Transfer Deadline Day

[rebel]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

I think the price went up the longer the 'saga' went on and the less likely we were to pay it.

[Bryanthebroom]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

I think the price went up the longer the 'saga' went on and the less likely we were to pay it.

Shame, but plenty of days left in the window.

At least this shows that we're looking at ambitious targets and have tried to sound them out early doors.  If they don't work out - no worries, loads of time left - on to the next name on the list.

[Penfold]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

He was either stringing us along and never wanted to come, or TK faffed around too much.

Yes, or some other equally plausible explanation. Maybe he was interested but wanted to keep his options open. Or maybe it was the selling club "faffing around". Or maybe we lost interest for some other reason, or didn't want to up our offer even higher because we didn't think it was worth it. Or maybe he just love Monaco so when he heard about them he changed his mind.

The only possible explanations every time we don't sign a player don't have to come down to TK being incompetent.

Or the 40l% UK tax ot none in Monaco

Or perhaps the option of spending his vast salary at a swanky casino in Monaco or the local bookies in Cobham.

I can't see that. Got to be more fun watching your nag plod round somewhere like Plumpton on the box in the bookies 😂

[Statto]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

He was either stringing us along and never wanted to come, or TK faffed around too much.

The big difference was that we wanted a buyout clause. Benfica likely hoping that they can get more money for him next summer than we were offering.

i'd suspect thats the clincher - they want him in shop window and think that he'll be worth more next year

I haven't seen an official statement yet but the press reports I've read (several) say the Monaco deal will include an option to buy.

I agree with other posters that the General's post may be a slight oversimplification but he's fundamentally correct - we appear to have wasted a lot of time trying to sign a player that either never really wanted to join us, or we weren't prepared to offer that little extra (whether to the player or the club) that was required to get the deal over the line.

Personally I'm disappointed because this was one of the few names we've been linked with this summer about which I got genuinely excited, and the debacle seems to follow our form in recent years of getting mugged off in the transfer market by players who don't really want to join (Rolan, Dunk et al) or being too stingy to get the deal over the line (eg AK47 in the first window we tried, but failed, to sign him, IIRC)

[HillingdonFFC]

Everton and Fulham are interested in signing Cameroon defender Jerome Onguene, 23, from Red Bull Salzburg

https://sportslens.com/everton-and-fulham-keen-on-jerome-onguene/315202/

Ex work colleague of mine who had family in Austria told me about him last year. Said he'd be a good buy for a premier League team. Quick, powerful, great in the air etc & will only get better.
Would be reasonably enthusiastic about him coming, think if Everton wanted him he'd be off there though

[humussapiens]

Todibo reportedly can go for EUR 25m, Fulham failed to match it. Everton only interested in loan deal.  Maybe this story is still alive.

[sarnian]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

I think the price went up the longer the 'saga' went on and the less likely we were to pay it.

Just because some of the press linked us does not mean we put in an official bid or wer even interested.

[Deeping_white]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

He was either stringing us along and never wanted to come, or TK faffed around too much.

The big difference was that we wanted a buyout clause. Benfica likely hoping that they can get more money for him next summer than we were offering.

i'd suspect thats the clincher - they want him in shop window and think that he'll be worth more next year

I haven't seen an official statement yet but the press reports I've read (several) say the Monaco deal will include an option to buy.

I agree with other posters that the General's post may be a slight oversimplification but he's fundamentally correct - we appear to have wasted a lot of time trying to sign a player that either never really wanted to join us, or we weren't prepared to offer that little extra (whether to the player or the club) that was required to get the deal over the line.

Personally I'm disappointed because this was one of the few names we've been linked with this summer about which I got genuinely excited, and the debacle seems to follow our form in recent years of getting mugged off in the transfer market by players who don't really want to join (Rolan, Dunk et al) or being too stingy to get the deal over the line (eg AK47 in the first window we tried, but failed, to sign him, IIRC)

They've got a loan with no option to buy which is why they were able to get him, Benfica wanted a large fee on the obligation that nobody was willing to pay

[Tabby]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

He was either stringing us along and never wanted to come, or TK faffed around too much.

The big difference was that we wanted a buyout clause. Benfica likely hoping that they can get more money for him next summer than we were offering.

i'd suspect thats the clincher - they want him in shop window and think that he'll be worth more next year

I haven't seen an official statement yet but the press reports I've read (several) say the Monaco deal will include an option to buy.

Take it from the Benfica official website:

"Sport Lisboa e Benfica informs that has reached a deal with Monaco for the loan of Florentino.
The loan agreement with the French club (Ligue 1) is valid until the end of the 2020/21 season and does not include a buy-out clause."

https://www.slbenfica.pt/en-us/agora/noticias/2020/09/25/futebol-benfica-florentino-emprestado-ao-monaco

[Tabby]

Todibo reportedly can go for EUR 25m, Fulham failed to match it. Everton only interested in loan deal.  Maybe this story is still alive.

Our reported bid was €18 million with €5 million in add ons, so that wouldn't be miles away.

[Statto]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

He was either stringing us along and never wanted to come, or TK faffed around too much.

The big difference was that we wanted a buyout clause. Benfica likely hoping that they can get more money for him next summer than we were offering.

i'd suspect thats the clincher - they want him in shop window and think that he'll be worth more next year

I haven't seen an official statement yet but the press reports I've read (several) say the Monaco deal will include an option to buy.

Take it from the Benfica official website:

"Sport Lisboa e Benfica informs that has reached a deal with Monaco for the loan of Florentino.
The loan agreement with the French club (Ligue 1) is valid until the end of the 2020/21 season and does not include a buy-out clause."

https://www.slbenfica.pt/en-us/agora/noticias/2020/09/25/futebol-benfica-florentino-emprestado-ao-monaco

Fair enough.

But what does that say - that Benfica were never prepared to sell, only to loan.

So it just falls into the category of us wasting time on a deal that was never going to happen.

Benfica, the agent et al have just used us to elicit an offer from Monaco.

[Tabby]

But what does that say - that Benfica were never prepared to sell, only to loan.

So it just falls into the category of us wasting time on a deal that was never going to happen.

Benfica, the agent et al have just used us to elicit an offer from Monaco.

Benfica wanted more money for him than we were willing to offer. There were negotiations over the price. Then a club came along that were willing to take Luis and develop him for a year.

I don't see the need to make everything into a conspiracy.

[Porthogs FC]

Looks like Everton and us are linked with the same two CB's. Marlon is done, Kongolo had a medical, assuming he passes that's two CB's in. If we actually get a third in (Everton gets one, we get one), could we have our top 4 CB's have Hector as the worst of them? THAT would certainly tickle my fancy.

Would allow us to move to a 3-5-2 system. To me, especially if we keep Seri, our team is more suited to this. We lack ANY winger strength, and in a 3-5-2 the positions to still sort out would just be Mitro's partner (currently would be BDR, Kamara or Onomah), a backup for Mitro, and perhaps a backup for Reed still (although with Lemina, not too sure we need this). We could play with a midfield of Lemina, Anguissa and Seri, with Reed, Cairney and Onomah as backup. I'd be excited to see that midfield with wing backs pushing us forward, rather than the dithering we've been doing for the last 2 seasons.

[Statto]

@Tabby

A "conspiracy" would be several people (in particular, players' agents and other clubs' DoFs with more contacts, experience and nous than our own) scheming behind the scenes to make something (eg a transfer deal) happen.

We seem to be somewhat the opposite.

[Sting of the North]

But what does that say - that Benfica were never prepared to sell, only to loan.

So it just falls into the category of us wasting time on a deal that was never going to happen.

Benfica, the agent et al have just used us to elicit an offer from Monaco.

Benfica wanted more money for him than we were willing to offer. There were negotiations over the price. Then a club came along that were willing to take Luis and develop him for a year.

I don't see the need to make everything into a conspiracy.

:plus one:

Not everything has to be down to TK and gang not being competent. That may of course be the case, but there may also be a bunch of other explanations. It has to be ok not to manage to acquire all players that we go for, otherwise we are aiming far too low in my opinion.

[Slaphead in Qatar]

Not sure why you are all so in a fluster about luis. Hardly played any top flight games , do you honestly think he could come straight in and be a good PL level player. If he is such a player why have Benfica let him go without getting one or two good seasons out of him?

[fulhamben]

Opuku has gone out on loan to Plymouth

[SG]

Florentino Luis to Monaco now official.

Tax free South of France or London - easy choice in my book

[General]

But what does that say - that Benfica were never prepared to sell, only to loan.

So it just falls into the category of us wasting time on a deal that was never going to happen.

Benfica, the agent et al have just used us to elicit an offer from Monaco.

Benfica wanted more money for him than we were willing to offer. There were negotiations over the price. Then a club came along that were willing to take Luis and develop him for a year.

I don't see the need to make everything into a conspiracy.

It's not a conspiracy. TK had an interest in the player and has stated he doesn't want to take on other clubs players and develop them only to lose them. It seems Benfica were more interested in loaning him out to get him to develop.

Only issue potentially arises next summer if we're still in the premiership. If luis doesn't do as well but shows potential does he get sold but chooses to stay at monaco as he's settled, or does he potentially have a reduced or justified higher fee but want to move to the premier league and whatever conversations we've already had and interest we've shown works in our favour.

[FulhamStu]

Looks like Everton and us are linked with the same two CB's. Marlon is done, Kongolo had a medical, assuming he passes that's two CB's in. If we actually get a third in (Everton gets one, we get one), could we have our top 4 CB's have Hector as the worst of them? THAT would certainly tickle my fancy.

Would allow us to move to a 3-5-2 system. To me, especially if we keep Seri, our team is more suited to this. We lack ANY winger strength, and in a 3-5-2 the positions to still sort out would just be Mitro's partner (currently would be BDR, Kamara or Onomah), a backup for Mitro, and perhaps a backup for Reed still (although with Lemina, not too sure we need this). We could play with a midfield of Lemina, Anguissa and Seri, with Reed, Cairney and Onomah as backup. I'd be excited to see that midfield with wing backs pushing us forward, rather than the dithering we've been doing for the last 2 seasons.

This is exactly where we should go. I am not sure however that Parker will want to change so drastically.  If I were him I most certainly would go full on with this 5-3-2 approach.  Kongolo and Marlon would be ideal either side of Hector or better still an upgrade.  As you quite rightly point out our midfield options are perfect for a 3 which means we need an upgrade on Kamara and BDR and we are done.