2015/16 Transfer Speculation

And Riera

This is much more likely IMO. Next year he'll be in NZ for 5 years and I'm sure Hudson will be keen for him to play for the AWs, so his citizenship will be fast tracked.

I'm surprised Hudson hasn't thought 4 years is good enough and played him already. 

Despite how good Riera is for us, I don't think he's the answer at national level. I think it will be a bit like Dura - won't quite step up to that level.

Though in saying that - beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

By the time he is a Kiwi the AW level will come down even more and so he'll fit right in.

Really? I can't think of a single Kiwi defensive midfielder currently playing who would be better than him. Maybe Tuiloma in the future but not right now.

Cahill please

So we can end up crossing the ball into the box for 90 mins a week like we did under Ricki?

hardly changed, just passing it to defenders in the box now..

But Boxall was that cover. How do you plan for an unmatchable offer?

Boxall is getting more money in Pretoria which perhaps is enough of a reason, but he also gets to play regularly.

He was clearly aching for more game time, not keen to be waiting patiently "till his time comes" - at 27, you can't blame him.

You can't, I just would have expected a more experienced signing in the backs oer the off-season. We have the young boys right now but they could be a bit further away than we need them to be.

And which aussie or kiwi CB would you target.

So they couldn't find a striker and they couldn't find a central defender. 

laugh.

His brother Niko

If Boxall wasn't prepared to wait patiently until his time come, the other option is to get better at your craft. Become a better option than the incumbent. Radical idea I know

Well with the demise of in the zone no one is pushing for Eager any more, I'd say Musa.

I think he may have been close to this.  He was certainly close to first choice at fullback.

Mike is on the injured list for a few more weeks. Nothing to major

Impossible to know who was interested/demanding too much etc. But I would definitely have made a play for Zac Anderson before he signed with Bling.

Plenty of talk about Thwaite being unhappy at the Glory. But at 32, he is hardly a long term solution.

Curtis Good seems to be going nowhere with Newcastle United, sooner or later he will have to come back to the A-League to re-launch his career.

Taylor Regan as a squad player.

That is true. I would rate Boxall equal to or better than Manny, as per their form midway through last season. 

But both Siggy and Dura played very well at that time and Boxall was not getting enough game time as CB. If I am not mistaken, he was headhunted for a CB position in Brockie's new team in SA. So it panned out as planned: he is hopefully getting better at his craft by playing regularly (although not in a better level competition IMHO), and is earning money to afford a house in Auckland once he's back.

Wasn't there talk that we tried to get him?

Or go elsewhere, get paid more AND get playing time, while also working hard to get better at your craft. 

I suppose the question I would like to ask is: who thinks that we could have got a real striker and a real CB backup, if we tried harder / were more organized / splashed the cash, as opposed to who believes Ernie et al. that they tried their best and came up empty? Because if you believe the latter, there's not much point whining about it now. Eg, the idea that we "let Boxall go" rather than "Boxall got an offer that we couldn't top without the aid of a friendly genie".

It depends on what you consider a "real CB backup" to be... considering that prior to signing the Fantastic Mr Fox we had 2 CBs in our squad. Even if we couldn't get a proven A League performer or somewhat-experienced professional, why didn't we sign a young CB earlier? After all, neither of our 2 regulars have more than a few seasons left in them so even if he didn't get much time this year he'd get chances over the next couple. And unlike previous periods when we had young CBs on the books (I'm thinking Musa and Adams) we actually have a proper reserve side for them to play in now if they aren't getting first team football. Having a young CB who was in the squad for most of the offseason would have given the ma chance to get used to playing with Siggy or Dura too so they could be more comfortable if they had to do it in a game that mattered. If we then got a more experienced CB as well to be third choice the young guy wouldn't exactly be on a lot of coin anyway - he'd just be at the expense of say, Danoskos (who seems to be our 3rd choice leftback).

Clubs sometimes make bad decisions in the transfer market (Andy Carroll to Liverpool, Falcao to Man Utd/Chelsea, Arsenal Wenger not signing a proven goalscorer or a DM, and so on). I think our decision to not have CB cover signed early enough to get settled into the squad and playing preseason friendlies was a bad decision. 

If you were a "decent" Aus player on the market, you would likely have options available besides just us (or they wouldn't be that decent, would they). 

If you did have options available, would you chose the one that was in another country and doesn't have a licence next season, even if they offered you a little more money? No, nor would I.

that license business is not a very attractive selling point to what ever players we approached this off season

Next podcast with Dome on, I would love the question to be asked how he sells that to our potential transfer guns

He must surely have some pre arranged lines

Or do we just say she'll be right mate?

[quote=ConanTroutman]

[quote=Doloras]

Clubs sometimes make bad decisions in the transfer market (Andy Carroll to Liverpool, Falcao to Man Utd/Chelsea, Arsenal Wenger not signing a proven goalscorer or a DM, and so on). 

You can't say these are bad decisions until the season has progressed further, certainly not in the carroll to liverpool bracket by any stretch.

I wasn't actually thinking about this season, more about it over the last few seasons.

Sorry if I caused offence!

Haha getting defensive pretty quickly there bro ;)

The worst thing about the lack of licence (aside from the lack of licence) is that there were assurances it would be sorted by the end of last season, then the beginning of this season, and now???... I'm assuming the end of this season lol

How do we know that it is a big issue for signing players?  My just be an issue for us fans, and the owners but no one else.

May not be a big issue but you have to think if a player is coming from overseas they would do a check and for some it may be to much to move family to somewhere where there is some doubt about their future.

Would Old be worth another look at 29 - seasoned professional now in Sweden and does get a few goals. Might give us a more "attacking CB" at set pieces?

Nikko Boxall is an interesting idea... his teams performances have certainly improved since his arrival... big impact or just the team finally clicking?

I'll slow it down next time ;)

Just using logic. A dangerous thing for some I know

If someone is signeable and looks more than just good enough then you would want to tell them: "let's agree on this season, and also have first dibs on the next season".Second year can be conditional on whatever, from performance to licence. You do not need to spell it out.