The Summer Transfer Window (Press Submit)

[Theaxe15]

Wonder is Mafoumbi is getting grief from Nantes fans for leaving to go to Rovers 😏

(kidding by the way…)

[Irish_Rover]

2 minutes ago, arbitro said:

He is quoted as saying he is leaving because he wants a new challenge. He is 16 and could have been a regular squad player for a Championship club. Instead he will be in Newcastle's under 18's and 21's.

Poor choice in my opinion and I can see him regretting it from a career point of view (which at his age should be the most important thing).

Haven't checked out the official post but if he has said the part in bold then he is an utter, utter muppet!

You look for a new challenge if you have been here in the first team for 5 or 6 years, not when you're a kid just starting and looking to build on your 1 appearance last season and push on. He deserves the 8 years of a loan tour that he'll no doubt be sent out on.

[Andy]

14 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Be careful, some will disagree he’s useless just because they don’t like him…I presume he’s got a lot of these right because he’s pals with John Park.

Yeah, it's no coincidence that his hit rate has improved since Park returned to the club.

That said, Park really shouldn't be divulging that kind of information to red-top hacks (if it's indeed the case).

Nice to see a couple of signings though, seems the 'send' button has been discovered finally.

[JHRover]

5 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Absolute no brainer to get him on a years deal with an option for me, can't be going into the new season without any championship experience up top.

I dunno why though I just have a feeling that it won't happen.

I expect he will stay for us for a few weeks to get fit and then come deadline day or shortly afterwards he will be unveiled signing for someone like Preston, Sheff Wed or Derby.

He will still want a Championship wage and I don't think we are paying them. Rovers' aim will be to keep him around the place and hope he eventually drops his demands because he likes it.

[Iceman]

10 minutes ago, markhayhurst said:

Good to see the model of developing young English players and selling on is so well established with our latest 3 signings & goodness knows what the combined age of our touted defence will be.
 (Any young ones developed leave before they establish a first team place)

Strange post this. When we don't sign players, we question the club. When we do, we are worried about young players, who are not good enough to be playing first team football yet.. we have a good academy, but it ain't La Masia good..

[BankEnd Rover]

12 minutes ago, J*B said:

You guys are smoking some wacky stuff. He’s 28 and will quadruple his wages if he gets a Prem move, or double them for a top end Championship move. There is absolutely no way he stays on the back of signing a striker who’s only success is in a relegated side in Belgium and a forward that’s never scored outside of Japan. 

Thanks for that…Not sure you’d have any positive spin on a signing, and before you start mentioning Venkeys and Waggot, we all know the clubs situation.

 

Edited July 31 by BankEnd Rover

[AVE1875]

Leeds are apparently out of the race for Szmods which is good to see (so we don't witness him bagging against us next season), apparently only considering a deal away providing it is a Prem side solidifying that he only would like a move to test himself (of course the extra cash would be welcome!! 🤣)... Which leads back to his end of season interview when asked about interest his response was basically let's see how it goes and that he is still contracted to Rovers either way. 

Should a move not materialise (high chance it will) I can't see him being unhappy about staying. Genuine professional and wish him the best of luck no matter what happens. 

[AllRoverAsia]

5 minutes ago, arbitro said:

He is quoted as saying he is leaving because he wants a new challenge. He is 16 and could have been a regular squad player for a Championship club. Instead he will be in Newcastle's under 18's and 21's.

Poor choice in my opinion and I can see him regretting it from a career point of view (which at his age should be the most important thing).

If he is as good as is reported then as he's just aged 16 further development at a PL academy is very sensible rather than being forced into a first team squad because the club have to due to squad numbers, and probably benched often.

If he's top class like that Spanish lad then we've been robbed of a talent that should have hung out for Real Madrid or similar after a year or 2 in Germany at one of their elite clubs like Bellingham did

[Iceman]

3 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Thanks for that…Not sure you’d have any positive spin on a signing, and before you start mentioned Venkeys and Waggot, we all know the clubs situation.

 

Must have hated the Sammie signing when we brought him in..

[tomphil]

13 minutes ago, markhayhurst said:

“just here to get some cheap players through the door via his contacts.” and here is a scary quote…..

Well going off last summers cheapies brought in it can't possibly be worse....can it ?

[RoversClitheroe]

Well Wednesday is the Sammie Szmodics deadline day.

He'll move on transfer deadline day I'm sure.

[TruRover]

Topi Keskinen has followed us on instagram… not sure if that means anything.
 

I don’t know much about him, anyone got some insight? 

[JHRover]

I think people are getting way ahead of themselves with some comments.

Of course it is a relief to finally, a week before the season starts, to be getting some signings over the line and bodies in the building. Scandalous that it has taken so long, but better late than never.

Big gambles all of these signings. They could be masterstrokes, they could be utter disasters (Fode Koita etc). Certainly too early to be getting giddy.

I am absolutely convinced that the only reason these have suddenly been sanctioned is because we are sufficiently far down the road of selling Gallagher for a 7 figure sum that the powers-that-be are allowing a portion of that to be paid out on these cheap deals. These 3 will be on substantially less than Gallagher.

CB situation - a tricky one because in isolation both McFadzean and Batth provide the experience we are in need of. But returning to both after the events of the last 12 months really does just highlight what a mess the club and its' recruitment is.

The Batth one in particular. JDT wanted him all last summer. It rumbled on for months and never got done. Now a full year on, a year where he has played little football, we are going back in for him - why? McFadzean - if we really wanted to keep him we should have had that deal done weeks ago to give him a pre-season.

All this just suggests that nothing could be done - not even these relatively cheap easy deals - until guaranteed funds were coming in from Raya / Gallagher. I suspect there is also merit in the suggestion that we have wasted June and July to avoid paying wages for 2 months with no games.

[markhayhurst]

7 minutes ago, Iceman said:

Strange post this. When we don't sign players, we question the club. When we do, we are worried about young players, who are not good enough to be playing first team football yet.. we have a good academy, but it ain't La Masia good..

How’s it a strange post. It’s not my views I  was parroting the line from Rovers HQ 

“In many ways, Tomasson had seemed the perfect fit for Blackburn’s model of developing young homegrown players and having an attractive style of play. However, tensions grew over the ambitions of the club and he left early in February”

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

Things are moving! Fadz and Batth close to signing.

A mix of experienced championship pros and some gambles from abroad in so far. I like it. Weimann will probably get a deal too to add some championship experience up top. I'd imagine so anyway.

Last summer we made the huge mistake of all our signings being gambles and it failed miserably. This feels like a more sensible approach.

Still need a GK, cover RB, CM, and pacy winger or 2. 

I can’t see the point of signing both of Fadz and Batth, unless the plan is to give them 45 minutes each ?

[Rover8T4]

10 minutes ago, Theaxe15 said:

Wonder is Mafoumbi is getting grief from Nantes fans for leaving to go to Rovers 😏

(kidding by the way…)

Don't start 😂

[Rover8T4]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

Yeah, it's no coincidence that his hit rate has improved since Park returned to the club.

That said, Park really shouldn't be divulging that kind of information to red-top hacks (if it's indeed the case).

Nice to see a couple of signings though, seems the 'send' button has been discovered finally.

Got no pro problem with it as long as they get the deals done

[BankEnd Rover]

6 minutes ago, TruRover said:

Topi Keskinen has followed us on instagram… not sure if that means anything.
 

I don’t know much about him, anyone got some insight? 

He’s followed for months, we probably agreed terms, lodged a bid but it got rejected, at the time player thought it was going to happen but it’s just all fizzled out…Reports suggested us and Aberdeen had bids rejected last window.

He looks an exciting prospect but J*B will comment and say nope, no experience and he’s got a funny hairline…Next.

[markhayhurst]

7 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Well going off last summers cheapies brought in it can't possibly be worse....can it ?

Depends who is contacts are.. 

see previous old  post of working alongside Steve Kean 

[G Somerset Rover]

37 minutes ago, FE123 said:

No one is free. All worth 100’s of thousands or millions depending on the length of their contract. 2 months of nothing, a week of chaos, multiple signings and others clearly on their way. It’s bizarre!! I’m convinced there has been either a change in approach whether it’s a change in personnel involved in either negotiation or authorising deals.

Of course; but the sheer number of players that have left the club meant that there was a lot of wiggle room with the wage budget. Perhaps some kind of green light has been given but I just wanted to highlight that it'll be crumbs at absolute best that we'll have to revamp the squad.

Edited July 31 by G Somerset Rover

[Iceman]

7 minutes ago, markhayhurst said:

How’s it a strange post. It’s not my views I  was parroting the line from Rovers HQ 

“In many ways, Tomasson had seemed the perfect fit for Blackburn’s model of developing young homegrown players and having an attractive style of play. However, tensions grew over the ambitions of the club and he left early in February”

You can't develop young players, in the way the club hopes to, when the overall squad isnt performing at a high level. It's kind of silly, to say to a young player, go out there and take this team to the next level. 

There has to be a balance, and the club needs to get that balance right first. 

[RoverCanada]

Similar to the Wharton instalments, that tidbit about the Raya sell-on instalments is emblematic of how this club needs to operate at the moment. Due to whatever tax avoidance fuckery Venky's have been up to, we've got a cashflow problem, not a profit/loss problem... From an FFP/accounts POV, that £5m of profit on Raya is booked today, and will be part of the 2024/25 accounts. As is common in football, you can also borrow against that incoming today if you wanted to spend some of it now...

I see Waggott's reported at the fan forum that he expects a profit of £2m for 2023/24 (can probably work out a rough wage bill/operating loss from that, but fairly busy at the moment...). Combine that with our £20.9m loss in 2022/23, conservatively assume £2m/year of FFP-excluded expenditure, and we could theoretically take on a loss of ~£26m this year (potentially rising to over £30m with the Raya sell-on, plus other sales (Gally, Szmodics...), though looks like we are at least spending a bit now).

Now, I obviously wouldn't recommend spending that much in one year from a medium-term general sustainability/FFP compliance POV, but simply highlighting that, whatever the manner of the Wharton sale, it did give us plenty of FFP headroom, yet we're probably essentially wasting a year of the applicable 3-year FFP window due to Venky's.

What's the point of unfathomably rich, quasi-oligarch owners if they can't even send cash over anymore? Some signings are a relief, but the only thing from stopping us from spending a fair bit more is Venky's court case/sudden disinterest.

Edited July 31 by RoverCanada

[tomphil]

3 minutes ago, markhayhurst said:

Depends who is contacts are.. 

see previous old  post of working alongside Steve Kean 

That particular smell never completely goes away does it.

[Eddie]

20 minutes ago, Theaxe15 said:

Wonder is Mafoumbi is getting grief from Nantes fans for leaving to go to Rovers 😏

(kidding by the way…)

It may partially be in jest, but it's a valid point.

We don't complain about the system when we benefit from it. 

[Iceman]

6 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

He’s followed for months, we probably agreed terms, lodged a bid but it got rejected, at the time player thought it was going to happen but it’s just all fizzled out…Reports suggested us and Aberdeen had bids rejected last window.

He looks an exciting prospect but J*B will comment and say nope, no experience and he’s got a funny hairline…Next.

Well, with our budget or lack thereof, who do we think we will get? Just find it funny, that we are once again having a meltdown, with the players we have signed, before they have even kicked a ball here.