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Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation


jw1739

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I'm uncomfortable with Nabbout in that he never stays long with any particular club.

Ā 

2 hours ago, IssySG said:

I'm uncomfortable with Nabbout because he had a very poor 19/20 season. He looked a shadow of his 17/18 Newcastle formĀ 

i'm not overly worried TBC.Ā  we have depth so we are covered if he gets injured or is unfit, while he'll be looking to put the last few seasons behind him by having a big season.

plus the tards were so so shite last season that no one looked good (other than maybe Toivonen).Ā  Nabbout did score 8, so that's gotta count for something.

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So the marquees will be Nabbout & Jmac which meansĀ Florin isĀ our number 10. We havent had a proper 10 since Fred. Someone thats a creative playmaker and scores a few goals. I really hoped we were going to spend the availableĀ marquee money on that position but looks like they havent learnt anything. Cant help but feel annoyed. Yes i know he is an upgrade on Wales.

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43 minutes ago, Heart of oakleigh said:

So the marquees will be Nabbout & Jmac which meansĀ Florin isĀ our number 10. We havent had a proper 10 since Fred. Someone thats a creative playmaker and scores a few goals. I really hoped we were going to spend the availableĀ marquee money on that position but looks like they havent learnt anything. Cant help but feel annoyed. Yes i know he is an upgrade on Wales.

Donā€™t think $400k is marquee but could beĀ 

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1 hour ago, Heart of oakleigh said:

So the marquees will be Nabbout & Jmac which meansĀ Florin isĀ our number 10. We havent had a proper 10 since Fred. Someone thats a creative playmaker and scores a few goals. I really hoped we were going to spend the availableĀ marquee money on that position but looks like they havent learnt anything. Cant help but feel annoyed. Yes i know he is an upgrade on Wales.

Yes, but we do have a goal scoring winger. First time we've genuinely had one of those since Novillo.Ā 

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3 hours ago, Missing_Moy said:

Donā€™t think $400k is marquee but could beĀ 

I agree - probably the highest paid player under the salary cap.

Also, it'd be a waste of a marquee spot for two reasons, 1. AĀ Marquee in my opinion should be a skilled player with a proven track record in the $1m+ vicinity and 2. both our marquee spots would be taken by Aussies. I'm sure our scouts in South America would be able to find another prickly pear who would be much better than Nabbout and on aĀ similar salary.

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33 minutes ago, Red or Dead said:

I agree - probably the highest paid player under the salary cap.

Also, it'd be a waste of a marquee spot for two reasons, 1. AĀ Marquee in my opinion should be a skilled player with a proven track record in the $1m+ vicinity and 2. both our marquee spots would be taken by Aussies. I'm sure our scouts in South America would be able to find another prickly pear who would be much better than Nabbout and on aĀ similar salary.

You are preaching to the priest. We have a clear budget and limitation on marquee players money always had. I can imagine itā€™s even lower coming season.Ā The prickly pearsĀ wasnā€™t marquee went he arrived, he earned that status too.Ā Without upsetting some, I even find Jmac not marquee worthy purely looking at the football skills sure goals but struggles to setup playĀ but that is level we should set ourĀ expectations towards Iā€™m afraid.

Personally I find Nabbout a better player than Berenguer so following the City logic he could qualify for marquee status. I guess I donā€™t want to get my hopes up for a proper marquee!

Salary cap of 2mil is only 100k per player!

Edited by Mr MO
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I think people need to get their heads around a lower expectation in terms of foreigners this season. The league is going to struggle to recruit anyone thats not already here for two reasons; obviously $$$, but the main one is COVID. There's so many unknown with respect to travel, visas, quarantines etc that it would be a serious risk and inconvenience for any player to commit to an Aussie team. We've already seen that Nabbout moving with his family from Melbourne to Perth has proven difficult so amplify that by 10 when it comes to foreigners.
We have a distinct advantage in that we have three good, proven foreigners that are already here and appear to really want to stay here; many of the other clubs have already lost what foreign contingents they have.

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So far our off season work has been great.

Being able to retain almost our entire starting 11 is virtually unprecedented in the Melbourne City world, and our only losses to that group thus far are Wales (who no one really rates anyway) and Brillante (who admittedly is very good but we do have depth there in Griffiths and now Gomulka).Ā 

Nabbout is a huge upgrade on Wales and is not only a genuine starter but offers good depth in the striker position for when Maclaren is unavailable (I assume International football is still a thing). Our midfield may lack a real quality number 10 but our current midfield is certainly good enough and it isn't like we were a low scoring side with the current bunch.Ā 

To be in a position already where our squad is arguably stronger (Nabbout is a bigger upgrade on Wales than Griffiths is a downgrade on Brillante) is pretty impressive and that's with a spare VISA spot, a bunch of young guys that haven't really fired a shot at A-League level who should be taking that next step (Colakovski, Najjarine, Tilio) and what will presumably be weakerĀ competition in the league.Ā 

Ā 

Ā 

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5 minutes ago, The Aardvark said:

So far our off season work has been great.

Being able to retain almost our entire starting 11 is virtually unprecedented in the Melbourne City world, and our only losses to that group thus far are Wales (who no one really rates anyway) and Brillante (who admittedly is very good but we do have depth there in Griffiths and now Gomulka).Ā 

Nabbout is a huge upgrade on Wales and is not only a genuine starter but offers good depth in the striker position for when Maclaren is unavailable (I assume International football is still a thing). Our midfield may lack a real quality number 10 but our current midfield is certainly good enough and it isn't like we were a low scoring side with the current bunch.Ā 

To be in a position already where our squad is arguably stronger (Nabbout is a bigger upgrade on Wales than Griffiths is a downgrade on Brillante) is pretty impressive and that's with a spare VISA spot, a bunch of young guys that haven't really fired a shot at A-League level who should be taking that next step (Colakovski, Najjarine, Tilio) and what will presumably be weakerĀ competition in the league.Ā 

Ā 

Ā 

Spot on! My only concern is that Sydney has announced zero squad changes in regards to their core playing group.

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5 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Spot on! My only concern is that Sydney has announced zero squad changes in regards to their core playing group.

Le Fondre is expected to depart fwiw.

Sydney are still the main threat for sure, but i think you could definitely take the view that as a squad they are a lot older than us, and we have more players coming into our prime.
Certainly Ninko and Wilko aren't getting any younger at least.

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33 minutes ago, The Aardvark said:

So far our off season work has been great.

Totally agree!

And really wanted to emphasize "so far".

We are still in the middle or start depending on your perspective of a ever evolving global crisis and what today looks like compared to the first game could be completely different.Ā 

I'm hoping that for once we can build on from last season and not another rebuild.Ā 

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54 minutes ago, The Aardvark said:

So far our off season work has been great.

Being able to retain almost our entire starting 11 is virtually unprecedented in the Melbourne City world, and our only losses to that group thus far are Wales (who no one really rates anyway) and Brillante (who admittedly is very good but we do have depth there in Griffiths and now Gomulka).Ā 

Nabbout is a huge upgrade on Wales and is not only a genuine starter but offers good depth in the striker position for when Maclaren is unavailable (I assume International football is still a thing). Our midfield may lack a real quality number 10 but our current midfield is certainly good enough and it isn't like we were a low scoring side with the current bunch.Ā 

To be in a position already where our squad is arguably stronger (Nabbout is a bigger upgrade on Wales than Griffiths is a downgrade on Brillante) is pretty impressive and that's with a spare VISA spot, a bunch of young guys that haven't really fired a shot at A-League level who should be taking that next step (Colakovski, Najjarine, Tilio) and what will presumably be weakerĀ competition in the league.Ā 

Ā 

Ā 

Not to mention Aiden O'Neill who is the obvious replacement in the squad for Brilliante. Given all the financial pressures on the game I'm amazed we have such a strong squad, arguably stronger than we finished last season with. Sydney will continue to be a major threat, and Victory will do their usual big signing piss and wind act, but they look a shambles that needs sorting out, like Perth.Ā 

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9 hours ago, bt50 said:

I think people need to get their heads around a lower expectation in terms of foreigners this season. The league is going to struggle to recruit anyone thats not already here for two reasons; obviously $$$, but the main one is COVID. There's so many unknown with respect to travel, visas, quarantines etc that it would be a serious risk and inconvenience for any player to commit to an Aussie team. We've already seen that Nabbout moving with his family from Melbourne to Perth has proven difficult so amplify that by 10 when it comes to foreigners.
We have a distinct advantage in that we have three good, proven foreigners that are already here and appear to really want to stay here; many of the other clubs have already lost what foreign contingents they have.

I'm not that pessimistic. For starters all clubs around the world are going to have reduced budgets. So that means that world wide players are going to take a paycut. Who and how much won't matter too much as the ones the A-League can afford are going to take what options they are presented with.

More critically is when and how international travel opens up. My take is that we may see more Asian Confederacy players than in the past. But many will look at playing in Australia as a safe option.

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On 25/09/2020 at 11:00 AM, bt50 said:

Le Fondre is expected to depart fwiw.

Sydney are still the main threat for sure, but i think you could definitely take the view that as a squad they are a lot older than us, and we have more players coming into our prime.
Certainly Ninko and Wilko aren't getting any younger at least.

I really dislike Sydney and lafawnduh ...although ...

unnamed.jpg.17b3fd69990810ae80ccd1d7025d8ad3.jpg

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23 minutes ago, Deluka said:

Najjarine is the perfect example of why we need a second division.Ā 

Imagine how far along he could be if two year ago we loaned him out to a Gold Coast United or Adelaide City to get 50 matches in two seasons.

Why not a proper reserves competition?

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14 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Some harsh assessments on only a limited number of minutes so far. Last season 319 minutes over 11 matches, two of which were only 1 minute and 2 minutes.

Us football fans areĀ strange sometimesĀ arenā€™t we. We can have an opinion on a kid with average 30minutes of footballĀ over 11 matchesĀ but for one or two yearĀ underperforming visa signings the opinion is still out.

I would like to see more of Ramy but Iā€™m afraid his small physique isnā€™t helping in this league. He also came back unfits from the Olyroos tournament earlier in the season and has struggled since.

If we are cutting the squad back to 20Ā such players should be kept on the books and loaned out for development.

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33 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Us football fans areĀ strange sometimesĀ arenā€™t we. We can have an opinion on a kid with average 30minutes of footballĀ over 11 matchesĀ but for one or two yearĀ underperforming visa signings the opinion is still out.

Absolutely. And with the League in the parlous financial state it's in,Ā  clubs need to be prudent on expenditure wherever they can, and would the standard of football and entertainment have been significantly worse if we had played Ramy instead of Berenguer (for example) for those two seasons? I think not.

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15 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Why not a proper reserves competition?

So that he couldĀ become a more seasoned player playing against semi pro (ideally pro) players week in week out.

Proper reserves league would also be greatĀ but second division feels closer strangely.

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30 minutes ago, Deluka said:

So that he couldĀ become a more seasoned player playing against semi pro (ideally pro) players week in week out.

Proper reserves league would also be greatĀ but second division feels closer strangely.

The Dutch Second division is a mix between the big reserves team and normal clubs. Reserve teams canā€™t promote obviously but it gives a platform to develop your players in the right environment with the bonus that you can keep with the club. Additionally injured first team players can also play to fitness there.

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