The January Transfer Window - 2022

[Adam]

12 hours ago, MadJack said:

Because he's 30 and in bad form this season.

Some reports now saying 25 million.

I do not agree that him being 30 is a negative.

It isn't like he's going to lose his pace, he's a 6'3" bruiser. 30 isn't old for a striker like that.

And aye, he's in bad goalscoring form for a terrible team. But his return over many years is good and if he scores 7-8 goals for Newcastle to keep them up then it's worth £20m easily.

[Baddar]

Digne to Villa is all but done.

[Cymbols]

More excited about this one than the Coutinho one, if I’m being honest. Hard life though, being in this position to choose.

Looks like El Ghazi to Everton is moving forward to. I can see why it is happening, and I don’t disagree that it has to happen. But, it’ll definitely be sad to see him go.

[Adam]

Is El Ghazi any good? I don't understand why we are signing him when we already have wide players in abundance, and he doesn't look a big step up on any of them.

If it costs Gordon game time I'm going to be really annoyed.

Digne is excellent by the way. It's ridiculous that we are binning him off.

[The Lusophone]

32 minutes ago, Adam said:

I do not agree that him being 30 is a negative.

It isn't like he's going to lose his pace, he's a 6'3" bruiser. 30 isn't old for a striker like that.

And aye, he's in bad goalscoring form for a terrible team. But his return over many years is good and if he scores 7-8 goals for Newcastle to keep them up then it's worth £20m easily.

He's joining a team that creates less chances than Burnley, has less expected goals and is already overperforming its expected assists rather significantly, I don't really see him improving them in this regard (beyond having a striker being better than having no striker). Maybe he does, and if he does keep them up he'll be worth the £20 million, but I expect he'll continue to struggle as he has all season.

Digne to Villa is good business though. I wonder what happens to Targett now.

[Hobo]

48 minutes ago, Colly said:

Some journos are reporting the release clause doesn't kick in til Summer, so Burnley have potentially accepted the bid.

Meanwhile:

 

this is how i learned that Andy Carroll is now playing for Reading.

Also that he still looks exactly the same as he did 10 years ago.

 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Andy Carroll traded aging for having a body made of glass.

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Is El Ghazi any good? I don't understand why we are signing him when we already have wide players in abundance, and he doesn't look a big step up on any of them.

If it costs Gordon game time I'm going to be really annoyed.

Digne is excellent by the way. It's ridiculous that we are binning him off.

You’d think I’d be able to answer your question by now, wouldn’t you?

He’s a frustrating figure, for sure. At times he looks disengaged and is a passenger in games. But then you start doubting him and he goes on an absolute tear. Scored something like 11 league goals last season. He’s also definitely a big game player - scoring a goal and assisting the second in our playoff final. No one else I'd rather have on penalty duty either. 
 

Hopefully time will be kind to him when he leaves, because he gets way worse from the fans than he deserves.  Somehow he’s in the top 20 all time PL scorers for the club as well, which took me by surprise. 
 

As for Targett, the thinking is keep both and have them compete for places. Will Targett go for that? Who knows. But I also don’t know where else he’d go. Villa spent £11m on him, who is realistically offering more than that for him?

[DavidMarrio]

Villa making some good signings in January. 

2 hours ago, Hobo said:

this is how i learned that Andy Carroll is now playing for Reading.

Also that he still looks exactly the same as he did 10 years ago.

Being at Wembley for that goal against Everton in the FA Cup semi was worth the money we spent on him. That and pictures of him and Kenny at a Westlife concert. 

 

3 hours ago, Adam said:

Is El Ghazi any good? I don't understand why we are signing him when we already have wide players in abundance, and he doesn't look a big step up on any of them.

If it costs Gordon game time I'm going to be really annoyed.

Digne is excellent by the way. It's ridiculous that we are binning him off.

Everton and hoarding wide players is a thing that'll never end. He'll still be better than Iwobi mind. 

Clearly something's happened with Digne and Rafa, whether it's a tactical issue or a falling out. Thing with Rafa is he can be quite cold towards his players and if he feels someone doesn't fit into what he wants he'll bin them off. 

[Adam]

12 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

Everton and hoarding wide players is a thing that'll never end. He'll still be better than Iwobi mind. 

Clearly something's happened with Digne and Rafa, whether it's a tactical issue or a falling out. Thing with Rafa is he can be quite cold towards his players and if he feels someone doesn't fit into what he wants he'll bin them off. 

There's no way he'd be leaving if not for Benitez, they've fallen out and I find it ridiculous. I'd put Digne among our top 5-6 players - not that we have much quality these days - and to see him sold to a similar-sized club in the PL is so frustrating. Mykolenko might end up being good but it's poor to see such a good player sold so willingly.

[Colly]

I've always been on the view that Rafa isn't a suitable manager for a side outside of the top teams in a league, mainly due to that. In a good side you can happily ignore a useful but potentially troublesome player because you've boatloads of similar options, but outside of that you can't just freeze players out.

He did it at Newcastle to Mitrovic (barely playing him in the Championship let alone the Premier League, to the extent of bringing in Joselu ahead of him), didn't give an outstanding Mikel Merino any game time, and let Ivan Toney and Adam Armstrong go far too easily. I'd take any of those three striking options back now.

[Cymbols]

You really do love to see it.

 

[Colly]

At least our headlines are funnier though.

 

[Cymbols]

Well played. 

[Baddar]

Oof.

[stokeriño]

Kenedy, who is somehow still a Chelsea player, has been recalled from his loan at Flamengo. I guess that's their way of addressing LWB depth.

[Baddar]

Presume that means you've given up on the Emerson saga.

[Colly]

Just to say that Kenedy, particularly in anything even close to a defensive role, is rats. 

[stokeriño]

10 minutes ago, Colly said:

Just to say that Kenedy, particularly in anything even close to a defensive role, is rats. 

Given that we regularly play Hudson-Odoi or Pulisic in this role, I suspect that defensiveness is viewed as an optional extra.

[Gazz]

Quote

An NBC Sports article by Nicholas Mendola in 2018 credited Kenedy's versatility, stating "The Brazilian left-sided man can play virtually any field position besides centre back".

Tuchel: Challenge accepted.