Transfer Window - COMPLETE. Where’s Gregg?

[roversfan99]

5 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

CM: We've lost Rothwell, so he needs replacing. After that, we've lost Johnson and Davenport, who were only squad players, the former a very old and shit one by last season. Davenport was average and extremely injury prone. I'll take two untested but promising kids in their place. We can always loan in January if they're not up to it (I know what you'll reply with to that, yes that's half the season gone, but I don't see us getting relegated nor promoted this season so I really don't care...they'll barely be needed anyway so won't make that much difference).

Davenport played 252 minutes this season gone. He barely counts. Johnson played 905, which was about 905 more than he should have. Some of those were at CB and as a 'second striker'. Between them that's an equivalent to 13 full games. Happy to give Garrett and Wharton about 6.5 games worth of playing time each to see if they're up to it, most likely spread largely over sub appearances, personally, rather than go pay for someone else to get in their way on our limited budget. There's also Edun, who may have been a little underwhelming but less so in CM than Johnson certainly. As you point out though he's not an option there whenever Pickering is unavailable.

At CB, we are probably lining up with 3 of them it sounds like, so we need 5 dependable ones. We have Ayala for about a third of the season, Wharton, New Guy, Carter (who I expect you'll put in the same underwhelming category as Edun?) and then it's untested kids. So yeh I'd say two CBs is a bigger priority than two CMs. This changes a bit if we plan to play 3 CMs too though, in a 5-3-2 say, although then as things stand we could name 3 good mids (let's say Styles, Buckley and Travis) who have no real injury problems historically bar the odd niggle for Travis, but our best 3 CBs would be Ayala (injury prone), Wharton (some history with injuries) and new guy. Also to use the logic from my CM bit, we have lost two very good ones here, not one very good one and two also-rans. I see that as a bigger problem.

If we sell BBD I'd probably say sure, bring another CM in once BBD is replaced. Probably on loan, which I suspect our second CB will be too (giving us time to see if Carter and Phillips are up to it rather than buying someone to get in their way).

We was quite lucky that Travis and Rothwell both stayed fit for the majority of the season last season. We also have an additional 2 subs to use so more scope for game time. I felt that we was short in midfield last season anyway to be honest so simply trying to equal that shouldnt be the aim.

I dont feel comfortable putting too much pressure on the young lads to play a reasonable role with immediate effect. I feel that people are misinterpreting that as me just blocking their path but they will get in when they are ready if they are good enough. 

There has also been assumptions that we can only afford 1 CM. Firstly my point is that I feel we need 2, before whether we can afford 2 (which we dont know) is considered. I personally would prefer a second midfielder to a second defender (I feel Carter has proven himself more than A.Wharton and Garrett) but ideally we would get 2 of each. If that means buying a centre back, an attacking player and a central midfielder and loaning another defender and midfielder, that would be ok.

2 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Brown had a decent game at Birmingham imo. 

JRC could do with regular game time..

But you do want to keep adding to the wage budget by adding players time after time instead of using these players we got..

Comments from who? Barnsley fans? Are we now basing on signings on other team signings or actually proper scouting, research and watching the player over a period of games like our recruitment team do? 

He is better than Nyambe imo

I expect another 2 at least in before the QPR game. 

No I dont accept and Given when we appoint Gregg Broughton and Jon Dahl 

It will be interesting if Brown is loaned out to see if you will be consistent in your opinion that you do not want that to happen. 

I was on about Szmodics in this instance.

The line about recruitment is absolute nonsense though. I am not advocating that the club gets rid of its scouting processes and instead just reads what fans think. I as a fan find it interesting and useful to see what people watching players every week think, in the absence of having the time and desire to do detailed scouting reports on players I havent otherwise seen week in week out. If you dont thats fine but please stop telling me not to every single time I do, just ignore that part if you dont care.

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Indeed. After that you're probably not bringing anyone in who is currently very good, you're either bringing in a has-been like Johnson on no real fee but quite big wages to hang around and play 10 games worth like he did last season, or a cheap punt youth prospect, and we have two of those. Anybody in the say, 26 year old bracket like I'm guessing RF99 would prefer, is going to be bobbins, or too expensive to waste most of the season sat on a bench.

You would assume wrong if the second midfielder has to be in the 26 year old bracket and indeed is bobbins. 

[Galgaterover10]

Just been doing some reading up on posh fans views on smzodics. General opinion is he’s a bit hot and cold in front of goal and excellent at league 1 level but not stepped up at championship. He gives 100% every game and has loads of energy and excellent at pressing. 

Sounds like he’s been identified to play the high press high tempo football JDT has talked about. I do wonder where that leaves Dack sounds like he might not have the engine or mobility anymore to play how JDT wants.

 

[chaddyrovers]

17 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It will be interesting if Brown is loaned out to see if you will be consistent in your opinion that you do not want that to happen. 

I've told you my opinion so why are carry on with this. 

17 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I was on about Szmodics in this instance.

The line about recruitment is absolute nonsense though. I am not advocating that the club gets rid of its scouting processes and instead just reads what fans think. I as a fan find it interesting and useful to see what people watching players every week think, in the absence of having the time and desire to do detailed scouting reports on players I havent otherwise seen week in week out. If you dont thats fine but please stop telling me not to every single time I do, just ignore that part if you dont care.

No one is telling you what to do but you know my opinion on listen to fans opinion and it should have zero bearing on our opinion. 

I don't know much on Szmodics tbh. 

[bluebruce]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

We was quite lucky that Travis and Rothwell both stayed fit for the majority of the season last season. We also have an additional 2 subs to use so more scope for game time. I felt that we was short in midfield last season anyway to be honest so simply trying to equal that shouldnt be the aim.

I dont feel comfortable putting too much pressure on the young lads to play a reasonable role with immediate effect. I feel that people are misinterpreting that as me just blocking their path but they will get in when they are ready if they are good enough. 

There has also been assumptions that we can only afford 1 CM. Firstly my point is that I feel we need 2, before whether we can afford 2 (which we dont know) is considered. I personally would prefer a second midfielder to a second defender (I feel Carter has proven himself more than A.Wharton and Garrett) but ideally we would get 2 of each. If that means buying a centre back, an attacking player and a central midfielder and loaning another defender and midfielder, that would be ok.

 

You would assume wrong if the second midfielder has to be in the 26 year old bracket and indeed is bobbins. 

Buckley was fit for most of the season too. Not sure it's luck, rather than Buckley and Trav just not being that injury prone. Travis has been known to be out for a couple of months before though. Agree midfield was an issue whenever one of our main three weren't available, when we used three in the middle anyway. Less so when using 2, which is always an option. I think that affects the team less than switching from a back 5 to a back 4, as all you really need to do is drop an attacker (Dack ideally) a bit further back until someone is back.

It's not really 'a reasonable role with immediate effect'. It's a reasonable role if somebody gets injured. It's even possible to go the whole season with this almost never happening to the whole midfield 3. If that happened, Edun and this new midfielder would mean Wharton and Garrett got almost, or perhaps actually, no game time at all. 'When they're ready and if they're good enough' well what if they're ready and good enough now?

Whether we can afford 2 does matter though, indeed before whether we need 2. We seem to be willing to pay I would guess about 2 million to land Styles. If the budget doesn't stretch to a second, one option is to not sign Styles, and spread it over 2 CMs the club wants less, which I'd consider quality dilution. Of course, you're more talking about not getting a second CB, and I refer to my previous comments on that. Agree Carter has proven himself a bit more than the two young mids, but he's also further up the pecking order for that position once we assume a CM and a CB bought and Ayala out for his usual 2/3 of the season. After that it's kids with actually less experience than Garrett and Wharton (Phillips, barely even played u23s). In fact assuming 3 CB and 3 mids it's only 5 players for 3 positions total in CB (Ayala, Wharton, new guy, Carter, Phillips) vs 6 in CM (Buckley, Travis, new guy, Edun, Wharton, Garrett). With more injury record amongst the CBs than the mids.

[bluebruce]

24 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

You would assume wrong if the second midfielder has to be in the 26 year old bracket and indeed is bobbins. 

That's not really what I was saying. Obviously being bobbins isn't a requirement. What I was saying is, there are three categories of players broadly speaking. More age groups than anything else. The young uns, who are often untested, or if they're experienced are pretty damned expensive. Established players. And players with loads of experience, generally 30+ and generally not good assets to buy unless you're already tooled up, have money, and need an extra push to get you over the line.

You don't seem to be a fan of young, untested players, hence us having this discussion, so I assume us signing some 19 year old from another team's academy wouldn't suit your needs. You do seem to quite like your old grizzled slow vets, as I've seen you praise Johnson a fair few times, so I may have assumed wrong with the other post in that regard and you'd in fact like us to sign some old fart (who I would probably consider bobbins if they're like Johnson, and would almost certainly cost a fair bit in wages to barely feature). I wouldn't want to sign such a player, generally speaking.

My point was though, the experienced but not past their peak players mostly fit into two categories - too expensive for this kind of squad role, or too bobbins to be a definite improvement on two very promising youngsters, or worth reducing their opportunities to appear. You don't really find many decent mid-20s players with Championship experience available for loan at a reasonable price. I suppose essentially I'm asking you, what sort of profile of player do you see us being able to sign or loan for a 2nd CM recruitment this summer? Not asking you to name a player or anything, just what sort of age, experience, quality are you really expecting we could manage for that position on our limited budget? As personally I can't think of a 'type' that would be appealing. Not saying they're physically not out there mind.

Thinking about it, we've talked about loans too, which I'm not against for a 2nd CM if the budget covers it...and maybe we can get someone who has already had a season out in the Championship, but quite often we're looking at someone with about the same experience as Garrett and Wharton have. If it is someone who has had a year in the Championship, they're probably looking to feature more than being 4th choice in our 3 (or even 2 potentially) man midfield. If they're not, then they probably bombed at their prior stint in this league.

[Exiled_Rover]

21 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Buckley was fit for most of the season too. Not sure it's luck, rather than Buckley and Trav just not being that injury prone. Travis has been known to be out for a couple of months before though. Agree midfield was an issue whenever one of our main three weren't available, when we used three in the middle anyway. Less so when using 2, which is always an option. I think that affects the team less than switching from a back 5 to a back 4, as all you really need to do is drop an attacker (Dack ideally) a bit further back until someone is back.

It's not really 'a reasonable role with immediate effect'. It's a reasonable role if somebody gets injured. It's even possible to go the whole season with this almost never happening to the whole midfield 3. If that happened, Edun and this new midfielder would mean Wharton and Garrett got almost, or perhaps actually, no game time at all. 'When they're ready and if they're good enough' well what if they're ready and good enough now?

Whether we can afford 2 does matter though, indeed before whether we need 2. We seem to be willing to pay I would guess about 2 million to land Styles. If the budget doesn't stretch to a second, one option is to not sign Styles, and spread it over 2 CMs the club wants less, which I'd consider quality dilution. Of course, you're more talking about not getting a second CB, and I refer to my previous comments on that. Agree Carter has proven himself a bit more than the two young mids, but he's also further up the pecking order for that position once we assume a CM and a CB bought and Ayala out for his usual 2/3 of the season. After that it's kids with actually less experience than Garrett and Wharton (Phillips, barely even played u23s). In fact assuming 3 CB and 3 mids it's only 5 players for 3 positions total in CB (Ayala, Wharton, new guy, Carter, Phillips) vs 6 in CM (Buckley, Travis, new guy, Edun, Wharton, Garrett). With more injury record amongst the CBs than the mids.

I keep on harking back to it, but this suggests he's going to play a 4-2-3-1: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/head-coach-analysis/jon-dahl-tomasson-at-blackburn-rovers-202223-tactical-analysis-tactics

We will often have to play 2 matches a week, operating with a high-tempo press. It's the reason Dack is going to struggle (I suspect he's going to be used as an impact sub, at least early in the season), and the reason why Travis / Buckley can't be relied upon to play 90 minutes each match. 

I'd love to re-visit this during the season, especially once we see where he plays Edun (assuming he thinks he's up to snuff - from what I've seen of him in a Rovers shirt, I don't) and Styles (assuming he signs - I hope he's been signed as a LB). 

From what I've seen of Garrett he's been played in a more advanced role this pre-season, as an AMC. 

Barnes is also 21, so either he goes out on loan and starts each week (most likely as we're clearly looking at CBs) or he's in our CB rotation. It's a shame the Ayala rumours have died down because he simply can't be relied upon to be fit for the majority of the season. 

 

I suspect we've got 1 or 2 more permanent signings in us, with the rest of the squad filled out with loans. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Exiled_Rover

[roversfan99]

20 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I've told you my opinion so why are carry on with this. 

No one is telling you what to do but you know my opinion on listen to fans opinion and it should have zero bearing on our opinion. 

I don't know much on Szmodics tbh. 

I disagree. Whilst accepting limitations from things like being bitter about a potential player that is leaving and recency bias, people who have seen players week in week out and what they say is IMO useful when I havent seen a player to that same degree. Others seemingly agree too as they take notice. I will continue to do it as will others so please just read on next time rather than telling me its pointless.

19 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Buckley was fit for most of the season too. Not sure it's luck, rather than Buckley and Trav just not being that injury prone. Travis has been known to be out for a couple of months before though. Agree midfield was an issue whenever one of our main three weren't available, when we used three in the middle anyway. Less so when using 2, which is always an option. I think that affects the team less than switching from a back 5 to a back 4, as all you really need to do is drop an attacker (Dack ideally) a bit further back until someone is back.

It's not really 'a reasonable role with immediate effect'. It's a reasonable role if somebody gets injured. It's even possible to go the whole season with this almost never happening to the whole midfield 3. If that happened, Edun and this new midfielder would mean Wharton and Garrett got almost, or perhaps actually, no game time at all. 'When they're ready and if they're good enough' well what if they're ready and good enough now?

Whether we can afford 2 does matter though, indeed before whether we need 2. We seem to be willing to pay I would guess about 2 million to land Styles. If the budget doesn't stretch to a second, one option is to not sign Styles, and spread it over 2 CMs the club wants less, which I'd consider quality dilution. Of course, you're more talking about not getting a second CB, and I refer to my previous comments on that. Agree Carter has proven himself a bit more than the two young mids, but he's also further up the pecking order for that position once we assume a CM and a CB bought and Ayala out for his usual 2/3 of the season. After that it's kids with actually less experience than Garrett and Wharton (Phillips, barely even played u23s). In fact assuming 3 CB and 3 mids it's only 5 players for 3 positions total in CB (Ayala, Wharton, new guy, Carter, Phillips) vs 6 in CM (Buckley, Travis, new guy, Edun, Wharton, Garrett). With more injury record amongst the CBs than the mids.

I certainly wouldnt want quality dilution, the first midfielder target is the most important. Whether the second one is a loan, at the expense of a 2nd CB, for a fee or just totally impossible in any case is of course the next consideration but I would feel we were lacking without 2 personally.

[bluebruce]

41 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I keep on harking back to it, but this suggests he's going to play a 4-2-3-1: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/head-coach-analysis/jon-dahl-tomasson-at-blackburn-rovers-202223-tactical-analysis-tactics

We will often have to play 2 matches a week, operating with a high-tempo press. It's the reason Dack is going to struggle (I suspect he's going to be used as an impact sub, at least early in the season), and the reason why Travis / Buckley can't be relied upon to play 90 minutes each match. 

I'd love to re-visit this during the season, especially once we see where he plays Edun (assuming he thinks he's up to snuff - from what I've seen of him in a Rovers shirt, I don't) and Styles (assuming he signs - I hope he's been signed as a LB). 

From what I've seen of Garrett he's been played in a more advanced role this pre-season, as an AMC. 

Barnes is also 21, so either he goes out on loan and starts each week (most likely as we're clearly looking at CBs) or he's in our CB rotation. It's a shame the Ayala rumours have died down because he simply can't be relied upon to be fit for the majority of the season. 

 

I suspect we've got 1 or 2 more permanent signings in us, with the rest of the squad filled out with loans. 

Despite how he has set up his teams formation-wise in the past, comments from him have indicated he doesn't think formation is the be-all-and-end-all (I can't remember the specific comments but they gave this impression) and that the only reason he hasn't played with 3 CBs or 3 mids (I forget which it was tbh) was because we don't have the numbers there yet. So I'm not expecting 4-2-3-1 too often personally, but if we do play that then I'd argue it reduces the need for CBs and for CMs and ramps up our need for attackers.

However, very good point about the pressing game, which we know from comments we will see. It essentially becomes 3 games a week (as I've argued before and I'm not going over again!) at times and that's very demanding on the midfield and attack (and probably wingbacks if we use those) when they're using a high press. This doesn't affect the back three as much. I didn't factor this into my discussion with RF99, but it does shift the recruitment priority a bit more towards the midfield.

From hearing that we are targeting 2 CBs and only one mid as well as managerial comments I still think we are more likely to field 3 CBs than 2. Course, we don't know, hell maybe JDT isn't even fully sure how it will pan out yet. It will be interesting to see!

Agree I'd rather sell Ayala and replace him with somebody who is more likely to be fit most of the season and probably takes a smaller wage. I suspect Barnes is in our CB options until we sign one, then will probably go off on loan.

[bluebruce]

The LT said it was only aware of a bid in excess of 1 mill for Szmodics. This (possibly unreliable) site says 3 million has been rejected:

https://punditarena.com/football/ronan-calvert/blackburn-rovers-transfer-sammie-szmodics-james-brown/

It's believed he cost P'boro just under 1 million, so Fry saying there have been bids 'way above' what they paid for him suggests it's closer to the 3 million claim than the 1 million. I'd be getting cold feet on this one at 3 million personally, let alone the higher fee we would need to reach. That's about what they got for the more highly-rated Dembele isn't it? They've been relegated since then...

Has anybody seen a fair bit of this lad to say he would be worth over 3 million? It does clash a bit with what someone said about most of our budget going on a CB.

[Miker]

There's a lot of talk about midfielders and defenders, but what about attackers?

I'm resigned to BBD leaving before the window shuts. We can't go into the season reliant on the likes of Dolan, Hedges, Markanday and Vale. All relatively unproven who we can hope have good seasons, but there's no guarantee. We have no idea if Dack will survive the season either. I'm expecting big things from Gallagher, but he can't be our main striker.

We saw what happened in January when BBD's goals dried up and Dack was injured again. Zero threat up front and long periods without scoring. 

[yankfan]

4 hours ago, Tabula Rasa said:

How about Russell Coughlin, then?

I remember Mick Rathbone describing in his autobiography how Coughlin (and another player whose name I forget) used to buy an unsliced loaf from the bakers on Bolton Road, cut it in half, scoop out the middle, buy chips, pie and gravy from the chippy, pour them into the scooped out halves, and then proceed to eat the lot. 😆😆😆

Great player on the ball.

Probably couldn't have coped with today's pressing game, though. ☺️

 

How about Andrea Pirlo

[yankfan]

46 minutes ago, Miker said:

There's a lot of talk about midfielders and defenders, but what about attackers?

I'm resigned to BBD leaving before the window shuts. We can't go into the season reliant on the likes of Dolan, Hedges, Markanday and Vale. All relatively unproven who we can hope have good seasons, but there's no guarantee. We have no idea if Dack will survive the season either. I'm expecting big things from Gallagher, but he can't be our main striker.

We saw what happened in January when BBD's goals dried up and Dack was injured again. Zero threat up front and long periods without scoring. 

I see Gally rates so low, he’s not even considered on your list 

[Ossydave]

1 hour ago, Miker said:

There's a lot of talk about midfielders and defenders, but what about attackers?

I'm resigned to BBD leaving before the window shuts. We can't go into the season reliant on the likes of Dolan, Hedges, Markanday and Vale. All relatively unproven who we can hope have good seasons, but there's no guarantee. We have no idea if Dack will survive the season either. I'm expecting big things from Gallagher, but he can't be our main striker.

We saw what happened in January when BBD's goals dried up and Dack was injured again. Zero threat up front and long periods without scoring. 

Still think Grabban would be perfect, adds a bit of experience too. As it stands, Ayala is our oldest outfield player and after that it's Dack! It's obviously uncertain how much either will play so we're looking at a very youthful team (not saying its a bad thing). Average age of circa 21?

[islander200]

24 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Still think Grabban would be perfect, adds a bit of experience too. As it stands, Ayala is our oldest outfield player and after that it's Dack! It's obviously uncertain how much either will play so we're looking at a very youthful team (not saying its a bad thing). Average age of circa 21?

32 starts out of 46 last season and 28 starts the year before

Good player no question but a player on the decline and would be looking for good money these type of signings Graham and a couple of other aside generally don't work out for us and we get burnt paying too much of a wage. 

Wouldn't be surprised to see him end up in the states or middle Eastern club 

[Ossydave]

6 minutes ago, islander200 said:

32 starts out of 46 last season and 28 starts the year before

Good player no question but a player on the decline and would be looking for good money these type of signings Graham and a couple of other aside generally don't work out for us and we get burnt paying too much of a wage. 

Wouldn't be surprised to see him end up in the states or middle Eastern club 

I'm taking in addition to Diaz on the assumption he stays, if he goes then I'd be expecting more than Grabban on a free. I wouldn't want him as our main striker.

You're right regarding wages, he can either accept lower, more realistic wages if he wants to stay in this country or indeed go overseas. I'd at least ask the question though...

[Mercer]

7 hours ago, Tabula Rasa said:

How about Russell Coughlin, then?

I remember Mick Rathbone describing in his autobiography how Coughlin (and another player whose name I forget) used to buy an unsliced loaf from the bakers on Bolton Road, cut it in half, scoop out the middle, buy chips, pie and gravy from the chippy, pour them into the scooped out halves, and then proceed to eat the lot. 😆😆😆

Great player on the ball.

Probably couldn't have coped with today's pressing game, though. ☺️

 

Coughlin had so much potential and talent but, IMO, sadly wasted it.  He could and should have been a top flight player.  Sadly, I don't think he had the mindset of a professional athlete as your tale indicates.  Tragically, the lad passed away in his fifties.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Mercer

[Mercer]

Whilst reading through, noticed a number of question marks posed against Dack's fitness, mobility and engine etc.

Sadly, I agree.  Even before his injuries, I would not have described Dack as a 'great athlete'.  I think Dack is really struggling and you wonder what is now left of him as a 'real player'.  An expensive conundrum for Rovers.

[The Gull]

Liverpool friends telling me Tyler Morton will sign for us on loan shortly. 

They tell me he’s a tidy player, probably needs to beef up a little but high hopes for him, plays in midfield, holding midfielder rather than attacking. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by The Gull

[Galgaterover10]

The other thing going against Dack is a new manager. JDT is judging everyone on a clean slate with no bias towards what they’ve done previously. If Mowbray was still in charge I’m sure Dack would get given every opportunity because of their relationship. 

[Jimmy612]

6 minutes ago, The Gull said:

Liverpool friends telling me Tyler Morton will sign for us on loan shortly. 

They tell me he’s a tidy player, probably needs to beef up a little but high hopes for him, plays in midfield, holding midfielder rather than attacking. 

This feels very familiar. 

[Mattyblue]

A quick Google says he even looks very familiar…

[neophox]

Rovers wont sell BBD for under £20m. Either we get £20m for him in this window or he will stay.

[neophox]

11 minutes ago, The Gull said:

Liverpool friends telling me Tyler Morton will sign for us on loan shortly. 

They tell me he’s a tidy player, probably needs to beef up a little but high hopes for him, plays in midfield, holding midfielder rather than attacking. 

Clarkson nr2?

[neophox]

5 hours ago, bluebruce said:

The LT said it was only aware of a bid in excess of 1 mill for Szmodics. This (possibly unreliable) site says 3 million has been rejected:

https://punditarena.com/football/ronan-calvert/blackburn-rovers-transfer-sammie-szmodics-james-brown/

It's believed he cost P'boro just under 1 million, so Fry saying there have been bids 'way above' what they paid for him suggests it's closer to the 3 million claim than the 1 million. I'd be getting cold feet on this one at 3 million personally, let alone the higher fee we would need to reach. That's about what they got for the more highly-rated Dembele isn't it? They've been relegated since then...

Has anybody seen a fair bit of this lad to say he would be worth over 3 million? It does clash a bit with what someone said about most of our budget going on a CB.

He's not worth £3m... maybe £1m tops and as a sub, not starting player.... move on for me.

[Galgaterover10]

13 minutes ago, The Gull said:

Liverpool friends telling me Tyler Morton will sign for us on loan shortly. 

They tell me he’s a tidy player, probably needs to beef up a little but high hopes for him, plays in midfield, holding midfielder rather than attacking. 

Presume that means styles isn’t happening? Rich Sharpe suggested we’d be replacing the main departures with new signings and using academy lads for the fringe players. So in his view only signing 1 centre mid, I’d rather Styles on a permanent then another Liverpool youngster on loan.