Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2024

[General]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

I feel like I must be missing something.. why are you getting Amorebieta vibes? This guy feels better..

[SerbianLad]

Andre and a RCB in the next week and we are absolutely cooking. 3rd GK, 8 and another striker/winger can wait for deadline day as far as I'm concerned

Agree with you completely on this. I'd even be fine of we don't get some of those other signings, providing we keep everyone else.

[jayffc]

That feels cheap for a starter in La Liga at his age. Is he running down his contract or is the contract length short then?

Didn't have a brilliant season last year. Villareal let in a lot of goals. Only ones with a worse defensive record ended up last and second last.

https://twitter.com/jackjcollins/status/1818710490388087255?t=eWiH0mqsSKVkMVbUPyuTWA&s=19

[hovewhite]

That feels cheap for a starter in La Liga at his age. Is he running down his contract or is the contract length short then?

Didn't have a brilliant season last year. Villareal let in a lot of goals. Only ones with a worse defensive record ended up last and second last.

https://twitter.com/jackjcollins/status/1818710490388087255?t=eWiH0mqsSKVkMVbUPyuTWA&s=19

alongside members of our defence ,think he will show up well.

[WolverineFFC]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

I feel like I must be missing something.. why are you getting Amorebieta vibes? This guy feels better..

I imagine it is the Premier League inexperience combined with La Liga. Cuenca' pedigree seems better, but concerns about adjusting are justified in my opinion.

[Hatch007]

https://thehardtackle.com/transfer-news/2024/08/01/fulham-keen-on-isaak-toure/

[jayffc]

https://twitter.com/FulhamTransfer/status/1818716707814355312

Interesting. I think we'll get a few players in over the next week. Andre possibly one of them.

I wonder what happened for them to all start falling into place now and why none were in earlier. None of these players were at the euros.

Presumably weve just been exploring availabilities, pricings and diferrent options while negotiating back an forth on top targets for a while now seeing how the general budget could be split between those things as a whole and what would be left leveraging options to negotiate better deals... and now we have a clearer idea of that, weve begun pulling triggers and dominos are therefore beginning to fall. as they often do later end of the window, evaluations are steadily settling down, teams are getting replacements settled for departing players and eager to get players moving as pre season is now in full swing.

Good to see things falling into place steadily

[General]

https://twitter.com/FulhamTransfer/status/1818752350523470190

[jayffc]

https://twitter.com/FulhamTransfer/status/1818752350523470190

https://youtu.be/KH1bsRZfbw8?si=5YS8NWunk5_lLBw1

Insert abligatory highlight reel.

Perhaps forest might back away having signed Jota silva but they do still only have 3 out and out wingers currently.

Looks raw, pacey and skillful. Not a desperate position to fill so would be surprised if this rumour has legs, but wouldn't complain. One to develop (would like godo to get a chance though)

[WolverineFFC]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

A little concerned too. Other than Lukic this seems to be the most out of character transfer since pre pandemic. With Lukic there was a connection to Mitro and Serbia that somewhat explained the pick up.

Since the pandemic every signing has had some Premier League exposure or you could see a connection from Marco's Portugal ties.

Thankfully the fee seems minor, but my expectations here are low. Hopefully this is a 4th CB who allows the club to spend more on another RCB option.

It would be incredibly and worryingly limiting IMO if we were only to sign players from either the PL or Portugal.

I also think people are reading too much into Marco's comments that we don't sign backup players. He's merely saying what any good manager would, that everyone in the squad has the potential to get into the starting XI if they work hard enough. But the reality is, we're going to need some players who'll accept spending most of the season on the bench.

Ream, who we're pretty sure is leaving, hardly started after the first third of last season, and as you say, Cuenca seems most likely to be his replacement as our backup LCB who can also cover LB.

In theory I agree, but a club Fulham's size probably only has a certain scouting reach. I am only pointing out what causes this transfer to be more concerning than most. It is also possible there are connections (maybe to the new AM) that are not obvious on the surface which would make Cuenca's transfer more reassuring.

[Deeping_white]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

A little concerned too. Other than Lukic this seems to be the most out of character transfer since pre pandemic. With Lukic there was a connection to Mitro and Serbia that somewhat explained the pick up.

Since the pandemic every signing has had some Premier League exposure or you could see a connection from Marco's Portugal ties.

Thankfully the fee seems minor, but my expectations here are low. Hopefully this is a 4th CB who allows the club to spend more on another RCB option.

It would be incredibly and worryingly limiting IMO if we were only to sign players from either the PL or Portugal.

I also think people are reading too much into Marco's comments that we don't sign backup players. He's merely saying what any good manager would, that everyone in the squad has the potential to get into the starting XI if they work hard enough. But the reality is, we're going to need some players who'll accept spending most of the season on the bench.

Ream, who we're pretty sure is leaving, hardly started after the first third of last season, and as you say, Cuenca seems most likely to be his replacement as our backup LCB who can also cover LB.

In theory I agree, but a club Fulham's size probably only has a certain scouting reach. I am only pointing out what causes this transfer to be more concerning than most. It is also possible there are connections (maybe to the new AM) that are not obvious on the surface which would make Cuenca's transfer more reassuring.

You can get data on every player in every league now to do an intial stat test and from there detailed scouting on players who you narrow down from that original stat test. La Liga is probably the second biggest league in Europe after the PL so I'm sure we've got either local scouts or someone going to games regularly anyway. His actual statistical profile is somewhere in between Ream and Tosin's so he cleary fits the bill from a ball playing CB, and we know that we need one since Ream is on his way out. So, for £6m which is probably not far off an inflation adjusted price we paid for Ream almost 10 years ago, he's a project CB who can be moulded into a long term squad player or better. As Angus says, we're hardly going to sign all of our talent from two leagues so clearly he meets the requirements for what we're after, at a very sensible price. Even if he flops, you can recoup the £6m most likely as it's not a huge sum and he's a Barca academy grad

[SerbianLad]

Just noticed Lukic has number 20 in the training videos(the number Willian wore in the previous two seasons). It might mean nothing, but it might also mean Willian isn't going to renew his contract.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

Very happy with Cuenca for €6.7m, we desperately need CB cover, and given he's been a starting CB in most games for a good standard La Liga team, I think that's good business for that sort of money.

[SerbianLad]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

A little concerned too. Other than Lukic this seems to be the most out of character transfer since pre pandemic. With Lukic there was a connection to Mitro and Serbia that somewhat explained the pick up.

Since the pandemic every signing has had some Premier League exposure or you could see a connection from Marco's Portugal ties.

Thankfully the fee seems minor, but my expectations here are low. Hopefully this is a 4th CB who allows the club to spend more on another RCB option.

What about Bassey? Never played in PL, no connection to Marco or Portugal. Mbabu too, but he turned out to be a poor signing.

[Deeping_white]

To get an idea, here's his profile compared to our existing CB's;

https://twitter.com/cottagetactico/status/1818746415306489884

Shows he's a good passer of the ball and better at tackling & heading than Ream. For games where we'd benefit from a Ream like CB he'd be a good option

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

Re: Cuenca, and people saying he lacks PL experience. I guess we  can console ourselves with the fact that he was a starting CB in the league that produced the current European champions (by miles), the Champions League winners... etc etc.

[WolverineFFC]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

A little concerned too. Other than Lukic this seems to be the most out of character transfer since pre pandemic. With Lukic there was a connection to Mitro and Serbia that somewhat explained the pick up.

Since the pandemic every signing has had some Premier League exposure or you could see a connection from Marco's Portugal ties.

Thankfully the fee seems minor, but my expectations here are low. Hopefully this is a 4th CB who allows the club to spend more on another RCB option.

What about Bassey? Never played in PL, no connection to Marco or Portugal. Mbabu too, but he turned out to be a poor signing.

Leicester and Newcastle I believe for those two. I am guessing there was a fair amount of scouting, background evaluation of both through youth matches, opponent scouting, etc in that context.

[General]

Very happy with Cuenca for €6.7m, we desperately need CB cover and given he's been a starting CB in most games for a good standard La Liga team at that sort of money I think that's good business.

Here are some of his stats for last season

He played the full 90, 16x.

they lost 8 of those.

In those games he played the full 90 Villareal conceded 23  goals (1.44 goals p/g) and scored 26 goals (1.63 goals p/g)

7 of the goals they conceded in those games were in two games against Barcelona.

With this taken into account the defensive goals per game ratio would be 1.14 goal per game conceded.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jorge-cuenca/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/494880/plus/0?saison=2023&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=ES1&pos=&trainer_id=

[SerbianLad]

I'm getting Amorebieta/Lovebite vibes the more I hear...

A little concerned too. Other than Lukic this seems to be the most out of character transfer since pre pandemic. With Lukic there was a connection to Mitro and Serbia that somewhat explained the pick up.

Since the pandemic every signing has had some Premier League exposure or you could see a connection from Marco's Portugal ties.

Thankfully the fee seems minor, but my expectations here are low. Hopefully this is a 4th CB who allows the club to spend more on another RCB option.

What about Bassey? Never played in PL, no connection to Marco or Portugal. Mbabu too, but he turned out to be a poor signing.

Leicester and Newcastle I believe for those two. I am guessing there was a fair amount of scouting, background evaluation of both through youth matches, opponent scouting, etc in that context.

Mbabu actually yes, you're right, forgot about that.

Bassey only played at Leicester at youth level, never at senior level.

I believe we did a lot of scouting and background checking on all players, Lukic included, because that's what all  clubs do nowadays. I also seem to remember Tony specificaly stating in his customary transfer tweet that Lukic is someone we have looked at for a long time and identified as a key target or something like that. I'm sure it's same in Cuenca's case too.

[General]

Re: Cuenca, and people saying he lacks PL experience. I guess we  can console ourselves with the fact that he was a starting CB in the league that produced the current European champions (by miles), the Champions League winners... etc etc.

I'm not that fussed about the lack of PL experience under Marco tbh, he's got a decent amount of players who didn't have any under him who he's coached and got better, he's also been patient to allow them to grow and develop - see Muniz, Lukic, Bassey even Pereira had limited PL experience when he joined..

I think it's an area Marco and his team excel at, embedding players and getting them used to the league and improving them.