The Official 2015 Silly Season Transfer Thread

[BestOfBrede]

Michu would be one hell of a gamble. Pretty much injured for two years with a tonne of ankle injuries and surgeries. £4m for a 29 year old striker whose career could well be winding down given these injury problems? No from me. Up top is where we least need to touch, £4m would be better spent bringing in a top quality centre back, that's some chunk of our budget.

Do you know for certain (not paper talk) what our budget is, please?

Educated guess. We could probably financially cope with £10m unanswered but next summer would be tight and limited (were we still to be a Championship side). I don't think we'll see many Championship sides spend £4m this summer, let alone on one player.

So no, I don't know for certain, but it's not hard to guess using basic footballing business. £4m on an injury prone 29 year old striker would be a large chunk of our budget, and it'd be ludicrous for you think that we could spend something like £20m without balancing our expenditure.

Actually, I didn't say an amount?
Anyway, if we don't spend we won't get promotion. We are 'apparently', according to most posts, looking to buy or take free championship 'experience' at the expense of anyone on more than a fiver a week (ok I exaggerate). If this is the case we could have a stable championship team. If we then managed to up we would have to start from scratch again! Then back down we will most likely come!
I think we are on a road to nowhere unfortunately!

Thats not quite right is it.  We are looking at the age group 22-27, that would mean players that can improve.  Players like Barry Hayles, Sean Davis, Steve Finnan, shall I go on - think they did ok in the top division.

I'm sorry Stu, but those players were when we were an attractive proposition - we had ambition, money to spend... And spent it!
E.g. Bazza was bought for 2 million, I believe, when we were down in the lower leagues.
We are no longer that ambitious club, we keep being told about 'self financing' - well guess what what.... That really does not suggest ambition in this game.

I think FulhamBen is about the only one who can see we cannot go down this road to ruin. We must really go for it NOW before it's too late and we go back to where we were!

God, it's so depressing - well for me anyway!

[FulhamStu]

Michu would be one hell of a gamble. Pretty much injured for two years with a tonne of ankle injuries and surgeries. £4m for a 29 year old striker whose career could well be winding down given these injury problems? No from me. Up top is where we least need to touch, £4m would be better spent bringing in a top quality centre back, that's some chunk of our budget.

Do you know for certain (not paper talk) what our budget is, please?

Educated guess. We could probably financially cope with £10m unanswered but next summer would be tight and limited (were we still to be a Championship side). I don't think we'll see many Championship sides spend £4m this summer, let alone on one player.

So no, I don't know for certain, but it's not hard to guess using basic footballing business. £4m on an injury prone 29 year old striker would be a large chunk of our budget, and it'd be ludicrous for you think that we could spend something like £20m without balancing our expenditure.

Actually, I didn't say an amount?
Anyway, if we don't spend we won't get promotion. We are 'apparently', according to most posts, looking to buy or take free championship 'experience' at the expense of anyone on more than a fiver a week (ok I exaggerate). If this is the case we could have a stable championship team. If we then managed to up we would have to start from scratch again! Then back down we will most likely come!
I think we are on a road to nowhere unfortunately!

Thats not quite right is it.  We are looking at the age group 22-27, that would mean players that can improve.  Players like Barry Hayles, Sean Davis, Steve Finnan, shall I go on - think they did ok in the top division.

I'm sorry Stu, but those players were when we were an attractive proposition - we had ambition, money to spend... And spent it!
E.g. Bazza was bought for 2 million, I believe, when we were down in the lower leagues.
We are no longer that ambitious club, we keep being told about 'self financing' - well guess what what.... That really does not suggest ambition in this game.

I think FulhamBen is about the only one who can see we cannot go down this road to ruin. We must really go for it NOW before it's too late and we go back to where we were!

God, it's so depressing - well for me anyway!

Just have a bit of faith.  I am aware of about 8 targets, many of which are excellent players.  We can't just spend spend spend or we will get a transfer embargo the same as Blackburn and a few other have.  There is no way we would build a state of the art new Riverside Stand that will totally outdo the ground development Alfayed carried out if we had no ambition.  It will take us time, your right we will not throw money around like we did with Mitroglue and a few others, however we will re-build the team and it will get better.  We did not come straight through the Championship under Alfayed either, we had a crap season under Bracewell, remember that.   Remember Wilkins the crab.  Alfayed was wonderful for Fulham, however it was not instant, pretty quick granted, however he did not always get it right and I am certain he wanted to move us our of Craven Cottage.   Remember the original ground schemes, they did not happen either !    We are more of an attractive club now we have just had 13 years in the Premier league.  Khan will do it his way, he has learned a tough lesson the last 2 seasons and has a much better idea of what it will take.  Spending a fortune got QPR relegated twice and they have learned as well.   As said, keep the faith mate - COYW

[FPT]

And god no to any loan of a young player this summer. Why neglect our own youth to develop someone else's so he can back and either contribute or earn them a few quid? I'd rather have Sean Kavanagh and Jordan Evans share the left back berth than loan someone in for the year only for him to walk away the next summer. Our club with our young players should not be looking at loaning any youngster - if we can get an experienced pro that's out of his team and we know can contribute (and possible join at the end) then great. But giving a spot that could be taken by one of our youngsters to someone who's only here for a year is ludicrous short-term business.

And what if Kav and Evans are not good enough and get slaughtered week in week out? Not saying they are not good enough, just hilighting an issue that could arise. Kav didn't overly impress me last season in midfield, I thought his covering back was a little weak, so it could for me be an issue to the team due to that. So doesn't it make sense if someone who is better and is available, be that loan or permanent, make sense? Also not saying this James lad is that player who is better as I have never seen him.

It's a fair point you raise, but the point is, I'd rather buy a left back or spend the year developing one of our talents rather than borrowing for a year that we'll never benefit from. I've seen people ask about Ruben Loftus-Cheek on here, but he'd be taking minutes from our own Emerson Hyndman, Patrick Bamford has also been mentioned, but he'd be used in place of Cauley Woodrow or Moussa Dembele.

The point isn't the quality, it's about the future of the football club and placing faith in our own young players. Would Reece James be the best option for us on a loan? I'd say, finalise the signing of Jazz Richards and play him at left back with Jack Grimmer at right back over bringing in a loanee. There's always options, and we shouldn't neglect our young players for another teams. Ben Davies received an opportunity after Neil Taylor got injured, didn't look back and signed for Tottenham.

It's good for no one to remove an opportunity and give it to someone who'll only be there temporarily. There are better things we can do than bring in players on loan.

I was with you until you said play Jazz Richards at left back.  That would be the Jazz Richards that can't kick with his left foot !!!   Surely there are plenty of genuine left backs we can look at other than the Man U kid and Jazz sideways pass Richards.

That wasn't my solution, but a solution, rather than loaning someone who would just leave. It was just an example of something we could do that would better and more beneficial for the football club in the long run than a loan move for a kid that'll use us as his next step.

[fulhamben]

And god no to any loan of a young player this summer. Why neglect our own youth to develop someone else's so he can back and either contribute or earn them a few quid? I'd rather have Sean Kavanagh and Jordan Evans share the left back berth than loan someone in for the year only for him to walk away the next summer. Our club with our young players should not be looking at loaning any youngster - if we can get an experienced pro that's out of his team and we know can contribute (and possible join at the end) then great. But giving a spot that could be taken by one of our youngsters to someone who's only here for a year is ludicrous short-term business.

And what if Kav and Evans are not good enough and get slaughtered week in week out? Not saying they are not good enough, just hilighting an issue that could arise. Kav didn't overly impress me last season in midfield, I thought his covering back was a little weak, so it could for me be an issue to the team due to that. So doesn't it make sense if someone who is better and is available, be that loan or permanent, make sense? Also not saying this James lad is that player who is better as I have never seen him.

It's a fair point you raise, but the point is, I'd rather buy a left back or spend the year developing one of our talents rather than borrowing for a year that we'll never benefit from. I've seen people ask about Ruben Loftus-Cheek on here, but he'd be taking minutes from our own Emerson Hyndman, Patrick Bamford has also been mentioned, but he'd be used in place of Cauley Woodrow or Moussa Dembele.

The point isn't the quality, it's about the future of the football club and placing faith in our own young players. Would Reece James be the best option for us on a loan? I'd say, finalise the signing of Jazz Richards and play him at left back with Jack Grimmer at right back over bringing in a loanee. There's always options, and we shouldn't neglect our young players for another teams. Ben Davies received an opportunity after Neil Taylor got injured, didn't look back and signed for Tottenham.

It's good for no one to remove an opportunity and give it to someone who'll only be there temporarily. There are better things we can do than bring in players on loan.

I was with you until you said play Jazz Richards at left back.  That would be the Jazz Richards that can't kick with his left foot !!!   Surely there are plenty of genuine left backs we can look at other than the Man U kid and Jazz sideways pass Richards.

That wasn't my solution, but a solution, rather than loaning someone who would just leave. It was just an example of something we could do that would better and more beneficial for the football club in the long run than a loan move for a kid that'll use us as his next step.

im with you on not wanting loans. but we need specialised players in every position. especially defence where we are so weak.

[FPT]

Michu would be one hell of a gamble. Pretty much injured for two years with a tonne of ankle injuries and surgeries. £4m for a 29 year old striker whose career could well be winding down given these injury problems? No from me. Up top is where we least need to touch, £4m would be better spent bringing in a top quality centre back, that's some chunk of our budget.

Do you know for certain (not paper talk) what our budget is, please?

Educated guess. We could probably financially cope with £10m unanswered but next summer would be tight and limited (were we still to be a Championship side). I don't think we'll see many Championship sides spend £4m this summer, let alone on one player.

So no, I don't know for certain, but it's not hard to guess using basic footballing business. £4m on an injury prone 29 year old striker would be a large chunk of our budget, and it'd be ludicrous for you think that we could spend something like £20m without balancing our expenditure.

Actually, I didn't say an amount?
Anyway, if we don't spend we won't get promotion. We are 'apparently', according to most posts, looking to buy or take free championship 'experience' at the expense of anyone on more than a fiver a week (ok I exaggerate). If this is the case we could have a stable championship team. If we then managed to up we would have to start from scratch again! Then back down we will most likely come!
I think we are on a road to nowhere unfortunately!

Firstly, I wasn't saying that you did say an amount, but it is insane if you were to believe that we could spend £4m on a position we don't need to strengthen without selling. A transfer embargo is a very real thing in this division with the strict nature of the Financial Fair Play rules in this division. It eases from 2016 I believe, where losses are £15m over a three year period, whereas this season it's a loss between £3m-£8m, trusting the owner inject equity in order to cover the loss. A loss over £8m means that you face an embargo (trusting you are not promoted) until the club can demonstrate that it's on the right track to recording acceptable losses (under £8m). £4m, getting back onto the actual point, is too much to pay for a player we don't need without selling to waver that. My point was, we could budget £4m for a centre back because we need a centre back.

Back to your other point, Bournemouth were promoted with relative ease and beauty, with a squad that was largely without Premier League experience; I think their squad is around the 100 games mark.

We've been linked with players that have Championship experience and know how of English football that will also help our squad become more solid and balanced. The players that we've been linked with also are of pleasing ages in that they can improve, develop and can become sellable assets - as opposed to the previous plan of 30 year olds in the winding down phase of their career. There's no point talking about a Premier League rebuild until we are in a position to do so; but the financial restrictions in the Premier League are less stern, as well as the financial benefits of being in the division being so much higher. Factor in Shahid Khan's worth and desperation for us to remain a Premier League club, then there's no need to worry - the hardest part is getting there.

So, to summarise, we're not in a position to spend £4m on a position that we don't need to improve, especially on a player that's had recent injury problems. Should we sell Bryan Ruiz, Fernando Amorebieta and Kostas Mitroglou, then we can look at discussing £4m on a striker, but previous isn't something that should come into the context of a transfer discussion. We learned from Roy Hodgson that you don't need to have the best players to have a good team. Bournemouth did not need to have the best players to have a good team. Burnley did not need the best players to have a good team. Leicester City did not need to have the best players to have a good team. We're building a team and a squad, not just putting some good players to give which failed miserably under Martin Jol - there was no logic in the moulding of the squad despite the financial restraints of Al Fayed preparing to sell, but that's a whole different issue.

If you feel different, then fine, great. But we simply can't spend money willy nilly in this division.

[St. Andrews White]

Here here FPT

[HamsterWheel]

The FFP regulations should be easy for Fulham to get round. Man City manage it with little problem.
I look forward to the opening of the new Flex-N-Gate Car Bumpers stand. The naming rights of which were sold to Khan's company for £20m a year.

[westcliff white]

if united are loking to let Lingard go then he owuld be a good signing in my opinion, even on loan. Not syaing they ar ejust syaing I like the look of him. I am also hoping that Larnell Cole gets a crack this season, he is rapid and oculd be the answer out wide for us

[Lighthouse]

: Brighton have signed Israel international forward Tomer Hemed from Almeria for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal.

[elgreenio]

Samuel Eto'o signed for Antalyaspor

[St. Andrews White]

Eto'o is so painfully average now, I wouldn't worry about not getting him, especially as his wage demands would be astronomical and he looks to have an attitude problem.

[Craven Mad]

Thought I'd go over to a popular Blackburn Rovers forum to see if there's any news/opinions on Cairney. All speculation, but thought I'd share this from a few hours ago, today:

"Just been told Cairney has definitely gone..."

"can you say where this comes from? I read somewhere (online, might have been RoversMad or the LT) that a bloke from Selby (where Cairney's family are from) was saying that Cairney had been telling the Selby locals that he wanted a move to Fulham and was pushing for it. Probably complete hogwash but a wage rise and a move to west London could appeal to a young lad. If he doesn't want to stay then no point keeping him really. "

"The source where the news has come from is (in my opinion) solid. If I post specifics about it then it wouldn't be fair to the source... Sorry, it's vague and some might not appreciate that but just trying to pass on info..."


Obviously no way to verify this, but thought some might be interested here.. I really hope we pull this one off.

Here's the thread btw: http://www.brfcc.com/mb/index.php/topic/30543-transfer-talk-part-2/page-22
Cairney stuff everywhere, the stuff I lifted was from pg 21-22

[MJG]

So from a look at the BBC transfers page since May 8th there have been 31 incoming transfers involving 16 championship clubs.
Derby -5 and QPR -4 have been the most busy.
8 teams have done nothing
we have signed 2

Don't panic its still early is the message.

[ToodlesMcToot]

So from a look at the BBC transfers page since May 8th there have been 31 incoming transfers involving 16 championship clubs.
Derby -5 and QPR -4 have been the most busy.
8 teams have done nothing
we have signed 2

Don't panic its still early is the message.

Mr. MJG, You seem to have a fair handle on at least some of Fulham's transfer targets/intentions. With that notion in mind, I was wondering if you had the impression that the staff see the team in a similar way to what the supporters do. By that I mean, are the areas of weakness that we complained about, seemingly week in and week out, during the season aligning with what you hear from your sources as being addressed during this window? Are there positions which some or all of us complain about that the club feel are well covered and not a concern?

I'm keeping my questions very general in hopes that they can be answered. If you want to give a bit more detail (a particular field position as an example) I'd welcome whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

Just trying to find something Fulham (present day) to talk about while we wait.

[MJG]

So from a look at the BBC transfers page since May 8th there have been 31 incoming transfers involving 16 championship clubs.
Derby -5 and QPR -4 have been the most busy.
8 teams have done nothing
we have signed 2

Don't panic its still early is the message.

Mr. MJG, You seem to have a fair handle on at least some of Fulham's transfer targets/intentions. With that notion in mind, I was wondering if you had the impression that the staff see the team in a similar way to what the supporters do. By that I mean, are the areas of weakness that we complained about, seemingly week in and week out, during the season aligning with what you hear from your sources as being addressed during this window? Are there positions which some or all of us complain about that the club feel are well covered and not a concern?

I'm keeping my questions very general in hopes that they can be answered. If you want to give a bit more detail (a particular field position as an example) I'd welcome whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

Just trying to find something Fulham (present day) to talk about while we wait.

I think its fair to say the club see things just as we all do. Mistakes were made last season and in the end we survived and then Rigg and everyone involved has reviewed the squad for its strengths and weaknesses.
I'm confident that plans have/are being laid down for every position, not only for this season but the following years as well.
Khan wants top six at least and dont believe anyone who says different. They will try within the boundaries they have to bring players in (with experience as we have seen) who fit the bill. Some might think the club just wing it (and at times its looked like that) but I'm not so sure thats the case this time.
So if your asking me do they know they need a CB? then yes they know. Do we need a midfielder or two? Yes as we can see from who we are linked with.

Its a case really of lets wait and see and all try and have a bit more patience.

[twang]

17:51 CAIRNEY AT FULHAM

Sticking with Blackburn, Sky sources also understand midfielder Tom Cairney is having a medical with Fulham this afternoon.

The 24-year-old Scot is likely to cost Fulham between £3.5million and £4million.

http://www1.skysports.com/transfer-centre/

[Deeping_white]

For my first post I figure I might as well be ambitious here, but I would love to see us try and sign Bakary Sako (again). He is a perfect fit for the championship and has shown with Wolves how good he is, so if we want to get promoted I really think we should break the bank for him because he brings quality and experience, and is superior to what we already have.

[ToodlesMcToot]

So from a look at the BBC transfers page since May 8th there have been 31 incoming transfers involving 16 championship clubs.
Derby -5 and QPR -4 have been the most busy.
8 teams have done nothing
we have signed 2

Don't panic its still early is the message.

Mr. MJG, You seem to have a fair handle on at least some of Fulham's transfer targets/intentions. With that notion in mind, I was wondering if you had the impression that the staff see the team in a similar way to what the supporters do. By that I mean, are the areas of weakness that we complained about, seemingly week in and week out, during the season aligning with what you hear from your sources as being addressed during this window? Are there positions which some or all of us complain about that the club feel are well covered and not a concern?

I'm keeping my questions very general in hopes that they can be answered. If you want to give a bit more detail (a particular field position as an example) I'd welcome whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

Just trying to find something Fulham (present day) to talk about while we wait.

I think its fair to say the club see things just as we all do. Mistakes were made last season and in the end we survived and then Rigg and everyone involved has reviewed the squad for its strengths and weaknesses.
I'm confident that plans have/are being laid down for every position, not only for this season but the following years as well.
Khan wants top six at least and dont believe anyone who says different. They will try within the boundaries they have to bring players in (with experience as we have seen) who fit the bill. Some might think the club just wing it (and at times its looked like that) but I'm not so sure thats the case this time.
So if your asking me do they know they need a CB? then yes they know. Do we need a midfielder or two? Yes as we can see from who we are linked with.

Its a case really of lets wait and see and all try and have a bit more patience.

Thanks for that.

I just hope that within the confines of FFP and our club's "sustainability" we are able to create an atmosphere of true competition for minutes in the majority of positions. There are very few from last season's squad who truly merit a starting place outright in the coming one. I figure Betts and McCormack only. I would say Scotty but, I think his age requires him to be only a 60 minute man in order to complete a full season healthy. That probably opens his position a bit to competition as it should. I'd love for us to get a young strong #6 to protect the back line. With Cairney, I think we have the makings of a midfield that can begin to create better chances for our forwards.

Time to begin presenting defenders.

This off season is starting to look up.

[@jolslover]

That moment when you realise BIlly Bob on football rumours got Cairney, Pringle, and Lonergan right. And his new source may actually be legit ....

[ToodlesMcToot]

That moment when you realise BIlly Bob on football rumours got Cairney, Pringle, and Lonergan right. And his new source may actually be legit ....

That moment when you get that one last tweet at the end of the transfer window say: "Ha! I'm only 6 and making this stuff up as I go. So long suckers!"