Wolves rumours 2

19 Jan 2025 14:10:27
When the Silva deal gets done, it is believed versatile 'Manu' will play predominantly as a midfielder with the club actively looking for an additional centre-back

19 Jan 2025 15:12:42
3 5 2? Manu, Andre and Gomes J with Cunha and Larsen up front.

19 Jan 2025 19:13:42
I can see Manu playing in the back three and we will bring in an attacking midfielder, just a thought.

19 Jan 2025 21:33:26
Deal done apparantly will be announced this coiming week.

19 Jan 2025 22:49:55
Going to Benfica.

19 Jan 2025 23:04:32
Deal now off Silva did a u turn and has gone to Beneficainstead.

19 Jan 2025 23:11:12
Deal off. He's decided to join Benfica according to Fabrizio and Liam Keen.

20 Jan 2025 06:38:13
Great!

20 Jan 2025 08:29:43
Press the button Wolves.
2 cbs needed Danso and Veiga get them over the line.
Sell a plan for the future.
Far too risky to think our defence is good enough

20 Jan 2025 12:15:53
We certainly need some action PDQ!

20 Jan 2025 14:02:06
Danso turned us down. Worries me how they wanted to get players in early but we have only seen 1 .

20 Jan 2025 17:31:02
Danso didn't turn us down. We never entered negotiations for him. Agbadou was the main target.

17 Jan 2025 23:13:01
Wolves are in talks to sign Portuguese midfielder Manu from Vitória SC.

Proposal around €12m plus 10% sell-on clause, deal underway.

18 Jan 2025 15:32:47
Wolves’ move for Vitoria midfielder Manu Silva is at an ‘advanced stage’ with the process being led by Jorge Mendes.

It’s reported that an €12m proposal plus a sell on fee has been put forward.

18 Jan 2025 21:32:59
Com'on looks like this one is done.
A couple of defenders is what we need Toti is the only decent cb at the club and he has no pace. Bueno good squad player.

18 Jan 2025 22:43:38
Manu wasn't selected to play for Vitoria v Arouca tonight in the Primera Liga. Suggests it could be happening!

19 Jan 2025 22:50:29
Going to Benfica.

17 Jan 2025 22:37:30
Wolves in talks with Manu Silva from Vitoria SC. £12m plus 10% sell on clause.

18 Jan 2025 09:01:39
Watched videos and I can see him being used as a left-sided centre back. Two-footed, good range of passing, good in the air, strong tackle and mobile. Exactly the type of centre back our coach wants.

18 Jan 2025 10:36:51
Agree 100% Wolfthistle. Good in the air, strong in the tackle, good eye for a pass and his first instinct is to get the ball forward rather than back. He'd be a terrific signing if we can get it over the line.

18 Jan 2025 13:54:28
🤞here’s hoping!

18 Jan 2025 16:39:50
I'm excited about this one.

19 Jan 2025 08:47:24
Munu 11 yellow card in the 60 games he has played for Victoria. Combative then! 😁

17 Jan 2025 22:13:53
Wolves are advancing on Portuguese midfielder Manu almost done £12m fee with sell on clause also in early talks for a cb no name yhet

16 Jan 2025 16:05:21
From what's been said I was right about Doyle Perairae is not impressed and could be sold Lamina wants out. We need at least 1 if not 2 new CHs plus a striker and a MF but we're only looking at maybe 2 signings. Something in my mind is not right Wolves have to sell or loan out the ones who aren't performing and get 3 or 4 new players in.

16 Jan 2025 19:05:22
I like Doyle but he needs a run in the team, and not coming on when the game is lost. Have to agree with Liam Keen too that Bueno is not a Premier defender, too lightweight. New defender looks ok but not too good with heading, which is a big downfall of ours. Surely there is a big C/H in the Championship who can head a ball. The way this transfer window is going we are going to come up short yet again. Figures don't lie, we have the worst defence in the Premier.

16 Jan 2025 20:22:18
Not just his heading ability.his passing was woeful and either gave the ball away or put it out of play.give him time to adjust and settle in.but he needs to be quick about it.another cb is a must and if hwang and jsl continue as they currently are.well.wer in BIG trouble

17 Jan 2025 06:41:51
Apart from a few "flat-earthers", genuine fans are clearly becoming more and more concerned about our future.
We are only a few days away from the TW closing and there appears to be be no concrete sign of the desperately needed reinforcements (the one exception).
Also it is concerning to see Lemina's situation and add Hwang and A-N apparent lack of commitment, things in the camp are not right.
Worrying times.

17 Jan 2025 09:21:55
The transfer window closes on 3rd Feb, so not quite the 'few days' you state.

17 Jan 2025 09:25:50
There are quite a few players that are not good enough or past it now. Sarabia, Bellegarde, Dawson, Hwang, Doyle, Lemina, Johnstone. I don't think Doyle is premier League quality and never understood the hype about him. I would have added Doc into that list but I believe he still does bring something to the table. If you compare our team now to the days of Nuno it is scary how much talent we had and let go. It is like we have done things the wrong way around.

17 Jan 2025 09:53:06
Alex241's list of players no longer offering us what we need is spot on. I would add Guedes, as I don't think he can cope with the Physicality of the premier league. Also agree with the positions we need to strengthen. Would love Veiga to come in as left sided centre back. Think we need a central midfielder who can run with the ball. In last two games Tonali and Gibbs-White did this for our opponents and caused us problems. We don't have anyone who can do that role. Not sure if Brazilians we are tracking have that in their game.

17 Jan 2025 10:12:42
Its not that bad we are 8th top scorers in the league.
Buy Danso and Veiga and we stay up

17 Jan 2025 12:55:20
Wolfthistle before we played Newcastle I was saying to people we need more in that midfield area as they will dominate it and they did to be honest. Cunha is probably the only player who will come deep to get the ball and carry it up. You need that in the middle who can drive with it which then creates space. Gomes I have seen him do it a few times but can't carry the ball like Cunha does.

We are either dragging our feet with signing or I think they might be struggling to convince certain players to come to wolves. Danso has turned us down and since signing our new defender I haven't heard of any more concrete rumours.

17 Jan 2025 13:19:49
Madman - v valid point. But the worry is that it appears obvious!
Indeed virtually every poster on here and all other social media sites acknowledges the need to sign a new CB or two - many even the same ones as you suggest. (In fact they have been saying we need to sign a new CB since August when we sold Kilman!).

So either Hobbs still believes, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the 4CBs we started the year with are adequate and Emmanuel merely replaces the injured Yerson or more likely that we simply don't have the financial resources to make those purchases!

Either way that means we are in real trouble!
One (or both) of Hobbs and/or Jeff is totally incompetent and that is handicap that Vitor (and indeed all our managers since Nuno) will have to wrestle against.
It is going to be very close!

17 Jan 2025 16:35:40
I don't think Danso is an option anymore. If we do get a defender in, it'll most likely be a loan to buy situation. Maybe Veiga from Chelsea under these conditions. Lemina will need replacing and a new striker will provide alternative options. I think a midfielder will be bought and a forward loaned. Who these will be, I have no idea.

17 Jan 2025 16:52:26
Well the issue is attracting players to Wolves its been the issue since promotion.
Missing out on Zinchenko, Botman etc etc shows our struggles.
If Lille wanted a further £10m that seems like a lot with the squad we had at the time with Botman for example.
Its a constant balancing act between keeping within the transfer budget and the wage budget with PSR.
I think we should gamble on these two though look good for the prem bring some much needed height to our defence and set pieces.
Can't see the wages been too high.

17 Jan 2025 22:32:34
Absolutely Madman we do now struggle to balance transfers and football wages with PSR issues.
This is despite the fact that:
a) We spend virtually nothing net on transfers, as discussed only a couple of days ago!
I think it was something like Euro 55m over the last 4 years.
b) Our football wage bill according to numerous sites is one of the lowest in the league!

This sadly, as I have stated many, many times, is, inter alia, due to our modest turnover and very, (indeed inexplicably), high non football related wage bill.
Sadly therefore it is hard to argue that as well as incompetence with squad building - lots of very bad purchases and even worse badly balanced purchases, no CBs for example! - we are also grossly incompetently run financially!
Given that the whole football world knows this it is of course making it even harder to recruit the players we want as who in their right mind would join this circus, (several players have apparently declined to join us even when we have seemingly met the transfer fee required etc), if you genuinely have other options.
Hence ironically we will be overpaying in both wages and fees to offset Jeff's reputation!

18 Jan 2025 12:03:38
The futureisoldgold1 I don't dispute the numbers.
But as stated there are a few factors in the reason why its so low (without mentioning covid :))
The one is that those tranches of excellent players were signed on to high wages to keep them at Wolves but also so the club could benefit from sales in the future (this is what most fans wanted at the time) but these wages added to the issue with PSR.
I don't think we can blame Fosun or Jeff for the performances of Traore for example or the injury to Raul.
They were major set backs for the club both on the pitch and making money for PSR.
Absolutely I'm a football purist and would love to have seen the team that started the 2020/21 season push on and Jeff did sanction some big moves in that window like Silva (who was highly regarded at the time).
The Raul injury was massive he was one of the best strikers in europe at the time probably in the top 10 with goals and assists.
Fans forget this when saying we need another striker.
Theres not many that come along like that and I feel Silva for such a young player was being compared to that.
Coupled with close seasons nearly getting european football under Bruno in his first season Wolves have tried to stay competetive. Fans also forget even last season with injuries the club was close to Europe in February 2024 after a win against Fulham.
Are the injuries to Neto, Hwang, Semedo etc last season Jeff's fault?
Seems really harsh to be honest to think this way as a fan base.
But the other factors after keeping players on higher wages that didn't perform for one reason or another was the PSR rules were scrutinised even more so some clubs look amazing at the moment like Villa and Brighton (not comparing) but they have made massive sales which clears the accounting books for PSR for 3 seasons with the sale of Grealish for example as it was £100m transfer.
But clubs can make £105m loss over 3 years.
Shows how big a deal Raul and Traore not working out for Wolves cost us overall for Fosun supporting the club and keeping the players.
But Jeff can't come out and say that each summer. He just has to spread the risk.for the benefit of Wolves overall and for medium and long term.
So this summer is the first without Raul, Traore, Moutinho etc wages on the book I believe.

16 Jan 2025 12:57:46
Lemina bid has come in with Saudi club wanting him for free. Interesting to see what wolves do, but 5m is not much money for Saudi so just pay and we can move on and get rid of him. I am so disappointed with him, with all that we did when his father passed and bringing his brother here. Worse than Nunes.

16 Jan 2025 14:51:26
The truth of how they were operating is coming out.
Lemina was a strange choice as captain but his work rate and stamina was valuable the last two years.
There's definitely a divide between the brazilian players and some of the older guard for some strange reason. Maybe it was just GON team selection funny how Lemina, Toti and Johnstone were playing most weeks.

16 Jan 2025 15:25:51
Toti hasn't played for VP as he's injured.

15 Jan 2025 21:44:47
It's getting worse why are we not trying to get another CH in Doherty is not a CH and a winger plus a striker or relegation here we come.Wolves are sleep walking into the championship why are we playing whang he's been chronic for the last 3 matches yet gets to play. If we don't get at least another 2 or 3 players in can't see us avoiding relegation.

15 Jan 2025 22:59:29
Tbf Cunha wasn't fit enough to play full 90. Hwang should be supported as he can be a very clever player for us if we can help him regain form. He had the rascist stuff going on in the summer and its been over him and the club as its not right. Think a few clubs came in for him in the summer and it turned his head and has left him unfocussed. Not saying that's right but question GON man management of it.

Regarding Doc we don't have many fit CB's Dawson (its game over for me I can't see him playing like 18 months ago). We need another two cb's this month to stay up. I would sign Danso and Veiga they need to get the deals done. All 3 cb's would still be less than sales of Neto and Kilman take the deduction next year like Forest.

16 Jan 2025 10:16:16
It baffles me that hwang plays. He's clearly out of form. Regardless of the past he needs to pull his socks up and work hard. Sarabia, bellegarde just not good enough.
We need another cb for sure, and dare I say it a striker.

It's sad that the effort isn't there with probably 50% of the team.
They should all be running themselves into the ground for us fans.

16 Jan 2025 14:48:12
Hwang hasn't had a sustained period in the team this season.
That is pretty woeful when he was our 3rd top scorer last season. Due mainly to injuries and probably has played not at 100% as GON fell out with everyone.
I don't disagree with the passion but don't create a divide where there shouldn't be one.
More has gone on behind the scenes but we should back Vitor and the players that want to fight for us to find the formulae.

16 Jan 2025 20:30:53
Dawson is finished.bellegarde is useless.sarabia has no interest in playing for us.its obvious.doyle is going to be quality but hit and miss currently.hwang doherty should never play for us again bueno improving but not prem quality.dont know why they ever bought him.toti is a liability anyway when fit.the 2gomes guedes andre ran semedo cunha are obviously quality.even tho unha tries to do everything himself probably due to the players around him not being good enuf.a full overhaul is needed just hope we have the time this ssn to turn it round and move on next ssn.time will tell.but 2 3-0defeats doesn't bode well with the fixtutes coming up

13 Jan 2025 22:04:34
Wolves are set to make Jorgen Strand Larsen's loan move permanent after he reached the number of appearances needed to trigger the move.

14 Jan 2025 11:02:22
Excellent news. He and Cunha are an excellent front 2. Add this to the improvement of Guedes Rodrigo, we have quite a good attacking forward line.

14 Jan 2025 18:57:46
Agreed Wandering, he does seem to be finding his feet more now, as is, as you say Guedes.

10 Jan 2025 22:31:50
itor Pereira has handed Mario Lemina an ultimatum, urging him to make a decision on his Wolves future.

11 Jan 2025 07:23:52
Morning Rated.really struggle to understand how it has come to this. Lamina has been so good for us (off the boil at the moment). So similar to Coady leaving, who said he was forced out.
All coverage is about players coming and going. I would also like to hear about Shi/Fosun either investing or going.
Ominous that they can't attract Investors. Time to turn the wheel.

11 Jan 2025 10:02:14
It's a terrible time to invest in a football club.
Everton have been trying for 4 years and the devil is in the detail. Moshiri did a hell of a lot for Everton but the fans hated him he built a stadium, brought two Premier league winning managers in Ancelotti and Benetiz.

United are the same they can't service the debt levels before Ineos got involved. The club is in an awful state.
Wolves may seem bad to you after those successful years 2018-2020. But the club has grown really well over those years.
Five big events that have affected us were:

1. Covid as we had overspent to compete and the financial rules wouldn't allow it.

2. Missing out on Europe when arsenal won FA Cup in 2020 stopped us getting European football.

3. VAR that 2020 season we had 18 points chalked off we were 5 points off the champions league.

4. Selling Jota instead of Traore in summer 2020 this was because Nuno preferred Traore. But any wolves fan could see Jota was a class above.Probably the worst decision Nunomade the club saw Traore as worth £80m he was that good.

5. Increased scrutiny on PSR rules the rule changes have just completely made the league uncompetetive and held Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle and West Ham back. And we should just spend and take a points deduction like Forest have.

11 Jan 2025 10:38:33
Without knowing what's going on behind the scenes it's difficult to comment, but a player running his contract down must be unsettling. It plays both ways, Mario has been good for the club, but the club was with him when his father died, even bringing his brother over for a brief period.

11 Jan 2025 14:34:10
Mad.some mitigating points.
However, over the same time frame, Brighton, Brentford, Villa have their Leadership sorted. Even Everton now sorted.
We are going backwards.

11 Jan 2025 16:02:20
Are Everton really sorted? Only time will tell on that. Personally I'm thinking they may have just taken a big step backwards in bringing Moyes back

11 Jan 2025 20:21:40
There are some mitigating circumstances Brighton and Villa had their owners pre covid. During the past 5 years they have sold either "home grown" talent or cheap signings on for massive sums (Caicedo and Grealish). Those signings alone increase your PSR by a further 30% when you can make a £305m over 3 years.
Brentford have done well but they have a system that believes is data and that data tends to come good. Jury's out if that would remain the case if Frank wasn't there. Also they have had Toney and a few other experienced players over the years.
I think the threat of PSR sanctions was really high in summer 2023 that's why wolves were cautious. They had spent a phenomenal amount of money on Cunha, Lemina, Gomes, Diego Costa, Sarabia and Dawson in that season on top of Nathan Collins, Guedes, Nunes, Hwang and Sasa in summer 2022.
On top of high earners that hadn't performed for two years in Traore, Raul, Moutinho and we had Neves aswell so you look at that squad and it was massively over inflated for a club not Europe.
Everton aren't sorted the debt is madness at the club. They previous deal that fell through had paid £200m as a loan to complete the stadium. That's on top of a further £200m that they were already in debt due to the crazy business they have done.
Yes Moyes is a crowd pleaser PR wise but he still has challenging circumstances to navigate.

11 Jan 2025 22:13:55
There is no point trying to compare Brighton to Wolves.
One is the poster boy for a well run club the other has Jeff as CEO.
Over the last 3 years Brighton's turnover goes £139m, £167m and £203m.
Wolves turnover has gone from £194m to £165m and then £168m.
One going up fast whilst Wolves are seeing their turnover slipping badly!

At the pre tax level Jeff has seen Wolves go from a profit of £21m to losses of £43m and then £64m.
Brighton moved from a loss of £49m to a profit of £27m and then £131m.
Wolves's profits are falling sharply as Brighton's rise rapidly

Even removing the famous player sales that supposedly explain everything at Brighton the situation looks no better
Wolves go from a loss of £40m to a loss of £58m and then an even larger loss of £107m - A truly dire situation - hence my previous comments about Wolves only surviving by selling off its best players at a profit of £119m over the period. Sadly during this period we have fallen down the league.
Whilst Brighton goes from a loss £56m via a loss of £35m to a profit of £10m - yes even excluding player sales (at a profit of circa £190m over the period) they are becoming ever more profitable all the whilst rising up the table!
To be fair Brighton are indeed an astonishingly well run club so as I opened with not a fair comparison to Wolves who are run by Jeff!

12 Jan 2025 07:38:40
Rose tinted glasses there on the Jota situation Madman.I think it's fairly clear that he thought he was better than us and wanted to leave. And no, at the time it wasn't clear he was a class above.Could funds have been better spent? Definitely.

12 Jan 2025 16:03:07
People need to understand Jota wanted to go, Adama didn't want to sign a new deal.

12 Jan 2025 20:38:12
Jota was sold because Neto took his place.

13 Jan 2025 10:19:22
I wasn't comparing Brighton to Wolves just saying they have sold a fair few players for massive amounts compared to us.
Neither do I say Jota didn't want to go but feel we should have tried harder to keep him.
A player like Jota is the difference between midtable and fighting for Europe.
As I said the loss was because Fosun backed us in summer 2022 and January 2023 we spent a fortune over those two windows over £200m.
It needed to be tidied up Summer 2023.

13 Jan 2025 11:47:07
I tend to agree with Madman. Jota wasn't a starter under Nuno. Klopp threw a lot of red herrings about when he called Traore 'unplayable' and yet all the while was only interested in Jota. We got scammed with selling Jota and getting Hoever in PX. Likewise, we got scammed into buying Fabio Silva. Two huge and terrible decisions led us to where we are now. I don't blame Nuno, I blame Jeff. Fosun's naivety in football transfers was to blame. Plus a real hat-trick in terrible decisions then was Nuno's departure from Wolves. Nuno's real worth is now showing over in Nottingham, and good luck to Forest.

13 Jan 2025 13:30:44
Sorry Madman my post was in reaction to yours but acknowledge that you were not trying to compare the two clubs.
Interestingly though you again reference their player sales as a defining feature and marked differential to us.
It is not the major difference!
They made £190m - wow - over the last 3 years but we made £119m!
Yes a £71m difference and that sounds pretty significant?
But not when you see that we lost at the post tax level - i.e after everything including player sales - £86m over the 3 years and they made over the same period and at the same level £109m.
A difference of £195m or £124m more than the player sales alone!

14 Jan 2025 00:14:13
Thefutureisoldgold1 its not just the transfer fees. As I said it was the year 2022/2023 that has really crippled us on PSR with £305m over 3 financial years.
We spent £200m over August 2022 till summer 2023.
The wage bill over that seasonw as £310m which is an astronomical amount.
What worries me is that fans seem to foregt this and blame Fosun.
Fosun and Wolves have back the squad since 2016 there have been many signings over that period some have come off very well some have not but we haven't ever had owners that have planned for poor seasons but money to invest in January like Fosun have in January 2024 and hopefully January 2025.
We made on transfers but over the summers we have also spent. The season already highlighted 2022/2023 was a big issue for the club as any planning was up in the air with the management making sure we stayed up.
It means that the club have to balance there business each year on what they sign compared to what they sell.
As I said I would sign certain players but that would be dependant on Cunha being sold in the summer to offset this spent but also for leeway in the summer.
Its extremely difficult for clubs outside of europe to operate and compete against clubs in european football with the extra revenue.
I think the club should plan signings with Vitor, Hobbs and Mendes and go for Europe if they over spend by £30 (similar to value of Brennan Johnson) that surely is two points as shown by the precedent set setting points deductions against Forest last season
I agree complete load of tosh if Forest get CL or europe what is the point in the rest of us following the rules

14 Jan 2025 21:18:13
Madman - not sure what the £305m figure relates to?
Do you mean the transfers in the 3 years to 2022/3?
I'm far from certain that we spent anything like £300m gross let alone net over the 3 year period to 2022/3 indeed over that 3 year period up to 2022/3, according to footballtransfers.com we only spent just over £100m net!
Plus whilst I do blame Jeff for an out of control wage bill the £310m bill you quote really is beyond the pale - on a turnover of under £170m we would have broken PSR by a million miles if that was the case!
If you check the audited accounts the wage bill was "only" £140m!
Whilst I agree it is v hard to compete with the bigger team if you read the note above you can see that if we were as well run as Brighton we could have made no profit on sales whatsoever and still be better off than we are.
In other words it is the failure of Jeff to match his Brighton counterpart on NON TRANSFER business that has forced us to sell our diamonds - and thus fall down the league!
Clearly the latest accounts are now nearly 2 years out of date but I have no faith that either Jeff or underlying finances have improved - hence the need to sell Kilman and Neto last year - and I fear/agree that we will have to once again sell a diamond to cover up for Jeff's inadequacies.
For me however it would be RAN not Cunha as RAN is replaceable whilst at the moment is appears that Cunha is not and without him it takes a lot of imagination or some highly improbable restructuring of the squad on the back of his sale to see how we survive as a Prem league team next season.

15 Jan 2025 07:40:36
I think the €305m figure Madman is referring to is the incoming players over the 3 year period.

Between the start of season 20/21 and end of season 22/23, Wolves spent €304.7m on incoming players and received €179.9m from outgoing players (loans included both incoming and outgoing).

In 20/21 we were -€8.4m
In 21/22 we were -€5.8m
In 22/23 we were -€116.6m

15 Jan 2025 09:56:43
Add to this that the +€75.2m profit on player sales for season 23/24 our actual PSR for just player trading is -€47.2m over the latest 3 year cycle.

Obviously other factors such as wages etc have to be taken into account.

15 Jan 2025 15:32:02
Tks Wandering.
You are correct it is a gross figure in Euros.
You are also correct that net, we spent just over £100m during the 3 years.
In your second post the figure of circa Euro 75m is the correct figure for our net cash income from transfers - be careful it is not profit - in 2023-4.
Consequently over the 4 year period you are correct our net spend, (again not profit), is just over circa Euro 55m or less than £50m.
This is not solid investment by Fosun but a pathetically small amount of money, significantly less than the amortisation of the squad charged each year, that the club should easily have been able to self generate.
However you are also correct that the high wages and low turnover are major factors in our financial woes indeed so significant that far from investing in the squad we have - as we all know - been forced to bleed it dry to cover the holes in our finances to the extent that we now are where we are!

15 Jan 2025 23:05:05
That's correct chaps that was how I worked it out.
I would be tempted to take a points deduction next season though for another two cbs depending on the players we are linked with.
As the Forest gamble has worked out well maybe Danso and Veiga is worth the punt?
Realistically can't see Cunha staying so if we stay up it would be interesting to see the release clause.

09 Jan 2025 19:53:06
Rated, you have any names of the CM or CF we are looking at? Are they the Brazilians that have been mentioned previously?

09 Jan 2025 22:14:43
No names yet mate.

10 Jan 2025 10:32:59
Was Almiron mentioned on here recently? Always a fighter I recall. Not as young as he was but same work rate and passion as Moutinho.

10 Jan 2025 14:24:05
Clement Atpa of Auxere has been mentioned as has Adam Webster Brighton. Viega was but Chelsea have said no. Tanganga of Millwall has also had a mention. As to the truth who knows!

10 Jan 2025 21:51:46
It has gone quiet. Believe there's a few deals holding us back at the moment.
Pereira going to Palmeiros from Fulham could mean Rios coming to Wolves.
The Reis deal to City may improve the money they have to make the Pereira deal happen. So that midfield deal may move the coming week.
As it was Al Shabab I guess they are waiting in the wings for the other deals to conclude before Lemina moves.

I'm more worried about CB to be honest as it's disappointing being linked with the two cbs City have signed not that I expect to sign them but do think these young players should consider the actual culture and development pathway. No point being at City but being trained by some randomer rather than Pep.

We should pay the money for Veiga as it is rumoured £20m is the asking price which is a £7m profit for Chelsea since summer 2024.i would pay more for him he looks a great young player pace, build and he scorers which is handy.
The defenders need more competition so the standard will improve with another addition. Veiga can also play as a full back so that improves the culture at the club with added pressure on Semedo and RAN.

The squad could look like this:
GK:Saand Bentley
RB:Semedo, Doc, Lima
Cb:Dawson, Bueno, Toti, Agbagdou, Veiga
LB:RAN, R.Gomes
CM:Joao Gomes, Andre, Doyle, Rios or Gerson
Wide Forwards:Cunha, Hwang, Forbs, Guedes, Sarabia and Bellagarde.
Striker: Larsen

It's interesting how everyone wants different players will more calls for another striker. We don't need another striker we need a creative midfielder like Gerson or Rios or a winger like Vargas that has moved to Sevilla this week for £4m.who had a great euros cutting in a shooting.

Also Larsen was very unlucky against Forest he was wrestling one of the best cb partnerships in the prem this season and was unlucky. Support the lads as I expect Vitor to have some plans up his sleeve. ODCL

11 Jan 2025 14:36:51
Tks Madman for such an interesting and detailed post especially on the South American transfer dealings.
A couple of dull and tedious qs
I note, (hopefully correctly?), that the only senior players missing from the current squad in your putative squad are Yerson and the young French CB, (omissions or do you really want them gone?), Johnstone, Lemina and Traore. The transfer of the latter 3 will raise modest sums in the transfer market and with the exception of Lemina will probably be negative from a regulatory standpoint.
Consequently will the club be able to afford the addition of Emmanuel, Veiga, ( who my Chelsea supporting friends say is v good and whose versatility would seemingly make him an excellent addition), Rios/Gerson and the players currently on loan Forbes ( not yet convinced by) and Larsen (looks an obvious move!) both in cash terms and regulatory terms without another major disposal this year?

11 Jan 2025 20:37:24
Cheers Futuresisoldgold.
No I don't want either cb sold left Yerson out as I think it would be extremely unlikely he will return to make a difference this season and the young cb is still developing.I know there are high hopes for him but I think it would be a step too far expecting him to be Fofana for us for the rest of the season. 😄
I think there is planning involved but would expect the club to bank on the fact Cunha would leave in the summer I know there are some crazy valuations around but relegation clause at £45m and if we stay up £80m+.Cunha wouldn't owe us another year as this year just fell apart for different reasons one sticking with a back 4 and playing a press which was tactically naive.
So on that basis I imagine he will have a club lined up out of Man Utd, Arsenal, or City were linked.
So the signing of Veiga and one of the midfielders isn't out of this world plus we still didn't spend all the money of Neto and Kilman sales last summer from £100m sales we spent on Larsen £22m, R Gomes £13m, Johnstone £11m and Forbs £18m this summer coming.
So still believe we would have £30m-£50m to play with this window if Lemina and Johnstone move on.
If the club is planning to move to a back 4 it may be worth selling RAN for £40m this window to Liverpool and then signing Veiga and go in with a decent offer for Danso.
I have no confidence in a back 4 but with better defenders it could work.
I think Vitors focus on defence and a creative midfielder is what we have been needing for for a while to be honest. When the opposition drop 10 men behind the ball we struggle and we need different players to unlock them like Sarabia and Guedes can do. Someone like Trincao would be ideal not really scoring loads but loads of assists for assists that lead to goals.

11 Jan 2025 22:54:51
Another excellent post Madman.
I was assuming that this was a squad to take us forward i.e. for next season not just the next few months although I accept we need to stay up for anything to make sense
I def agree though about selling RAN to Liverpool either this January if we have to or in the summer.
Would hope for slightly more than £40m but would take Kelleher - the gk (plus perhaps optimistically Tsimikas (sp)- gather he can play both FB roles) and a few million rather than all in cash. {I'd value RAN at £50m+, Kelleher and Tsimikas at £15 to £20m each so would hope to get £10m + in cash on top}
For me RAN is so good going forwards he could really flourish in a team that has more possession, better players around him and that requires him to do less defensively. If TAA really leaves Liverpool he would be a great replacement albeit on the left not the right where TAA plays so he is worth more to them than he is to us - i.e. my £50m+
I would push the Veiga deal - perhaps financing by getting out of Forbs if possible - he has done nothing to justify that sort of fee or the spare cash from selling Sa, Johnstone, Hwang, RAN, Sarabia, Traore, Lemina, Bellegarde, Dawson, Doherty etc.
But if we sell Cunha your new South American - Rios/Gerson had better be a world beater because without him I think we look v weak going forwards.
I would desperately want to hang on to him for another year to have a serious go at returning to the top half and thus keeping him medium term.
Taking on board your ideas
Squad
GK: Kelleher, back up tba
RWB Semedo, back up Lima and Tsimikas
CBs Yerson Emmanuel, Veiga back up S Bueno, Toti and Meupiyou
LWB Veiga (if not CB) back ups R Gomes, Toti, H Beuno and Tsimikas
DM's : Andre, J Gomes back ups Veiga and Doyle
10s : Cunha, New SA (Gerson/Rios): back ups Guedes, R Gomes
Forwards : Larsen back up Sasa

Think that there are only 19 players in the squad as some cover more than 1 position.

12 Jan 2025 10:33:58
Apologies stupidly forgot that we have to pay £10m to RAN's former club upon transfer. Thus have to exclude £10m from the "surplus" money to buy Veiga and the SA etc