JoeB2

Uche deal to Charlton also not happening.

According to Fabrizio Romano (reliable), we’re signing Dan Gore on loan. Cracking!

It won't be a lot of money for Uche. If we were demanding silly money, Charlton could just wait 6 months and get him for nothing in July. Getting him off the wage bill after 2-3 good games (with no long-term value) and 10 average-poor ones, and replacing him with a player with as much upside as Young on a 2.5 year deal is fundamentally sensible business, especially as we're not going to be challenging at either end of the table in the next 6 months. As with any lower league signing, you can't guarantee its success, but Young can clearly produce in the right system and won't be fully developed as a striker yet. For his Barrow loan, he never played a full 90 and only started 5 games - mostly on the left wing. Swindon have showed what a consistent run up front can do.

No one is paying 100k+ for Uche Ikpeazu, with 6 months left on his deal.

Selling Uche and buying Young is a good move. Dunno if it works, but the idea is right.

This is what concerns me a tad about Uche going. A lad with 6 league goals (and some potential) is going for a fee I doubt we'd pay. We'd need to sign 2 strikers at the most expensive time of year, with a clear need that clubs will know about, when our record is not ideal. To also try and fill the Devine gap at the same time is a massive ask. If Flitcroft pulls it off then fair play to him.

Considering how tricky we've found it to sign strikers previously, I think it's a very big ask to sign two within the next two weeks who can immediately impact us. Is the known quantity of Uche for another 6 months > the strikers who are available and affordable at this point in the window, with clubs knowing we're a bit desperate with only Wilson, Loft, and Dipepa available? I'm not sure. With the loss of Blaster + Devine, and injury to Garrity, we could do with as few question marks as possible. I'm fairly steady with our league position but it's not a massive gap to the bottom 4.

On the one hand, if someone offers any money for Uche and takes him off the wage bill when he'd likely leave in the summer anyway, then great. On the other, if he does go we've a lot of business to do in under 2 weeks. I know the club will be trying, but January is hard + expensive to get things done. If Uche goes, we probably need a CM and two forwards still, with hopefully a left-sided player with pace too. Is it better the devil you know? I'm not a huge fan but the attack is working with Uche at the minute and he's improving as he gains fitness.

Donley is as good as Devine, if not better, though plays a lot further forward.

The absolutely farcical striker market is in evidence again as Will Goodwin is subject to £400k bids from Oxford. He's pretty decent and young, but it's £400k for 6 goals and a bit of potential, these days. Imagine what a 'proven goalscorer' as we often bang on about fetches.

He wasn't as good as we all thought he'd be but was still a fairly good midfielder in League 1, especially deeper. To be without Ojo, Garrity, Blaster, and Devine has taken our strongest area to perhaps our weakest. Our first-choice midfield is probably Walters-Weir-Chislett; not bad, but I either Ojo needs to get fit and stay fit or we need a new DM. A couple of weeks to sign probably 3 good players - LWB, CM, ST. Weir and Williams might be good business but right now we're indisputably weaker. Hopefully not the case on Feb 1st.

Hopefully now Carol has confirmed that Flitcroft is working full-time we can crack on with the signings. 1:10 in to this:

Good day of business.

The striker market is absolutely nuts.

I'm not convinced at all. A lot of the good things he does seems to be sliding tackles that come as a result of him not being quick enough. He wins nowhere near enough headers for our middle CB role. An OK rotation option, by all accounts a great leader and reads the game brilliantly - but not someone I'd be bothered about if he dropped a level for regular gametime next year.

I think we have different definitions of extremely weak. Ripley, Debrah, Clark, Funso, Garrity, and Chislett will start for us next season. 6 good starters. Smith, Yak, Jones, and Plant would probably be squad players. Lowe, Loft, McDermott we'd probably look to shift. Having over half of your starting 11 secured for next season, all of whom I'd class as 'good' at this level, isn't bad in League 1. It means we don't need a rebuild. I certainly wouldn't class it as extremely weak.

Players signed up for next year: Ripley Smith Yak Debrah Lowe Jones Clark Plant Funso Garrity Chislett McDermott Loft Then there are the youth-teamers who aren't on professional terms yet. There's a very reasonable core in there. Wingback and forwards are the key areas for development long-term. Might see a few U23 signings in those areas this month.

Guess they'd rather have him training with them + their coaches and playing in their very good U21 team than not getting a kick at Ipswich. He isn't playing either way.

The farcical 2 club rule means (I think) that Scarlett can't be loaned out again - played for Spurs in the League Cup. Spurs have cracking forward called Jamie Donley who reminds me of Wilson a bit.

Devine started slowly but he's much better than average-poor.

Watching a bit of Aldershot and I would quite happily ask them how much they want for Tolaj and Stokes. We couldn't afford it, like.

I didn't see him at Wrexham, but I've been pretty unimpressed by Walters in his appearances. Subbed at half-time in his two league starts. Shorrock and Lomax have done more in their fewer opportunities. There's a decent player there but not worth mithering about if Constantine is being daft with demands.

Just pulled up some stats on Chislett - again, data has to be taken with a grain of salt at this level. He is the most productive player at this level for dribbles per 90 minutes, and (brace yourself) 'expected assists' per 90 (this is just the quality of the chances he creates, without taking into account how useless our donkeys up front are at putting them away). The blue is Chislett, the rest are all the other players categorised as 'attacking midfielders'. To put it simply, he's one of the most creative players in League 1. He's miles ahead of anyone. Combine this with an improving work effort and 7 G+A in his last 5, at the age of 25 so still room for improvement, and I think there could be a few data-savvy clubs showing interest.

Just looking back at the summer, I think Ethan Chislett is proving to be a great signing. 7 goals and 7 assists at this point - on course for a double-double. 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 5. His workrate seems to have improved massively - he covers a load of ground without the ball. Really like him. Chislett and Garrity are our leading lights. Devine and Ojo aren't far behind. A dominant CB, an athletic LWB, and a quick striker on loan and be rayt.

To be clear, I don't want him. I just think it's the sort of signing we'll be after.