January 2024 transfer window thread.

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

GON on the striker hunt

“To be working with recruitment and then having to leave to come to a game is a crazy way to spend Deadline Day

Didn’t manage to get a striker and we couldn’t afford any that would help us”

https://x.com/nathanjudah/status/1753196299334148356?s=61&t=oHKGj12hVBcK2ZfER6KcNA

An honest if depressing statement.

Couldn't afford anyone better than Bellegarde in the role?

 

[hollo]

1 out of 10.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Couldn't afford anyone better than Bellegarde in the role?

I think couldn’t afford anyone better than Fraser, and Hwang when he’s back from Asia Cup.

 

[BCWolf]

It’s a **** up of a window, no doubt about that. GON was obviously given assurances that we’d get someone in when we let Sasa go. It was a gamble that has not paid off. Hopefully we can steer clear of fatigue and injuries from playing the same players for 90 minutes every game.

This for me as well.

 

[Ches78]

Why do we always let players go before getting a replacement (or two) in the bag?! I can understand Fabio going regardless as he isn't going to play, but surely Sasa offered an option off the bench, and we currently don't really have any options (at least until Hwang is back, and assuming everyone stays fit)...

 

[Kebab Warrior]

But Fulham thought it was worth it .

‘Doing bits’

 

[hollo]

If money was tight get one of the many strikers available with a buy with an option clause, then send them back in the summer. I ask myself is Hobbs good enough of a Director of Football? When the chips were down he delivered nothing.

We are significantly weaker than at the start of the January window and are forced into playing bellegarde as a striker. Cunha is being run into the ground.

These feast or famine transfer windows reflect a shoddily run club.

GON has been lied to. He insisted sasa and mosquera weren't leaving and then were sold days later.

Fosun need to seriously consider their position and think about selling us. They are penny pinching and depleting the squad to the bare bones.

The John Ireland stand is falling apart and sometime in the near future we will lose neto and cunha. This is unacceptable. Where is the ambition? What is our future?

 

[JOSWolf]

There’s no varnishing over the fact this window has been disappointing. I’m not surprised or disappointed Fabio has gone back on loan. I’m a bit more disappointed Sasa has also gone out, and especially so since we didn’t replace him. But to be fair, neither of them contributed a great deal first half of the season, so let’s keep that in mind. I’m pleased Noha has arrived, but we know he’s more one for the future, so can’t be expected to contribute this season.

So let’s hope our first team stays fit, and Hwang comes back fit and ready to go.

Noha may have to contribute this season as the squad is so small.

 

[JOSWolf]

How many minutes has Hodge played under O’Neil? And how many would he play between now and the end of the season if he stayed? He’s behind Lemina, Gomes, Doyle and Bouba.

To be fair then Jade should we have loaned out King and Bueno if we are saying that and have no squad? Its a squad game and we have been left exposed by letting all of these players and signing no ready first team squad members.

 

[Nige]

If money was tight get one of the many strikers available with a buy with an option clause, then send them back in the summer. I ask myself is Hobbs good enough of a Director of Football? When the chips were down he delivered nothing.

We are significantly weaker than at the start of the January window and are forced into playing bellegarde as a striker. Cunha is being run into the ground.

These feast or famine transfer windows reflect a shoddily run club.

GON has been lied to. He insisted sasa and mosquera weren't leaving and then were sold days later.

Fosun need to seriously consider their position and think about selling us. They are penny pinching and depleting the squad to the bare bones.

The John Ireland stand is falling apart and sometime in the near future we will lose neto and cunha. This is unacceptable. Where is the ambition? What is our future?

Absolutely Right No ambition No plan GON delivering but should be telling the Board What the **** are you doing where is the support.

 

[Oldgold Wolfcub]

If money was tight get one of the many strikers available with a buy with an option clause, then send them back in the summer. I ask myself is Hobbs good enough of a Director of Football? When the chips were down he delivered nothing.

We are significantly weaker than at the start of the January window and are forced into playing bellegarde as a striker. Cunha is being run into the ground.

These feast or famine transfer windows reflect a shoddily run club.

GON has been lied to. He insisted sasa and mosquera weren't leaving and then were sold days later.

Fosun need to seriously consider their position and think about selling us. They are penny pinching and depleting the squad to the bare bones.

The John Ireland stand is falling apart and sometime in the near future we will lose neto and cunha. This is unacceptable. Where is the ambition? What is our future?

One serious thought on Hobbs is considering he has supposed to have looked into the South American market he does not seem to have had much success apart from Gomes and that was only because of the stance the player took otherwise he would not have even got him.

 

[JOSWolf]

From the Times journo — quote from GON press conf “but we haven’t been deducted 10 points!”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1753197911679086923

We now cant compete with Fulham. Says it all really. I hope the ticket prices reflect the clubs ambition this coming summer but I highly doubt it somehow. FFP is an issue but when we no longer have this excuse this summer I can see other excuses for another thin squad and lack of investment.

 

[Perton Wolf]

From the Times journo — quote from GON press conf “but we haven’t been deducted 10 points!”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1753197911679086923

Can't compete with Fulham.....sums up FOSUN'S ownership nowadays. I look forward to the day they sell up.

 

[JOSWolf]

It is pretty obvious ONeil is and must be ****ed off. All you have to do is look at his quotes at the start of this window. He was pretty certain we would be stronger at the end of it. Now left with a far weaker squad in numbers and probably the smallest squad in the league by a distance. Congratulations Mr Shi and Mr Hobbs.

 

[JOSWolf]

Can't compete with Fulham.....sums up FOSUN'S ownership nowadays. I look forward to the day they sell up.

I think their time is nearly over. This window there was absolutely no need to leave the squad so weak on numbers.

 

[JOSWolf]

Where’s the rate the window thread…

I'm generous. -10 out of 10.

 

[dennison11]

Not going down, an outside chance of Europe, right side of FFP.

Start of season we were all worried about relegation. **** Jan Window but (hopefullyt) bring in a couple in the summer and we'll be ok and push on next season.

And yes, i'm forever the optimist!

 

[Wolf316]

I think their time is nearly over. This window there was absolutely no need to leave the squad so weak on numbers.

Saved some wages though Jos so a successful window for Teflon Jeff.

 

[JOSWolf]

Has lonwijk gone as well.

Yep. Thank God Enzo isnt here or they would probably have loaned him out as well. At least he is an attacking player and back in a week or so.

 

[JOSWolf]

Saved some wages though Jos so a successful window for Teflon Jeff.

He will no doubt be delighted.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Scouting is extremely poor if we cannot find a striker in our budget in the entire world

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Why have we been spending all day going after Broja...he is overpriced not fully fit and been struggling massively all year. I don't get the scenario where your willing to spend money to rehabilitate another team's players but not your own.

 

[tonto]

Let’s see firstly how we finish this season, then how we are with a pre season and new players we CAN afford in the Summer
Also let’s laugh at all the other teams that have not got their house in order

 

[HowfenWolf]

We didn't sign anyone because we have Guedes, Podence, Silva, Hoever, Kalajdzic, Chiquinho & Mosquera on loan (over 100 million pounds of players)

 

[tonto]

We didn't sign anyone because we have Guedes, Podence, Silva, Hoever, Kalajdzic, Chiquinho & Mosquera on loan (over 100 million pounds of players)

Let’s hope we can get some money back

 

[Chris H]

For those saying we should have kept Silva and/or Kalajdzic, O’Neil seemingly doesn’t agree.

When asked if he would have kept Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva in hindsight, O'Neil added: "I don't want to go through what ifs. It's important Sasa plays and I don't think he'd have played much for us.

"It's important that Fabio plays and he wouldn't have played much for us.

"Are we short of a number 9? Yeah. But I felt we were short of a number nine when those two were still here, so we're still short. That's where we are.

"I was really keen not to panic and just sign anyone. The financial stuff was an issue for us.

"We were speaking to Chelsea about Broja for a lot of the day. We just couldn't afford to do it financially with where it ended up.

"That's where we are as a football club, but we haven't been deducted 10 points, we're still together and putting in performances. We'll try keep moving it that way until the end of the season."

Gary O'Neil on Wolves' lack of striker signings

Gary O'Neil has been left disappointed over Wolves' striker search after being priced out of deadline day moves.

www.expressandstar.com

Clearly we’re short, I doubt anyone will disagree, but hopefully we can put to bed the “we should have kept them” argument and just debate the perfectly reasonable why couldn’t we get any sort of deal across the line to add that much needed forward.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

We didn't sign anyone because we have Guedes, Podence, Silva, Hoever, Kalajdzic, Chiquinho & Mosquera on loan (over 100 million pounds of players)

All of which are better centre-forwards than Bellegarde.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

For those saying we should have kept Silva and/or Kalajdzic, O’Neil seemingly doesn’t agree.

Gary O'Neil on Wolves' lack of striker signings

Gary O'Neil has been left disappointed over Wolves' striker search after being priced out of deadline day moves.

www.expressandstar.com

Clearly we’re short, I doubt anyone will disagree, but hopefully we can put to bed the “we should have kept them” argument and just debate the perfectly reasonable why couldn’t we get any sort of deal across the line to add that much needed forward.

Can we debate the why were we going after Broja in the first place?

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

For those saying we should have kept Silva and/or Kalajdzic, O’Neil seemingly doesn’t agree.

Gary O'Neil on Wolves' lack of striker signings

Gary O'Neil has been left disappointed over Wolves' striker search after being priced out of deadline day moves.

www.expressandstar.com

Clearly we’re short, I doubt anyone will disagree, but hopefully we can put to bed the “we should have kept them” argument and just debate the perfectly reasonable why couldn’t we get any sort of deal across the line to add that much needed forward.

You must surely acknowledge he gains absolutely nothing from saying they should’ve stayed.

In fact, it’s not only a criticism of his boss’ but it would also damage the confidence of Fraser.

He has to say this, whether he believes it or not.

From his actions, Fraser was not brought on once ahead of Sasa.

I agree the bigger issue is not getting a striker in, by the way.

 

[Chris H]

Can we debate the why were we going after Broja in the first place?

Sure, I just don’t buy the “if Sasa was here he’d be playing” argument because I don’t think it’s true and O’Neil has pretty much said as much.

I don’t mind that we didn’t bend to Chelsea’s will and pay an over the top loan fee for 15 games. I don’t mind that we didn’t let an agent take the **** (I’m sure the player isn’t happy about that one), but I am disappointed we couldn’t bring in any forward that fits the profile we’re after.

 

[Chris H]

You must surely acknowledge he gains absolutely nothing from saying they should’ve stayed.

In fact, it’s not only a criticism of his boss’ but it would also damage the confidence of Fraser.

He has to say this, whether he believes it or not.

From his actions, Fraser was not brought in once ahead of Sasa.

Yeah that’s fair, but I also watched him pretty much refuse to turn to either of them for several months no matter how the game was playing out.

I don’t think he sees Kalajdzic as his sort of forward (which is a shame because I quite like him) and I don’t think he sees Silva as the answer right now (if ever) from his actions up to January as much as his words now. If Fraser is a closer fit to what he wants then we may as well give him a go over either of them if they don’t fit.

Still though, the correct answer was get the right player in. I can accept there may be reasons why that didn’t happen (historically I’m sure we’ll both agree than I’m more accepting of things not coming off where as you’re more critical, which is fine) but I am disappointed because O’Neil has done brilliantly and deserved that backing.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

From The Athletic:

“As part of the deal, Fulham will pay Chelsea a loan fee of up to £4million, however, that could potentially drop to zero after a certain number of appearances.”


Excellent business by Fulham.

£4m as worst case scenario. £0 at best.

On the basis he is highly likely to play, as he would here, it will be closer to £0.

If we had Broja he would be on as a sub in every game at least. If one of Hwang, Neto, Cunha got injured/lost form, high probability he starts every game.

So we would’ve ended up not paying much for him either.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Sure, I just don’t buy the “if Sasa was here he’d be playing” argument because I don’t think it’s true and O’Neil has pretty much said as much.

I don’t mind that we didn’t bend to Chelsea’s will and pay an over the top loan fee for 15 games. I don’t mind that we didn’t let an agent take the **** (I’m sure the player isn’t happy about that one), but I am disappointed we couldn’t bring in any forward that fits the profile we’re after.

For me if we decide to play Bellegarde in that role over Sasa that's a **** poor choice. I get that neither Sasa or Fabio quite fit the profile that he wants but that doesn't mean you should play any old ****er there.
We can't carry a man like we did today and if I'm honest, like we did against west brom and expect to get away with it in this league.
I'm not convinced this will be the last time we see Bellegarde in this role either, as Sarabia and Hwang aren't fully fit, and this is Fraser's first season as a young professional.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Yeah that’s fair, but I also watched him pretty much refuse to turn to either of them for several months no matter how the game was playing out.

I don’t think he sees Kalajdzic as his sort of forward (which is a shame because I quite like him) and I don’t think he sees Silva as the answer right now (if ever) from his actions up to January as much as his words now. If Fraser is a closer fit to what he wants then we may as well give him a go over either of them if they don’t fit.

Still though, the correct answer was get the right player in. I can accept there may be reasons why that didn’t happen (historically I’m sure we’ll both agree than I’m more accepting of things not coming off where as you’re more critical, which is fine) but I am disappointed because O’Neil has done brilliantly and deserved that backing.

O’Neil’s had a few what I perceive as digs at Silva about his attitude. Fraser coming on ahead of him at Ipswich was a message on that front as well I think. So I have no problem with him leaving.

I get your point above I just see no evidence whatsoever that Fraser is a ‘closer fit’ than Sasa for O’Neil, because he literally did not pick him ahead of Sasa once.

They’ve messed up massively IMO. But we will see, who’d have thought we’d be desperate for Hwang to play all the time!

 

[WWFC4EVA]

I wonder if GON would've willingly sanctioned the loans of Sasa and Fabio, had he know when doing so, that no replacement/s would be in by the close of the window???

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

B

Yeah that’s fair, but I also watched him pretty much refuse to turn to either of them for several months no matter how the game was playing out.

I don’t think he sees Kalajdzic as his sort of forward (which is a shame because I quite like him) and I don’t think he sees Silva as the answer right now (if ever) from his actions up to January as much as his words now. If Fraser is a closer fit to what he wants then we may as well give him a go over either of them if they don’t fit.

Still though, the correct answer was get the right player in. I can accept there may be reasons why that didn’t happen (historically I’m sure we’ll both agree than I’m more accepting of things not coming off where as you’re more critical, which is fine) but I am disappointed because O’Neil has done brilliantly and deserved that backing.

I think your correct answer is perfectionism. I don't think we were likely to get the right profile of player for anything other than a king's ransom. And given how anonymous he has been that I don't think Broja meets that profile personally. I think they are poor decisions. But hey how we will stay up I guess, and that's all that quality players like Neto and Cunha want.

 

[Hawkguy]

Chances that was fosuns last window?

Would be ****ing terrible for us fans

 

[Hawkguy]

How many minutes has Hodge played under O’Neil? And how many would he play between now and the end of the season if he stayed? He’s behind Lemina, Gomes, Doyle and Bouba.

It's like they just want our players to ride the pine and not develop. I'd even wager that Bellegarde would start at CM over Hodge.

 

[Hawkguy]

Can't compete with Fulham.....sums up FOSUN'S ownership nowadays. I look forward to the day they sell up.

It's insane how quick so many of you are to **** all over the people who have brought us years and years of Premier League football. But yeah, I'm super excited for them to sell too so we can go back to playing in League One. Sounds super fun.

Look at the prices we were being quoted for guys who can't get minutes at their own club. Look at the Borja deal, it's ****ing terrible. A penalty if he doesn't play the required amount of games?

I'm ****ing thrilled we didn't blow the summers transfer budget on players we don't need to close out the campaign.

And people say Canadians don't know the sport. Makes me laugh.

 

[JOSWolf]

I wonder if GON would've willingly sanctioned the loans of Sasa and Fabio, had he know when doing so, that no replacement/s would be in by the close of the window???

I dont think he would have wanted both to leave.