January Transfer Thread - it couldn't open and close any quicker

[Gutter Boy]

That doesn't fill me with any confidence at all.

 

[superspurs]

I tend to agree with him, the January window is a load of ol gonads.

 

[Gazza]

They should scrap the January window altogether for many many reasons. Hitchin being one.

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

Can we borrow your Levy blow up doll? (Make sure you clean it out first!)…. Have you also got a Lewis one so we can make it a 4some?

tbh I think Levy is largely blameless. He has done an astonishing job within the chains Lewis has put him in; think growing the club via its global appeal and revenue, the training ground, the stadium, getting world class people in to manage the club in Paratici and Conte.

Unfortunately he has those chains I mentioned from that utter parasite who will not pretty much under any circumstances give the club a helping hand on the playing staff side. FFP currently allows him to do this to the tune of circa £400m but this clam wouldn’t even do £1.

Its not right that football clubs can be bought like any other company. Football clubs are unique institutions. If you buy a club, then a club should own you just as much as you own the club. The clam has been here nearly 20 years, so he is part of the furniture. We should be able to seize the bastard and chain him to an office chair in the stadium so he can do some work for the club. If he’s not interested in that he should fudge off. Its not right he has a constant hold on our club. Football clubs should be different somehow.

Maybe this govt. review will find some kind of answer to this.

 

[Gazza]

tbh I think Levy is largely blameless. He has done an astonishing job within the chains Lewis has put him in; think growing the club via its global appeal and revenue, the training ground, the stadium, getting world class people in to manage the club in Paratici and Conte.

Unfortunately he has those chains I mentioned from that utter parasite who will not pretty much under any circumstances give the club a helping hand on the playing staff side. FFP currently allows him to do this to the tune of circa £400m but this clam wouldn’t even do £1.

Its not right that football clubs can be bought like any other company. Football clubs are unique institutions. If you buy a club, then a club should own you just as much as you own the club. The clam has been here nearly 20 years, so he is part of the furniture. We should be able to seize the bastard and chain him to an office chair in the stadium so he can do some work for the club. If he’s not interested in that he should fudge off. Its not right he has a constant hold on our club. Football clubs should be different somehow.

Maybe this govt. review will find some kind of answer to this.

The same government that hushed in the Saudis at Saudi Sportswashing Machine?

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

The same government that hushed in the Saudis at Saudi Sportswashing Machine?

I know, realistically nothing will change, just some hope I guess.

As I’ve said many times before the mismanagement of Scholar that led to Sugar and then Lewis, was the turning point for our Club.

An extremely negative turning point that I fear we are never coming back from. Not in a meaningful way anyway, which is sustained success for decades to come.

Its sad but I suppose its best to just face up to reality and move on with our lives.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

That left wing back for Hull looked good tonight.

 

[markysimmo]

ristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes has flown to England for a crisis meeting with the Manchester United forward as the 36-year-old considers his future at the club. (Sun)

Borussia Dortmund and Norway striker Erling Braut Haaland believes that Emirates Marketing Project will try to sign him in the summer transfer window after Manchester United pulled out of the race to recruit the 21-year-old. (Mario Cortegana via Express)

Manchester United and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes, 27, will become Barcelona's top target if they fail to sign Haaland in the summer. (El Nacional, via Mail)

Spanish striker Alvaro Morata is set to cut short his loan deal with Juventus so he can join Barcelona, but manager Massimiliano Allegri is refusing to let the 29-year-old go before he signs a replacement. (AS - in Spanish)

Lazio are interested in Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga but the 27-year-old Spaniard's £170,000-a-week wages are a stumbling block. (The Athletic - subscription required)

Marseille defender Boubacar Kamara wants a £150,000-a-week deal from his next club after West Ham joined Saudi Sportswashing Machine in the fight to sign the 22-year-old Frenchman. (Sun).

Barcelona will target Wolves winger Adama Traore, 25, if French forward Ousmane Dembele, 24, decides against renewing his contract with the La Liga side, providing competition for Tottenham in their attempts to sign the Spaniard. (Diario Sport - in Spanish)

Atletico Madrid are interested in a loan deal for Arsenal right-back Cedric Soares with a view to a permanent deal for the 30-year-old Portuguese in the summer. (Mail)

Fiorentina and Serbia's highly-rated striker Dusan Vlahovic, 21, is prepared to wait until the summer to resolve his future and will not be rushed into a January move. (90 Min)

Arsenal are chasing the Serb, but Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins, 26, may be better suited to the Gunners' attack. (Express)

Manchester United and Ivory Coast defender Eric Bailly, 27, is a possible target for AC Milan as they look to find a replacement for injured Denmark centre-back Simon Kjaer, 32. (Sky Sports Italy, via Milan Live - in Italian)

Birmingham City are closing in on a loan deal for Manchester United's Ivorian forward Amad Diallo, 19. (Mirror)

Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and West Ham are all interested in signing 21-year-old Senegalese forward Bamba Dieng from Marseille. (La Provence, via Sport Witness)

Villa are interested in Brighton and Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma, but manager Graham Potter says the Seagulls are not selling the 25-year-old. (Birmingham Mail)

Barcelona vice president Rafa Yuste says more players need to be sold before Spanish striker Ferran Torres, 21, can actually be registered at the Camp Nou after his move from Emirates Marketing Project. (Barca Blaugranes)

Barca will meet with their United States full-back Sergino Dest as Chelsea seek to sign the 21-year-old as injury cover for Ben Chilwell and Reece James. (Express)

 

[DubaiSpur]

There's a real lack of concrete links and we're over a week into the window, seems a bit odd to me.

Not odd at all. Aston Villa are signing massive players well above their supposed 'station' early in the window - backing their new manager Gerrard with quality in Coutinho and now, probably, Lucas Digne.

Because that is a club with owners and management who want to succeed. Our owners' number one priority is that we remain at zero cost to them.

So we plod on, desperately trying to scrape up whatever sh*te we can. No surprise in that. Maybe Paratici will pull a magic rabbit out of his hat. If not, we'll continue bring fed the excuse from ' I hate January' Hitchen and Levy himself - tough to do business in January, etc, etc.

At this moment, Gerrard is getting more support at Villa than Antonio Conte is getting at Spurs. Desperately sad to see.

 

[AdamB]

Not odd at all. Aston Villa are signing massive players well above their supposed 'station' early in the window - backing their new manager Gerrard with quality in Coutinho and now, probably, Lucas Digne.

Because that is a club with owners and management who want to succeed. Our owners' number one priority is that we remain at zero cost to them.

So we plod on, desperately trying to scrape up whatever sh*te we can. No surprise in that. Maybe Paratici will pull a magic rabbit out of his hat. If not, we'll continue bring fed the excuse from ' I hate January' Hitchen and Levy himself - tough to do business in January, etc, etc.

At this moment, Gerrard is getting more support at Villa than Antonio Conte is getting at Spurs. Desperately sad to see.

Our problem is our bloated squad. We have a full squad in terms of numbers, somewhere around 22 senior pros - we need to shift some of those. I don't see us doing Aurier-type releases, though perhaps that one is an indication that we'll take a more ruthless approach now

 

[DubaiSpur]

Our problem is our bloated squad. We have a full squad in terms of numbers, somewhere around 22 senior pros - we need to shift some of those. I don't see us doing Aurier-type releases, though perhaps that one is an indication that we'll take a more ruthless approach now

It isn' t the only option. Subsidize wages to get a player off the books - loan them out to create a space if we can't find buyers, and then move them our in summer for whatever we can get.

If you really want to support your manager - one of the best managers in the world - you would be doing all this and more.

We don't want to, simple as that. Levy doesn' t want to make a loss on his piles of sh*te, Joe Lewis barely knows we exist. Steve Hitchen hangs around like a poisonous gas moaning about how difficult January is.

And on the circus goes, while clubs far more ambitious than us, like Aston Villa, get on with signing players and backing their men.

 

[Rorschach]

Cheeky bid for Spence.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Only saw the first half but he looked good

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

Not odd at all. Aston Villa are signing massive players well above their supposed 'station' early in the window - backing their new manager Gerrard with quality in Coutinho and now, probably, Lucas Digne.

Because that is a club with owners and management who want to succeed. Our owners' number one priority is that we remain at zero cost to them.

So we plod on, desperately trying to scrape up whatever sh*te we can. No surprise in that. Maybe Paratici will pull a magic rabbit out of his hat. If not, we'll continue bring fed the excuse from ' I hate January' Hitchen and Levy himself - tough to do business in January, etc, etc.

At this moment, Gerrard is getting more support at Villa than Antonio Conte is getting at Spurs. Desperately sad to see.

Joe Lewis has in his wonderful wisdom and generosity and perhaps as a late xmas present to the club, granted the chairman to have an audience with him. And off young Daniel has flown to the bahamas to see what the Emperor has to say for himself.

All this being done one week into the window. An utter utter shambles and a disgrace. And even worse is there is no way out from this, the last 20 years will continue in the same vein unless someone meets his likely £1.5bn valuation or he dies. And even if the latter happens I suspect the heir to his throne will behave much the same.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Joe Lewis has in his wonderful wisdom and generosity and perhaps as a late xmas present to the club, granted the chairman to have an audience with him. And off young Daniel has flown to the bahamas to see what the Emperor has to say for himself.

All this being done one week into the window. An utter utter shambles and a disgrace. And even worse is there is no way out from this, the last 20 years will continue in the same vein unless someone meets his likely £1.5bn valuation or he dies. And even if the latter happens I suspect the heir to his throne will behave much the same.

Hear, hear.

At least if and when he pops his clogs there's a slight hope of change with whomever succeeds him (his daughter, by all accounts). The way it is now, it is utterly hopeless - we are owned by one of the most deadweight non-entities in football, and his part-owner sidekick/henchman.

And Joe Lewis is a rich amoral grifter - those types tend to be good at prolonging their lifespans in comparison to decent, ordinary folk, so I'm not even convinced he's done yet, even at his age. We might have another 20 years of this glorious ENIC regime to go.

But who knows, maybe he's gone spare or something and will actually hand us some actual money. Stranger things have happened, and hope springs eternal.

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

Hear, hear.

At least if and when he pops his clogs there's a slight hope of change with whomever succeeds him (his daughter, by all accounts). The way it is now, it is utterly hopeless - we are owned by one of the most deadweight non-entities in football, and his part-owner sidekick/henchman.

And Joe Lewis is a rich amoral grifter - those types tend to be good at prolonging their lifespans in comparison to decent, ordinary folk, so I'm not even convinced he's done yet, even at his age. We might have another 20 years of this glorious ENIC regime to go.

But who knows, maybe he's gone spare or something and will actually hand us some actual money. Stranger things have happened, and hope springs eternal.

No more wine, work tomorrow!

 

[Jordinho]

Levy isn't travelling to the Bahamas now to ask for money for this transfer window. This will be more long term stuff and maybe a bit of vacationing as well.

dragon1 on coys

'We are looking for outside investment

club is at an impasse , joe does not want to invest , Daniel does not want to sell but penny has finally dropped that we cannot carry on in this non competitive cycle of not winning anything and the current squad is a long way off

Daniel respects fab and conte opinion and the penny has finally dropped

I do not know the finer details but there will likely be a small amount of shares Sold or some other structure so money is brought it

We are going to try and make some signings this window

Tanguy , dele , doc and rodon are all available For sale , wolves have some interest In doc

Brighton wanted 50 for lamptey so not happening , we are interested in traore and the Florentina striker

a big priority the second half of the season Is breaking John and Devine who’s currently injured into team they are the clubs future

regarding the bergwin rumors just breaking , he is also for sale , ajax wanted in summer but we wanted 30 million and they just do not have the money but if someone pays up he can go '

 

[harr1984]

Dragon 1 is probably the only ITK I have consistently listened to. I remember him from years ago being the first ever ITK I saw on the internet and he was consistently bang on. He doesn’t post that often which is key as shows he’s not an attention seeker.

Would be nice if the info about John and Devine is true….

 

[MKSpur]

Dragon 1 is probably the only ITK I have consistently listened to. I remember him from years ago being the first ever ITK I saw on the internet and he was consistently bang on. He doesn’t post that often which is key as shows he’s not an attention seeker.

Would be nice if the info about John and Devine is true….

Be nice if the Vlahovic one is too!!

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

Levy isn't travelling to the Bahamas now to ask for money for this transfer window. This will be more long term stuff and maybe a bit of vacationing as well.

dragon1 on coys

'We are looking for outside investment

club is at an impasse , joe does not want to invest , Daniel does not want to sell but penny has finally dropped that we cannot carry on in this non competitive cycle of not winning anything and the current squad is a long way off

Daniel respects fab and conte opinion and the penny has finally dropped

I do not know the finer details but there will likely be a small amount of shares Sold or some other structure so money is brought it

We are going to try and make some signings this window

Tanguy , dele , doc and rodon are all available For sale , wolves have some interest In doc

Brighton wanted 50 for lamptey so not happening , we are interested in traore and the Florentina striker

a big priority the second half of the season Is breaking John and Devine who’s currently injured into team they are the clubs future

regarding the bergwin rumors just breaking , he is also for sale , ajax wanted in summer but we wanted 30 million and they just do not have the money but if someone pays up he can go '

A very sad man who clearly has no love or even affection for the club he has owned for 20 years. Couldn’t give a flying fudge for the long suffering fan base either.

Feeling is mutual you old fudger.