Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation

[malloy]

13 hours ago, Mr MO said:

Not surprised.

Not surprised he is going, but surprised he is going to Troyes.

[Mr MO]

10 hours ago, malloy said:

Not surprised he is going, but surprised he is going to Troyes.

Yes sorry, I meant not surprised he’s on the radar in Europe again.

[kingofhearts]

Strong whispers glover will leave at the end of this season and that we will sign Jamie Young as a replacement 

[neio]

My immediate thought is meh he is bloody old, but the more I think about it if he is a 12-24 month stop gap until the kid starting with N is ready than maybe it will be fine. He is still one of the better keepers

[citypool]

I hate it his made his name at other clubs why would we want him here. Part of sport is having your own players you build interest in the team and players.

This and playing victory three times a season are my biggest annoyance with the league 

[bt50]

36 minutes ago, neio said:

My immediate thought is meh he is bloody old, but the more I think about it if he is a 12-24 month stop gap until the kid starting with N is ready than maybe it will be fine. He is still one of the better keepers

I was exactly the same at first, but yes Young was clearly the best keeper in the comp last season and might act as a perfect bridge for Nieuwenhuizen to step in and be the top dog.

[heart1011]

Young certainly isn't playing up to the standard he was last season. I can see this being very much like when we signed Galekovic for those 2 seasons. Stays for 2 seasons and then Nieuwenhuizen steps in. Rumours are that Glover could be heading to the middle East somewhere..

[MHFC-FAN]

34 minutes ago, heart1011 said:

Young certainly isn't playing up to the standard he was last season. I can see this being very much like when we signed Galekovic for those 2 seasons. Stays for 2 seasons and then Nieuwenhuizen steps in. Rumours are that Glover could be heading to the middle East somewhere..

Hmm I know Young has not had a great season this year. But lets face it homeless united have been woeful this season and their defence bang average. I think he will do well with us and a competent defence in front of him, potentially could do better than Glover this season...

[malloy]

19 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said:

Hmm I know Young has not had a great season this year. But lets face it homeless united have been woeful this season and their defence bang average. I think he will do well with us and a competent defence in front of him, potentially could do better than Glover this season...

Young tends to be good at pulling off those unexpected saves, which as you said, if we have competent defence in front of him i would expect him to do well on the basis that alot of our oppositions shots on goal will be from the unexpected or undefendable.

[jw1739]

In our history IMO we have never got our GK position quite right, and I can only hope that our current GK coach is going to make better decisions this time around. I can't see the point of signing Jamie Young at this stage of his career - if he'd been with us for seasons, then yes, but no to bringing him on board now.

IMO James Nieuwenhuizen has done his apprenticeship so give him the gloves now. He can't be any worse than Glover. Otherwise he'll leave, as did Joe Gauci who is now a starter back at Adelaide.

[moops]

Young has been a stand out GK for years, so I wouldn't be unhappy with the move.

I don't know anything about our backup James, anyone seen him play?

[heart1011]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

In our history IMO we have never got our GK position quite right, and I can only hope that our current GK coach is going to make better decisions this time around. I can't see the point of signing Jamie Young at this stage of his career - if he'd been with us for seasons, then yes, but no to bringing him on board now.

IMO James Nieuwenhuizen has done his apprenticeship so give him the gloves now. He can't be any worse than Glover. Otherwise he'll leave, as did Joe Gauci who is now a starter back at Adelaide.

And look at how Gauci is playing for Adelaide! The guy is a beast and it won't be long before he gets an offer overseas! 

[jw1739]

James Nieuwenhuizen is on the sidelines with a broken hand.

[fensaddler]

We're going to have a bigger than ideal turnover before next season. Several of our best moving on, others likely to be moved on or retire. This with ACL on the horizon means we're both going to need to bring through a number of the best youngsters, and make some key signings. Midfield and defence are both likely to need attention.

[NewConvert]

52 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

We're going to have a bigger than ideal turnover before next season. Several of our best moving on, others likely to be moved on or retire. This with ACL on the horizon means we're both going to need to bring through a number of the best youngsters, and make some key signings. Midfield and defence are both likely to need attention.

That is the one thing that annoys me about the champions leagues - the club change personnel so that those players that won the domestic competition may no longer be at the club.

[fensaddler]

On 29/04/2023 at 10:50 PM, NewConvert said:

That is the one thing that annoys me about the champions leagues - the club change personnel so that those players that won the domestic competition may no longer be at the club.

Same everywhere though. The qualification takes place in the season preceding the competition. Squad change is inevitable.

[jw1739]

24 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

Same everywhere though. The qualification takes place in the season preceding the competition. Squad change is inevitable.

I can't see any other way of doing it myself. If you had to use the same squad then it would mean that the Champions Leagues would have to immediately follow the domestic seasons, meaning no off-season and players playing all-the-year round. The big leagues get a very short off-season as it is, what with pre-season and overseas tours, so to add Champions League would be tough on everyone.

[NewConvert]

46 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I can't see any other way of doing it myself. If you had to use the same squad then it would mean that the Champions Leagues would have to immediately follow the domestic seasons, meaning no off-season and players playing all-the-year round. The big leagues get a very short off-season as it is, what with pre-season and overseas tours, so to add Champions League would be tough on everyone.

I know that there is no one way around it (or at least I can't think of a way around it) but it still annoys me. I think playing ACL without Bos considerably weakens the side.

[jw1739]

IMO we've got a lot more ahead of us than just not having Bos. We're highly likely to be playing better clubs than we did last time around.

[MHFC-FAN]

1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

I know that there is no one way around it (or at least I can't think of a way around it) but it still annoys me. I think playing ACL without Bos considerably weakens the side.

Yeah it's always tough going into an ACL campaign in the off season for the very reason that changes to the squad are inevitable. Bos will be a huge loss in all competitions but we should still have a solid defense maybe with Jamieson retiring.

43 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

IMO we've got a lot more ahead of us than just not having Bos. We're highly likely to be playing better clubs than we did last time around.

We're almost certainly guaranteed to be drawing a Japanese club, Korean club and potentially a club from SE Asia too. Also going to be tougher than the last ACL campaign due to the opponents, but more so the fact there should be proper home and away matches into the various other Asian countries. 

[fensaddler]

1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

I know that there is no one way around it (or at least I can't think of a way around it) but it still annoys me. I think playing ACL without Bos considerably weakens the side.

Bos is almost a generational find. But we always worry about the loss of the tangible talent, until the intangible prospects become reality. We've recruited increasingly well in the last few years and on this at least I trust the club. Let's see what the closed season brings us.

[MHFC-FAN]

1 hour ago, fensaddler said:

Bos is almost a generational find. But we always worry about the loss of the tangible talent, until the intangible prospects become reality. We've recruited increasingly well in the last few years and on this at least I trust the club. Let's see what the closed season brings us.

Your not wrong on Bos, he's probably the best talent we've brought through the seniors thus far. This off season I feel is going to be the most interesting as there is likely to be many holes to fill this time around. 

[MHFC-FAN]

So all but confirmed that we are 99% likely to lose these 3 this off season...

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/glover-out-young-in-at-melbourne-city-593963

[jw1739]

Remember that the following are out-of-contract at the end of this season (AFAIK):

Glover;
Sutton;
Jamieson:
Stokes;
Hall;
Berenguer;
O'Neill;
Borges Rodrigues;
Berisha (end of loan);
Caputo.

So you would expect a reasonable number of departures.

Comments:
Jordy Bos is the only touted departure so far who commands a transfer fee.
Although I expect him to depart, I'm still not convinced that O'Neill will go to Troyes, who look certs for Ligue 2 for next season.

[Zanty]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Remember that the following are out-of-contract at the end of this season (AFAIK):

Glover;
Sutton;
Jamieson:
Stokes;
Hall;
Berenguer;
O'Neill;
Borges Rodrigues;
Berisha (end of loan);
Caputo.

So you would expect a reasonable number of departures.

Comments:
Jordy Bos is the only touted departure so far who commands a transfer fee.
Although I expect him to depart, I'm still not convinced that O'Neill will go to Troyes, who look certs for Ligue 2 for next season.

Apparently O'Neill will go to Troyes even with them being relegation bound.

We likely are losing Tilio as well, he has said he wants to go to europe next season

[Le Hack]

I understand that we have signed up Young as GK from WU and Ugarkovic as DM from Nix. These are pretty much replacements for Glover, an upgrade in my opinion, and O'Neill, a downgrade but he's not too bad and I think he's actually more willing to hit the trigger and have a shot from outside than O'Neill so might ask some questions of opposition defences. I agree in that we'll also lose Tilio, Bos, and Berisha, although hoping the latter's loan is extended.I wouldn't be too upset if we bought back Cola to provide cover for the wing, that gives you Leckie, Nabbout, Colakovski, and Raphael and Suleiman. Decent. Bos is a big loss so no one really to cover him apart from relying on Galloway and Jamieson. I think we could let go Stokes he's got no upside imo and look at getting a full back from somewhere. Berenguer is still decent you'd keep him on if he had Australian citizenship but taking up a visa isn't ideal with him having significant soft tissue injures last couple of years.

[jw1739]

9 hours ago, Le Hack said:

I understand that we have signed up Young as GK from WU and Ugarkovic as DM from Nix. These are pretty much replacements for Glover, an upgrade in my opinion, and O'Neill, a downgrade but he's not too bad and I think he's actually more willing to hit the trigger and have a shot from outside than O'Neill so might ask some questions of opposition defences. I agree in that we'll also lose Tilio, Bos, and Berisha, although hoping the latter's loan is extended.I wouldn't be too upset if we bought back Cola to provide cover for the wing, that gives you Leckie, Nabbout, Colakovski, and Raphael and Suleiman. Decent. Bos is a big loss so no one really to cover him apart from relying on Galloway and Jamieson. I think we could let go Stokes he's got no upside imo and look at getting a full back from somewhere. Berenguer is still decent you'd keep him on if he had Australian citizenship but taking up a visa isn't ideal with him having significant soft tissue injures last couple of years.

I'm not against Young, but he'll be 38 by the start of next season. Ugarkovic has a poor goal-scoring record and will be 29 by the start of next season.

I would have hoped that we could do better.

Edited May 5 by jw1739

[malloy]

14 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I'm not against Young, but he'll be 38 by the start of next season. Ugarkovic has a poor goal-scoring record and will be 29 by the start of next season.

I would have hoped that we could do better.

Surely Young is a bit of a stop gap whilst Nieuwenhuizen is blooded into the team.

 

[MHFC-FAN]

17 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I'm not against Young, but he'll be 38 by the start of next season. Ugarkovic has a poor goal-scoring record and will be 29 by the start of next season.

I would have hoped that we could do better.

Probably a bit early to be writing them off aye...

[Zanty]

18 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I'm not against Young, but he'll be 38 by the start of next season. Ugarkovic has a poor goal-scoring record and will be 29 by the start of next season.

I would have hoped that we could do better.

Age is irrelevant when it comes to GK imo, Ugarkovic won't be as good as O'Neill but it would be hard to find a replacement as good as him with the salary cap. 

[belaguttman]

43 minutes ago, Zanty said:

Age is irrelevant when it comes to GK imo, Ugarkovic won't be as good as O'Neill but it would be hard to find a replacement as good as him with the salary cap. 

I remember when O'Neill started as a replacement for Brillante; he was clearly a good player, but ineffective and cost the team cohesion and transition. It took him about a season to be able to seamlessly link defence and attack in attacking transition whilst being well positioned as a DM in defensive transition. IMHO he became the most important player in implementing our style of play. This season, he suddenly became an attacking presence when Rado gave him more attacking license, PK had him sticking rigidly to a defensive role. I imagine that Ugarkovic will go through a similar process.

[marn11]

Ugarkovic is very good, I'd be happy with him.

[MHFC-FAN]

Just now, marn11 said:

Ugarkovic is very good, I'd be happy with him.

If it's any consolation. For Wellington he is rated equal best with Zawada on fotmob with an average rating of 7.24 for the season. For comparison our best rated players was Leckie averaging 7.75 per game. But as a direct comparison O'Neill was getting an average  rating of 7.65...

[marn11]

1 minute ago, MHFC-FAN said:

If it's any consolation. For Wellington he is rated equal best with Zawada on fotmob with an average rating of 7.24 for the season. For comparison our best rated players was Leckie averaging 7.75 per game. But as a direct comparison O'Neill was getting an average  rating of 7.65...

We aren't going to replace O'Neill's output with another Aussie player. I think Ugarkovic is about as good as we could hope for. 

[MHFC-FAN]

8 minutes ago, marn11 said:

We aren't going to replace O'Neill's output with another Aussie player. I think Ugarkovic is about as good as we could hope for. 

Yes I agree, Ugarkovic is about the perfect A-league replacement for O'Neill. As he is right in 'prime age' of 28 and is unlikely to be going overseas at this point in his career. Yet is probably in the top five best DMs in the league at present and probably not overly expensive...

[jw1739]

Where does this rumour originate? Does it have substance or is it just kite-flying?

[Zanty]

32 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Where does this rumour originate? Does it have substance or is it just kite-flying?

I can't remember the exact source but I believe it was a New Zealand Paper who said it first

[kingofhearts]

3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Where does this rumour originate? Does it have substance or is it just kite-flying?

It's no rumour.  It started from me. And you know my word is reliable as fk

[neio]

3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Where does this rumour originate? Does it have substance or is it just kite-flying?

NZ journo who when it was announced, said that Sail was off to Perth, Lewis to Macarthur and Ugarkovic to City. The first 2 have been announced as correct, so every chance Ugarkovic one is true as well 

[jw1739]

3 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

It's no rumour.  It started from me. And you know my word is reliable as fk

Still waiting for that German midfielder...