Summer transfer window

[Steddyman]

But you've barely seen Johnstone play, and you said he'd only made 15 saves in the PL from 73 appearances. Not sure how you can conclude that Ortega is ten times better than Johnstone or a even a big step up. May be you're also basing it on Ortega's 25 premier league appearances.

You just answered your own question. Ortega played much more than Johnstone for a much better team.

[warksclaret]

I would be over the moon with either Ortega or Johnstone-why all the bitching

[Steddyman]

Ortega made double the appearances of Johnstone this season, for a much stronger team.

Not denying though his wages will be much higher.

[taio]

You just answered your own question. Ortega played much more than Johnstone for a much better team.

Ortega has 25 appearances in three seasons, fewer than Johnstone. Ortega may well be better with his feet, but his stats in that regard will be heavily influenced by who he played for I'd have thought.

[nil_desperandum]

You just answered your own question. Ortega played much more than Johnstone for a much better team.

Not getting into a debate, but as a goalkeeper, how does playing in a "much better team" make you better qualified?
Surely it's much easier keeping goal for a team that dominates the game and is at the top end of the table than to be behind a defence that is frequently under pressure and struggling against superior opposition?

[Steddyman]

Sorry, will stop sidetracking the thread with an opinion. In Alan we trust.

[Vegas Claret]

Luis Diaz going to Bayern from Liverpool for 70-75 million euros. Fair chance Scousers will go all out for Isaak now

[Taffy on the wing]

Is this the right room for an argument?

[fidelcastro]

Is this the right room for an argument?

I've already told you once.

[Hedontplayforyou]

We were linked with Solomon earlier in the window.

Unlikely that we need him. Wouldn’t expect any more wingers coming in. Two strikers and two central midfielders would be my wish, along with the supposed keeper.

[Taffy on the wing]

I've already told you once.

No you haven't!

[fidelcastro]

No you haven't!

Yes I have.

Time's up!

[Goalposts]

Apparently Sheff utd would let cooper go for £15m id be more inclined to go for him myself

[fidelcastro]

Apparently Sheff utd would let cooper go for £15m id be more inclined to go for him myself

How do you know what price they'd let him go for?

[Taffy on the wing]

Apparently Sheff utd would let cooper go for £15m id be more inclined to go for him myself

Oh no you're not!

[Hedontplayforyou]

Hayden Hackney is a target for Ipswich, he’s a player that I thought we may have been interested in. However they are talking £20m offer from Ipswich even in the Championship, madness .

[claretspice]

You just answered your own question. Ortega played much more than Johnstone for a much better team.

It may be that that supports the idea that Ortega is a better keeper than Johnstone, certainly in a team like Manchester City, but it doesn't automatically follow that he's better suited to what we will need this season.

We will at times be under pressure. We are likely to have a high number of balls into and across our box, so we need a keeper who can deal with this. Conversely, if Ortega works for City because he's particularly good at operating as a sweeper keeper, then whilst I'm sure there are some skills that are transferable to us, it's not a given that he's automatically right for us.

I've not seen enough of either Johnstone or Ortega to know how this applies to them, but the one thing I do know is that Johnstone has experience at the bottom end of the Premier League, and that is helpful conditioning.

[CoolClaret]

If he helps keep us up, the maths works itself out.

Definitely more chance of that happening with an experienced Prem keeper.

No brainer

Agreed with that but then...

Why sign Traff/inexperienced youngsters in the first place?

[Big Vinny K]

Agreed with that but then...

Why sign Traff/inexperienced youngsters in the first place?

Guess it was because VK wanted to.
Clearly the board were all in on the VK strategy of buying young players and bulking the squad size up to the biggest in the clubs history. The data analysis teams also had massive input into this strategy

Not only does Parker seem to have a more pragmatic approach of getting the right balance between youth and experience when you spend like we did under VK and get relegated and still left with a lot of those players on your books then you only really get one shot at that kind of spend approach.

Even if Scott Parker wanted to replicate what VK did I don’t think we have the finances to do it - but I think SP had a good idea of that from the day he joined the club.

[billyhamilton82]

Agreed with that but then...

Why sign Traff/inexperienced youngsters in the first place?

Its a blend of youth and experience that keeps you up.

VK didn't understand that concept.

Trafford should never have started the season in goal, Muric had earned it and Traff obviously wasn't ready.

To play an unproven goalkeeper who hadn't even played with his new team mates before wasn't just risky but wreaked of delusion.

The longer it went on it was obviously the latter.

Sign young players ...yes, but when possible play them in the correct circumstances, nurture them in a positive environment and protect them from the firing line when required.

VK got that wrong on all counts.

[CoolClaret]

Guess it was because VK wanted to.
Clearly the board were all in on the VK strategy of buying young players and bulking the squad size up to the biggest in the clubs history. The data analysis teams also had massive input into this strategy

Not only does Parker seem to have a more pragmatic approach of getting the right balance between youth and experience when you spend like we did under VK and get relegated and still left with a lot of those players on your books then you only really get one shot at that kind of spend approach.

Even if Scott Parker wanted to replicate what VK did I don’t think we have the finances to do it - but I think SP had a good idea of that from the day he joined the club.

Agreed with everything that you've written here; I think it was as well.

So it appears that it never really was our 'model' after all, it was just VKs preferred way and Pace let him run riot (at least for a club of our size)

[Mattster]

Guess it was because VK wanted to.
Clearly the board were all in on the VK strategy of buying young players and bulking the squad size up to the biggest in the clubs history. The data analysis teams also had massive input into this strategy

Not only does Parker seem to have a more pragmatic approach of getting the right balance between youth and experience when you spend like we did under VK and get relegated and still left with a lot of those players on your books then you only really get one shot at that kind of spend approach.

Even if Scott Parker wanted to replicate what VK did I don’t think we have the finances to do it - but I think SP had a good idea of that from the day he joined the club.

Disagree.

Just using transfermarkt figures we have already spent ~€73m this window.

Kompany spent ~€111m* across Summer and January. With another 2 or 3 to come in you would imagine this Summer's spend will reach around that figure, albeit with funds from Trafford coming in.

But Trafford sale is supportive of the VK approach in the respect you're criticising it ("only really get one shot at that spend"). This summer and last have been funded by sales of VK players who we turned a profit on such as Odobert, Muric, O'Shea, Berge, Al Dakhil, Zaroury and Trafford. I'm not sure as many players signed since will offer the same kind of profits.

Ofcourse, if the results on the pitch are better, then it pays for itself that way. But if we are relegated then the likelihood is we have less to spend next season, and then the season after. Lots of variables obviously, maybe bouncing back again would be easier with less player turnover, for example.

But what I'm getting at is we can't claim our revised transfer strategy is any better than it was last time we were promoted until we see how it pans out.

*edit: have realised this doesn't include obligations to buy for Tresor and Esteve. So likely won't match this summer. Leaving in because don't want to be accused of changing my post, feel the final point still stands though.

[boatshed bill]

Agreed with that but then...

Why sign Traff/inexperienced youngsters in the first place?

Business model.

[Big Vinny K]

Not sure what you are disagreeing with tbh.
I didn’t say which transfer strategy was the better one.

I was mainly pointing out that I do not think we will be doing this summer what we did under VK in the summer before his EPL campaign….and that SP I’m sure understood that when he joined the club.

Guess we’ll find out in the next month but from the signings so far and how much of last years team I think SP will want to stick with it looks pretty different to me.

[CoolClaret]

Disagree.

Just using transfermarkt figures we have already spent ~€73m this window.

What about Scott Parker and Vincent Kompany's respective net summer spending during their Championship campaigns? We would have hardly spent anything last summer, considering our biggest outlays were loan-to-buy deals with the fees being paid this summer

[Mattster]

Not sure what you are disagreeing with tbh.
I didn’t say which transfer strategy was the better one.

"Parker has a more pragmatic approach to getting the right balance" and suggesting you only get one shot at spending like Kompany did is what I was disagreeing with.

We can't say the the balance is right until we see how the season pans out and I think spending this way is potentially a more one shot kind of approach as we're unlikely to see the kind of return on player purchases made under Kompany last time from the players signed under Parker this time. I possibly haven't explained myself well though.

[Mattster]

What about Scott Parker and Vincent Kompany's respective net summer spending during their Championship campaigns? We would have hardly spent anything last summer, considering our biggest outlays were loan-to-buy deals with the fees being paid this summer

Was there much difference in the Summer net spends in the Championship?

And if we go down this season I would say the players we turn a profit on are most likely to be players signed under the previous strategy (eg Esteve, Koleosho) than those under the current (eg. Anthony, Walker etc).

I'm just saying I don't think we can say out revised approach is better until we see if it produces the results to stay up. Because if it doesn't then I think this strategy means we will likely have less to spend season on season.

[Spike]

Latest link to us in Manor Solomon of Spurs ( on loan to DL last season) where he scored 10 goals . Source is Totenham News , written by one of their ex scouts

He’s an ex- scout for a reason

[ecc]

66 caps for Croatia, part of their last World Cup squad and was one of the favourites for the golden glove

Dominik Livaković would be an excellent signing. He fell out of favour with Mourinho but then he's not the first to do that.

I saw him play against France in March and he was superb that night making a string of fine saves.

[Guller Bull]

Hull shelve Shelvey

https://the72.co.uk/2025/07/28/hull-cit ... -decision/

[BigChaCha]

warksclaret wrote:

Latest link to us in Manor Solomon of Spurs ( on loan to DL last season) where he scored 10 goals . Source is Totenham News , written by one of their ex scouts

It is not a link, Ex-Tottenham scout Bryan King is just saying who he thinks we should buy!... It is clickbait... He believes that Solomon won’t be able to get in at Spurs, and instead feels that Burnley should be targeting him for a move.

[agreenwood]

Hull shelve Shelvey

https://the72.co.uk/2025/07/28/hull-cit ... -decision/

Fierce blow for a lot of Clarets. He was all they cared about.

[Tricky Trevor]

Solomon is another winger. A very good one but no vacancies here.

[claretspice]

"Parker has a more pragmatic approach to getting the right balance" and suggesting you only get one shot at spending like Kompany did is what I was disagreeing with.

We can't say the the balance is right until we see how the season pans out and I think spending this way is potentially a more one shot kind of approach as we're unlikely to see the kind of return on player purchases made under Kompany last time from the players signed under Parker this time. I possibly haven't explained myself well though.

Undoubtedly fair to say the players we are signing now are unlikely, overall, to make the same return that was possible on Kompany’s signings. But we're still signing players with an eye on a return - Sonne, Pires, Hartman, Humphreys, Hannibal, Tchouna for a start in the last year - and in addition the slightly evolved policy Undoubtedly gives us a better chance of staying up by correcting the oversteer we saw under Kompany. It also gives us a better chance of making a greater return on the remaining assets signed under Kompany - Esteve, Foster, Koleosho, Tresor, Ramsey, even Amdouni although he's injured - because there's experience around to look after them.

We've got a good number of players we can sell for a profit, and that's without including the likes of Flemming, Anthony and Edwards who are still a good age.

[RVclaret]

Latest from Spain is that there aren’t any talks for Koleosho to Espanyol at this stage:

http://sportwitness.co.uk/2-sources-sta ... dismissed/

[CrosspoolClarets]

Alfie Doughty about to sign for Millwall it seems.

Good example of a player many think is good enough for the EPL but somehow never seems to get those transfers so cannot be as good as he seems.

[123EasyasBFC]

Alfie Doughty about to sign for Millwall it seems.

Good example of a player many think is good enough for the EPL but somehow never seems to get those transfers so cannot be as good as he seems.

Seems Luton want Dodgson to replace him to

[Darnhill Claret]

Alfie carries quite a bit of timber, even when seemingly 'match fit'.
Some folk aren't too keen on that.

[mybloodisclaret]

I noticed Dolan left Rovers for Espanyol So if we buy Espanyol …….?

If we buy Espanyol, Dolan is still nowhere near good enough.

[Spijed]

Alfie Doughty about to sign for Millwall it seems.

Good example of a player many think is good enough for the EPL but somehow never seems to get those transfers so cannot be as good as he seems.

Ivan Toney played for an endless list of Non-league & lower league clubs before he got his chance at PL football.

[fidelcastro]

Ivan Toney played for an endless list of Non-league & lower league clubs before he got his chance at PL football.

He still does.

[gandhisflipflop]

Sky sports confirm Trafford having a medical at city today. Hopefully it will mean we can complete a few more signings this week. Cajuste, Johnstone and Sargent maybe?

[agreenwood]

Sunderland about to pay €20m for Xhaxa.

Huge fee for a chap soon to turn 33.

[williamjblazkowicz]

Hull shelve Shelvey

https://the72.co.uk/2025/07/28/hull-cit ... -decision/

The article you've linked says they've opted not to offer him a contract!

[RVclaret]

Sunderland about to pay €20m for Xhaxa.

Huge fee for a chap soon to turn 33.

Clearly just wanting to stay up this season. Cracking signing.

[billyhamilton82]

Sunderland about to pay €20m for Xhaxa.

Huge fee for a chap soon to turn 33.

Will organise and lead them from the front, as long as he keeps his patience.

Will be interesting to watch how it pans out.

Would I have have him at Burnley ...yes in a heartbeat.

At that price, at that age, not so sure, but if he helps keep them up then its good business.

[BurnleyFC]

Xhaka is an excellent signing, on par with our signing of Kyle Walker.

[dermotdermot]

Sky sports confirm Trafford having a medical at city today. Hopefully it will mean we can complete a few more signings this week. Cajuste, Johnstone and Sargent maybe?

It’s not as clear cut as that. Scott Parker said, after the games on Saturday, that he expects Trafford to go and that he will have a word with the owners as to whether we have any funds to buy a replacement.

[scouseclaret]

Always felt Xhaka was a bit of a loose cannon

[fatboy47]

Xhaka is an excellent signing, on par with our signing of Kyle Walker.

Give or take the odd 18 million nicker.