January Transfers and Rumours

[JRC]

5 hours ago, CambridgeDon said:

Hume is listed by Sunderland and Portsmouth as a left back. Neither refers to him as a wingback nor a winger and, as far as I can see, he's never played in either position though he has made 3 appearances for Pompey on the left of midfield.

Technically he may be fit but after he came back from injury in August 22, he played on 10 or so occasions in that season. In 23-24, he's played once - in an EFL trophy match but never in the league. So, in two seasons, he's started very few league matches and this season has been limited to a few appearances as a sub. 

So here we have a player with a history of injuries whose return to fitness has never been tested by the regular hard grind of competitive league matches. I know we have a tendency to sign injury-hit players but signing even one more would, imho, be too much. 

Shallow puddle or not, I would suggest we've had enough of such signings - a few who are rarely on the treatment table would suit us much better. 

"And the early signs were promising, with the 23-year-old showing his prowess moving forward from his left-wing-back berth and proving an obvious step-up from Lee Brown’s honest efforts down the same flank."

From the article you posted.

[Trumpingtonvale]

2 hours ago, valefan79 said:

Are we really above average with the number of injuries compared to the rest of the teams, as I mentioned on an earlier thread, this is the normal now and we need to get on with it.  It would be interesting to see someone post our injury record compared to other teams, I might be wrong but every team i see team news I hear lots of teams without 6 and 7 players every single week.  Tonight was watching Middlesbrough and they had 14 out, don't know what it is, if the number of games, the boots players wear but it is getting beyond a joke all over the country.  You say we can use the excuse for our performances, if we go on another winless run whilst Garrity is out, will that be the excuse.

The number of injuries has to be taken in the context of the make up of the squad where the 23 outfield players allowed can all be over 21 supplemented by as many as you like under 21 yo (year old) contracted players plus as many as you like academy (under18?) players. According to the EFL website 

EFL Squad List: Season 2023/24 - The English Football League

WWW.EFL.COM

Vale have 22 contracted players (if big Uche is added), listed below.  All other L1 teams have bigger squads (the majority being 27+, some 40+ contracted players, Middlesborough, mentioned above, have 52 contracted players) so when we have the same number of injured players as other teams it’s a bigger proportion of our squad that is unavailable for selection so is it not unreasonable therefore, to assume that has a bigger, detrimental impact on the quality of the team we can put out?

Port Vale - In Squad Players
Player Home Grown
1 Balmer, Kofi
2 Cass, Lewis Graham Yes
3 Chislett, Ethan Alexis
4 Clark, Mitchell Reece Yes
5 Conlon, Tom George Sawyer Yes
6 Garrity, Benjamin Matthew Yes
7 Grant, Conor James Yes
8 Iacovitti, Alexander Yes
9 Jones, Daniel John Yes
10 Loft, Ryan Yes
11 Lowe, Jason John Yes
12 Massey, Gavin Alexander Yes
13 Ojo, Funso-King Ayorinde
14 Sang, Thomas Roy Yes
15 Smith, Nathan James Yes
16 Wilson, James Antony Yes

Port Vale - Under 21 Contract players
Player
1 Arblaster, Oliver Luke
2 Devine, Alfie Sean
3 McDermott, Thomas Vincent
4 Plant, James John
5 Thomas, Joshua John

[Warren]

The club needs to be brave in bringing through the young players. Space needs to created for them. Hence it's right Tom Conlon is not resigned. But obviously all strategies have risks to be managed. If they flop then the club could be in relegation trouble.

[Hitcher]

9 hours ago, Trumpingtonvale said:

Possibly sliding doors moment last summer ? If we’d been successful signing him would we have still signed the Blaster and/or Devine, changed the way we play etc..  

We had some poor loans last season, so I imagine Weir would have been near our first pick seeing as he had already answered the question that he can play in league 1 with a good season with Morecambe.

Hopefully Weir goes well for us so we can prove that Arblaster thriving wasn't a fluke.

[JRC]

10 hours ago, valefan79 said:

Are we really above average with the number of injuries compared to the rest of the teams, as I mentioned on an earlier thread, this is the normal now and we need to get on with it.  It would be interesting to see someone post our injury record compared to other teams, I might be wrong but every team i see team news I hear lots of teams without 6 and 7 players every single week.  Tonight was watching Middlesbrough and they had 14 out, don't know what it is, if the number of games, the boots players wear but it is getting beyond a joke all over the country.  You say we can use the excuse for our performances, if we go on another winless run whilst Garrity is out, will that be the excuse.

I do agree with much of that. I think, as someone else has posted, we have relatively few over 21 outfield players compared to many clubs. We do need a little more depth. If we had 8 injuries we would have no experience on the bench. Last season Accrington and Morecambe were a good league 1 side when all players were fit. Both went down because they had periods with 6 or 7 injuries.  

Edited January 10 by JRC

[Wrex]

13 hours ago, valeparklife said:

I believe it expires in the summer.

didn't Flickers say something about targeting these types of loans where their contract is nearing an end?

Indeed. 22 this month and only played at League One level, so Brighton are probably okay with letting him go for free in the summer.

We want good League One performers, even if Brighton are far above that these days.

[Con2Pvfc]

15 hours ago, valeparklife said:

I believe it expires in the summer.

didn't Flickers say something about targeting these types of loans where their contract is nearing an end?

Where have you seen it expires in the summer?

I'm not being awkward just curious as he could be a good permanent addition if he does well for us.

[1]

Good age, league experience, league 1 success, good injury record, covering a position we always need support with, some nice goals, potential to sign permanently, another Prem club trusting us, deal done in early Jan, most likely was being eyed by other league 1 clubs, fantastic first signing.

Edited January 10 by 1

[Wrex]

10 minutes ago, Con2Pvfc said:

Where have you seen it expires in the summer?

I'm not being awkward just curious as he could be a good permanent addition if he does well for us.

He joined Brighton on a three year deal in 2020 and there's been no news reports of him signing another contract. He must have done though else he'd be a free agent now.

[Con2Pvfc]

2 minutes ago, Wrex said:

He joined Brighton on a three year deal in 2020 and there's been no news reports of him signing another contract. He must have done though else he'd be a free agent now.

Yeah, that's what I've read. Academies rarely do 1 year deals with younger players so I doubt he's out of contract in the summer.

[andy jones]

Just a thought ...

In the Rudge years we bought players cheaply. Sold them on when playing well then used a proportion of the sale to buy the replacement to develop and then sell on etc etc

Is Garrity and Weir the rebirth of that ideology perhaps? Considering one is injured and the other only a loan not a permanent signing I am jumping a lot of bridges, heart ruling head of course. Just dreaming that any possible sale of Garrity could be a positive and not a disaster for us.

 

[JRC]

1 hour ago, andy jones said:

Just a thought ...

In the Rudge years we bought players cheaply. Sold them on when playing well then used a proportion of the sale to buy the replacement to develop and then sell on etc etc

Is Garrity and Weir the rebirth of that ideology perhaps? Considering one is injured and the other only a loan not a permanent signing I am jumping a lot of bridges, heart ruling head of course. Just dreaming that any possible sale of Garrity could be a positive and not a disaster for us.

 

Being realistic Garrity is 27 in a few weeks. If we are going to get a fee for him it's January,  or more probably the summer. He's out of contract summer 25, so a free and if he signs another contract he'd be 29 the following summer (the next opportunity to sell him) with a much lower value. As a fan I hope he stays. As a realist I'd be very surprised if he stays.

[werstayinup]

26 minutes ago, JRC said:

Being realistic Garrity is 27 in a few weeks. If we are going to get a fee for him it's January,  or more probably the summer. He's out of contract summer 25, so a free and if he signs another contract he'd be 29 the following summer (the next opportunity to sell him) with a much lower value. As a fan I hope he stays. As a realist I'd be very surprised if he stays.

Weir is soon to be 22 so if we were to sell Garrity at some point then we might invest some of the fee in him,he is 5 years younger and has an eye for goal,also a good height at 6'1 .. we would then nurture him and hope to then do the same,that's how we work now and i dont mind that

[geoff1]

20 hours ago, Macc Lad said:

Looks like a good all rounder, shoots on sight, excellent passer and as someone who can break up opposition moves, very much a Jensen interceptor 

lets hope hes "on the button"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brian Johnson]

On 08/01/2024 at 19:07, philpvfc said:

 

Their FA cup tie at home to Wycombe attracted 3600 fans- this will be a true attendance and probably closer to their average attendance.

 

You don't even know what you put

Edited January 10 by Brian Johnson