If you look at the squads for the first part of last season: www.premierleague.com/news/2786707 you'll see there are a few squads (Arsenal, Brighton) who don't even fill their 25 places.
8 May 2023
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They must be a lot better/luckier with injuries than us.
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It's not better/luckier. It's better players, able to play consistently at the level. If you buy players from elsewhere, that have no experience of the EPL, it will take all but the most exceptional a bit of time to adjust to the pace and relentlessness. Not all of them will be able to. Increased injury, or reduced availability, is highly likely.
When you buy higher quality, that's measured in consistency and conditioning, as much as in run and kick.
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I agree to a point - though some of these are likely to be dependent on other deals; Horvath (& George Shelvey, for that matter) likely to be a loan, you’d think, and Forest would only agree to that once they have a second keeper in. For possibly the first time in my life I find myself wanting the Daily Mail to be right, since they are reporting that we’re in discussions with Bologna for a swap deal - Freuler to them, Nicolas Dominguez to us (presumably some money from us to them as well). If we could get that over the line, it would be a really good piece of business.
It’s also the kind of thing that’s inevitable when you sign as many players as we did last season. Some of them are bound to fail (I actually think our hit rate was remarkably good, given the chaotic circumstances), but they’ll now be on Prem wages. Since almost by definition they’re unlikely to be considered good enough for the Prem by Sheff Utd (for example) - O’Brien probably an exception, Dennis just about possibly - you’ve almost certainly priced them out of the range of all but a tiny handful of Champ clubs. So that leaves abroad.
In other words, the list of clubs who are likely to be able to afford our cast-offs is pretty short, so we’re probably in the realms of subsidising their wages while they go out on loan.
Does the window for loans close later than for transfers this season? I know it used to, but that wasn’t in the Prem and I could easily be out of date.
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No. All inbound and most* outbound business - perms and loans - has to be complete on Friday.
*- Saudi league, and probably a few others, has a later date, so players could go there later, like O'Brien going to the MLS in Feb last year.
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Romano creeping towards a HWG for Tavares.
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I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this. I really liked Aina last weekend.
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We need two left (wing) backs.
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What you don't get Russ is you need two top quality players in every position. I remember you saying similar about central midfielders when Lewis O'Brien signed a year ago. Aina Will play plenty, so will Tavares if he signs (even if they are both always fit which they won't be).
In any case, Aina is right footed, and Neco is a right back who can impersonate a jobbing left back. Toff is obviously history.
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Romano is saying Tavares is a loan. I thought you could only sign one player4 from another premier league club on loan, and that would be Santos. But has that changed and/or am I just wrong. Maybe I must be as we signed Hendo and Wood last season on loan.
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Can't we cope with Neco and Aina? Maybe a bit of Toffolo?
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Max 2 loans at any one time; max 4 in a season; can only have one from each club at same time
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Two right footers and one probably banned for half the season.
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That would be my thinking, especially if the new backup is consuming one of our loan spots. Means that if we find ourselves with an injury hole in January we can't use a loan to fill it.
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Toffolo won't even make the squad as he has troubles, Neco is really a right winger or a right fullback he can fill in but we need better than fillers in. Aina has already had some injury issue and is right footed (though I think he looks decent at left back)
