Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2024

[jayffc]

https://twitter.com/jac_talbot/status/1829105342854086709

Weird one this but very cool if any truth in it. Highly rated down there and doing very well at only 20, if any truth at all then would probably come in and go straight out on loan unless we shipped Diop. Seems unlikely though. Player of the Season at Boro last year.

See his older brother Sepp just signed for Brentford from Liverpool for 25m! would be a nice rivalry if they played in the same borough for different teams

[General]

I think if you're talking about exercise protocols and Josh King will all due respect that's a combination of conjecture, hypotheticals and mental gymnastics to find a route around a relatively simple issue that we do as simple maths have a substantially older squad than peers. All those peers benefit from those same mitigants (an academy pipeline, new exercise protocols etc) so we're at a relative disadvantage to them, which manifests on the economic side as cost of replacement and lack of resale value.

It's interesting that Silva gets mentioned because I think that's the root of the problem. We've clearly taken lots of decision-making away from TK and given more influence to Silva, which is a step in the right direction, but Silva is here for 1-2 years and has little or no reason to prioritise the club's success beyond that timeline. Hence we return to the same problem that IMO we've had since the legendary Mike "Rigor Mortis" left, we need a DOF or equivalent in between TK, AM and the manager.

Hi Angus,

I think whilst there's a lot of logic here, it's perhaps laced with an element of being overly cynical. You're right, for instance that technically no individual has to prioritise the club's success beyond a timeline for instance, but logic in and of itself doesn't determine things in absolute terms. Logic isn't just academic, it includes emotions too. An individuals hopes, aspiration, ambitions, how they feel and are stewarded by the organisations/management they work for and how supported/heard/understood they feel etc all can play a tangible part in these things.

I'm not saying for a second that I know Marco well enough to know his innermost thoughts, but from what we can see and what I can tell, he's not approaching Fulham like any other job he's had.

Before us he'd moved around quite a bit, never staying longer than 2 years at a club, whether that be Everton, Watford, Hull etc.

He's rejected a number of offers from Saudi, constantly stating that he is ambitious and wants to manage in the PL.

He talks about a project and building something at the club and has stated the importance of being supported by the club, something we've seen happen over a number of windows now, though in a slower manner than we perhaps would've liked.

I think Marco has an ambition to get Fulham to Europe, I think he has the focus and ability to get us into Europe, perhaps win us our first piece of major silverware and from there we'll have to figure out what happens - do we grow and build from there, or does a big club come in for him and steal him away, like Hodgson and Keegan.

My hope, is that he stays - He seems very well balanced in his approach and as a man and manager, tactically astute and has a knack for developing and getting the best out of players, and I think, if supported by the club, he could potentially be a manager for us, in a similar way to Moyes was for Everton, Wenger for Arsenal and Ferguson for Man Utd etc.. It's a slower process, but the squad is younger, growing in quality, and we've got the owners now who are slowly figuring out how to run the club and have the means to back him.

Most of our first team now are young and on long-term contracts - Andersen, Cuenca, Bassey, Leno, Castagne, Robinson, Berge, Muniz, ESR etc etc - with only 3 current squad players over 30.

If we get Reiss Nelson in for instance before the transfer deadline, and then next summer build on this squad, then we have the ability to push on quite meaningfully.

Under Silva, whilst it's not been all plain sailing, I have seen a gradual growth and development at the club and long may it continue.

[FFC1987]

https://x.com/nealmaupay_/status/1829110516242849965?s=46&t=3g474p7UzKAdxaz2aTY2xA

if you think we have it bad....

[jayffc]

https://x.com/nealmaupay_/status/1829110516242849965?s=46&t=3g474p7UzKAdxaz2aTY2xA

if you think we have it bad....

Just saw this haha This guy is such a troll. Seems pretty openly relieved to be getting tf out of everton 😂

[jayffc]

https://twitter.com/FulhamTransfer/status/1829122751275151683


Another signing ✍🏻 😜

[FFC1987]

https://twitter.com/FulhamTransfer/status/1829122751275151683


Another signing ✍🏻 😜

Good to see they've read the forum and bringing the age down!

[Bassey the warrior]

I may be alone here, but I think the transfer committee should get credit for the way they handled the Andre situation. We tried to reach a deal but couldn't come to an agreement, rather than leaving this to drag on we moved on to other targets so we could get the players in as early as possible.

Wolves have seemingly signed Andre for a similar price to what we offered, but we previously managed to sign Palhinha when he'd been a long term target for them and for less than Andre. Swings and roundabouts.

[General]

'only' spent £89m this summer so far according to SSN and general fees.

Quite low in many respects given we sold Palhinha and were expected to have quite a decent sized pot to spent prior to the window open from an FFP/PSR standpoint..

Suggests there's still a decent amount to spend, whether this window or in the coming Jan and next summer windows that we've not spent.

Roughly £39m net spent?

I wonder why we've been a bit less out there with the cash and more withdrawn..?

We've still got positions that I think we could agree could be strengthened.. are we thinking we've covered core bases to do well enough, and with a full season to top up the kitty we could have another strong strengthening summer next year?

I appreciate the strategy if it works, but surely we've been in need of a winger of class for a while and for many a DM/CM too and perhaps a striker..

Seems potentially interesting given how clubs try to address their needs these days, but the options of players like Andre who we'd been chasing for a while and seems clearly to be within our budget and not going for him..

hopefully we can get Reiss Nelson in, think he'd do well for us and fit in with ESR, Iwobi, Leno etc as a growing ex arsenal contingent who can find a home away from the Emirates... but has the profile and quality we've been looking for.

[Surlyc]

I think if you're talking about exercise protocols and Josh King will all due respect that's a combination of conjecture, hypotheticals and mental gymnastics to find a route around a relatively simple issue that we do as simple maths have a substantially older squad than peers.

Not that I disagree with the principle of this post (I have frequently said we need to sign more players in the 21-23 age bracket, including at length in this thread previously), but what are you defining as "substantially older"?

Once Mbabu and Vinicius leave, our average squad age is 27 (for the record, the same as Man City). The average in the league seems to be about 26; if we round out our squad with three 22 year olds prospects, to warm the bench and learn for a season, we'd be bang in line with the average squad age for the league.

[jayffc]

'only' spent £89m this summer so far according to SSN and general fees.

Quite low in many respects given we sold Palhinha and were expected to have quite a decent sized pot to spent prior to the window open from an FFP/PSR standpoint..

Suggests there's still a decent amount to spend, whether this window or in the coming Jan and next summer windows that we've not spent.

Roughly £39m net spent?

I wonder why we've been a bit less out there with the cash and more withdrawn..?

We've still got positions that I think we could agree could be strengthened.. are we thinking we've covered core bases to do well enough, and with a full season to top up the kitty we could have another strong strengthening summer next year?

I appreciate the strategy if it works, but surely we've been in need of a winger of class for a while and for many a DM/CM too and perhaps a striker..

Seems potentially interesting given how clubs try to address their needs these days, but the options of players like Andre who we'd been chasing for a while and seems clearly to be within our budget and not going for him..

hopefully we can get Reiss Nelson in, think he'd do well for us and fit in with ESR, Iwobi, Leno etc as a growing ex arsenal contingent who can find a home away from the Emirates... but has the profile and quality we've been looking for.

Hard to know for sure what the finances are but gotta assume it's pretty healthy, this year particularly books wise must look great.

Looks likely that guaranteed expenditure fee jumps up £15-30m once we sign another winger, but I suppose ya don't want to completely wreck the core of the club in one window having already let 4 well established squad players go, 3 of which have been here a long time. It's always a balancing act as ever.

We've seemingly upgraded a number of positions without needing to over spend money for the sake of it and without blocking some of our youths opportunities, now we can see where that gets us and reassess in January or next summer and keep adding quality.

It's possible that we finish higher up the table than we did last year because we've improved generally this window - so that next window you could potentially appeal to even better players than this. Perhaps if we're flirting with Europe or succeed in a cup for example,  maybe we begin to unlock the door to a higher calibre of signing (maybe players like Cherki are more interested for example) where having that dry powder means we can really kick on and find it easier to sell the club to bigger and bigger talents.

Marco seems to be happy with the squad he has and perhaps has less doubts about what they're capable of than others, time will tell if that faith has been rewarded.

Agree that Reiss or another exciting winger would be a welcome addition now, always fun to have new and young attacking talent to look forward to. Not long now till we're over the line and then those not on international duty have a couple weeks before West Ham to get properly onboarded by Silva. Getting excited to see what this teams capable of.

[JimmyConway]

Tammy Abrahams? Villa apparently interested but entice him back to London? Our setup would suit him instead of playing second fiddle to Watkins? Would be a statement signing for a team like Fulham?

[jayffc]

Tammy Abrahams? Villa apparently interested but entice him back to London? Our setup would suit him instead of playing second fiddle to Watkins? Would be a statement signing for a team like Fulham?

We don't appear to be in for a striker at all so would count us out at this point.

Villa also have champs league football this year too, so presumably little to no chance he'd pick us over them you'd think.

[FFC1987]

Tammy Abrahams? Villa apparently interested but entice him back to London? Our setup would suit him instead of playing second fiddle to Watkins? Would be a statement signing for a team like Fulham?

We don't appear to be in for a striker at all so would count us out at this point.

Villa have champs league football this year so presumably little to no chance he'd pick us over them.

Unless he has question marks over his game time there perhaps? I think his competition for minutes are a lot harsher at Villa than with us so at 26, he might be thinking he just needs a creative Prem team to be able to score goals then get one big move later on.....all guess work though.

[Roberty]

I think if you're talking about exercise protocols and Josh King will all due respect that's a combination of conjecture, hypotheticals and mental gymnastics to find a route around a relatively simple issue that we do as simple maths have a substantially older squad than peers.

Not that I disagree with the principle of this post (I have frequently said we need to sign more players in the 21-23 age bracket, including at length in this thread previously), but what are you defining as "substantially older"?

Once Mbabu and Vinicius leave, our average squad age is 27 (for the record, the same as Man City). The average in the league seems to be about 26; if we round out our squad with three 22 year olds prospects, to warm the bench and learn for a season, we'd be bang in line with the average squad age for the league.

I will get accused of moving goalposts but I think the benchmark should be the teams we're genuinely competing with, which for me is Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and Palace who are (not purely by random chance IMO) at the lower end of the spectrum, at 25-26.0.

Swapping in three 22 year olds brings the average down by about 0.5 years (across a 25-man squad with an average age of 27) so you're talking quite a substantial gap to 25 or even 26.

As an aside, I agree with the points General made about Silva and accept he may well be here for many years to come, have more altruistic motivations and/or want to leave a positive long-term legacy.

This sound very similar to the DEI policy (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) that has placed square pegs into round holes and produced a police force dominated by short, unfit and over weight people who can't run after criminals.

Instead of signing players who can play football in a position and manner that MS wants, we look to see how old they are. That is crazy.

[Count Flapula]

Tammy Abrahams? Villa apparently interested but entice him back to London? Our setup would suit him instead of playing second fiddle to Watkins? Would be a statement signing for a team like Fulham?

Reports are they want around the £35m they paid - no way we're paying that for a player not long back from a cruciate injury. Especially as it's not yet clear he's the same player he was before the injury.

Good player on his day but way too much of a gamble at that price. Would t pay anywhere near that and probably not enough time in the window to bring it anywhere near a sensible enough fee given his injury issues.

[Bassey the warrior]

I think if you're talking about exercise protocols and Josh King will all due respect that's a combination of conjecture, hypotheticals and mental gymnastics to find a route around a relatively simple issue that we do as simple maths have a substantially older squad than peers.

Not that I disagree with the principle of this post (I have frequently said we need to sign more players in the 21-23 age bracket, including at length in this thread previously), but what are you defining as "substantially older"?

Once Mbabu and Vinicius leave, our average squad age is 27 (for the record, the same as Man City). The average in the league seems to be about 26; if we round out our squad with three 22 year olds prospects, to warm the bench and learn for a season, we'd be bang in line with the average squad age for the league.

I will get accused of moving goalposts but I think the benchmark should be the teams we're genuinely competing with, which for me is Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and Palace who are (not purely by random chance IMO) at the lower end of the spectrum, at 25-26.0.

Swapping in three 22 year olds brings the average down by about 0.5 years (across a 25-man squad with an average age of 27) so you're talking quite a substantial gap to 25 or even 26.

As an aside, I agree with the points General made about Silva and accept he may well be here for many years to come, have more altruistic motivations and/or want to leave a positive long-term legacy.

This sound very similar to the DEI policy (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) that has placed square pegs into round holes and produced a police force dominated by short, unfit and over weight people who can't run after criminals.

Instead of signing players who can play football in a position and manner that MS wants, we look to see how old they are. That is crazy.

Okay boomer.

[General]

I may be alone here, but I think the transfer committee should get credit for the way they handled the Andre situation. We tried to reach a deal but couldn't come to an agreement, rather than leaving this to drag on we moved on to other targets so we could get the players in as early as possible.

Wolves have seemingly signed Andre for a similar price to what we offered, but we previously managed to sign Palhinha when he'd been a long term target for them and for less than Andre. Swings and roundabouts.

I don't think a deal couldn't be agreed. At this point it seems simply the club preferred Berge over Andre. The main thing here it seems is signing a player who has experience here in the UK and could potentially slot in sooner.

Because Andre has quality as a DM and linking midfield and defence and at 23 has 3 years more to develop than Berge at 26.

In that respect for Andre you'd be considered to be paying a premium for him when compared to Berge and it seems from where I stand that the club didn't feel comfortable taking that decision for whatever reasons, whether because he wasn't proven, they weren't sure he could make the move, or that the fee for him was, in the clubs opinion too high.

Fluminense believed he was worth what Wolves seem to be willing to pay and in fairness, if he works out for them, he'll be a steal. I think he very well may do well for them and we could regret not going in for him, but that's just a situation we'll have to accept.

A shame, I'd have liked to have seen him at the club, that's no secret.

[Bassey the warrior]

I may be alone here, but I think the transfer committee should get credit for the way they handled the Andre situation. We tried to reach a deal but couldn't come to an agreement, rather than leaving this to drag on we moved on to other targets so we could get the players in as early as possible.

Wolves have seemingly signed Andre for a similar price to what we offered, but we previously managed to sign Palhinha when he'd been a long term target for them and for less than Andre. Swings and roundabouts.

I don't think a deal couldn't be agreed. At this point it seems simply the club preferred Berge over Andre. The main thing here it seems is signing a player who has experience here in the UK and could potentially slot in sooner.

Because Andre has quality as a DM and linking midfield and defence and at 23 has 3 years more to develop than Berge at 26.

In that respect for Andre you'd be considered to be paying a premium for him when compared to Berge and it seems from where I stand that the club didn't feel comfortable taking that decision for whatever reasons, whether because he wasn't proven, they weren't sure he could make the move, or that the fee for him was, in the clubs opinion too high.

Fluminense believed he was worth what Wolves seem to be willing to pay and in fairness, if he works out for them, he'll be a steal. I think he very well may do well for them and we could regret not going in for him, but that's just a situation we'll have to accept.

A shame, I'd have liked to have seen him at the club, that's no secret.

We offered a similar amount to Wolves which was rejected.

[jayffc]

I may be alone here, but I think the transfer committee should get credit for the way they handled the Andre situation. We tried to reach a deal but couldn't come to an agreement, rather than leaving this to drag on we moved on to other targets so we could get the players in as early as possible.

Wolves have seemingly signed Andre for a similar price to what we offered, but we previously managed to sign Palhinha when he'd been a long term target for them and for less than Andre. Swings and roundabouts.

I don't think a deal couldn't be agreed. At this point it seems simply the club preferred Berge over Andre. The main thing here it seems is signing a player who has experience here in the UK and could potentially slot in sooner.

Because Andre has quality as a DM and linking midfield and defence and at 23 has 3 years more to develop than Berge at 26.

In that respect for Andre you'd be considered to be paying a premium for him when compared to Berge and it seems from where I stand that the club didn't feel comfortable taking that decision for whatever reasons, whether because he wasn't proven, they weren't sure he could make the move, or that the fee for him was, in the clubs opinion too high.

Fluminense believed he was worth what Wolves seem to be willing to pay and in fairness, if he works out for them, he'll be a steal. I think he very well may do well for them and we could regret not going in for him, but that's just a situation we'll have to accept.

A shame, I'd have liked to have seen him at the club, that's no secret.

We offered more or less what's been accepted in the end but was rejected at the time, they felt he was worth more, but it seems they didn't have any other choice at this point when it became obvious no one agreed with them on their earlier valuation.

They had to sell this summer and so with no time left it's now that or nothing it seems, without risking it in other markets once our window closed (where they probably would have got even less)

Agree I liked the look of him, though I  can also understand why the club looked elsewhere between fee and other experienced options being available...interested to see how he performs there but either way, Berge working out as a good fit for us is all that matters at this point now. Here's hoping he plays his part in an all round good season. We'll see Wolves in November!

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

Thank god for that

https://twitter.com/CraigHope_DM/status/1829140008214696035