Summer 2023 Transfer Window Thread

[DantheDon]

2 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

I've had the fear ever since the jungle drums started talking about  Pape Habib Gueye.  It is either someone is getting sold or bavidge is going on loan.. 

Tbh would be good for Bavidge to get out on loan. As much as we will need to do some rotating of the squad having 3-4 senior strikers in front of him means his playing time is likely limited. 

[OrlandoDon]

9 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

I've had the fear ever since the jungle drums started talking about  Pape Habib Gueye.  It is either someone is getting sold or bavidge is going on loan.. 

has to be bavidge on loan, he needs it. Gueye gives us a very different look and I’d guess having four solid players to rotate is the plan. Bavidge is 5, get him out somewhere for the experience and minutes.

[Reekie_Red]

3 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

has to be bavidge on loan, he needs it. Gueye gives us a very different look and I’d guess having four solid players to rotate is the plan. Bavidge is 5, get him out somewhere for the experience and minutes.

Agreed. Get him out to the Championship, or maybe one of the League One challengers like Stirling or Hamilton. Give him a chance to shine in a team that can provide consistent chances 

[Panda]

Send Bavidge to Celtic with the provision he must play at least 75% of games. 

They owe us one.

[Jute]

New striker confirmed. 
 

Hoping this doesn’t mean someone is leaving. 

[Slim]

Sunday Monday Pape Gueye
Tuesday Wednesday Pape Gueye
Thursday Friday Pape Gueye
Saturday Pape Gueye
Scoring all week for you

What do you reckon, we having that?

[SeeBass]

Do folk see Vinnie going out on loan to another Premier League team and if so who?  He's just wasting his career not playing with us.  I do feel really sorry to see his fall from grace at our club in such a short space of time.  I worry for the kid's mental health if I'm truly honest.

[SeeBass]

I would expect Duk to be leaving before end of week now this Senegal lad is in the door.  Personally speaking I don't think he's the same player from last season.  Like his head has been turned by all the speculation.  

I've had a love hate relationship with Aberdeen last few years and would be gutted to see either Duk or Bojan leave whether this week or sometime in future.  They really kept my spirits up last year.

I kind of hoped both would be like a David Silva at Manchester City who stayed at Etihad nearly eleven years and the pair of them would still be banging in the goals for us six or seven year from now.

Sadly Silva's loyalty in modern game is very rare nowadays at top level.  Wishful thinking at least.    

[tom_widdows]

52 minutes ago, SeeBass said:

Sadly Silva's loyalty in modern game is very rare nowadays at top level.  Wishful thinking at least

'Loyalty' is alot easier when you play for one of the richest teams in the world.
Its pretty hard for another club to tempt you away when they can't match/ improve your wages.

When your main career will naturally end before you reach 40 assuming you don't get crippled by a mistimed tackle, loyalty is a luxury you may not be able to afford

Scotty Pippen's Chicago Bulls career springs to mind.

[SeeBass]

Tom,

          Silva could have played wherever he wanted across the globe and been just as successful if not more with another team regardless of his pay packet.  It still amazes me to this day that he spent just over a decade in Manchester.

[manc_don]

21 hours ago, Jute said:

New striker confirmed. 
 

Hoping this doesn’t mean someone is leaving. 

Was excited by this but now having listened to the ABZ podcast and the kortrijk fan, has me nervous. Hopefully his injury is well past him and he’s able to rediscover some form. 

[tlg1903]

2 hours ago, manc_don said:

Was excited by this but now having listened to the ABZ podcast and the kortrijk fan, has me nervous. Hopefully his injury is well past him and he’s able to rediscover some form. 

I listened to that as well.  Time will tell but I'm sure he's had an extra strict medical.  

[Elgindon]

Cormack hopeful of 1 or 2 more before the deadline.Lee Hendrick from Newcastle being mentioned elsewhere as a possible loan?

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/6096337/aberdeen-eye-double-swoop-before-transfer-window-closes/?fbclid=IwAR2MVjjZsSbu42TBjJ5h2VxcRxg4VhJenTnoj2f72tzn6qVsnxJaogu-qQU

[manc_don]

2 hours ago, Elgindon said:

Cormack hopeful of 1 or 2 more before the deadline.Lee Hendrick from Newcastle being mentioned elsewhere as a possible loan?

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/6096337/aberdeen-eye-double-swoop-before-transfer-window-closes/?fbclid=IwAR2MVjjZsSbu42TBjJ5h2VxcRxg4VhJenTnoj2f72tzn6qVsnxJaogu-qQU

Would be a great signing on paper. Played against us for burnley no? Irish international, so may know McGrath and hayes? To an extent.

[Reekie_Red]

Hendrick apparently moving to the Championship 

[OrlandoDon]

54 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

Hendrick apparently moving to the Championship 

Invite him up for tonight. Take a look and enjoy the atmosphere!! A good sell…..provided we win!

[tlg1903]

Rumour mill suggesting we are in for Baccus from Helen.  

[Elgindon]

Fingers crossed...

[RicoS321]

Always good to put together first impressions for the new signings early doors. I'm assuming there'll be no further business, maybe one in (hopefully). Overall, we look weaker than last season and the best signings have been re-signings, so I'll not include them in this list.

Doohan - amazing. Everything we need in a backup goalie

McGarry - jury's out. Looked positionally and defensively poor last night and had to be taken off due to lack of fitness. Ran into trouble a couple of times with poor decision making. I'm going to say that he'll be okay but nothing great.

Jensen - jury's out. Looked weak in the air, generally timid, good on the ball but prone to putting us in danger because of that. Looks like the centre of a three rather than left of a three. I don't think he'll make it in the SPFL unless we change the setup (either to a four, or play him in the centre of a three), he doesn't have the physical presence required.

Rubezic - jury's out. Looked great against Livingston despite some dubious passing. He's clearly not a guy that can play in the centre of a three and needs the man in behind him to organise him. He's positionally suspect and is terrible with the ball but solid. I think he'll be fine in the SPFL if Robson plays him correctly, he's basically Ash Taylor, which we can work with. He'll struggle in Europe.

Devlin - success. Obviously. A leader, an organiser and will throw himself into everything. He needs to be playing wingback or right back in a four. So far, the best of our signings.

Dadia - fail. This season's "why has he never been given a chance?". Because he's pish. That's why.

Williams - fail. If he's not good enough to get into that back line then he's not likely to be good enough. Plenty of rumours around his attitude, but we'll assume that's just him being a young lad, and Robson will sort him out. Probably one of the many wasted EPL loans. Although we may need him if Rubezic doesn't get his shite together soon.

McGrath - jury's out. Technically good player with some nice touches and good use of the ball. Doesn't fit into our midfield at all, and doesn't appear to be any better than Barron in that he has less work rate. We'll get regularly overrun in midfield with him and Clarkson in there, especially in Europe, and Shinnie can't be doing forty games at full tilt to make up for them. I think he'll be fine if used correctly. I originally thought he might be able to do the number 8 thing like Ramadani, but last night dispelled that hope. I don't trust Robson not to persist with him out of position and he ends up being a scapegoat.

Sokler - jury's out. Looks exactly like Miovski in every single way. But slightly shitter. Not getting enough minutes to get the required striker's sharpness. Plays on the shoulder and makes intelligent runs. I think he'll be okay and will score goals.

Gueye - success. He's big, and we kick the ball high. He'll be amazing. Probably our best signing.

Think that's everyone. This summer was always going to be difficult with such a massive turnover and with European football. As a squad, we're miles away from one that can finish third whilst playing every Thursday. Our fringe players aren't good enough to win against likes of St Mirren, Motherwell, Livi and Killie away. Without a change to the system (or another signing), we're going to struggle with the players we've got. Robson has to decide whether playing Duk into form is worthwhile, especially at the expense of the entire formation (it's why we play three at the back). I think Robson needs some assistance with tactics in the background, he's clearly fairly clueless about how to change things if he doesn't settle on a good strategy from the outset. Think it could be a long season, with top six being a difficult target. I expect we'll have signings ready to go in January that could be the difference like they were last season, so it'll be a season of two halves again.

[Jute]

Pretty much agree with all of that other than I think there will be one more in for you to critique today. 

[RicoS321]

Speaking of our squad, we should really be looking at loaning our third keeper out. He seems to have been around the place for years.

[Panda]

Harsh on Jensen, especially since he's  only played one full game.

Thought he looked good last night.

[RicoS321]

14 minutes ago, Panda said:

Harsh on Jensen, especially since he's  only played one full game.

Thought he looked good last night.

I think he looked poorer than McKenzie. Of course, he's just in the door, so it's not a fair assessment, just an initial one. The one thing that struck me though, was that he doesn't seem to have any stand out attributes. He's not particularly strong, not particularly fast, decent on the ball but not great, not particularly strong in the air and I wasn't totally convinced about his positioning and reading of the game (this is one area that it's extremely unfair to judge after one game of course). With Pollock last season and Rubezic this, it's fairly clear where they excel and anything else is a bonus, Macdonald's game intelligence stood out immediately, like Hoban and Anderson before him. In a back three, Scales was beginning to get the perfect blend of aggression and ability to bring the ball out, which really suited that setup. To me, Jensen appears to be more alike with MacDonald, which is probably not something we need if MacDonald is fit (it's good to have options, of course, but it would leave us one cog short). At the moment, he looks a little bit like McKenzie, just not really fitting into our setup by being a Jack (McKenzie) of all trades and not particularly strong in any one area. Which would be fine if either of them were 6ft4.

[OrlandoDon]

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Always good to put together first impressions for the new signings early doors. I'm assuming there'll be no further business, maybe one in (hopefully). Overall, we look weaker than last season and the best signings have been re-signings, so I'll not include them in this list.

Doohan - amazing. Everything we need in a backup goalie

McGarry - jury's out. Looked positionally and defensively poor last night and had to be taken off due to lack of fitness. Ran into trouble a couple of times with poor decision making. I'm going to say that he'll be okay but nothing great.

Jensen - jury's out. Looked weak in the air, generally timid, good on the ball but prone to putting us in danger because of that. Looks like the centre of a three rather than left of a three. I don't think he'll make it in the SPFL unless we change the setup (either to a four, or play him in the centre of a three), he doesn't have the physical presence required.

Rubezic - jury's out. Looked great against Livingston despite some dubious passing. He's clearly not a guy that can play in the centre of a three and needs the man in behind him to organise him. He's positionally suspect and is terrible with the ball but solid. I think he'll be fine in the SPFL if Robson plays him correctly, he's basically Ash Taylor, which we can work with. He'll struggle in Europe.

Devlin - success. Obviously. A leader, an organiser and will throw himself into everything. He needs to be playing wingback or right back in a four. So far, the best of our signings.

Dadia - fail. This season's "why has he never been given a chance?". Because he's pish. That's why.

Williams - fail. If he's not good enough to get into that back line then he's not likely to be good enough. Plenty of rumours around his attitude, but we'll assume that's just him being a young lad, and Robson will sort him out. Probably one of the many wasted EPL loans. Although we may need him if Rubezic doesn't get his shite together soon.

McGrath - jury's out. Technically good player with some nice touches and good use of the ball. Doesn't fit into our midfield at all, and doesn't appear to be any better than Barron in that he has less work rate. We'll get regularly overrun in midfield with him and Clarkson in there, especially in Europe, and Shinnie can't be doing forty games at full tilt to make up for them. I think he'll be fine if used correctly. I originally thought he might be able to do the number 8 thing like Ramadani, but last night dispelled that hope. I don't trust Robson not to persist with him out of position and he ends up being a scapegoat.

Sokler - jury's out. Looks exactly like Miovski in every single way. But slightly shitter. Not getting enough minutes to get the required striker's sharpness. Plays on the shoulder and makes intelligent runs. I think he'll be okay and will score goals.

Gueye - success. He's big, and we kick the ball high. He'll be amazing. Probably our best signing.

Think that's everyone. This summer was always going to be difficult with such a massive turnover and with European football. As a squad, we're miles away from one that can finish third whilst playing every Thursday. Our fringe players aren't good enough to win against likes of St Mirren, Motherwell, Livi and Killie away. Without a change to the system (or another signing), we're going to struggle with the players we've got. Robson has to decide whether playing Duk into form is worthwhile, especially at the expense of the entire formation (it's why we play three at the back). I think Robson needs some assistance with tactics in the background, he's clearly fairly clueless about how to change things if he doesn't settle on a good strategy from the outset. Think it could be a long season, with top six being a difficult target. I expect we'll have signings ready to go in January that could be the difference like they were last season, so it'll be a season of two halves again.

Good grief min. Someone or something has possessed you within the last 24 hours. You’re normally one of the more rational thinkers here. 
Re write this in a month. It’s been a mad scramble to field a team this month, give the boys a break and a chance to even unpack and get settled in at the club. Some of the guys, particularly the last three prior to the big unit up top, will be key players for us. But have they even trained yet?? Barely. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by OrlandoDon

[RicoS321]

52 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Good grief min. Someone or something has possessed you within the last 24 hours. You’re normally one of the more rational thinkers here. 
Re write this in a month. It’s been a mad scramble to field a team this month, give the boys a break and a chance to even unpack and get settled in at the club. Some of the guys, particularly the last three prior to the big unit up top, will be key players for us. But have they even trained yet?? Barely. 

That bit in bold is only really applicable if you're not on a fitba forum discussing fitba. I didn't think I needed to explicitly say "but these guys are just in the door", because it's fairly obvious. The whole point in first impressions, or predictions, are that they'll be proved wrong. It's a way to look back and say "Jesus, I got that one wrong". If you look back to last season I did similar, and got a few wrong (most notably Duk and I think I also complained about us giving a Liverpool loanee time ahead of Barron!). There's very little point in me writing it once we can all see how good or shite the team is, it kind of defeats the purpose. You're obviously reading my post(s) as if they're some sort of criticism of individuals, rather than just a quick assessment Other than Dadia - where I was being flippant - most of the criticism surrounds the type of player they are and the role that they're being asked to play. It should be fairly obvious to everyone that Rubezic is a beast that's going to fly into challenges for example. I don't think I'm at risk of him turning into Eoin Jess overnight. How does McGrath fit in our team, where is Jensen going to play, what the fuck is a Shayden Morris anyway? That sort of thing.