2024/25 Ins & Outs Discussion

[joewarkfanclub]

As I said elsewhere, Kettlewells strike rate on the recruitment side of things is no worse than most of our managers in my lifetime.

It just comes down to the pool we can fish in.

We need to find players that are willing to play for what we pay AND come to Motherwell.

We can try spending a bit more money to get more quality but our competition in that regard then becomes Hearts, Hibs & Aberdeen instead of Dundee, Killie and St Mirren.

Given current league positions there is no guarantee that a change of policy is going to be more successful, and it comes attached with a lot more risk.

For me Kettlewells balance sheet this season looks like this

Good - Kaleta, Gordon, Seddon, Maswanhise

Jurys Still out - Koutroumbis, Balmer, Stama, Watt (although I believe both of them will come good)

Injured/Not good enough -Callachan, Robinson, Tavares.

Koutroumbis not being given a chance in the last few weeks makes it kinda look like he isnt going to be good enough, but much like the decisions to bench Kaleta and Maswanhise, there could be reasons behind the scenes that the club dont want to go public with, so not gonna write him off without having seen him play.

Balmer is probably serviceable but he needs to concentrate on his football instead of getting wound up by the opposition and officials.

Given we have Paton, Nicholson, SOD, Slattery, McGinn and Vale all to come back by January, I dont see us really doing a lot of business unless we can identify a holding midfielder and/or a physical target man.

It should also be noted the SK has been very good at getting players out the door that werent contributing / part of his plans. 

[steelman1991]

I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield.

[joewarkfanclub]

1 minute ago, steelman1991 said:

I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield.

Oops! Forgot about him!

I agree!

[smiddy]

21 hours ago, thewelllfan said:

Koutrombis, Callahan, Taveres would be the 3 I'd be getting rid of 1 of Robinson/Watt/Ebiye but Robinson out for the season I suspect he'll keep the other 2 as cover. 

We need a holding mid in January. If we keep Slattery and Nicholson fit I think we'll be fine for an attacking midfielder.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Lennon go in January as well so if he does we'll need to try replace him as best as we can.

Ox/Heygi

Mcginn/Balmer Gordon Casey/Blaney

Kaleta/SOD Miller/Davor/Halliday/Paton/Slattery/Nicholson/New Cm Wilson/Seddon

Watt/Stam/Maswanhise/Ebiye/Robinson

 

Unless he's planning to change shape I don't see us doing a lot of business. Probably end up 8/9th in the league.

8/9th.  Id settle for that right now👍

[smiddy]

Oooops i also forgot bout jack vale who i thought was decent last year but depends how he recovers from his injury ( cant remember what it was ) 

[thewelllfan]

4 hours ago, steelman1991 said:

I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield.

I also forgot about him but he's been great. Thought he'd be a Parker type signing where he's just been signed to have a longer look at him, but he's been good and we've missed him badly in there in recent weeks

[smiddy]

12 hours ago, thewelllfan said:

I also forgot about him but he's been great. Thought he'd be a Parker type signing where he's just been signed to have a longer look at him, but he's been good and we've missed him badly in there in recent weeks

A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them 

[joewarkfanclub]

3 hours ago, smiddy said:

A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them 

Maybe says more about Accies than Sparrow!

😆😆😆

[stv]

37 minutes ago, smiddy said:

A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them 

To be fair he probably plays better on grass than recycled plastic bottles.

[weeyin]

When we signed him, steelboy said Sparrow "would bring heehaw" to the club, so I was quite optimistic he'd be decent.

[grizzlyg]

5 minutes ago, weeyin said:

When we signed him, steelboy said Sparrow "would bring heehaw" to the club, so I was quite optimistic he'd be decent.

Did he say that in a tweet? 🤣🤣

[Mccus28]

Caught offside are reporting:-

Liverpool, Southampton, Brighton and Newcastle are preparing a €10mil bid for Miller.

That translates to £8.2mil

 

Im struggling to believe that but if true....................Jesus Christ

[Spiderpig]

6 minutes ago, Mccus28 said:

Caught offside are reporting:-

Liverpool, Southampton, Brighton and Newcastle are preparing a €10mil bid for Miller.

That translates to £8.2mil

 

Im struggling to believe that but if true....................Jesus Christ

£8.2 million is a good starting point for negotiations 👍

[David]

Although £8.2 million might seem like a really high sum for a club of our size, it actually represents solid value when you consider the analytics and projections surrounding Miller.

While he hasn’t reached their level yet, there’s no reason why he couldn’t follow a similar trajectory to players like Amadou Onana at Aston Villa or Carlos Baleba at Brighton. Onana, at 23 years old, is five years ahead in his development and far more established, while Baleba, who I believe is 20, is still on the rise. That said, based on his current progress, there’s every chance Miller could reach a similar standard in time and with the proper coaching and development.

For context, Onana moved from Hamburg to Lille for around €7 million before Everton signed him for £33 million, and then Villa acquired him for roughly £50 million. Baleba, on the other hand, joined Brighton for £27 million. Even if Miller doesn’t quite hit those heights (though he has the potential to do so), the £8.2 million fee starts to look like a decent investment for any club willing to buy him.

[texanwellfan]

Would also be worthwhile seeing if we can also tie it into some arrangement for loan players…… if it’s true 

[StAndrew7]

45 minutes ago, Mccus28 said:

Caught offside are reporting:-

Liverpool, Southampton, Brighton and Newcastle are preparing a €10mil bid for Miller.

That translates to £8.2mil

 

Im struggling to believe that but if true....................Jesus Christ

I'd heard Newcastle were in for him last month; seemingly he told them no then, but wouldn't be surprised to see them come back in.

He definitely fits with Brighton's development model/pathway.

[mio]

I don’t think he’ll go anywhere where he won’t be playing. There’s no way he’s going to play in any EPL side right now? He’ll be in their u23 side and get the bench from time to time. That will not suit him. I don’t think championship football will suit him either.

Just my opinion but I have a feeling he’ll go abroad but it’ll mean less money for the club? We’ll maybe get a big sell on clause tho?

 

[StAndrew7]

9 minutes ago, mio said:

I don’t think he’ll go anywhere where he won’t be playing. There’s no way he’s going to play in any EPL side right now? He’ll be in their u23 side and get the bench from time to time. That will not suit him. I don’t think championship football will suit him either.

Just my opinion but I have a feeling he’ll go abroad but it’ll mean less money for the club? We’ll maybe get a big sell on clause tho?

 

No reason it'll mean less money for us? The EPL has silly money I agree but most Serie-A/Bundesliga/French teams can afford to pay £8 million if that's the quoted number and they want Miller to play in their first team.

It's down to what we value him at what we'll sell him for. If a club wants him to play in their first team, they should pay what we ask them for/we need to negotiate hard rather than just jumping at the first big bid that comes in.

FWIW, I'd take £6 million from a European team with appearance, performance and sell on clauses, which I don't think we'd get from an EPL side as they're the ones likely to buy him from a "lesser" club in Europe for mega-bucks.

[mio]

1 minute ago, StAndrew7 said:

No reason it'll mean less money for us? The EPL has silly money I agree but most Serie-A/Bundesliga/French teams can afford to pay £8 million if that's the quoted number and they want Miller to play in their first team.

It's down to what we value him at what we'll sell him for. If a club wants him to play in their first team, they should pay what we ask them for/we need to negotiate hard rather than just jumping at the first big bid that comes in.

FWIW, I'd take £6 million with appearance, performance and sell on clauses.

Yeah I think that’s a good amount. I just think Italian sides (where I think he would be best suited) don’t tend to pay fortunes for young players. I think a league like this or Germany would benefit him as a player more than England at the moment.

[StAndrew7]

5 minutes ago, mio said:

Yeah I think that’s a good amount. I just think Italian sides (where I think he would be best suited) don’t tend to pay fortunes for young players. I think a league like this or Germany would benefit him as a player more than England at the moment.

Yeah, I absolutely agree; his game is far better suited to the continental style, imho. I'd actually be quite happy if he never played in England. The game there's too reliant on brick shithouse midfielders, rather than someone of Miller's stature and style.

Ultimately it depends which club is buying him. Bologna paid (or are rumoured to have) paid about £3m for Ferguson. If a team like Atalanta, Juve, Bayern, Leverkusen or whomever wants him we'll get far more. If Liverpool and the others are looking at him, you can bet the other big boys in the top leagues are.

[weeyin]

The (tough) question for Miller is will he end up as another face in the development squad with those teams, or will he be given a realistic opportunity to get into the first team.

10 million and back on loan with us, sounds ideal though...

[Richie]

Liverpool paid £4.2m for Calvin Ramsay, based on not very much.

[StAndrew7]

1 hour ago, Richie said:

Liverpool paid £4.2m for Calvin Ramsay, based on not very much.

I had completely forgotten about him.

[joewarkfanclub]

3 hours ago, Richie said:

Liverpool paid £4.2m for Calvin Ramsay, based on not very much.

Quite similar profiles.

Although Miller has played more first team football now than Ramsay did before he moved.

Also Miller is a midfielder and inflation in the last 2 years should mean we are looking in excess of that fee.

[grizzlyg]

Wasn't sure where to post this but I was at calendar signing tonight getting one signed for our best pals son.  I know we give them pelters at times but what a great bunch of lads we have. All so pleasant and took time to speak to everyone.  I even got a few selfies but avoided saying I was grizzly just incase...🤣