The cavalry – who might arrive in January?

With the takeover done, there’s talk of some incoming players to ease our worries as we enter into the New Year. 

Strangely the rumour mills are pretty quiet about our potential activity but that needn’t be seen as being negative. It might just be that the clubs is being very, very tight lipped about its planned activity under prospective new ownership. 

Here are the more persistent rumours:

Evan Ferguson: a really good young striker who I first saw playing for Brighton in an U23s game against Everton. Then probably about 16, he was the stand-out player and scored a well taken goal from the edge of the box.  Why would Brighton release such a player? Well, being brutal he has 1 in 11 this season, 6 in 27 last and 6 in 19 during his breakout in 2022 / 23 – these are the stats of a player going backwards. Brighton also have plenty of other options and might see January as a decent time to cash in.  His price tag has probably come down to around the £35m to £45m mark and, still only 20, he’d be a good long-term investment for Friedkin.

Kaua Elias: even younger than Ferguson, the Brazilian is only 18 but is linked with a host of clubs around Europe. He’s obviously got talent but would be one for the future rather than for this season.

Yuri Alberto: Thelwell seems to have been interested in Yuri Alberto for some time, tracking him while he was at St Petersburg and then continuing after his return to Brazil. He’s in decent form and now age 23 probably better placed to handle a move to Europe than he was when he went to Russia. Good footballer and quite robust at leading the line.

Igor Jesus: another that Thelwell (I think) has tracked for some time because we were first linked when he was playing in the Middle East when Lampard was manager.  Also now 23, he’s back in Brazil and doing well at Botafogo. I do note though that Botafogo are owned by John Textor and this link may date back to his failed ownership bid.

Ernest Nuamah: fast, talented left footed right winger playing for Lyon in France. The rumour is persistent (and Lyon seem to need to sell as they are in a terrible mess) but I wonder again if this rumour makes less sense with the Friedkin takeover. We did a fair bit of business with Textor-owned Lyon over summer (Mangala and O’Brien) but may be less likely under Friedkin's ownership.

Christantus Uche: an all action 20 year old Nigerian midfielder doing well at Getafe in la Liga after a £1.5m move from a third tier club in Spain this summer. Doubt they’d sell in January. There’ll be plenty of interest in summer.

Tariq Lamptey: available on a free in summer 2025 but Brighton might release him for a modest fee in January. That might be even more likely after he took some stick for unwisely joking with the cameras in the aftermath of their defeat to Palace at the weekend.

Juma Bah: a gigantic 18 year old CB on loan at Valladolid in La Liga, with a parent club still based in his native Sierra Leone.  Pretty amazing for him to have adapted so quickly to playing at such a high level. There’s talk of £10m fee – but presumably that would have to wait until summer 2025 once his loan at Valladolid is up.

Victor Lindelof: also approaching the end of his contract, Man Utd might let him go for a modest fee in January. Not exactly the most exciting signing but low cost, experienced “steady eddies” can be good for the side too.

Who else? Of course there are literally hundreds of players from across the world and closer to him in the Championship, academies etc who can come out of leftfield.  However, many (like the highly rated Chris Rigg at Sunderland or Borja Sainz at Norwich) will be waiting to resolve their futures in summer, not January.  And some may be available on loan – but that doesn’t help us since we’ve already filled our loan spots and, while people may dream, you can't usually just cancel a loan mid-season. That happens a bit with academy loans but not really with seniors.

A handful of players who could move mid-season (and to us) are below:

Gimenez (23) Mexican striker, slightly coming off the boil at Feyenoord and could be available for about £40m. Along with Ferguson, probably the best “gettable” striker around now right. Forest are linked.

Brobbey (22) powerful striker at Ajax and generally touted around a transfer target for a whole range of clubs but no great goal record to merit the links.

Ioannidis (24) tall, target man Greek striker in pretty lousy form for Panathinaikos.

Turgeman (20) Israeli striker showing real talent for Maccabi Tel Aviv, albeit in a weak league. Can you even buy from Israeli clubs right now?

Toure (18) Left winger from the Ivory Coast doing extremely well at Hammarby in Sweden and is one of the most exciting young attacking players in Europe. Although he might not make an immediate impact, he could be at least as good as compatriot Amad Diallo now really starting to impose himself on the First Team at Old Trafford.

Sulc (23) Czech attacking midfielder / forward hitting consistently good goal contributions for Viktoria Plzen. Has earned his move to a bigger club – will probably go somewhere like Hoffenheim in Germany but might be good for us.

Konstantelias (21) Greek playmaker at Salonika, seemingly too good for his current league.

Spertsyan (24) extremely talented Armenian playmaker playing for Krasnodar. Probably the best player in Russia and definitely earned a move. Can you even buy from Russian clubs?

Watson (19) all action teenage midfielder from Kilmarnock. It’d be nice to have a David Watson on our books again.

Brazhko (22) Dinamo Kiev defensive midfield player. Rugged with a good range of passing. Like a poor man’s Rodri.

Hezze (23) done well at Olympiakos as a holding midfielder since arriving from Argentina, with good assist stats (and passing range) too from deep. 

Brown (22) tall, young English LB playing for Gent in Belgium. Linked repeatedly around Premier League clubs.

Locko (22) a Patrice Evra style LB playing for Brest in France.  Linked around various Champions League clubs.

Diouf (19) started as a LB and moved to LW but really can cover the whole flank – this teenage Senegalese has already done full seasons in Norway and Czechia since leaving West Africa.  Seems unlikely to stick with Slavia Prague for long now.

Lovik (21) LB for Molde in Norway.  Elegant footballer who is too good for Norwegian football. Due a move. The sort of player Celtic would sign – before selling on for profit.

Pubill (21) tall, mobile RB from Almeria in Spain. Do we buy Spanish players?

Rensch (21) very fast RB from Ajax.  He (and his current club) will probably hold out for better offers in summer.

Dedic (22) dynamic Bosnian right wing-back from Salzburg.  Would be of interest to most top half clubs / Champions League clubs in all the major leagues in Europe.

Sildillia (22) tall, powerful French RB / CB playing for Freiburg in Germany.  A bit like (vaguely) Kounde at Barca.

Zeze (19) tall, left footed CB playing for Nantes in France.  Been linked a bit with Villa.

Finally, for a bit of fun, what might it cost to really move the dial and buy one of those players who is clearly too good for the lower to mid-reaches of the Premier League (or the bench).  Could we conceivably move for the following?

Richarlison (27): £35m for our former talisman, now out of form and seemingly out of favour at Spurs.

Eze (26): £70m for Palace’s stand-out player? Seems unlikely to follow Olise into Champions League royalty and so a club like Everton might be his best chance of getting “a big club” on his CV.

Mbeumo (25): £65m possibly for a player who has peaked but is about to enter the final year of his contract. Would they let him go in January?

Cunha (25): unless Wolves now accept they are going down, it seems unlikely they would part with their star forward (bought for £50m) before summer at least. It would probably cost £70m to get him then unless there’s a firesale at Molinuex.

Gibbs-White (24): seems unlikely that the player would trade high-flying Forest for Everton at the moment.  Forest are unlikely to entertain bids of less than £60m too.

Robinson (27): might take about £40m to bring our former LB home (although he’s from Milton Keynes originally).

 

But would Friedkin sanction the spending?  Does PSR give us enough slack?  Probably not either way but at least we can start to dream again after the lean and dreary Moshiri years. Onwards and upwards…

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