Transfer News January 2023 Transfer window thread

[The mighty Aldo]

Someone should have told the Oxford fans when he was brought on against Wycombe



If there's one thing he is...

He has been playing as a loan striker yes,but he’s much better when other players are around him and he doesn’t get long balls pumped at him

 

[yellowbow]

Marty Taylor has been flogged into the ground for the past three seasons due to KR’s inability to build a balanced squad. His legs haven’t ‘gone’ he’s just totally knackered due to the minutes he’s had to play and the ground he’s had to cover during those minutes. This season the tactics have basically been hoof the the ball up to him and let him battle with the opposition back line. We’ve totally failed to utilise him to his strengths. He’s been getting Karl out of the s**t since he’s been here and the thanks he gets is to be completely hung out to dry this season. No wonder he couldn’t wait to get out the door and play for a manager that actually supports him and allows him to do what he’s good at. Which isn’t trying to win headers against giant centre backs!

 

[Jason N]

I think Niasse or Grabban, Karl likes a big name, Jermaine Defoe of course one last year rumoured to be close

Niasse was a flop at Burton, so no, thanks. I've always liked Grabban, starting from his time at Rotherham where, IIRC, tore us a new one.

 

[Nalowe6971]

I have no issue with MT going out on loan as he has had a poor season and his legs have gone however we need a replacement
Does anyone have a clue who that may be ….. please not Connor wickham

 

[Swaby39]

Some of the top free agent strikers:
Jürgen Locaida, former Brighton
Simone Zaza, famous euro penalty
Wickham, we know about him
Kyle Lafferty, formerly of Kilmarnock
Oumar Niasse, former Everton
Lewis Grabban, ex Sunderland
Tom Elliot, ex Salford - 2 metres tall

I'd take a few of those to be honest but may be a couple of work permit issues within that list. If one of those arrives I will see method in the madness of yesterday. I cannot comprehend letting Matty go unless that's happening.

 

[holdsteady]

The Wickham situation is weird, he left Forest Green a month ago and has just taken a month off, during that time clubs have played plenty of games, up to 15 points worth so if you think he is going to help you win/draw games why would a club and him not come to an agreement? Don't think I have ever heard of a player at this level doing what he has this season, two short term deals for different clubs in the same league with a month of in the middle.

 

[yellowbow]

Can still sign free agents though, like we did with Baldock last year.

Does a club that aspires to be top 30 constantly trawl the free loans market in February though?

Why was the Matty Taylor move so last minute??

What the hell is going on?

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

When you see it like this, does this help?

Wicker basket
Brief case
Golf club

Makes it obvious to me.

Wicker = Wickham
Brief = short
Club = club

Connor Wickham will shortly be joining our club.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

View attachment 11966

Basket
Case
Club

 

[bert]

Just rubbing it in at this point

View attachment 11965

Could be worse:

 

[Teddydee1980]

Could be worse:

View attachment 11967

Oh lord.

 

[OUFCGav]

Precisely. He shits himself within 20 yds of goal!

does he ever get that close? - he does the roll across then a bit of a charge up the pitch to a bit past half way, then turns back.

 

[QR]

Hey, on the bright side at least we didn't wake up this morning with the news Brannagan had be sold for a ridiculous low sum. My darkest dreams had taken me there.
Small mercies and all that.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Vale’s manager is Matty’s mate isn’t he, maybe Vale instigated the move, rather than us shipping him out, and he was keen to go.

 

[ECYellow]

Cam Bran.

CB…yeah

 

[Joey]

Something strange going on or clearing the decks ready for next season? We are clearly building for next season by getting loan players in rather permanent signings to see us through, 1 of them that we could sign in the summer if he does well.

Not sure only signing players who are going to be off at the end of the season qualifies as building for next year at all. I get the point they could join permanently and am happy enough with them but in the January when we last sacked a manager we signed Brannagan and Dickie on permanent deals. A good player is a good player regardless of the manager.

People bang on about wages and we have just got a high earner off the wage bill. This means there will be more money in the budget for next season.

Is he not out of contract in the summer anyway, so we would have had exactly the same result if we just didn't renew them as well as having another option for the last few months of this season. With Walker in the building we could have even played him in a front two to see if that coaxed anything extra out of him like it did a year ago when we last had a couple of strikers. Will saving some of his wages this year have any effect on the budget for next season? I genuinely don't know this but was under the impression it didn't, in which case that point is moot.

Like others have said, if Taylor was any other player rather than one of our own it would be seen as a good move.

We have GOD, Smith and Joseph as striker plus Baldock if he ever gets fit so it’s not like we are lacking in forwards.

As much as GOD has impressed this season he's still a teenager and doesn't look ready to lead the line at this level. Smith is an unknown quantity, Joseph looks better out wide and you absolutely can't rely on Baldock, as good as he was. To lose Taylor with no one else coming in is reckless, especially as we now might be able to finally play a formation that gets the best out of him.

If all this sounds like a defence of Taylor it isn't, I'd still not have renewed in the summer but letting him leave now without a replacement is stupid. If there's a free agent coming in then it makes more sense at least.

 

[Foley]

With Harrison alongside him he will score between 8/10 goals this season for Vale

Let's see?
We have scored more than PV this season.

 

[Jason N]

There isn’t sentiment in football, but there is at this club if you’re Gorrin, or Hall, or Henry/Bodin/Baldock.

Having Taylor as the sub option was now the obvious choice. Stating that Baldock coming back, GOD and Bodin playing there a bit doesn’t qualify as a decent reason in my book.

Additionally, another character gone from the dressing room. Plus, the horrible PR of it.

In the summer we will have so much to do. In my mind, this window should have been used to get a jump on the summer

Yes, needlessly losing two of our most influential senior Pro's in one window may come back to bite us.

 

[unification]

So to review, we have brought in:

Stephen Negru
Teddy Mfuni
Brandon Fleming (loan)
Ateef Konate (loan)
Tyler Smith (loan)

And we’ve got rid of:

John Mousinho
Steve Seddon (loan)
Jodi Jones (loan)
Matty Taylor (loan)

Dress that up how you like, we’ve lost some very experienced heads and replaced them with some kids. Fleming and Smith I am happy about. Fleming already looks a good addition and Smith should add some pace to a forward line that I banged on about all pre-season as being too old and therefore too slow. Negru and Mfuni probably won’t get any minutes at this stage. Negru may well be earmarked for a pre-season starts in the summer in the same way we ingratiated Atkinson and McNally into the side.

With the exits, Jones wasn’t playing so no loss there (that’s a whole other story), Seddon has been replaced by Fleming which I’d argue is an upgrade. It’s the loss of the other two that’s a concern. Whilst a bit part player, Mous is a massive loss in the changing room. I can see the spin from the anti-KR/pro-or-less-vociferous-KR-out brigades on here. Matty Taylor seemingly has declined more than any of us would have thought. When put in on goal against Arsenal, a 2019 MT would have made that run and quite probably scored. He looked so much slower and his whole game has been affected. That said, the decimation of service this season hasn’t helped. MT has scored loads despite a 4-3-3 not really suiting him so I wouldn’t be overly surprised if being up front in a two, you’d see him net goals again.

I saw that @Steve Gilbert somehow tried to claim this as succession planning. Maybe so but the best teams and managers don’t look to start that process after 10pm on transfer deadline day. They review in the summer or ease out the aging players when they have the replacement in the building. We don’t. I sincerely hope there’s a OOC player due to join us soon as we look very light on proper strikers right now.

2005-06 we struggled to find that striker and we know how that went. There’s four places we want to avoid now.

 

[Jolteon]

WTF are we doing this season