January 2022 Transfer Window

[BigFatSam]

Hause has looked good

[HoustonHammer24]

If I’m head of recruitment, I am using this window to secure some long term targets as well as a few that’ll help us this season. I know all of this won’t happen, and it’s easier said than done, but here is what we should do.

Long-term:
1. Buy Buchanan (LB) for £3m, loan him back for 6-18 months (if possible) depending on his PL readiness.
2. Buy Carvalho (AM) from Fulham for ~£3-5m, loan him back for 18 months to ease Fulham into a sale.
3. Buy Kamara (DM) for £5m now, loan him back for the season (if possible due to recent ban).
4. Buy Hlozek (ST/LW) for £5-10m, loan back for the season.

£20m or so, but keep in mind we would only be paying probably 10-20% up front and loaning them back out.

Short term:
1. Sign Lingard after Man Utd game, £7-8m.
2. Sign Diallo on loan from PSG, option to buy.
3. Look into Origi at the end of the window.

Sets us up really well for the remainder of the season and even more so for the summer already securing a few really good players for minimal outlay. The kind of signings our new chairman would love for future investment value.

[NWhammer]

Hause has looked good

Looked very assured on the ball. Would have him here based on that performance.

[D C]

He got cut at the last minute, Sancho and Rashford who both made it are woefully out of form.

If I were him, I'd fancy myself to play myself into contention.

Also, it's not his choice if he joins in the Summer, Man Utd get to choose whether to accept the offer.

You think he’ll sign his last big contract somewhere now just on the off chance he might get into the poxy England squad?

He’ll have his choice in the summer of ambitious clubs, well paying clubs or clubs that can offer both

[simonirons]

Will be disappointed in Jesse if he stays around united after the window, I know there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but in every interview with us, it was all about playing football. - he’d be letting himself down staying round that sh*tshow for another 5 months.

[Gsbgsb]

5 year deal at those numbers? £35m all in for a player of his reported quality is a bargain. That's the sort of investment the club has to find to back up the improvements Moyes has created on the pitch.

The next level up in terms of squad building is having more positions where we don't just have decent back ups but players sitting on the bench that are good enough to start every week. At the moment I'd argue we only really have that in 2 or 3 positions.

EDIT: Also, if this guy is as good as some people are saying then there's every chance he surpasses Soucek as the preferred partner for Rice.

I do not disagree with the need to improve squad quality but we have, in top 6 terms, an extremely limited budget with which to do it. This is not about “backing the manager” etc it is the financial fact that the Sky 6 each generate more than double/triple our match day revenue and thus can afford things like wage bills we cannot. Ours is pretty much at the 70% UEFA recommendation so increasing it significantly is not really a sensible option.

So if he does not surpass Soucek how do you tell him (or indeed pretty much any other starter) that they are not worth at least the same money if not more?

We screwed up wages wise with the likes of Yarmo/Hernandez at the other end of the age bracket. I doubt we have the budget to afford to pay that sort of money to all of the starting 11 let alone reserves as well. Those we do pay that sort of money to (Zouma for example) need to be pretty much nailed on starters and given his position I am far from sure Kamara is unless say Rice is sold.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

You think he’ll sign his last big contract somewhere now just on the off chance he might get into the poxy England squad?

He’ll have his choice in the summer of ambitious clubs, well paying clubs or clubs that can offer both

Yes.

He's already minted. He wants to play for England, especially an England side who have made a Semi and a Final.

If England win the World Cup there's not an English Player who wouldn't want to be in that squad. He's realistically getting £80k-£100k a week if he moves now.

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

I do not disagree with the need to improve squad quality but we have, in top 6 terms, an extremely limited budget with which to do it. This is not about “backing the manager” etc it is the financial fact that the Sky 6 each generate more than double/triple our match day revenue and thus can afford things like wage bills we cannot. Ours is pretty much at the 70% UEFA recommendation so increasing it significantly is not really a sensible option.

So if he does not surpass Soucek how do you tell him (or indeed pretty much any other starter) that they are not worth at least the same money if not more?

We screwed up wages wise with the likes of Yarmo/Hernandez at the other end of the age bracket. I doubt we have the budget to afford to pay that sort of money to all of the starting 11 let alone reserves as well. Those we do pay that sort of money to (Zouma for example) need to be pretty much nailed on starters and given his position I am far from sure Kamara is unless say Rice is sold.

We're currently paying £250k a week or thereabouts to Randolph, Fredericks, Yarmolenko and Noble - all of whom should be out in the summer.

Randolph has played 720 minutes since the start of last season and none this. Fredericks has played 1000 minutes of first team football since the start of last season and just 2 minutes in the league this season. They can easily be replaced by younger players on cheaper deals, arguably Fredericks has been by Ashby already.

That leaves plenty of room for the replacements of Noble and Yarmolenko to be near the top end of the wage structure if Moyes and Newman can find (and fund) players deserving of that level of reward.

Finding the players to improve the squad is difficult, making room on the wage bill really isn't at the moment.

[D C]

Yes.

He's already minted. He wants to play for England, especially an England side who have made a Semi and a Final.

If England win the World Cup there's not an English Player who wouldn't want to be in that squad. He's realistically getting £80k-£100k a week if he moves now.

So he should move to us now because if he plays well and if Southgate picks him and if England win the World Cup (lol) it would have been the right decision. That’s madness to me but ok

Anyway this is probably all moot because Man Utd would be stupid to sell to us (or Spurs) now

[Rocketron]

Will people please stop talking about Jesse Feckin Lingard.
He's had plenty of opportunity to show he wants to come back.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

So he should move to us now because if he plays well and if Southgate picks him and if England win the World Cup (lol) it would have been the right decision. That’s madness to me but ok

Anyway this is probably all moot because Man Utd would be stupid to sell to us (or Spurs) now

Absolutely yes.

He has made a lot of money already, he has won some trophies already, he wants to play football and play for England according to himself.

Fair enough if he's going to sit on a bench for another 6 months but I can't see a queue of clubs lining up for a 30 year old who hasn't played in a year.

[NWhammer]

We're currently paying £250k a week or thereabouts to Randolph, Fredericks, Yarmolenko and Noble - all of whom should be out in the summer.

Randolph has played 720 minutes since the start of last season and none this. Fredericks has played 1000 minutes of first team football since the start of last season and just 2 minutes in the league this season. They can easily be replaced by younger players on cheaper deals, arguably Fredericks has been by Ashby already.

That leaves plenty of room for the replacements of Noble and Yarmolenko to be near the top end of the wage structure if Moyes and Newman can find (and fund) players deserving of that level of reward.

Finding the players to improve the squad is difficult, making room on the wage bill really isn't at the moment.

According to TransferMarkt this lot are out of contract in the summer.

David Martin
Lukasz Fabianski
Mark Noble
Angelo Ogbonna
Andriy Yarmolenko
Alphonse Areola
Ryan Fredericks
Alex Kral
Ben Johnson

In red are likely to be extended from the rumours, if you add Randolph to that list we'll be down to 18 first team players before anymore outgoings (Diop/Masuaku).

Moyes is in a good position to really make this squad his own.

[Gsbgsb]

We're currently paying £250k a week or thereabouts to Randolph, Fredericks, Yarmolenko and Noble - all of whom should be out in the summer.

Randolph has played 720 minutes since the start of last season and none this. Fredericks has played 1000 minutes of first team football since the start of last season and just 2 minutes in the league this season. They can easily be replaced by younger players on cheaper deals, arguably Fredericks has been by Ashby already.

That leaves plenty of room for the replacements of Noble and Yarmolenko to be near the top end of the wage structure if Moyes and Newman can find (and fund) players deserving of that level of reward.

Finding the players to improve the squad is difficult, making room on the wage bill really isn't at the moment.

If that player is a starter. Stripping out things like National Insurance our total wage bill across the club was some £113m in 2020/21.

I think it safe to assume that when you take the salaries of the 630 people employed who were not first team squad members (this therefore means including the manager and coaches) we are likely to be looking at around £90m on the first team playing staff.

I find it difficult to advocate paying 8-10% of that to a player who is not an automatic starter because those who are can legitimately claim they should be paid similar. Sure if we can get it down to around 5% fine or if he is the Rice replacement but a potential 3rd choice CM?

[Logarithm]

Will people please stop talking about Jesse Feckin Lingard.
He's had plenty of opportunity to show he wants to come back.

You mean by kicking up a fuss at his boyhood club? He's a rock solid professional, he's not going to do that and we wouldn't want him if he did.

Man U won't sell. He can't leave until they agree. That's what we're all waiting for.

If you really need to see indication he wants to come here, spend a few minutes on his insta. He couldn't be more blatant.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

French journo has picked up on the Ajorque story on twitter.

[ironilunga]

You mean by kicking up a fuss at his boyhood club? He's a rock solid professional, he's not going to do that and we wouldn't want him if he did.

Man U won't sell. He can't leave until they agree. That's what we're all waiting for.

If you really need to see indication he wants to come here, spend a few minutes on his insta. He couldn't be more blatant.

Yep 100%

He is under contract and was not allowed to leave last Summer. We are quick to condemn players that agitate for a move and yet he has kept a dignified silence whilst Man Utd have mucked him about.

I really am leaning towards us getting him. The Instagram stuff plus Moyes indicating that he is hopeful of getting signings in the next two weeks leads me to believe that we will get him after the Man Utd game. A foolish move by Man Utd if it happens but I’ll take it!

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

If that player is a starter. Stripping out things like National Insurance our total wage bill across the club was some £113m in 2020/21.

I think it safe to assume that when you take the salaries of the 630 people employed who were not first team squad members (this therefore means including the manager and coaches) we are likely to be looking at around £90m on the first team playing staff.

I find it difficult to advocate paying 8-10% of that to a player who is not an automatic starter because those who are can legitimately claim they should be paid similar. Sure if we can get it down to around 5% fine or if he is the Rice replacement but a potential 3rd choice CM?

I think you're being massively disingenuous rolling in the signing on fee, which would obviously replace the transfer fee, as part of the consideration when it comes to salary. I'd hope the club aren't as negative in the way they break it down (the relatively high wage given to Fredericks suggests not).

On pitch success last season and this mean that revenues for this season are going to be comfortably over £200m, possibly around £220-230m. There are bigger overseas TV deals kicking in over the next 18 months (the US one alone has doubled). I'm not advocating the club take Leeds/Ridsdale style risks but that 70% of turnover you referred to is going to be significantly higher over the next 3/4 years than it was in the last set of accounts.

And back to my other point, if we genuinely have ambitions of being a club that are sitting in 4th-7th every season then there are going to be high earners like that who are not necessarily guaranteed starters. It's how you build a strong enough squad to deal with a 50+ game season at the top end of the table.

[Essexmaniac]

Watched the Luton v Bournemouth game today.

Kelly looked very good on the ball, but awful defensively (worse than Diop). Might have caught him on a bad day?

Thought exactly the same. When watching the EFL highlights each week he often stands out for his composure and distribution qualities.
Today I noticed for the first time his lack of aerial prowess. Okay, brief highlights but it stood out.

[Albie Beck]

A foolish move by Man Utd if it happens but I’ll take it!

Actually it may not be quite so stupid. Yes he could improve us to their detriment. But it could also improve us against Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal - all of whom we also are still to play... to Man U's potential benefit.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

I think the Ajorque stuff is nonsense, a quick look on twitter has him being linked to us, Newcastle and Burnley by different journalists.

Price between €12-€22 million