Kompany's Signings (Complete List)

[taio]

Why would I disagree with them? I can't possibly know whether they'd be a success and neither can you.

I can give my opinion, I do know that we were heavily linked with Lokonga and Townsend was with us, the recruitment team chose neither.

Many on here would have wet themselves if we'd signed Barkley, he is playing well for Luton but was dismissed out of hand on this very board when we were previously linked with him.

The players we sign are obviously not influenced by what people on here think.

[Rileybobs]

I've answered your question, we lack physicality that is the issue.

On the point about Premier League ready players or ones with experience, the ones that improve us come with wages already on the inflated English levels, the premium ones cost an excessive amount of money, the ones we can afford/bought this season are not guaranteed to succeed. O'Shea being a prime example in many people's eyes.

Yes, it's pretty clear that better players want, and deserve, to be paid more. So maybe we should have bought less players and focussed more on the quality than the potential. We have a hugely bloated squad which is evidenced by the fact that you raised that Redmond has barely played. We also have a silly number of injuries, constantly, which suggests that we're buying players who are not currently robust enough to deal with the stresses of playing at this level.

No signing is guaranteed to succeed, of course. But we went absolutely gung-ho with our transfer strategy of signing unproven potential for future profit. As a result, our season ticket holders have been treated to 4 points and we're beyond the halfway point of the season.

The biggest flaw in our policy is that to make maximum returns on these players, they need to showcase their abilities in the Premier League. But they can't do that because they're part of a weak side that loses every week, and will shortly be plying their trade at the level below. I think we'll also lose quite a number of players who would rather play in a top division of a European league than in the Championship.

[CoolClaret]

The long term view, for me, should have been to spend wisely with the number one priority being staying in the Premier League, then using this as a springboard to gradually add young players with future potential. Integrating a young player or two at a time rather than fielding almost a whole team of potential. It's not really radical thinking. We already had plenty of these players with great potential for growth such as Zaroury, Beyer, Al-Dakhil etc.

It really is this simple.

Needed three or four in the Berge mould in positions of need (second striker, sitting midfielder, fullback) and then if you want to speculate on some youngsters go for it.

IMO VK/ALK/Recruitment got too carried away with this plan and it's absolutely backfired. I guarantee not one pre-season meeting would have had us down as sitting on 12 points after 21 games. Not even in the equation, no matter what they might say come MTB 2 or whatever

Take the Tresor/Traff/Ramsey fees and put that into fullback and defensive midfield and I guarantee we're on significantly more than 12 points.

[Goody1975]

When Joey Barton was first linked he was dismissed by lots on this message board. It's irrelevant because professional scouting departments don't consider that when analysing a player.

The bottom line is this: would we have been better or worse off this season had we signed more players with PL experience? Of course nobody knows for sure, but the vast, vast majority would suggest better off so mistakes were made. That's all there is to it.

I'm not disagreeing with you.

My point is the majority of the young players have something about them, they certainly aren't ****.

I feel they miss the physicality alongside them to allow them to flourish.

You think Premier League experience is the missing ingredient.

I say decent Premier League quality costs a premium and the wages would be excessive.

In short we both think the young players need/needed help, it's where that help should have been sourced.

We have missed a trick this season, that is a fact.

[RVclaret]

Purely hypothetical, but in an alternate universe, where VAR hasn’t screwed us of a minimum 4 points (conservative, not including Villa away or Bournemouth away), and we’ve had Foster fit for all games rather than half (imo another 4 points from games such as United home, Palace home, West Ham home), do you think the narrative around our signings (dreadful failure, total trash, worse than last seasons squad, needing more balance with the experience) would be the same, similar or different? In this hypothetical world we’d be above Luton, Forest and Palace, while being v close to Brentford.

Would folk have been pleased with that position / points total at this stage? Would there be less criticism of the window? (appreciate answers without ‘ah but all teams have bad var decisions’ after having watched Luton get gifted one at ours and Sheffield gifted 1 just now and 3 vs Wolves).

[forzagranata]

Yes I think they got carried away with an overall concept (buy young players who will increase in value) which is obviously sound - and turned it into a dogma without the necessary degree of pragmatism. Choosing not to sign Andros Townsend for nothing but buying Tresor for 15 million is a glaring example of the lack of pragmatism.

The big question is whether these errors come back to bite us big time - given the context of the club having huge debts and likely to be relegated?

Its very easy to slip into a spiral of selling off players to cover lost revenue/pay off debts and the remaining players not performing on the pitch.

That didn't happen last time of course - but another ill-judged summer window and we could be in deep trouble.

On the other hand - Odabert and Koleosho might rip the arse out of the Championship with Foster banging in 25 goals.

[Vegas Claret]

You do both - better balance

yeah that's pretty much exactly what I put ! Staggering how badly wrong they got it though

[taio]

yeah that's pretty much exactly what I put ! Staggering how badly wrong they got it though

You asked a question about growth and competing in the PL. So I answered you do both - a better mix between youth and experience.

[CoolClaret]

Purely hypothetical, but in an alternate universe, where VAR hasn’t screwed us of a minimum 4 points (conservative, not including Villa away or Bournemouth away), and we’ve had Foster fit for all games rather than half (imo another 4 points from games such as United home, Palace home, West Ham home), do you think the narrative around our signings (dreadful failure, total trash, worse than last seasons squad, needing more balance with the experience) would be the same, similar or different? In this hypothetical world we’d be above Luton, Forest and Palace, while being v close to Brentford.

Would folk have been pleased with that position / points total at this stage? Would there be less criticism of the window? (appreciate answers without ‘ah but all teams have bad var decisions’ after having watched Luton get gifted one at ours and Sheffield gifted 1 just now and 3 vs Wolves).

It really doesn't work like that, plenty of teams around us have had injuries as well - what about Forest losing Awoniyi for longer than we've had Foster out?

Even if we did have 16 points from 21, that only extrapolates to 29 points for the entire season, which to me would still be a failure.

[Rileybobs]

Purely hypothetical, but in an alternate universe, where VAR hasn’t screwed us of a minimum 4 points (conservative, not including Villa away or Bournemouth away), and we’ve had Foster fit for all games rather than half (imo another 4 points from games such as United home, Palace home, West Ham home), do you think the narrative around our signings (dreadful failure, total trash, worse than last seasons squad, needing more balance with the experience) would be the same, similar or different? In this hypothetical world we’d be above Luton, Forest and Palace, while being v close to Brentford.

Would folk have been pleased with that position / points total at this stage? Would there be less criticism of the window? (appreciate answers without ‘ah but all teams have bad var decisions’ after having watched Luton get gifted one at ours and Sheffield gifted 1 just now and 3 vs Wolves).

Obviously if we were doing better, for whatever hypothetical reason you want to use, then there would be less criticism. But we're not doing better.

Your point about Foster is a good one, because we went into the season with no credible back-up option to a player, also unproven at this level and with known mental-health issues. Maybe mitigating against Foster being unavailable by using some of the vast amount of money that we spent on another centre forward would have been a good idea, and this isn't said with hindsight.

The 4 points from VAR would have helped, but would I have been happy now on 16 points? Honestly no. Had we picked up another 4 points on top of this with Foster being available then yes, I probably would. But obviously finding a way to add 8 points onto our tally, when we've only got 12 points, is a massive stretch.

[ksrclaret]

I'm not disagreeing with you.

My point is the majority of the young players have something about them, they certainly aren't ****.

I feel they miss the physicality alongside them to allow them to flourish.

You think Premier League experience is the missing ingredient.

I say decent Premier League quality costs a premium and the wages would be excessive.

In short we both think the young players need/needed help, it's where that help should have been sourced.

We have missed a trick this season, that is a fact.

Yes fair enough, we mostly agree.

Where would you have sourced the help from?

[Vegas Claret]

You asked a question about growth and competing in the PL. So I answered you do both - a better mix between youth and experience.

I literally put
" I agree 100% that they got the balance wrong on this though, they should have signed 3 or 4 of these rough diamonds and the rest should have been more experienced."

[taio]

I literally put
" I agree 100% that they got the balance wrong on this though, they should have signed 3 or 4 of these rough diamonds and the rest should have been more experienced."

that's a short term view though, how does the club (or clubs our size) grow so at some point it can get into the PL and complete properly ?

That was the question I was answering.

[Goody1975]

The biggest flaw in our policy is that to make maximum returns on these players, they need to showcase their abilities in the Premier League. But they can't do that because they're part of a weak side that loses every week, and will shortly be plying their trade at the level below. I think we'll also lose quite a number of players who would rather play in a top division of a European league than in the Championship.

I agree 100%, my issue is how we should have helped the younger players.

I think stronger more athletic players probably sourced from Europe rather than relying on players who have played in the Premier League already.

Every Premier League team that has lined up this season against us is on average 6ft and above, we aren't.

They are too big and quick for us, that is before we start talking our the vulnerability it gives us from set pieces.

[RVclaret]

It really doesn't work like that, plenty of teams around us have had injuries as well - what about Forest losing Awoniyi for longer than we've had Foster out?

Even if we did have 16 points from 21, that only extrapolates to 29 points for the entire season, which to me would still be a failure.

Accept that, and failing to sign another striker is, for this season, a main criticism for me - albeit clubs that are already in the league, like you say Forest, typically have that quality PL back up (Wood on 100k a week in this case). Whereas it hurts a newly promoted club that bit more.

Okay even with 16 from 21 (already conservative as ref missed a clear handball at Bournemouth and Duran dived for Villa’s pen), with the clear improvement in the team in recent weeks, you might say that extrapolation is a bit on the conservative side.

Basically in my view, there would be far less ‘we’ve bought a load of trash, owners just want to make money on sales, last seasons squad is better than this’, which seems quite ‘outcome biased’.

[Goody1975]

Yes fair enough, we mostly agree.

Where would you have sourced the help from?

Not ideal but from Europe, there is more value there.

Integration into the league and lifestyle is an issue but you can get more bang for your buck.

The manager and players already here speak many languages, so fitting should be easier than previously would have been the case.

[RVclaret]

The 4 points from VAR would have helped, but would I have been happy now on 16 points? Honestly no. Had we picked up another 4 points on top of this with Foster being available then yes, I probably would. But obviously finding a way to add 8 points onto our tally, when we've only got 12 points, is a massive stretch.

Appreciate the response and I was agreeing with everything until saying it’s a massive stretch. I personally don’t think it’s a massive stretch to hope we wouldn’t get cheated out of a min 4 points. Its fine margins and they matter. The Foster thing is of course hypothetical, I just think we are a completely different team with him and our actual fully fit first 11/bench has become very competitive at this level.

[CoolClaret]

Accept that, and failing to sign another striker is, for this season, a main criticism for me - albeit clubs that are already in the league, like you say Forest, typically have that quality PL back up (Wood on 100k a week in this case). Whereas it hurts a newly promoted club that bit more.

Okay even with 16 from 21 (already conservative as ref missed a clear handball at Bournemouth and Duran dived for Villa’s pen), with the clear improvement in the team in recent weeks, you might say that extrapolation is a bit on the conservative side.

Basically in my view, there would be far less ‘we’ve bought a load of trash, owners just want to make money on sales, last seasons squad is better than this’, which seems quite ‘outcome biased’.

I understand and appreciate your point but I just think that it hasn't been as close as you're trying to make out. We have performed better at times recently but I just cannot shake that Luton game giving up possession and capitulating like we did; it said to me that we're not getting any better and we've hit a level.

[Vegas Claret]

I understand and appreciate your point but I just think that it hasn't been as close as you're trying to make out. We have performed better at times recently but I just cannot shake that Luton game giving up possession and capitulating like we did; it said to me that we're not getting any better and we've hit a level.

it was the lack of fight and energy especially in the first half of the Luton game that was unacceptable and something you wouldn't expect from a team managed by Kompany. It's all a bit of a mess

[RVclaret]

it was the lack of fight and energy especially in the first half of the Luton game that was unacceptable and something you wouldn't expect from a team managed by Kompany. It's all a bit of a mess

Crap periods of games happen. Luton were impressive for 30 minutes. After that we were a lot better and all in all controlled the game. Again I find these ‘it’s all a bit of a mess’ comments interesting which comes back to my question further up.

[Vegas Claret]

Crap periods of games happen. Luton were impressive for 30 minutes. After that we were a lot better and all in all controlled the game. Again I find these ‘it’s all a bit of a mess’ comments interesting which comes back to my question further up.

I'd describe a crap period as sloppy play not lack of intensity and desire.

[Rileybobs]

Appreciate the response and I was agreeing with everything until saying it’s a massive stretch. I personally don’t think it’s a massive stretch to hope we wouldn’t get cheated out of a min 4 points. Its fine margins and they matter. The Foster thing is of course hypothetical, I just think we are a completely different team with him and our actual fully fit first 11/bench has become very competitive at this level.

It's a massive stretch to add 8 points onto our total though. The refereeing errors have definitely cost us, although as you point out will also have affected other teams to a greater or lesser extent. Adding 4 points on for Foster being available is just a bit pie in the sky though, especially as all teams have injuries/illnesses (he also missed 3(?) games due to his own stupidity) and this is part of football and can be mitigated against by building a suitable squad.

We are competing in most games, I agree with you there. But we don't have enough to get over the line and we threw away too much of the season bedding too many players into the team when a more experienced and settled line up, with dashes of young potential, would, in my opinion, have stood us in better stead.

[forzagranata]

or you could just accept that reported fees are utter nonsense. Trying googling Transfermarket reliability and read a few things, it's pure guess work on their part. Then if you have knowledge of contract law nobody within a club nor an agent or player would disclose details of fees, wages etc etc. The website is nothing other than guesswork hence the reason it is often ridiculed. I understand 100% why you would use it for the reasons you state but it's just not accurate

With respect, fans will always complain about certain reported fees they don't like. There were many of such threads about Nick Pope's move to Newcastle because people didn't want to accept we had sold him so cheaply.

But believe it or not, 'reported fees' are usually pretty accurate. Why? Because, despite 'contract law; they come from one or both of the clubs. The reporter gets leaked the number by one of the clubs. This is what happens.

Why? Because there is usually a motive. For example, Newcastle wanted everyone to know how cheap they had got Pope for. Other clubs will want people to know how much they have spent because it shows the owner has ambition. Often an agent will leak the info. These numbers aren;'t just made up.

Where the numbers are unreliable is during the speculation phase 'Burnley are targetting Anderlecht's 25 million rated goalkeeper' etc. I wouldn't trust those numbers at all.

But when a deal has been done, the number that gets reported is usually pretty close. Not always but most of the time.

[Vegas Claret]

With respect, fans will always complain about certain reported fees they don't like. There were many of such threads about Nick Pope's move to Newcastle because people didn't want to accept we had sold him so cheaply.

But believe it or not, 'reported fees' are usually pretty accurate. Why? Because, despite 'contract law; they come from one or both of the clubs. The reporter gets leaked the number by one of the clubs. This is what happens.

Why? Because there is usually a motive. For example, Newcastle wanted everyone to know how cheap they had got Pope for. Other clubs will want people to know how much they have spent because it shows the owner has ambition. Often an agent will leak the info. These numbers aren;'t just made up.

Where the numbers are unreliable is during the speculation phase 'Burnley are targetting Anderlecht's 25 million rated goalkeeper' etc. I wouldn't trust those numbers at all.

But when a deal has been done, the number that gets reported is usually pretty close. Not always but most of the time.

for the record, I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing with you and I'm in no way shape or form complaining about reported figures for the reasons I've already outlined. It's none of my business (or anyone elses) if we paid 1 million of 14 for Trafford - just the same as people have a weird need to know about players injuries. I merely stated that the concensus is that Transkermarkt isn't accurate and is pure guess work.

[Quickenthetempo]

These players aren't worth their transfer fee as a group/team of players based on the season so far.

But individually, they will all still be on the stats lists that we signed them from, with a years prem experience.

[NewClaret]

Yes, it's pretty clear that better players want, and deserve, to be paid more. So maybe we should have bought less players and focussed more on the quality than the potential. We have a hugely bloated squad which is evidenced by the fact that you raised that Redmond has barely played. We also have a silly number of injuries, constantly, which suggests that we're buying players who are not currently robust enough to deal with the stresses of playing at this level.

No signing is guaranteed to succeed, of course. But we went absolutely gung-ho with our transfer strategy of signing unproven potential for future profit. As a result, our season ticket holders have been treated to 4 points and we're beyond the halfway point of the season.

The biggest flaw in our policy is that to make maximum returns on these players, they need to showcase their abilities in the Premier League. But they can't do that because they're part of a weak side that loses every week, and will shortly be plying their trade at the level below. I think we'll also lose quite a number of players who would rather play in a top division of a European league than in the Championship.

I agree with you in the main.

I do believe we got carried away, almost kid-in-a-sweet-shop style, in the summer where more pragmatism should have been deployed.

Although I’m not sure where all of this experience was that people speak of. We say this but Milner chose Brighton, Henderson chose Saudi, Young chose Everton, Evans chose United. Only Barkley who I’d really say was an obvious miss, but he also had a chequered history that made him uncertain and risky. It’s easy to say we should’ve done X, Y or X but none of us lot were in the market looking for players.

That said, the plus side of that strategy is we’re now blessed with what in my opinion is the best young talent I’ve ever known in a Burnley squad. When I remember Ramsey is 21 today (I won’t mention the Man U game), Odobert and Koleosho 19, Trafford just 21, etc. It blows my mind.

Personally, I can take something from the season just watching these young players develop. You can’t, and I get that as fans pay their money to watch a competitive team, which is a reasonable ask. So on that basis I really hope Kompany and Pace have had a proper hard look at their strategy and learned from their mistakes.

Frankly, harping on about the summer window is futile. It’s been done to death and is boring beyond belief. All we can do now is strengthen in the right areas (or as many of them as we can) in this window and back the team and manager 100% in the second half of the season.

[forzagranata]

for the record, I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing with you and I'm in no way shape or form complaining about reported figures for the reasons I've already outlined. It's none of my business (or anyone elses) if we paid 1 million of 14 for Trafford - just the same as people have a weird need to know about players injuries. I merely stated that the concensus is that Transkermarkt isn't accurate and is pure guess work.

You are wrong because basically what members of transfermarkt do is evaluate lots of reports of the fees (which as I say if they are from reputable newspapers will be pretty close) and put a consensus figure on them. Does a 38 million euro reported fee mean exactly 38 million changed hands? Of course not. But it will be somewhere close to that figure.

Bizarre that you think it isn't the business of fans to know how much their club is spending on players.

[claretspice]

Signings under Kompany with fee as reported by Transfermarkt (in Euros)

Summer 2023:
Zeki Amdouni – 18.06
James Trafford 17.3
Aaron Ramsey – 16.45
Jordan Beyer 15.
Sander Berge 13.9
Wilson Odabert 12
Dara O’Shea 7.8
Michael Obafemi 4
Hannes Delcroix 3
Luca Koleosho 3
Nathan Redmond – free
Han-Noah Massengo – free
Lawrence Vigourox – free
Mike Tresor – loan. **
David Datro Fofana – loan.
Jacob Bruun Larsen – loan.
Total 111.05 million

Previous season:
Lyle Foster 11
Ameen Al-Dakhil 5
Benson Manuel 4
Anass Zaroury 4
Darko Churlinov – 3.5
Josh Cullen – 3
Arijnet Muric 3
Scott Twine 2.9
Hjalmar Ekdal 2.8
Luke McNally 1.85
Vitinho – 1
Samuel Bastien 0.8
Enock Agyei 0.35
CJ Egan-Riley free
Denis Franchi – unknown
Total 43.2 million.

Grand Total Spent 154.25 million euros

*Loan deals no longer with club:
Taylor Harwood-Bellis
Ian Maatsen
Halil Devisoglu
Nathan Tella

**Obligation to buy Tresor at 18 million (The Athletic)

(Total committed with Tresor fee: 172.25 million)

Clearly, those numbers need to be treated with scepticism because the source is not reliable. For example, as a start, I do not thing Egan Riley was free - I think we paid compensation for him because whilst we was out of contract, he was of an age where compensation was due.

However, assuming that the figures aren't that for out, I am not sure that as an investment portfolio it looks like a bad lot overall. I look at the list of players signed last season and most - the only exceptions being Cullen (by virtue of age) and perhaps Churlinov, who has been ravaged by injury - seem likely to me to realise a profit. Overall I suspect we'd have a reasonable % return across those players.

This seasons are obviously harder to gauge and there are a couple who look overpriced for what they've promised to deliver at this stage - most obviously Tresor, and probably also Amdouni and Beyer (although few thought we were overpaying last summer). But even if we were selling this summer, I think we stand a good chance of making a significant money on Odabert and Koleosho (injury notwithstanding), and receiving more than we paid for Berge and (although he's probably not been the keeper we needed on the pitch) Trafford. We might not make money on Amdouni right now but his potential is obvious and so I'm not sure we'd make a big loss either, and I think the same is true of Beyer. Ramsey looks to me like a player who would be integral in the Championship if/when we go down and has the potential to see his value increase substantially over a 2 year horizon. O'Shea might not make us money but he looks to me to a player, like Cullen, designed to give us the sort of leadership core that the club has always been built on.

None of this is the same as saying we signed the right players. We signed too much potential, and too much of it from leagues that are too different from the Premier League - and too much of it focused on the creative end of the pitch and not enough on building a strong foundation. I've been quite vocal about that and I haven't changed my view. But provided the club is set sensibly to cater for relegation, I don't think the mistakes are necessarily fatal. It is easy to see us selling around £80m of talent this summer without taking heavy losses, and without really undermining the capability of the squad to bounce back. Hopefully, that is the case and lessons have been learned that enable us to bounce back next season and plan better for a second tilt.

[Vegas Claret]

You are wrong because basically what members of transfermarkt do is evaluate lots of reports of the fees (which as I say if they are from reputable newspapers will be pretty close) and put a consensus figure on them. Does a 38 million euro reported fee mean exactly 38 million changed hands? Of course not. But it will be somewhere close to that figure.

Bizarre that you think it isn't the business of fans to know how much their club is spending on players.

why ? It's a business. Do you broadcast to everyone how much your salary is from your employer ?

Transfermarkt is nothing but guesswork, a 'consensus' doesn't make them correct

[forzagranata]

Its a football club - not just a business.

[Vegas Claret]

Its a football club - not just a business.

[123EasyasBFC]

Based on the initial figures that’s around 44m on average spent per window since kompany has come In around 19.5m on average in sales. So really in theory we actually haven’t spent crazy amounts of money if you spread it all out but it’s also not taking into consideration wages spent, loan fees and wages but also on wages out and loan fees and wages out to

[123EasyasBFC]

Its a football club - not just a business.

Football clubs are businesses now whether we like it or not

[forzagranata]

Football clubs are businesses now whether we like it or not

Yes of course - but they are businesses that thousands of people have an emotional stake in - hence why some are keen to understand their financial situation.

It is a cliche but Burnley fans will be here long after the current 'custodians' have left the scene and moved on to another business.

[123EasyasBFC]

Yes of course - but they are businesses that thousands of people have an emotional stake in - hence why some are keen to understand their financial situation.

It is a cliche but Burnley fans will be here long after the current 'custodians' have left the scene and moved on to another business.

Of course fans are keen to know the financial situation, be very silly of any fan to not question finances or really believe that getting promoted first time if asking was a must - as much as they said that it was a 3 year plan.

When you look at money spent and money received on transfers since summer 22 to present day we actually haven’t spent silly finance wise, it’s the position of players we have spent silly in.

Don’t always agree with what coolclaret says but I agree that the money spent on Trafford and Ramsey should of have been spent on 2 full backs and then the Tresor money on a cm the calibre of Berge to play next to Berge

[Vegas Claret]

Yes of course - but they are businesses that thousands of people have an emotional stake in - hence why some are keen to understand their financial situation.

It is a cliche but Burnley fans will be here long after the current 'custodians' have left the scene and moved on to another business.

It's not just Burnley though, long gone are the days that clubs reported transfer fees etc. It's a shame for those like yourself that are interested in those things but the clubs aren't required to part with the info. I don't know why it happened but it felt like all the clubs all of a sudden started doing it, growing up they always seemed to report transfer fees (unless my memory if playing tricks again). I guess it's all part of trying to keep the level of finance available as secretive as possible

[forzagranata]

It's not just Burnley though, long gone are the days that clubs reported transfer fees etc. It's a shame for those like yourself that are interested in those things but the clubs aren't required to part with the info. I don't know why it happened but it felt like all the clubs all of a sudden started doing it, growing up they always seemed to report transfer fees (unless my memory if playing tricks again). I guess it's all part of trying to keep the level of finance available as secretive as possible

The transfer fees get reported formally to the leagues and also to FIFA and UEFA.

Almost always they get leaked to the press as well.

So I've no idea what you are objecting to?

[Vegas Claret]

The transfer fees get reported formally to the leagues and also to FIFA and UEFA.

Almost always they get leaked to the press as well.

So I've no idea what you are objecting to?

I'm not objecting to anything, I'm just telling you that I've heard and seen enough interviews with people in the game that have completely dismissed tranfermarkt as a reliable source. You feel free to carry on quoting it though and believing what you want to believe. I'm not going over it again, must be tedious as **** for everyone on here

[Goliath]

Obviously if we were doing better, for whatever hypothetical reason you want to use, then there would be less criticism. But we're not doing better.

Your point about Foster is a good one, because we went into the season with no credible back-up option to a player, also unproven at this level and with known mental-health issues. Maybe mitigating against Foster being unavailable by using some of the vast amount of money that we spent on another centre forward would have been a good idea, and this isn't said with hindsight.

The 4 points from VAR would have helped, but would I have been happy now on 16 points? Honestly no. Had we picked up another 4 points on top of this with Foster being available then yes, I probably would. But obviously finding a way to add 8 points onto our tally, when we've only got 12 points, is a massive stretch.

This isnt true. We went into the season with 4 strikers, all with differing strengths apart from maybe Obafemi and Foster. Unfortunately Obafemi got injured and weve had the issues with Foster. Rodriguez has been fine when needed as 3rd choice and Amdouni flatters to deceive. We also have Redmond who can fill in there or a range of choices if we wanted to play a number 10 in behind a lone striker.
Our goalscoring record isnt too dissimilar to our other Premier league seasons, its our defensive record that has been the problem.

It was another post with the underhand disregarding of Jay Rodriguez. You might not like him but to say he isnt credible is disrespectful.

[forzagranata]

I'm not objecting to anything, I'm just telling you that I've heard and seen enough interviews with people in the game that have completely dismissed tranfermarkt as a reliable source. You feel free to carry on quoting it though and believing what you want to believe. I'm not going over it again, must be tedious as **** for everyone on here

The idea was to discuss the transfer business over the past two windows but whatever...

[Rileybobs]

I agree with you in the main.

I do believe we got carried away, almost kid-in-a-sweet-shop style, in the summer where more pragmatism should have been deployed.

Although I’m not sure where all of this experience was that people speak of. We say this but Milner chose Brighton, Henderson chose Saudi, Young chose Everton, Evans chose United. Only Barkley who I’d really say was an obvious miss, but he also had a chequered history that made him uncertain and risky. It’s easy to say we should’ve done X, Y or X but none of us lot were in the market looking for players.

That said, the plus side of that strategy is we’re now blessed with what in my opinion is the best young talent I’ve ever known in a Burnley squad. When I remember Ramsey is 21 today (I won’t mention the Man U game), Odobert and Koleosho 19, Trafford just 21, etc. It blows my mind.

Personally, I can take something from the season just watching these young players develop. You can’t, and I get that as fans pay their money to watch a competitive team, which is a reasonable ask. So on that basis I really hope Kompany and Pace have had a proper hard look at their strategy and learned from their mistakes.

Frankly, harping on about the summer window is futile. It’s been done to death and is boring beyond belief. All we can do now is strengthen in the right areas (or as many of them as we can) in this window and back the team and manager 100% in the second half of the season.

By experienced I don’t mean 40 year olds who’ve spent their life in the Premier League, just players who are tested at that level.

[Rileybobs]

This isnt true. We went into the season with 4 strikers, all with differing strengths apart from maybe Obafemi and Foster. Unfortunately Obafemi got injured and weve had the issues with Foster. Rodriguez has been fine when needed as 3rd choice and Amdouni flatters to deceive. We also have Redmond who can fill in there or a range of choices if we wanted to play a number 10 in behind a lone striker.
Our goalscoring record isnt too dissimilar to our other Premier league seasons, its our defensive record that has been the problem.

It was another post with the underhand disregarding of Jay Rodriguez. You might not like him but to say he isnt credible is disrespectful.

I said ‘credible’ back up. Obafemi isn’t a credible second choice centre forward and clearly neither is Rodriguez. I’m a fan of Amdouni’s but he’s also not a centre forward in a remotely similar mould. Going into the season with Jay as our number two centre forward was criminal, even more so since Foster’s issues have come to light.

[Vegas Claret]

The idea was to discuss the transfer business over the past two windows but whatever...

which you used Transfermarkt as your evidence.....

Let's drop it though for everyone else's sake. The business for the most part has been bizarre, too many untried players and it's led to what we see now and was completely predictable. Staggering how badly wrong they got it this summer

[Goody1975]

I said ‘credible’ back up. Obafemi isn’t a credible second choice centre forward and clearly neither is Rodriguez. I’m a fan of Amdouni’s but he’s also not a centre forward in a remotely similar mould. Going into the season with Jay as our number two centre forward was criminal, even more so since Foster’s issues have come to light.

I agree with both of you in a way, the forward line wasn't right but they thought the four players they had (Amdouni was seen as a goal scorer) was enough. The loss of Foster on two occasions (suspension & illness) put a massive spanner in the works, especially with Obafemi missing for months.

You have to score goals at this level to stay up unless you have an incredibly tight defence.

In an ideal world replacements would have been sourced for both Jay and Jack Cork who are obviously not going to be here after the summer.

[Vegas Claret]

I agree with both of you in a way, the forward line wasn't right but they thought the four players they had (Amdouni was seen as a goal scorer) was enough. The loss of Foster on two occasions (suspension & illness) put a massive spanner in the works, especially with Obafemi missing for months.

You have to score goals at this level to stay up unless you have an incredibly tight defence.

In an ideal world replacements would have been sourced for both Jay and Jack Cork who are obviously not going to be here after the summer.

far too much tinkering, killed the vibe in the squad, huge disconnect with those in the stands, recipe for relegation before a ball was kicked.

[NewClaret]

By experienced I don’t mean 40 year olds who’ve spent their life in the Premier League, just players who are tested at that level.

Question remains though: which players that are tested at that level want to join Burnley, a newly promoted team? Not many.

A lot, including you, talk of the experience we should’ve signed without actually offering up any players we should’ve signed, who we could have afforded, and would’ve wanted to join us.

[CoolClaret]

Question remains though: which players that are tested at that level want to join Burnley, a newly promoted team? Not many.

A lot, including you, talk of the experience we should’ve signed without actually offering up any players we should’ve signed, who we could have afforded, and would’ve wanted to join us.

I mean, Sander Berge one for a start, i'm sure he'd have had other suitors.

Any team offering PL football is a pretty attractive destination. Maxwel Cornet was a massive signing for us coming from Lyon - I appreciate now we're back in the league as first timers, but the draw is certainly there.

[RVclaret]

far too much tinkering, killed the vibe in the squad, huge disconnect with those in the stands, recipe for relegation before a ball was kicked.

But again, with a fully fit Foster and VAR not screwing us from a min 4 points we have earned through our performances, would you be making these same comments? We’d be within a point or two of the likes of Brentford/Palace/Forest. Would this ‘vibe’ and ‘disconnect’ still be an issue?

[Rileybobs]

Question remains though: which players that are tested at that level want to join Burnley, a newly promoted team? Not many.

A lot, including you, talk of the experience we should’ve signed without actually offering up any players we should’ve signed, who we could have afforded, and would’ve wanted to join us.

I’m not going to pluck names out of the air or start looking through the squads of relegated teams etc. Some names have already been mentioned on here as examples. Of course there would absolutely be a number of players with experience playing at this level who would have been available and would have improved us. Why wouldn’t there be?

[Goody1975]

far too much tinkering, killed the vibe in the squad, huge disconnect with those in the stands, recipe for relegation before a ball was kicked.

Again in a way that is correct.

Muric>Trafford yes

We didn't own Maatsen, Harwood-Bellis or Tella, three massive parts of our squad last season and Jay and Cork were never going to cut it as main players for us. That's five necessary changes.

As for Zaroury and Benson, that is a mystery. The Zaroury replacements have been excellent but the right hand side has been an issue all season.

Brownhill was poor in a midfield two the last time around in the Premier League, he was excellent in a more forward role in the Championship, him reverting to the 2021/22 role is to the detriment of the team imo.

We needed big changes unfortunately but haven't quite got it right, it's not as bad as it's made out but those gaping holes are costing us big time.