2017/18 Transfer Rumours and Squad Discussions

[Leonickroberts]

Rob Dorsett @RobDorsettSky
#dcfc in advanced talks with #ncfc over deal for striker Cameron Jerome. Also understand #lufc keen on taking Chris Martin on loan. #ccfc also keen, but Derby reluctant to let him go to a promotion rival.

Ouch.

I'd take Chris Martin, mainly because he can bully defenders in a way we haven't seen from anybody this season, even Lasogga. Not a long-term prospect, but a decent January loan signing to give us some variety in attack.

[MOT1964]

Rob Dorsett @RobDorsettSky
#dcfc in advanced talks with #ncfc over deal for striker Cameron Jerome. Also understand #lufc keen on taking Chris Martin on loan. #ccfc also keen, but Derby reluctant to let him go to a promotion rival.

Phil Hay@PhilHayYEP

my understanding is that Derby have been offering him out, including to Leeds, because they want another striker but his wage falls a long way beyond the structure at Elland Road. Not one I'd expect to happen.
4:54 pm · 15 Jan 2018

[isrodger]

Rob Dorsett @RobDorsettSky
#dcfc in advanced talks with #ncfc over deal for striker Cameron Jerome. Also understand #lufc keen on taking Chris Martin on loan. #ccfc also keen, but Derby reluctant to let him go to a promotion rival.

Phil Hay@PhilHayYEP

my understanding is that Derby have been offering him out, including to Leeds, because they want another striker but his wage falls a long way beyond the structure at Elland Road. Not one I'd expect to happen.
4:54 pm · 15 Jan 2018

I would buy Jerome... Martin is a good player but total pisshead. Not surprised Rowett wants him out... doing a good job of getting rid of all the rotten apples

[Leicester White]

I thought Jack Colback was outstanding at ER last season; he's moved to a Championship Club twice before to get games.. if he buys into the dream of also helping us get promoted enough, I believe he'd take a pay cut. Albeit this comes with those provisos, I think he would prove to be a canny signing.

I'm aware that some of you will then demand that English/British players who don't need as long to adapt should be signed instead, but THE VALUE ISN'T THERE. If you really want our club to go out and sign Jordan bloody Hugill for £8m+, you're crazy. Pretty sure Roofe has more goals than him this season. We could go out and sign Colback, who's on nearly £40k a week at Newcastle. These signings would be absolutely ridiculous. I'm very pleased that we're searching for value in our signings, rather than aimlessly punting millions at promotion and hoping something sticks. Of course, not every signing is going to work out - but I'd much rather have a £1m flop than a £10m one. !

[Daz5]

Jack Marriott linked again in the mail

[Deleted User 2988]

I don't want to here about another five year plan without any explanation to what it is, I've heard it all before. Every successful team is paying over the odds for players, that's the game we're in and it's not going to change anytime soon.

I don't buy into that theory at all. Was £400k for Riyad Mahrez paying over the odds? What about £2m for Michu? (Granted, injuries ruined him in the end). We even have our own little gem in Saíz at £3m - was he over the odds?

Huddersfield went up last year and didn't sign a single player over £2m (Yes, Mooy was expensive, but they signed him permanently after winning promotion).

This season, Cardiff have barely spent £5m and they're right up there. Sheffield United have hardly spent a fortune, and bar one £5m striker who barely plays, Bristol City haven't spent much either. Teams like Preston and Brentford aren't far off the play offs with relatively small expenditure and wage bills, too.

Not every successful team is paying over the odds for players. Even Man City are refusing to get involved in the Sanchez conundrum because they think £35m for a player they could sign for free is six months (along with his quite ridiculous wage demands) is patently absurd, and they could quite easily afford to pay ten times the fee and quadruple his wages! It's about getting value for money. We're not a Man City, Barcelona, or a Real Madrid. We're not even a Wolves. We can't afford to spend £16m on players and pay them Premiership wages, because we have an owner who isn't stupid enough to risk it all on one season. Wolves did, and it's working for them - congratulations to them. It's not really worked for Middlesbrough though, has it? Didn't work for Villa last year, either. And don't get me started on Birmingham - how much did Harry Redknapp spend?!

[dangermouse]

Kiwi, while you make many valid points I think there is more to this if you are talking about genuine promotion contenders. You plucked out Mahrez and Michu from the last 5 years. These are exceptions and for each one of these players there are 20-30 top players signed at market value. I don't think we are going to be lucky enough to have 10 or 15 top players in our squad at one time signed for way below market value. Our transfer policy for years now has been to try to sign potentially up and coming players for low fees and wages in the hope they will develop into top players. Some do but most don't and we waste a season or two each time.
The other problem is that when we do get four or five top players in our squad they get picked off by other clubs while we are scratching around in the transfer market hoping to unearth another few gems from a dozen or so signings made on the cheap. When we have some momentum built we don't follow it up with more proven quality additions, we lose that momentum and inevitably our best players leave and the cycle begins again. There is a big difference in being a team in contention for the playoffs and a team in the mix for promotion. Teams you mention Cardiff, Preston, Brentford, Sheffield United none of these teams will be promoted this year. No chance. Bristol City are contenders but they have spent plenty of money over the last few years. The other genuine contenders aside from Wolves will be the the likes of Villa and Derby who have spent money. Yes there will always be the odd exception who get promoted on the cheap, but we have spent 15 years trying to be that team and it hasn't happened yet.
I have no doubt our current policy will be enough to keep us a comfortable mid table Championship side hoping to strike it lucky some year and finish in the top six but we have been out of the top league for 15 years. We haven't even made the playoffs in well over a decade. I expect more from Leeds United.
You make a valid point that spending does not guarantee success, and the likes of Wednesday, Birmingham etc back this up (Boro are not out of it yet). But there are as many or more examples where clubs have spent and been successful. Ofcourse we are not a Barca or Man City or even a Wolves, I don't expect us to be reckless but I do expect us to show a little more ambition to keep momentum building so we are not trying to justify the sales of the likes of Jansson, Veira and Saiz next summer when the offers inevitably start rolling in for them. We trousered around £20 million from the sales of Wood and Taylor last summer so surely we have a reasonable wad of cash to spend from that to keep the season alive. We hopefully have finally signed a decent player in DeBock to replace Taylor. I have been impressed by the new owner so far but we need to start improving our squad with proven quality rather than quantity now.

[zigzag]

Kiwi, while you make many valid points I think there is more to this if you are talking about genuine promotion contenders. You plucked out Mahrez and Michu from the last 5 years. These are exceptions and for each one of these players there are 20-30 top players signed at market value. I don't think we are going to be lucky enough to have 10 or 15 top players in our squad at one time signed for way below market value. Our transfer policy for years now has been to try to sign potentially up and coming players for low fees and wages in the hope they will develop into top players. Some do but most don't and we waste a season or two each time.
The other problem is that when we do get four or five top players in our squad they get picked off by other clubs while we are scratching around in the transfer market hoping to unearth another few gems from a dozen or so signings made on the cheap. When we have some momentum built we don't follow it up with more proven quality additions, we lose that momentum and inevitably our best players leave and the cycle begins again. There is a big difference in being a team in contention for the playoffs and a team in the mix for promotion. Teams you mention Cardiff, Preston, Brentford, Sheffield United none of these teams will be promoted this year. No chance. Bristol City are contenders but they have spent plenty of money over the last few years. The other genuine contenders aside from Wolves will be the the likes of Villa and Derby who have spent money. Yes there will always be the odd exception who get promoted on the cheap, but we have spent 15 years trying to be that team and it hasn't happened yet.
I have no doubt our current policy will be enough to keep us a comfortable mid table Championship side hoping to strike it lucky some year and finish in the top six but we have been out of the top league for 15 years. We haven't even made the playoffs in well over a decade. I expect more from Leeds United.
You make a valid point that spending does not guarantee success, and the likes of Wednesday, Birmingham etc back this up (Boro are not out of it yet). But there are as many or more examples where clubs have spent and been successful. Ofcourse we are not a Barca or Man City or even a Wolves, I don't expect us to be reckless but I do expect us to show a little more ambition to keep momentum building so we are not trying to justify the sales of the likes of Jansson, Veira and Saiz next summer when the offers inevitably start rolling in for them. We trousered around £20 million from the sales of Wood and Taylor last summer so surely we have a reasonable wad of cash to spend from that to keep the season alive. We hopefully have finally signed a decent player in DeBock to replace Taylor. I have been impressed by the new owner so far but we need to start improving our squad with proven quality rather than quantity now.

[Karolkarol]

Kiwi, while you make many valid points I think there is more to this if you are talking about genuine promotion contenders. You plucked out Mahrez and Michu from the last 5 years. These are exceptions and for each one of these players there are 20-30 top players signed at market value. I don't think we are going to be lucky enough to have 10 or 15 top players in our squad at one time signed for way below market value. Our transfer policy for years now has been to try to sign potentially up and coming players for low fees and wages in the hope they will develop into top players. Some do but most don't and we waste a season or two each time.
The other problem is that when we do get four or five top players in our squad they get picked off by other clubs while we are scratching around in the transfer market hoping to unearth another few gems from a dozen or so signings made on the cheap. When we have some momentum built we don't follow it up with more proven quality additions, we lose that momentum and inevitably our best players leave and the cycle begins again. There is a big difference in being a team in contention for the playoffs and a team in the mix for promotion. Teams you mention Cardiff, Preston, Brentford, Sheffield United none of these teams will be promoted this year. No chance. Bristol City are contenders but they have spent plenty of money over the last few years. The other genuine contenders aside from Wolves will be the the likes of Villa and Derby who have spent money. Yes there will always be the odd exception who get promoted on the cheap, but we have spent 15 years trying to be that team and it hasn't happened yet.
I have no doubt our current policy will be enough to keep us a comfortable mid table Championship side hoping to strike it lucky some year and finish in the top six but we have been out of the top league for 15 years. We haven't even made the playoffs in well over a decade. I expect more from Leeds United.
You make a valid point that spending does not guarantee success, and the likes of Wednesday, Birmingham etc back this up (Boro are not out of it yet). But there are as many or more examples where clubs have spent and been successful. Ofcourse we are not a Barca or Man City or even a Wolves, I don't expect us to be reckless but I do expect us to show a little more ambition to keep momentum building so we are not trying to justify the sales of the likes of Jansson, Veira and Saiz next summer when the offers inevitably start rolling in for them. We trousered around £20 million from the sales of Wood and Taylor last summer so surely we have a reasonable wad of cash to spend from that to keep the season alive. We hopefully have finally signed a decent player in DeBock to replace Taylor. I have been impressed by the new owner so far but we need to start improving our squad with proven quality rather than quantity now.

IMHO the ideal is in between what you and Kiwi are saying, a strong, quality, proven spine with the up and coming Alioskis, Klichs and Cibickis introduced around them.

I said earlier in this thread that we should be signing 3 x 4/5m players, a CB, CM and CF. We just don't have a spine currently apart from Jansson and Vieira.

[dangermouse]

I would not be far from that position Karol. I don't expect us to have a £3-6million player in each position and I like to see a little room in the team for players to develop. As I said it is quality not quantity now and I I would be happy this window with a quality left back (hopefully this turns out to be DeBock) and a striker. The CM is a not straight forward as we have Ideguci coming in for start of next season. I would be prepared to go with Veira, Philips, O'Kane, Klich, and Anita for those two positions for the rest of the season. Similarly I would be happy enough with Pontus and then Cooper, Pennington and Shaughnessy battling for the other spot. Unfortunately striker is the main position we are lacking now and probably the most expensive position to recruit. I think we should be prepared to spend a little bit more here if that is what is required to get someone we know will come in and score goals.