January transfer window 19/20 season Post Mortem

[Mfcdanny 771]

1 hour ago, Borodane said:

Watford are signing a new winger for 6 million. Isaac Success has been mentioned regarding Boro before iirc. I wonder if he will be made available for loan as I doubt his chances will increase at Watford with another winger through the door. Young and offers some of that raw pace that Woody seems to favour now. Reckon he could be a decent weapon in the Champo. Just some random specualtion on a quite day. Wouldn't cost a lot I'd imagine and since the Clarke deal is looking unlikely it would be a different alternative.

Some strong teams interested in him tho if true 

[AstoriaBoro 152]

43 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

I wonder who has got it in for Friend then? 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️

Every jealous guy on Teesside who’s wife would still rather look at him half naked in the Boro calendar from a few years ago than go anywhere near him 😠 (hope I don’t sound too bitter and twisted 😅).

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

5 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

I just don't believe that the transfer was ever genuine.  I think it was a way to get more money out of whoever ended up actually signing him.  There was no reason for him to sign a deal with Penarol at that point in time from a footballing or career point of view.  The fact that he wanted out of here so quickly as well to me lends more weight to it.

So, what, we just paid some money to... someone? Like his agent or something?

I think if he signed the pre-contract agreement before we became interested, that's perfectly believable. His career wasn't really going anywhere and there are reasons I could believe that would make him want to move back to Uruguay.

But it was a funny one, no doubt. There was a lot of different stories going around and it seemed like nobody officially ever disclosed what happened. I don't think what you've suggested is entirely beyond the realms of possibility, especially given what happened in January.

[BelgianBoro 765]

1 hour ago, Borodane said:

 Isaac Success has been mentioned regarding Boro before iirc.

I would love to see Success on Teesside! 

[Neverbefore 10,940]

1 hour ago, Changing Times said:

I think and thought it was pants.  We bought loads of players in but hardly any quality so the bulk of the team was the one that got promoted despite signings something like 11 players.  Negredo and Chambers were decent, Valdes was ok but gave up before the end.  Ramirez we ended up paying a fee for despite the fact that he was a free transfer, didn't we?  It's also worth pointing out that strictly speaking he wasn't an addition to the squad as we had him in the Championship before it turned out he was a tosser.  Guzan added nothing, Fischer added nothing, Bernardo added nothing and was injured when we signed him, de Roon was no better than the midfielders we had or didn't play like it anyway, Traore added nothing (possibly because of Karanka in fairness to him).  January was worse mind as we signed players for absolutely no reason basically.  A complete waste of time and money.

I think even if your evaluation was true (I dont agree with some of it- de roon far outperformed clayton and leadbitter in the prem, traore showed flashes in the prem and obviously went on to earn us a lot of money) I think any window with 3 decent signings cannot be called "pants". It wasn't enough to survive in the end but there was a hell of a lot more going on at the club than just that window.

[Changing Times 12,347]

8 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

So, what, we just paid some money to... someone? Like his agent or something?

I think if he signed the pre-contract agreement before we became interested, that's perfectly believable. His career wasn't really going anywhere and there are reasons I could believe that would make him want to move back to Uruguay.

But it was a funny one, no doubt. There was a lot of different stories going around and it seemed like nobody officially ever disclosed what happened. I don't think what you've suggested is entirely beyond the realms of possibility, especially given what happened in January.

I don't know where the money ended up going but I assume we paid it to the club.

I don't believe it was believable so to speak lol.  He didn't want to move back to Uruguay, which is why he didn't move back there and still isn't there now.  If you're out of contract at the end of the season then what would be the benefit in rushing to sign a contract with a club who couldn't possibly pay you the kind of salary you've been used to and really couldn't help your career in any way at that point in time?  If you had no interest after the season was finished then fair enough but in January when he and his agent must have known there were clubs with some interest?  I'm not buying it but then I am a cynical sod 🙂

[Changing Times 12,347]

22 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

I think even if your evaluation was true (I dont agree with some of it- de roon far outperformed clayton and leadbitter in the prem, traore showed flashes in the prem and obviously went on to earn us a lot of money) I think any window with 3 decent signings cannot be called "pants". It wasn't enough to survive in the end but there was a hell of a lot more going on at the club than just that window.

That's your opinion on de Roon but it's not one I share.  I thought he was decidedly average for us and no better than what we had.  Considering the difference in valuation between him and the other midfielders we had then the difference on the field should have been easy to see and it wasn't.  Traore did nothing in the Premier League, one assist and no goals.  If the aim of the transfer window was to help us stay in the Premier League then he contributed very little to that.  We sold him for a healthy profit, which is fine, but that can't have been our primary reason for signing him.  That transfer window was pants in my opinion because we brought too many players in who contributed too little.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Changing Times

[Duvel 2,446]

De Roon was like a Premier league version of Jonny Howson. His main asset was being able to run around a lot, I'm not sure what else he did apart from that. 

 

[Foogle 2,104]

The issue we had in the premier league and pretty much the same every window since is a complete lack of creativity. It's like the logic of the scouting department is that we need more goals so lets buy more strikers...

[mendieta420 1,006]

37 minutes ago, Duvel said:

De Roon was like a Premier league version of Jonny Howson. His main asset was being able to run around a lot, I'm not sure what else he did apart from that. 

 

Because he was played out of position. Look at him now for Atalanta, defensive mid or even centre-back when they go more attacking. He never gets ahead of play like we had him doing.

[Brunners 7,982]

De roon is a champions league quality and full international player and people here are saying he is no better than clayton or leadbitter. 

If we were able to use players effectively maybe we'd see the best of them

Stuani also falls into this group.

[Mr_Maz 2,899]

Just now, Brunners said:

De roon is a champions league quality and full international player and people here are saying he is no better than clayton or leadbitter. 

If we were able to use players effectively maybe we'd see the best of them

Stuani also falls into this group.

thanks, saved me the effort

[Neverbefore 10,940]

11 minutes ago, Brunners said:

De roon is a champions league quality and full international player and people here are saying he is no better than clayton or leadbitter. 

If we were able to use players effectively maybe we'd see the best of them

Stuani also falls into this group.

Stuani was used effectively by karanka. We had a weakness in the wing positions and he did a very solid job out there. Yes hes better as a striker but we always had decent central forwards so he played where he was needed and scored a lot of important goals for us despite being out of position. 

[Smogzilla 7,484]

1 hour ago, AstoriaBoro said:

Every jealous guy on Teesside who’s wife would still rather look at him half naked in the Boro calendar from a few years ago than go anywhere near him 😠 (hope I don’t sound too bitter and twisted 😅).

Can you blame them?

 

Phwoar. 

[Changing Times 12,347]

24 minutes ago, Brunners said:

De roon is a champions league quality and full international player and people here are saying he is no better than clayton or leadbitter. 

If we were able to use players effectively maybe we'd see the best of them

Stuani also falls into this group.

Because in a Boro shirt he wasn't.  What does it matter what he's done since he left us, if when he was here with us he wasn't especially good?  His spell here, for us, was nothing to write home about and if you didn't know who the players were then you'd never know there was any difference between them.  If I'm judging our signings I have to judge them on what they do in a Boro shirt not somewhere else - I'm not gonna judge Saville based on what he did in a Millwall shirt or what he does after/if he leaves us.  I think it's also fair to say that some players don't suit certain types of football.  I always felt that the Premier League was too quick for de Roon and it might be that playing elsewhere is better for him.  He did start against Stoke on his debut as the deepest midfielder but looked completely off the pace until he was injured.  The injury probably didn't help him but it seems kinda telling that when he came back, Karanka preferred not to play him in that role.