The Unreliable Transfer Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 4)

[mattyhurst]

Also found out recently my Grandad was scottish.

[Limiescouse]

@mattyhurst

Homegrown garbage that limits it to just English players, it really should include the UK countries after all England isn’t on a passport.

It is players developed by clubs affiliated with the English FA (so including the 3 Welsh ones). Technically it is independent of player nationality hence Frimpong being home grown and Eric Dier not

[Retro_Helix]

@Aurelio

I’d feel very uncomfortable bringing Quansah back to sit on the bench.

Can he play at RB?

[Limiescouse]

@Nikola

@rab

Every day that goes by it looks sillier and sillier to have sold Quansah and ostracised Elliott.

True - imagine how Newcastle are feeling now for the same reasons, only multiplied by several factors. While I’m very much in favour of a mechanism that controls spending and keeps the state-owned clubs in check, PSR has become a major disruption to development of young players.

This was really only a loophole that clubs who got themselves into compliance trouble utilized. That incentive is being significantly lowered with the new Squad Cost Regulations that are replacing the current PSR model where getting high salaries off the books, especially if that can be done with a decent sized fee, will be more heavily incentivized. You will have the benefit of booking a sale of “pure profit” from getting a young academy player off the books, but if you are not shifting much in wages and it doesnt bring in much of a sale price then it isnt going to earn you much extra SC room.

You use Chelsea as an example and someone like Enzo will have already had most of his fee amortized (SCR limit the period to 5 years regardless of how the internal books are done) and so selling him now is going to bring in near 100m in profit and clear maybe 15m in salary off the books. That is going to be way more valuable to them than a kid on 15k a week

[mattyhurst]

Still find it garabage

[Zoran]

Olmo is not a winger.

[Aurelio]

I’m almost certian that he used to play on the right wing.

Edit:

"Dani Olmo played right wing, left wing, attacking midfielder, and scored the winning goal in the final as a center forward at the European Under-21 Championship. Dani has tremendous footballing potential,” said Luis de la Fuente.

“He’s very versatile and can naturally play in top-level positions. Very few players possess Dani’s ability to play between the lines.”

The Spain head coach also pointed to Olmo’s impact in major international matches.

“He played on the wing against Germany in the European Championship and delivered the cross to Merino for the quarter-final goal. He’s an exceptional player in every position. It’s a great joy for us that he can perform in any role,” he added.

More on Tribuna.com:
https://tribuna.com/en/news/2026-06-01-luis-de-la-fuente-praises-dani-olmos-versatility-hes-exceptional-in-every-position/?utm_source=copy

[Limiescouse]

He has played “on the wing” the way Zidane sometimes did, but if you look at what Spain’s (and Barca’s) actual wingers are if Olmo ever gets assigned that role on the team sheet he does it in an entirely different way that will often leave fans asking where the winger is

[Zoran]

Him playing U21 football was a very long time ago (7 years ago).

He’s very much a central player, a #10. One of the best games I saw from him at the top level was him playing false #9 against Italy in the EC20 semi final (possibly the game of the tournament that one).

He can do a job off the sides (and he’d be playing more on the inside, like he would do at Leipzig), but if he’s used there, it’s actually the left side that suits him more than the right.

You can be sure that nobody is buying him now (his agent said we were interested in him in Slot’s first summer) with the idea of playing him on the right side.

[Patchwork]

@Limiescouse

@mattyhurst

Homegrown garbage that limits it to just English players, it really should include the UK countries after all England isn’t on a passport.

It is players developed by clubs affiliated with the English FA (so including the 3 Welsh ones). Technically it is independent of player nationality hence Frimpong being home grown and Eric Dier not

Also I think Leoni will count as homegrown if he is here for three years because we signed him young enough.

[Mascot]

@rab

Just seems mad to me that we’d let Quansah go only to then spend £80m on two non-homegrown options plus three young CBs for the academy. Maybe the two years experience will be worth the £25m premium to re-sign him next summer.

I don’t think it’s mad at all. I think it’s really good succession planning.

People keep saying that selling Quansah was a mistake, but I think the club knew exactly what they were doing.

Quansah was inexperienced, behind Konate and possibly Gomez to partner VvD, and we just could not afford to give him the time he needed to develop. If we’d kept Quansah, he’d have just floated around the periphery of the team and would probably have never become the player he has every chance of becoming.

When he comes back he’ll be doing so as an experienced 24 year old, with 80 odd games in the Bundesliga under his belt and an England regular. That was never going to happen if he’d stayed.

I think summer 2027, Van Dijk goes and Quansah comes back giving us a preferred pairing of Jaquet and Quansah, Leoni as third choice, and we might look at youngster like Lucky, Nallo or Ndaiye as fourth choice.

£20m ish net to replace Van Dijk. That’s good planning.

[Limiescouse]

@Patchwork

@Limiescouse

@mattyhurst

Homegrown garbage that limits it to just English players, it really should include the UK countries after all England isn’t on a passport.

It is players developed by clubs affiliated with the English FA (so including the 3 Welsh ones). Technically it is independent of player nationality hence Frimpong being home grown and Eric Dier not

Also I think Leoni will count as homegrown if he is here for three years because we signed him young enough.

Unfortunately not. It’s 3 years (or 36 months prior to turning 21) so was half a year too old

[Patchwork]

I’d read the whole season a player turns 21 counts towards homegrown status but could be nonsense.

[Limiescouse]

@Patchwork

I’d read the whole season a player turns 21 counts towards homegrown status but could be nonsense.

It sort of does. But he turns 21 half way through what will be his third season with us. It wont be until the start of next season when he hits his 36 month mark and so he’ll already be 21 by then

[ningles]

I also don’t think it’s guaranteed we get him back. Leoni and Jaquet feel like the more exciting long-term prospects as the preferred pairing (depending on development of course).

It was pretty clear that Slot didn’t fancy him, so (as you say), selling him with a buyback made total sense.

It’s also entirely possible that one or two of the u21s CBs that they bought will be first team squad in a few years.

[Sweeting]

We’ll be extremely lucky if either Jacquet or Leoni are better than Quansah, never mind both of them.

[aussielad]

@mattyhurst

Homegrown garbage that limits it to just English players, it really should include the UK countries after all England isn’t on a passport.

It’s based on FA so that would only work if all of the British FA’s merged and become 1 united FA meaning each country would not compete, but 1 team competing as United Kingdom

[mattyhurst]

I know I still think it’s a garbage rule.

[aussielad]

I agree it is a garbage rule, but I also agree with the argument for not bringing it in. I much prefer England, Scotland Wales and N.I. being different from each other - would hate to see them all merge into 1.

[rab]

I get that we’re trying to give him game time but we probably go into the season expecting to play somewhere around 50-60 games. There should be room in that for him to play more than he did the year before. Look at someone like Colwill or Khusanov. Both young centre backs getting game time at top six clubs.

The talk of succession planning is great. I notice you used the phrase “when he comes back” not “if he comes back” but we can’t force him to return if he doesn’t want to. And, there’s nothing stopping another team trying to buy him if his performances continue to improve, especially given the premium English clubs will pay for English players.

There was also no guarantee he goes to Leverkusen and plays as much or as well as he has so it’s a big old risk to trust that development to someone else.

But let’s say he does return, that’s just going to be replacing Gomez in the HG quota as he’ll likely be out the door, another English player gone for nothing. But now we’ve had Jacquet and Leoni here for a year or two each. Both of whom will expect more game time with Gomez going but if van Dijk also leaves that gives us a 24 year old as our senior centre back. Seems awfully risky.

I guess what I’m not seeing is the value in us letting him go, buying a bunch of other young options and then being £25m out of pocket on the deal if we bring him back. He’s still not senior enough to lead the defence, we’ve spent another £80m on CBs in the meantime and we’d still only have one HG option at the end of it. And there’s no guarantee he wants to come back anyway.

I just think if you believe he’s got the talent you find a way to get him the game time he needs either at your club or out on loan. You don’t let him out of your grasp then hope he improves at wherever he’s gone to and then only has eyes for a return home again when the time comes.