" he can do it all. Most assists, most dribbles per game and 3rd most tackles last season in Carlisle's promotion campaign. 

[Caerphilly Ram]

21 minutes ago, Jubbs said:

I'd love Owen Moxon as our Knight "replacement" he can do it all. Most assists, most dribbles per game and 3rd most tackles last season in Carlisle's promotion campaign. 

@Ambitious will agree with you wholeheartedly, been beating the drum for the lad so loudly this summer I’m starting to suspect he may be the lad’s agent or have a wager on him. 
I think you’re both right, looks a good option and would in theory be cost effective.

[Srg]

44 minutes ago, Carnero said:

And he's a Derby fan!

and scored against us!

[YorkshireRam]

16 hours ago, Kernow said:

The more I look into it, the more I think Sam Smith would be a really good option for us. In his last two seasons in League One, he's missed 1 game. That's very impressive on his own. He's managed 28 goals over two seasons, so you're looking at around 1 in 3. He's played for Cambridge United in both seasons, who finished 20th last season, surviving by 1 point, and 14th the season before, so faring a bit better. Last season he scored 13 of Cambridge's 41 goals, that's more than twice as many as their second highest scorer managed (6). He pretty much kept them up single-handedly.

He's a player who came through at Reading but never really got a chance there, and was shipped around to 6 different clubs on loan over 5 years and didn't have a great scoring record at any of them. As soon as he found a new home as the main man, he's been impressive and he definitely deserves a chance at a better side than Cambridge now.

He's 25 and the kind of player where 1 or 2 good seasons would see the opportunity to make a decent profit on him. His strength is listed as finishing, and his weakness as offside awareness, so clearly he's a player who will look to run behind and take any chances he gets, he sounds like a very good option to rotate with Washington.

I thought similarly until I had a quick look at Cambridge's forum to gauge opinion of him, and to be honest they seem pretty meh and believe they can do better... This may well be a case of the stats creating a slightly misleading narrative:

https://cambridgeunitedfc.proboards.com/thread/10033/sam-smith-signs-permanently?page=5

Did a quick google and what stood out to me was ''He scores a goal for every 6.92 shots he takes and takes 2.26 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch.'' This STRONGLY suggests he's really not clinical (which has been alluded by others on here). 

I suspect that's why he's not getting snatched up. Only 2 more goals than Collins last season from 24 more shots; basically Collins has a better goal per 90 ratio (0.39 v Smith's 0.32).

I can't remember seeing him properly play so I'm not in a great position to judge but this is why it's important to look beyond just number of goals when looking at stats. 

[Ambitious]

1 hour ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

@Ambitious will agree with you wholeheartedly, been beating the drum for the lad so loudly this summer I’m starting to suspect he may be the lad’s agent or have a wager on him. 
I think you’re both right, looks a good option and would in theory be cost effective.

Absolutely - I think anyone who has tried to look at statistics to find diamonds in the rough will be pushing for Moxon. He's an absolute unicorn in that he's a top 5 performer in defensive statistics and a top 5 performer in attacking statistics in League Two. 

I used to be a huge Hourihane fan for the same reason, before he joined Villa. Thorne was also particularly outstanding statistically. Stats don't always tell the story and you can read too much into them, of course, but ultimately they offer the most objective information on a player. In terms of Moxon, he makes an unprecedented amount of ball recoveries and is so, so, so progressive with the ball - highest number of assists in League Two. 

All this whilst remembering this is the first year in professional football. Now, people could look at that as a knock, but if you consider that before this season he was splitting his time playing for Annan Athletic with delivery driving. He hasn't had the professional coaching of other players until very recently, he hasn't been able to focus his time purely on football that others have been afforded - therefore things like nutrition and fitness would've come second to surviving two jobs and everything that goes along with it.

In his very first year he is afforded a full-time professional contract, he puts in one of the best seasons in recent memory in League Two. Ok, it's League Two, but you take any snapshot of players in League Two throughout history and you will see that almost every single year had players within the division that went on to much better things - some established themselves as Premier League players. He is, of course, a gamble - he's just so very intriguing and a player who is scrapping to make a living tends to be one who is going to put his body on the line.  

Edited July 11, 2023 by Ambitious

[Thameram]

Could Jordan Rhodes be the slightly over 32 striker pw was talking about free to leave Huddersfield only 33 offers something different 

[Premier ram]

3 hours ago, Thameram said:

Could Jordan Rhodes be the slightly over 32 striker pw was talking about free to leave Huddersfield only 33 offers something different 

Would be a shrewd signing imo

[Nuwtfly]

In my opinion, that's roughly the team for next season as it stands.

Going by the (?) on there, I'd say we'll bring in 4 more.

I'm personally not convinced that Curtis Nelson is an automatic starter. Saw him more as cover when we signed him initially but I could be wrong. Wouldn't be surprised to see another center-half of at least his caliber (or better) come in. Still think Wes Harding must be on our radar. Di'Shon Bernard would be a fantastic addition, but I suspect he'll have Championship interest. Joel Latibeaudiere would be fantastic but unlikely for similar reasons.

I definitely don't think we will allow both Knight and Bielik to go and not bring in another central midfielder. It's a long old season and I don't think Bird/Hourihane/Sibley/Smith/Thompson give you enough. If we can find someone who can come in and do a bit of everything that would be ideal, but it'll have to be someone who will drive the ball forward like Knight did, at least. Cameron Brannagan, maybe. Owen Moxon. Ovie Ejaria from Reading would be nice if they want to clear the decks. I think Matty Longstaff (Newcastle) is also now a free agent. As is Bradley Dack, Josh Onomah, Daniel Johnson, Sam Clucas and Tashan Oakley-Boothe.

As much as I am onboard the Dajaune Brown hype-train, I still don't think we should be going into the season relying on Collins and Washington with a youngster who still "needs to learn the game" to quote Paul Warne as our forward options. I think we're going to play with two strikers so we need probably two more goalscorers.

Ideally this is where I'd like to see us spend whatever budget we have, at least on one of them. I still think we're missing that promotion team goalscorer right now. Sam Nombe is one that really catches the eye at Exeter City. Then there's all the other names mentioned like Sam Smith, Freddie Ladapo and Matty Godden.

If we do actually have a bit of money to spend, esepcially after sales, there's always names like Johnson Clarke-Harris and Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), too. Colby Bishop (Portsmouth) was great last season, but would demand a fee. Same goes for Aaron Collins (Bristol Rovers) who would probably demand an even higher one!

The second forward would probably be someone from the free agent market. I notice Lucas Joao is a free agent now. Dare I say it, so is Britt Assombalonga, who is apparently keen to stay in England...not sure he'd be worth the wages, mind.

All in all, I think we'll see at least 4 more: CB, CM, ST, ST. A fifth may end up being some sort of attacking midfielder, maybe. But if we were going to play a formation with one of those, why not give Sibley a chance?

[Srg]

52 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

In my opinion, that's roughly the team for next season as it stands.

Going by the (?) on there, I'd say we'll bring in 4 more.

I'm personally not convinced that Curtis Nelson is an automatic starter. Saw him more as cover when we signed him initially but I could be wrong. Wouldn't be surprised to see another center-half of at least his caliber (or better) come in. Still think Wes Harding must be on our radar. Di'Shon Bernard would be a fantastic addition, but I suspect he'll have Championship interest. Joel Latibeaudiere would be fantastic but unlikely for similar reasons.

I definitely don't think we will allow both Knight and Bielik to go and not bring in another central midfielder. It's a long old season and I don't think Bird/Hourihane/Sibley/Smith/Thompson give you enough. If we can find someone who can come in and do a bit of everything that would be ideal, but it'll have to be someone who will drive the ball forward like Knight did, at least. Cameron Brannagan, maybe. Owen Moxon. Ovie Ejaria from Reading would be nice if they want to clear the decks. I think Matty Longstaff (Newcastle) is also now a free agent. As is Bradley Dack, Josh Onomah, Daniel Johnson, Sam Clucas and Tashan Oakley-Boothe.

As much as I am onboard the Dajaune Brown hype-train, I still don't think we should be going into the season relying on Collins and Washington with a youngster who still "needs to learn the game" to quote Paul Warne as our forward options. I think we're going to play with two strikers so we need probably two more goalscorers.

Ideally this is where I'd like to see us spend whatever budget we have, at least on one of them. I still think we're missing that promotion team goalscorer right now. Sam Nombe is one that really catches the eye at Exeter City. Then there's all the other names mentioned like Sam Smith, Freddie Ladapo and Matty Godden.

If we do actually have a bit of money to spend, esepcially after sales, there's always names like Johnson Clarke-Harris and Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), too. Colby Bishop (Portsmouth) was great last season, but would demand a fee. Same goes for Aaron Collins (Bristol Rovers) who would probably demand an even higher one!

The second forward would probably be someone from the free agent market. I notice Lucas Joao is a free agent now. Dare I say it, so is Britt Assombalonga, who is apparently keen to stay in England...not sure he'd be worth the wages, mind.

All in all, I think we'll see at least 4 more: CB, CM, ST, ST. A fifth may end up being some sort of attacking midfielder, maybe. But if we were going to play a formation with one of those, why not give Sibley a chance?

No, it’ll be one striker, 2 attacking mids and 2 centre midfielders forming a “box”. 

[Jimbo Ram]

6 hours ago, Thameram said:

Could Jordan Rhodes be the slightly over 32 striker pw was talking about free to leave Huddersfield only 33 offers something different 

You read that article too 😊

[alram]

6 hours ago, Thameram said:

Could Jordan Rhodes be the slightly over 32 striker pw was talking about free to leave Huddersfield only 33 offers something different 

too old, we need younger players to compliment our current old players which we have lots

[Nuwtfly]

26 minutes ago, Srg said:

No, it’ll be one striker, 2 attacking mids and 2 centre midfielders forming a “box”. 

What makes you so certain of that? Can’t remember is playing the 3-4-3 you’re mentioning very much over the course of the season and when we did a bit at the end we were pretty poor at it. 

[Srg]

Just now, Nuwtfly said:

What makes you so certain of that? Can’t remember is playing the 3-4-3 you’re mentioning very much over the course of the season and when we did a bit at the end we were pretty poor at it. 

Played it on Saturday and the commentators talked about it at length. Tallies up with Warne’s talk of attacking players too. 

[Big Trav]

I'm led to believe it's another striker, 2 x '10s' and another midfielder. Currently no thoughts of loaning Rooney out. 

[Nuwtfly]

3 minutes ago, Srg said:

Played it on Saturday and the commentators talked about it at length. Tallies up with Warne’s talk of attacking players too. 

 

Just now, Big Trav said:

I'm led to believe it's another striker, 2 x '10s' and another midfielder. Currently no thoughts of loaning Rooney out. 

@SrgI stand corrected, doth you my cap, and wish you a good day sir