Rate the Transfer Window!

[jonesy]

1
Wolves want to improve the spine of the team with signing a cb, cm and cf

we got none of them !!

 

[Boss Hogg]

It was pathetic, but I will be generous and give 4/10 as we held on to Neves and Traore.

If you fail to invest you go backwards.

We can't even field an U23 team without including 16 year old kids.

 

[Bugsy911]

3 for me , same issues as the last few years with key areas not improved and gambling on players staying fit , injuries to Neves and Raul would probably see us propping up the league table come January.

 

[maws]

5 or 6 but it was looking like an 11/10 if we’d got sanches and botman in and kept MGW. We kept neves and Traore (for now) but the midfield is the gaping hole in the squad

 

[Alex Rae The Substitute]

I’ve given it a 5, simply because we managed to keep Neves and Traore.

We failed on pretty much all counts of bringing in the players we need.

No 1 - a first team ready central midfielder. Failed.

No 2 - a direct replacement/ support for Raul. Failed.

No 3 - a first team ready centre back. Failed.

The main signings:

Hwang, I know nothing about to be honest. But from I read of him he’s more in the Neto, Podence mode than Raul. Questionable if we need that over other key positions?

Trincao, looks ok. But I don’t believe he improves the first XI significantly.

Mosquera, we’ll get a proper look after his injury. I don’t think he’s the proven quality centre back we need though, despite his decent pre-season cameos.

Sa, looks ok. But my gut feel based on what I’ve seen so far is he is a step down on Rui Patricio (Portugal’s number 1).

RAN, is a solid back up. But still a kid. Nowhere near Jonny’s level yet.

 

[reanswolf]

I have given a 3.

I totally accept how difficult it is to keep stars when big boys come calling (tho none actually did), and I also accept it is hard to attract quality to Wolves now.

I say 'now' because this has been a self-destruction, and I highlighted it at the end of last season but got ridiculed by some on here. You simply must keep progressing, its like turning round an oil tanker in the canal, once demise starts it is hard to address.

We are also restricted by FFP but you do have to ask questions of the transfer strategy having spent a ridiculous £35m on a young lad who is by no means guaranteed to pay us back much at all, whilst needing obvious replacements in the 1st team. And for that need to continue over 2 seasons is negligent, nothing else, and it shows our top stars that we have a distinct lack of plan or progressive strategy. I expect the queue to get out next summer to be considerable.

But I think we need to specifically question the strategy of trying late on to secure transfers, it was shambolic and reactive, how on earth are you expected to persuade top players in two hours FFS? To compound it all, we allow our back-up midfielders to depart without any replacements at all. This shocks me most of all. I sincerely hope we don't get injuries - its going to be embarrassing.

Overall, I do feel for Jeff in that I am sure he did his utmost to bring players in, but you do have to question the strategy since Thelwell left as its been bizarre and chaotic, and more worrying is the bad will between the fanbase and owners that is evolving since prices were increased. This is not the fans fault, they have yet again bought into the project, but the project is in danger of collapse or at least further deterioration. Next season, ST sales will be hit I am sure. People do not like being led up the garden path.

But having said all that, we still have a decent team capable of staying up, but as winter progresses I now expect us to struggle.

Its such a shame, much of this has been self-inflicted. Unnecessarily. I doubt our Chinese stores will do much business either on the back of this, which may be more telling.

 

[geowolf]

I’ve gone for a 7 because I rate the 5 players we’ve brought in and expect all of them to have an impact this season. Keeping Neves and Adama is a huge plus. I’m not sure we’ve solved the ‘Nuno enigma’ – how can you have such a good team and score so few goals? – though I think Hwang may be a bit of a revelation (fingers crossed). I’m not really sure what a 10/10 would look like.

 

[wolfgar]

Happy with Mosquera, Trincao, Ait Nouri and Hwang. Happy we’ve kept Traore and Neves so there are positives of course. It’s important to state that.

I have calmed down a little, but for the life of me I don’t understand what on earth we were playing at with CM. I think 90% of us thought an upgrade here was a priority at the start of the window. I get the impressions Lage certainly wanted one. In the end we’ve bought him no-one and let Otasowie, Vitinha and MGW walk?

Genuinely baffled and yesterday’s efforts looked embarrassing tbh. A bit of a PR disaster. I’m not calling them everything under the sun, but I can see why people feel let down and anxious that this will bite us on the **** I have to be honest. They did say to trust them and I don’t think they’ve delivered.

I also do not understand our continued aversion to signing a proper first choice upgrade at CB. Mosquera looking promising accepted, but it’s been 3 years or so now.

5/10 from me. Could have been an 8/9 if yesterday had gone to plan. It absolutely did not. A total mess

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

4 or 5/10

The best way of summing it up is that we signed some good players and had a bad window. Odd as that sounds.

 

[John de Wolf's hairdryer]

I'm a massive cynic and if I'm one of our rivals to go down I’m putting some heavy challenges in on Neves & Joao…

This.

I'm absolutely distraught at the prospect of facing Burnley now, given how vulnerable we are to getting a long-term injury to Ruben or João.

Whatever good has been done by the club during the window has been completely undermined by the criminally negligent way CM has been neglected.

I am left having to hope against hope that the club have their eyes on a free agent who can come in and mitigate this utter cluster**** of a situation to some extent.

 

[Bilbrook Wolf]

The players that we did bring in look okay. Sa clearly a downgrade on Patricia aside from his distribution, Trincao looks decent but couldn’t finish his dinner. Can’t say much for the other two as haven’t seen them play.
Not resigning Vitinha was excusable if we brought in a replacement, however we didn’t and we got rid of the lad who was set to replace him.
Not sure why the club are getting praise for keeping hold of Neves and Adama. By all accounts there was no bids for Neves despite Uniteds flirting interest, and we only received a laughable loan offer for Adama.

 

[marrs-guitar]

For comparison's sake, this was the thread at the close of last summer's window:

Your BRIEF verdict on the Summer 2020 window .

Very briefly what is your opinion ? Mine is we have tried to gradually upgrade existing positions , and refresh the squad. But we haven’t added many new options.

www.molineuxmix.co.uk

 

[WickedWolfie]

It amazes me that two people voted 10!

One has to be Jeff Shi. He must be the only person left with any confidence in him.

 

[Deleted member yltz11841]

It amazes me that two people voted 10!

3 people now and without seeing the results I bet I could guess them

 

[Hrothgar]

4/10 from me. I don’t see keeping Adama as a positive in the circumstances Im afraid. We clearly needed strengthen the spine of the team and have not done so and I think that is because the hoped- for sale of Adama didnt materialise. (He wants away in any case and exciting to watch as he is, his end-product remains disappointing. For me impact sub is his best use). So we ended up making low offers for quality players and embarrassing ourselves because we havent enough money to compete with the big boys.

 

[Deleted member 8123]

1 out of ten.
If we signed Paul Merson , Ian Wright and Phil Thompson some on here would be desperately trying to defend the club.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

People praising us for keeping neves and traore . The offers never came in.

we had nothing to accept

 

[Sheriff Woody]

4/10.

Trincao will be excellent.

Mosquera looks like he could be excellent, poppodom hamstrings aside.

Sa is okay and given Patricio’s poor season last season isn’t a huge downgrade.

Hwang. No idea but at least he’ll sell some shirts in Korea.

The negatives:

We’ve asked Bruno to implement a new swashbuckling style of play with the same squad that played such negative football for 18 months.

The sheer inability to provide options in midfield to compliment or be alternatives to Neves, Moutinho and Dendocker is utterly baffling. It’s been an area crying out for reinforcements for at least 3 summers and yet we find ourselves in arguably a worse situation than at the end of last season now Otasowie has gone, MGW has been bizarrely loaned out and Vitinha posted back to Porto. We literally haven’t found one midfielder in the entire world that could contribute to our season who wants to be here?

Centre-back remains a mystery too. Yeah we’ve signed Mosquera but pinning our hopes on a young player whose never played outside of Colombia seems a tad naive.


The positives:

We didn’t sell Neves or Traore. Roll on to the January window where they get shopped around again whilst us fans desperately hope that nobody stumps up the cash to make Jeff Shi’s Early Learning Centre till ring.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Positives
- Trincao and Ait-Nouri are great signings
- Keeping Adama and Neves
- Mosquera looks as if he has something about him (albeit he is very raw)

Neutral
- Sa for Patricio. Handling and shot-stopping isn’t as good as Rui but his distribution and command of his area is better. Not much change in the beard department.
- Hwang-Hee. Just because I have no real idea how good he is.

Negatives
- Haven’t backed the Manager with the profile of player he wanted and gave to the recruitment team. As shown by the last-ditch attempts for Botman, Caleta-Car, Sanches, Kamara and Kieffer Moore, we were in for a new CB, CM and CF and got none over the line.
- Having three senior midfielders in the squad is simply ridiculous.
- Still haven’t brought a clear improvement at CB or CM since our first Premier League game.
- Huge erosion of goodwill and trust amongst the fanbase having been told to trust the club and wait until the end of the window before judging.

Ultimately, a 4 or 5 out of 10. The good work we did do undermined by a shambles of a last 48 hours.

We sacked the best Manager of the last 40 years and haven’t backed our new man to give him the best chance of succeeding with us. A real shame as the early signs are that he is worth backing.

Superb analysis.

 

[VictorPyrrhic]

I’ve gone for a 6, I think we’ve signed some good players, there’s only really Rui who has left who I was sad to see go, but I really wish we’d have been a bit more decisive yesterday and got a midfielder and even a defender in. Like Tring says it’s not a complete disaster but it could have been so much better.

Not sure you'll be holding that position when you keep witnessing us collapsing in the last 15 minutes until we eventually lose heart and crumble OR you're watching a CM pairing of Dendoncker and Saiss!

I think some fans are over-looking the fact that they may have witnessed Wolves at their peak with this squad over the last 3 games in the sunshine and against teams that will open up more. There are going to be plenty more typical battles to come whereby teams sit back to frustrate us or low scoring physical matches.

The type of matches where you need another creative CM after 70 minutes to inject fresh impetus or you need a physical player to battle it out.

I'm afraid to say it'll only hit home for some fans when they watch us lose winnable/at least draw matches home and away vs the likes of watford/soton/newcastle.

11 matches [14 games in] we need at least 14 points and realistically 17 given the favourable fixtures to be on target for survival. We ain't winning more than 3 and we're going to turn in to draw specialists as the opposition realise we're too afraid to go for the win late as we don't trust in our ability to keep them out due to fatigue through the spine of the team.

We've become very easy to tactical set-up against now and i can only imagine the performances when we get more desperate post christmas and we're picked off with ease.

Last seasons Brighton [if we're lucky]

 

[Krispy Kreme]

Did well to keep the players we have but it's only temporary, after another season of mediocrity they will have even shorter contracts and be even less inclined to sign a new one this devaluing them. They will sense the stagnation of the project they signed up for in the same way I am sure many of us do.

Early on it was ok, Mosquera and Trincao look promising and provide strength in depth although not sure yet they will actually improve the team, I doubt Trincao will take Neto's place and the jury is out on Jerson.

Jose Sa has some good attributes but he's not an upgrade on Patricio, he did however save us a lot of money which you'd of thought would be reinvested, just like all the other sales.

From a business perspective and coping with FFP I'm sure the club feel it's a good window.

From a fan player or manager perspective watching us get outspent by countless others.

A really poor window and no way of dressing it up.

Something is holding us back from spending and if it doesn't change soon then those players we have hung onto will be forcing their way out and our ability to attract adequate replacements will be diminished.

4.

 

[Skrilla]

Didn't sell Neves or Traore, which is huge. Signed a future star in Trincao, our attacking options are fantastic. Still, no starting calibre centre-backs signed in the last four years, so we're likely stuck with Coady/Saiss playing considerable minutes again this year. Three central midfielders in total, one of them is 35 this season, not sure what the plan is there if injuries start creeping in again. It's painfully frustrating how close we are to having an all-around fantastic squad, but yesterdays failures will hopefully prove to be a lesson learnt for the ownership.

6/10.

 

[luiandlui]

10 for me. Those last minute signings of Sanches and Botman should stand us in good stead to improve our already impressive league position.

I went to bed at 9, I assume I didn't miss anything ?

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

I was in a minority, in that I was looking forward to see what Bruno could do with the likes of Mir and Otasowie. But we sold them for below market price(as can be seen by the demands for Kiefer Moore at 12 million)
I feel like sell to buy was only entertained with our star players, and not the Donk's(full belgian international currently sitting on the bench) and Semedo's(doesn't look a massive step up on Hoever based on the games this season, and cost us 28 million) of the world. We were told they needed to be creative in the market; well they haven't been in the areas where we needed a refresh. It was scrounge up enough money to buy a star midfielder, only no bugger wanted to come. If we got that player it would have been a good window in theory in my books, but as we haven't and it is a bit of a glaring omission it isn't.

In reality the midfield situation isn't as bad as some are making out. We have Saiss that can happily play in midfield, in fact I am happier with him playing midfield than at centre back and Boly and Mosquera back soon should facilitate this.
Come january a midfielder is a an absolute must though. If Sanches is fit then and wants to come, get him in. Kamara obviously thinks he can hold out for a better move, so I don't blame him for not wanting to come. We are nowhere near the top of any pecking order right now.

In terms of the rest of the business. Trincao looks like he could be a fantastic signing. Hwang-hee looks like he could be good cover, but deep down i don't think he will play that often. Mosquera could be a real find.
I'm not convinced yet by Sa. Apart from the Vardy one he has been directly responsible for the other two goals we have conceded, and hasn't had to make too many saves in all honesty. His command of the box has been fantastic though.

 

[Deleted member 9202LYK]

I'm quite calm because I had my meltdown when we got rid of Nuno. I've always believed Lage has been bought in as a yes man (and I think that's what they did).

Trouble is, he has turned out not to be one - witness his 3 or 4 Top players comments. I don't know if he has signed his own death warrant there, with Jeff deciding that a revenge is a dish best served cold. It's possible Jeff is now tapping up yes man 2 behind Bruno's back - just as he did previously when Nuno got the black spot.

I do however have one extra concern if we are going to make the best of a bad job for the rest of this season - and that is that Bruno doesn't fancy Dendoncker at all. I don't know how we can operate with three midfielders, its completely mad. What do we do when we get a sending off? A broken leg? If Bruno also doesn't trust the Donck that its practically untenable.

What exactly is the point of getting in a progressive manager like Bruno and excellent young players like RAN and Trincao, and then trying to operate without a midfield? We are a short step from losing all our best players in January or next summer and we have seen how hard it is to convince average youngsters from Marseille and Lille to come here already.

There has to be a significant risk that the wheels fall off with a couple or three defeats in the coming games, and injury for Neves (or even Marcal). It's not too big a leap to see us go down and be the next Mendes fire-sale victim after Valencia, Monaco, etc. I suppose we all knew it would end up that way one day - I'm just surprised how quickly it has happened, and I don't understand why.

Are Fosun preparing a cheeky bid for Spurs behind Jeff's back?

 

[Jefe]

3/10.

How could I rate being outspent by 17 other Premier League clubs as anything higher than that? It gets as high as three because we didn't lose any of our star men, but the board don't deserve particular credit for that either. They set their valuations on Ruben and Adama, those valuations were not met and so they weren't sold. The temptation to sell Traore in January will be there because Fosun know his value will drop steeply next Summer as he enters the final year of his contract.

Positives:
-We kept Ruben and Adama. Trincao has looked positive in spells and when Neto returns we will have good competition for wide areas. Mosquera shows promise. Ait-Nouri for £10m is decent business.

Neutral / to be seen:
Sa for Rui: I like Sa's quick distribution a lot, but for me he has otherwise looked a bit shaky. Rui had his moments too at times, but he was generally a supremely reassuring presence between the sticks, and his handling is unmatched. There's probably a reason why he has nearly 100 Portugal caps and Sa has none. Sa has also benefited from the attacking quality of our general play taking pressure off him, so I'd like to see how solid he is when we have a lead to protect.
Hwang: 0 goals in 20 odd appearances last season does not bode well, neither does 1 goal in 6 at international level, but of course we must give him a chance. I would have liked more proven quality to take the pressure off of Raul. I hear Villa picked up a striker...

Negatives:
-Bruno simply has not been backed in the way he spoke of. Bringing in one goalless striker when he asked for 3 or 4 top players is not good enough, and may be the first major strain on the Lage / Shi working relationship.
-To be left with three senior central midfielders, one of whom is 35, is negligent in the extreme. No recall option for MGW until January is so risky, it's begging fate.
-Presuming Boly and Saiss go to the ACN, leaving only Coady, Kilman and Mosquera as senior centre backs, not acquiring a defender is also negligent or incompetent. The pressure now to sign one in January will allow selling clubs to put us over a barrel.
-The way we flopped impotently from failed signing to failed signing is an embarrassment. Proclaiming the need for top signings then low-balling Cardiff for Kieffer Moore beggars belief.
-Otasowie and Mir left for rather unimpressive sums IMO.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

Will those worried about our lack of options in central midfield calm down. We have the following available:

Neves
Moutinho
Dendonker
Saiss
Cundle
Jeff Shi
Doris the tea lady

And if all else fails we can get Dave Edwards out of retirement on a pay as you play basis!

 

[Ironfistedmonk]

I gave it a 5 and that's being generous

We didn't lose any of our big hitters and I'm happy we resigned RAN, Trincao looks like he could come good, jury is out on Mosquera and Hwang whether they will be any good, Patricio to Sa was a cost saving exercise and one of the first indicators of where this window was heading.

The glaringly obvious still hasn't been resolved after what 8 transfer windows now? A new CB and CM still badly needed, I think the tactical flexibility a couple of signings in these positions would give us would make us strong top half contenders, as it is they decided to weaken us even further and let MGW go so only 3 centre mids, one who is nearly 35 years old, and leave us with centre backs who would struggle in a back 4 (Boly and Kilman could maybe??????)

I'm still ****ed off, jacking prices up, talking about competing with the big boys and then they do this, an embarrassing final day scramble to sign anyone we could on the cheap, no apparent plan in place, so many different types of players we were after on the last day, do we have anyone who knows what they are doing?

 

[VictorPyrrhic]

I've come to the conclusion that assuming Lage authorised the MGW loan that he did so because over the past month he has identified other players that he considers CM's [probably Saiss and/or Coady] and that we're moving to a back 4 and he must be relatively happy with the options he has at CB [Kilman/Boly/Mosquera].

He clearly wanted and expected a new CM but it just seems far too incompetent to not get one and let MGW without the manager specifying he had 4 plus options and MGW 5th plus in line.

 

[Aurum Lupus]

3

Trincao looks like he could come good but hasn't shown much end product yet, Sa is OK, Mosquera could come good but hasn't even played PL yet, Hwang has a lot to prove after last year and RAN was here last year and is backup to Marcal so hasn't changed the team.

More importantly offloading OO, MGW and declining Vitinha has left us in dire straights should we get more than 1 booking suspension or injury!

 

[Dan G WWFC]

I've gone with two m, would've been a 3 if we kept MGW


If we managed just to get a depth option at CM a 5.

 

[lostwolf]

I went for a 5. Pleased we didn't lose any of our top players (Sa for Rui looks okay). It's also against the background of Bruno-ball, which looks like it will be fun... except that one or two injuries would surely render it impotent.

Very disappointed we let MGW go out as I thought this could be his time to shine. The incomings are a bit underwhelming and fail to address key areas of concern: Hwang has a mediocre record; Trincao looks technically good but I'm worried he'll be too weak for the PL; Mosquera is an unknown quantity and like the others could go either way. Where's the midfielder we need?

I've never liked Fosun though so perhaps I feel less let down than some of you on here? They did well, actually very well tbf, whilst their needs were aligned with ours but I'm not sure they are now. Shi, Vinny and that lot are just the personification of modern football - I don't dislike them but would never subscribe to the servile attitude that we should somehow be 'grateful' for what's been achieved at our club.

If the Gods are smiling on us this could still be a great season but that won't be by design!

 

[Andywolf74]

Being generous with 6 out of 10 for recruitment in goal, defence and up front and even more generous with a 0 for recruitment and players leaving in midfield. I don’t understand why offers weren’t made for the likes of Sanches weeks ago to allow us to move on to other targets if a move doesn’t materialise.

 

[SanFranWolf]

Happy with the players brought in but For whatever reason, we failed to address the two massive issues within the squad.

 

[Oldgold Wolfcub]

This.

I'm absolutely distraught at the prospect of facing Burnley now, given how vulnerable we are to getting a long-term injury to Ruben or João.

Whatever good has been done by the club during the window has been completely undermined by the criminally negligent way CM has been neglected.

I am left having to hope against hope that the club have their eyes on a free agent who can come in and mitigate this utter cluster**** of a situation to some extent.

We were close to that injury on Ruben against Manure.

 

[SoCal_Wolf]

Okay, I have to lead with this mea culpa:

What a kick to the gut deadline day was. Not going to lie. I thought for sure that we would bring in at least either a central midfielder or a center back; but never would I have predicted that we would end up with neither. I just expected that Jeff would support Bruno no matter what because that's his guy! And the need is just glaring.

All in all, I think that the window was just average in the end: 5.5 or 6/10. In order of most to least positive:

1. Trincao signing is great cover for Neto and I think that once he settles, he will be very, very good.
2. Kept both Neves and Traore - I thought for sure that we would lose one of them. Really happy they are still with the team.
3. Permanently signed RAN for basically pocket change. This kid will be good, mark my words.
4. Hwang-hee Chan signing is an astute one - more of a second striker in the mold of Jota; really direct and strong and can play across the front. I think this was a more economical signing as compared to Guedes and probably better suited to the role, tbh.
5. Mosquera looked really, really promising. Athletic and strong, pacey, and loves to defend. He'll be ready to step up at the turn of the year, just when we will need him (and he irons out some of the rough edges).
6. Sa is not quite as solid in between the sticks as Rui is; he will let in some shots that Rui won't. On the other hand, he sweeps much more aggressively and his distribution is better. We save money and probably a push in quality, given the strengths and weaknesses of each keeper.

Had we brought in any one of Sanches, Caleta-Car, Kamara, or Botman, then we would have been at around 8/10 for the window. Two of them would have been phenomenal - probably the best window of the FOSUN era.

It is more than baffling that we are left with only three senior midfielders. Three! I can only conclude that this was a major **** up by the transfer team. It doesn't even comport with Bruno's two players per position mantra. We can only hope that the midfield can stay intact until January. I'm okay with MGW leaving - we are stacked in attacking players and I would like for him to get playing time. And I just don't think that Bruno sees MGW as CM and definitely not a CDM.

All of that said, we have more than enough in the squad to comfortably stay up and play teams off the pitch. In fact, we already have. With the additions, we would have really been cooking with gas; but I'm ready for Brunoball! Let's go kick some ass!

COYW!

 

[RosehillWolf]

I was generous. Scored it a 1
****ing shambles

 

[SuperGran]

5 -6 happy with the players we did sign happy neves and adama are still here
Disappointed that MGW went out on loan thought we’d bring in at least one yesterday. excited to see what hwang and yerson can do.

We have Podence and Boly coming back now and Neto to add to the squad later

 

[WickedWolfie]

5 -6 happy with the players we did sign happy neves and adama are still here
Disappointed that MGW went out on loan thought we’d bring in at least one yesterday. excited to see what hwang and yerson can do.

We have Podence and Boly coming back now and Neto to add to the squad later

If Pod and Boly come back fully fit, unlike last season, that would be very positive I agree. I also agree about MGW, particularly as SheffU is a major downgrade on last season's Swansea loan.

 

[HKWolf]

This is a hard one. I actually like ALL of the signings that we have made. The problem being, we had other much more pressing areas that were ignored (Central midfield and Central defence). I have scored it a 3, but had we got Sanches and Caleta Car/Botman I would have scored it a 10. Had we signed Dave Edwards and Richard Stearman I would have given us a bloody 6! That shows just how stupid I think we were to ignore those 2 positions. Small margins, but it’s the difference between top 6 and potentially struggling.