Summer Transfer Window 2017

[Lineker]

Jan Bednarek is set to join Southampton.

Arsenal forward Chris Willock, 19, has joined Benfica. The 19-year-old has signed a five-year deal with the Portuguese club.

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West Ham are in talks to sign Anthony Modeste from Cologne.

Modeste scored 25 times in the Bundesliga last season. He was set to join Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian for £30m until the move collapsed on Wednesday.

We understand West Ham turned down the chance to sign Modeste for £6m last summer, but are now willing to pay £20m for him.

West Ham have also contacted Villarreal about signing striker Cedric Bakambu. Newcastle United are also interested in Bakambu, who scored 22 times last season.

 

[Gazz]

Modeste was my 100 goal striker on FUT, so I love him. He can't go to West Ham, that's just wrong.

[Lineker]

West Ham will fuck it somehow; they've not had a proper successful striker sign since... shit, I don't even know. Di Canio?

Quote

A deal has been agreed for Roma defender Antonio Rudiger to join Chelsea, according to Sky in Italy. A medical will take place on Monday with the Blues set to pay €33m, plus €5m add ons, for the player. Roma need to sell before end of month to comply with Italian Financial Fair Play.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Lineker said:

West Ham will fuck it somehow; they've not had a proper successful striker sign since... shit, I don't even know. Di Canio?

Tevez was great, but I guess pretty unknown beforehand. Dean Ashton! What a legend.

[MDK]

Carlton Cole

[DavidMarrio]

None of them compare to the mighty Marlon Harewood 

[Lineker]

Chelsea have agreed to sign Exeter starlet Ethan Ampadu. Compensation just needs to be agreed. Ampadu rejected Arsenal, despite his father being the U18 manager there.

[Adam]

Should have stayed at Exeter. Another great example of why the way young players are brought through in the game now is all wrong.

[Liam]

8 minutes ago, Adam said:

Should have stayed at Exeter. Another great example of why the way young players are brought through in the game now is all wrong.

I dunno. The gap between Exeter and Arsenal is so significant, that I think a year of world class training would be more valuable than playing games at League Two level. Some would disagree I'm sure, but I'd only be concerned about that as a move if they were significantly closer in terms of league.

An example of that latter thing is how I felt about Sessegnon for Fulham. He might as well have another season with us than sit on the bench, as the Championship is still competitive and he'll get games. The standard isn't a million miles away in terms of training etc either. Then, he can go in a year or two.

[Adam]

8 minutes ago, Liam said:

I dunno. The gap between Exeter and Arsenal is so significant, that I think a year of world class training would be more valuable than playing games at League Two level. Some would disagree I'm sure, but I'd only be concerned about that as a move if they were significantly closer in terms of league.

An example of that latter thing is how I felt about Sessegnon for Fulham. He might as well have another season with us than sit on the bench, as the Championship is still competitive and he'll get games. The standard isn't a million miles away in terms of training etc either. Then, he can go in a year or two.

What Ampadu learns playing, being around the first team squad regularly at Exeter, is more valuable in my opinion. He's only 16, he doesn't need to be swallowed up by the Chelsea academy. Now he won't lear. The facets of the men's game for at least another 3/4/5 years, and when he does it'll be on loan at some random team he has no connection to, either in England or abroad.

The standard in the Championship is better than League Two, sure. But it's still decent and it is the right way to get these kids to learn men's football, something the governing body is artificially attempting to do with the Checkatrade Trophy nonsense.

Teams at Exeter's level, at my club's level, have no incentive anymore to develop good kids because as soon as they receive the slightest bit of attention they get swallowed up for absolute pittance by Chelsea, or Arsenal or Man Utd or Man City. Those clubs hoover up all the talent from around the country and the world, and 95% of them never get a sniff at senior level with those clubs. It's crap.

[Nerf]

10 minutes ago, Adam said:

What Ampadu learns playing, being around the first team squad regularly at Exeter, is more valuable in my opinion. He's only 16, he doesn't need to be swallowed up by the Chelsea academy. Now he won't lear. The facets of the men's game for at least another 3/4/5 years, and when he does it'll be on loan at some random team he has no connection to, either in England or abroad.

The standard in the Championship is better than League Two, sure. But it's still decent and it is the right way to get these kids to learn men's football, something the governing body is artificially attempting to do with the Checkatrade Trophy nonsense.

Teams at Exeter's level, at my club's level, have no incentive anymore to develop good kids because as soon as they receive the slightest bit of attention they get swallowed up for absolute pittance by Chelsea, or Arsenal or Man Utd or Man City. Those clubs hoover up all the talent from around the country and the world, and 95% of them never get a sniff at senior level with those clubs. It's crap.

You mean exactly how England have been trying to produce youth talent for decades and failing, while clubs on the continent pretty much do exactly what you're suggesting is wrong to greater success?

[MDK]

Son of noted Orient player Kwame! 

[Gazz]

We produce shed loads of youth talent, the Championship is chock full of promising youngsters, it's the lack of opportunities in the Premier League that is stifling us. A year in the Championship is going to do wonders for a young player's mental side of the game and they're going to get more minutes on the pitch in a Championship level side.

[Lineker]

 

[TCO]

Sub keeper is a waste of a non-HG spot, especially when its tight as it is with Cheslea.

[Adam]

35 minutes ago, Nerf said:

You mean exactly how England have been trying to produce youth talent for decades and failing, while clubs on the continent pretty much do exactly what you're suggesting is wrong to greater success?

Erm, no, actually? England haven't had a defined model for developing youngsters it seems until St. George's Park opened. The rise of the Premier League money allowed the top clubs to hoover up all the talent without legislation and then the FA elected to aid that process by bringing in 'EPPP', basically allowing the top few clubs to take all the talented youngsters from lower league clubs for almost no money.

There is no incentive whatsoever for clubs like Exeter or my club to develop good young players because as soon as they get the slightest bit of attention they get snatched up by a top PL team for peanuts.

No one is going to convince me that Ethan Ampadu is better off playing with 70+ other talented boys in the Chelsea academy for the next five years and then going on loan to Reading or Blackburn at 21 having played half a dozen senior games, than being in and around the men's team at Exeter for that time instead. It's alright for Marcus Rashford and Alex Iwobi who do break through, but for every one of them (and they really are few and far between) there are dozens and dozens of academy graduates who spend their whole development phase up to 21-22 in this set-up then get released and are back in League Two with little to no senior experience.

(Also, I wrote up this whole post then accidantally clicked off the page and lost it all so had to re-write the whole thing, much to my frustration)

[Liam]

How much money is he going to go for?

I reread and saw compensation. 

Edited July 1, 2017 by Liam

[TCO]

I bet the bants on the loanees' group WhatsApp is what it sold it for him. 

[DavidMarrio]

18 minutes ago, Adam said:

Erm, no, actually? England haven't had a defined model for developing youngsters it seems until St. George's Park opened. The rise of the Premier League money allowed the top clubs to hoover up all the talent without legislation and then the FA elected to aid that process by bringing in 'EPPP', basically allowing the top few clubs to take all the talented youngsters from lower league clubs for almost no money.

There is no incentive whatsoever for clubs like Exeter or my club to develop good young players because as soon as they get the slightest bit of attention they get snatched up by a top PL team for peanuts.

No one is going to convince me that Ethan Ampadu is better off playing with 70+ other talented boys in the Chelsea academy for the next five years and then going on loan to Reading or Blackburn at 21 having played half a dozen senior games, than being in and around the men's team at Exeter for that time instead. It's alright for Marcus Rashford and Alex Iwobi who do break through, but for every one of them (and they really are few and far between) there are dozens and dozens of academy graduates who spend their whole development phase up to 21-22 in this set-up then get released and are back in League Two with little to no senior experience.

(Also, I wrote up this whole post then accidantally clicked off the page and lost it all so had to re-write the whole thing, much to my frustration)

Very good points imo.

The problem is the big clubs will just hoover up all promising or half promising talents and discard them in the hope of finding those one or two players who might make it. Some players are able to make that step up right away but others need the experience of playing lower league football because it's completely different to the intensity of playing in an academy game and there's more at stake.

I do think though that Liam has a very good point. Training at top class facilities and the quality of staff will be a huge benefit for say Ampadu in this case but he's not going to get much playing time in games that actually matter. 

An example from a Liverpool point of view is Harry Wilson. He's been with us from like the under 9's and is highly regarded in the academy yet can't make a breakthrough into the first team and players like Woodburn are much preferred despite being younger. Wilson got something like 27 goals in the u23's league this season as a winger and is the captain yet can't even make it onto our bench when options have been limited. He had a loan spell at Crewe in the 15/16 season, made 7 appearances and was recalled in December that season. I would not be shocked if Wilson ends up playing for Celtic or in the Championship whether it be this season or next season. I could reel of a list of players from Liverpool's academy in the past decade who were meant to be the next big thing or highly rated and didn't make it. I could probably make you a first 11 and subs bench and on paper it might be an alright team. 

Players like Rashford and Sterling are rare examples of players who can get thrown into the Premier League and are able to perform right away. I think Sessegnon did the right thing by staying with Fulham despite me personally hoping we might try and sign him. He'll get regular first team football at Fulham who will be hoping to push on from last season and develop as a player both physically and mentally instead of sitting on the bench at a Prem team. 

[Liam]

I feel that there are players who go to Premiership teams early, get loaned out, released/sold to Championship level teams and come back to be good players (typically, I can't think of any good examples at the moment - Danny Drinkwater I guess, although he wasn't bought by Manchester United, but you catch my drift). If you are good enough to make it to Premiership standard, I feel that you will make it by hook or by crook. By no means am I saying it is perfect, but there are benefits and drawbacks tied up in both.

I listen to the Fulhamish podcast and they said a little while ago that success for us now is never probably going to be winning the Premiership, whilst a cup run requires a lot of luck, so success has transformed more into sustaining the club and the talent that runs through it. We sold Patrick Roberts for good money, will sell Sessegnon for good money, and have a crop of good youngsters. That selling of a young player maintains our ability to produce more good players, or invest in the side to the point where we might become a stable Premiership team in the future perhaps.