Seem to recall A M-N was very unimpressive for Arsenal against us two months ago and got hooked after an hour.

A while back I was quite keen on this guy. young, well schooled, versatile and has good pace. Difficult not to like the thought of him leaving Arsenal because he can't get regular starts and maybe build a career at Palace. I have seen him a few times now for WBA and not been overly impressed. I had expected more but when you think about it Arsenal are 2 places above us and he can't get into their side after oodles of chances in various positions. He is ranked 11th at WBA by whoscored (caveat caveat) at a team that is to be relegated. So should I be so surprised? Probably not.

So I am a bit on the fence about him now and TBH if pushed today it would be 'a no from me Bob'.

I wouldn't want him at left wing back (where he played mainly for Arsenal) or centre mid (where he plays for West brom). He couldn't fail to be a massive upgrade on all our right backs apart from AWB since promotion.

over rated shite, same as willock, nketiah and nelson. but because the come through arsenal's academy pundits have a wank fest!

I think he is a good player. Will have a solid, consistent career as a premier league player. Still only 23 and can play both full backs or anywhere across midfield. If we could get him for the right price (perhaps around £15m) I would be pleased to see us in for him.

He is very much a utility player rather than a specialist in One particular position which i feel is what we need currently and would prefer personally, however his versatility normally would be useful to have in the squad and in his defence aged 23 and an England squad player with Arsenal probably asking around the 15m plus mark, is that an excessive fee? possibly not. Could we do better, but as his performances at WBA so far has not been stand out or inspired me, and for me the same criticism can be directed at Gallager but from all accounts we still seem very keen on.
If we are to raid WBA in the summer then for me there is One who has been their stand out player and someone who i have been singing his praises for months and that player is Pereira, he would be a perfect fit for our midfield alongside Eze and also add Lewis Cook as the anchor, and play Wilf Zaha in the "free" role they really would give our midfield guile and movement also a goal threat which would make a change.
Also worth a punt from WBA would be Kyle Bartley a player i have rated since his early days at Arsenal, especially now on a free ok all be it he is 29 but can be our rock at the back if played alongside either Tomkins or Kouyate or Cahill.

Another over-rated young English player that can’t get into a struggling Arsenal team. I’d take Saka or Smith-Rowe otherwise, no thanks.

He’s been capped for England, and man of the match vs Man City in the FA cup. There must be some talent there, surely?

He’s a utility player but I think he has a specialist position: right wing back (perhaps right wing in a 4). He’s quick, but not good enough attacking-wise to play in a front 3. Probably not quite good enough to play right back in a back 4. Has been tried in centre mid because he has pace and can tackle a bit. Reminds me of Schlupp, but right footed and technically better.

I’d happily take AMN, Gallagher, Bartley and Pereira. Quite like Furlong too.

Because if they are not in the Arsenal first team, under a rookie manager, they must be useless? I’d take Nketiah who has an excellent goals record for England u21s. And Reiss Nelson who did well with a top German club.

Just not seen anything that special in him . He will probably want high wages and Arsenal would want £20m ?

lewis cook is a very good player, think hes done his ACL though. so will be out for a while!

id take pereira and yokuslu.the rest are pretty average. gallagher shows promise though, but starting in the prem every week, not sure.

Don’t know where you got useless from? We need to move on from nurturing Chelsea & Arsenal rejects. Saka & Smith-Rowe would be like Julian Gray & Tommy Black all over again..

Again for the right price but a lot of these players have big club attitudes.
Living off past glory.
I’d much rather go out to lower leagues or Europe and get the young and hungry players with something to prove and who’s expectations are lower.

Neither of those two were particularly bad signings. Black was inconsistent but still contributed to a promotion to the PL and Gray played a significant role in that achievement too.

Sorry but the England cap means nothing, if he had come through the ranks of Palace/West Brom/Fulham/Brighton etc he would never have got a call up. That is just big club bias, he has done nowhere near enough to deserve it IMO

I have based my choices that was chosen to improve the squad on what i feel we need to get a better balance also to upgrade our midfield.
As for Maitland-Niles he is a good player and would add quality to our squad without question, but as you say and i agree his most effective position is RB or RWB but we are well stocked there with Ward and Clyne who we should keep and we still have not seen Ferguson play, and his fee would most likely be 15-20m which can be used elsewhere. I also like Furlong and was surprised we did not step in whilst he was at QPR, but plays in a position we are well stocked in.
As for Connor Gallager he is a player i have liked and a player i wanted last summer, but has not stood out in an average WBA side and still needs to gain further experience so maybe on a seasons loan is an option, also Chelsea will most likely want 20m plus i would look at this guy, and my views on Pereira are well known as i rate him very highly and he would make an excellent AM for us as i mentioned in a midfield of Lewis Cook only if fully recovered from his serious injury (real pity) with Pereira, Eze and Wilf Zaha in a free wandering wide role. And Bartley would add real steel to our Central Defence would make a great free signing.

I agree Lewis Cook would be a massive gamble now as unfortunately this was his 2nd ACL, how unlucky can you be? he would have been the perfect player for the Luka role in a new Midfield setup. May be a very good alternative would be to bring in Jonjo Shelvey who may not be a favorite on here but is a damn good player.

If Ainsley Maitland-Niles had come through the Palace academy the usual suspects on here would be saying he was "entitled" to start every Premier League game

If Ainsley Harriott had come through the academy they would be saying the same about him

I agree about Shelley, have wanted him to sign for sometime, great passer and has a good shot on him

Townsend is a decent lb imo.

Thought he was on loan at WBA?

Anyhow, are we seriously debating signing a player called Ainsley?

To be honest ORP, rather strangely for me to say that a club destined for relegation WBA have some very decent players that can be up for grabs, i.e (GK)Johnstone, (RWB) Furlong, (LWB) Townsend as you mentioned (CB's) Ajeyi and Bartley, Midfield= Pereira, Gallagher, and there is another who's name i cant think of, and Up Front i like that big new African Centre Forward who looks capable and will be a bigger threat next season i feel.
Which makes it baffling as to why they still struggle even having football's Houdini in charge of them, yet he has not been able to lift them.

The problem with Shelvey is not on ability as we know he has it in abundance and in all honesty would be just the type to bring the best out of a Palace side, just think of him pinging out accurate balls wide to Zaha and Townsend or even to Benteke will see results. His issues is more about his explosive temperament, which can be disruptive for managers to work with possibly? but personally i would always take that chance because he can be a real Class Act and would love CPFC sign him.

Haven’t you left their best player since He arrived out? The Turkish midfielder?

I also think you have to consider that some of those players you are listing are not good enough. If they are all as good as you suggest then they wouldn’t be stranded in the relegation slot despite having had two experienced Managers.

We don’t need a first choice keeper and so I would probably only look at the Turkish guy as an option. Pereira looks great in the highlights reel but whenever I have watched him for the 90 mins he has been less impressive. Good age though and maybe I have been very unlucky with the games I have seen but it’s quite a few recently and he loses the ball in difficult areas. Also do we need another AM? We need to fix the rest of the team to be able to use an AM or it’s a waste of cash. I don’t think we have midfield that can cope with Eze and Pereira today. As posted elsewhere I am not convinced as some by Gallagher, Bartley etc. And so would just take the Turkish guy although price may have gone up now I guess.

[QUOTE=Martin H;15735376

We don’t need a first choice keeper[/QUOTE]

And if we did, we wouldn't be going for Johnstone. If Bournemouth were able to get around 20M for Ramsdale who isn't very good, what price would Johnstone be

Firstly, that was the other midfield guy who's name i could not think off. I was not suggesting we sign all of them, certainly not their keeper what with Guaita and Butland on our books, but who i would sign from their list would be Bartley on a free to strengthen our centre backs and Pereira. Who to me is a real class act in my opinion and who would slot comfortably into a Midfield trio that i had suggested earlier of ideally Lewis Cook or Jonjo Shelvey with Eze and Pereira, you have to remember you are judging him in a struggling setup yet has been outstanding for 2/3 seasons, and according to most pundits is seen as a real talent and in all honesty CPFC would be fortunate if we were able to sign him.
Also what i was suggesting in my reply message to the poster, that it was hard to realise just why they have struggled when you look at that list of players but also with SA in charge the very point you also questioned, it maybe that you had misunderstood my point being made.

You make it sound like they’re the champions elect.

Ajeyi is a Championship CB playing in the Premier League, Bartley isn’t much better. The big bloke they signed upfront in Jan looks awful, completely out of hIs depth. They have a couple of good players but there is a reason they’re getting relegated and will struggle to make 25 points.

Allardyce is known for his teams being defensively strong and he couldn’t get it to work at West Brom because the players aren’t good enough at this level.

I hear what you say about making them sound like champions elect:) especially when i had predicted before the season had even begun that WBA, Sheffield Utd and Fulham would be relegated. Teams do struggle when the rot sets in as we saw with Sheffield Utd last season outstanding and this? i felt WBA have players who could/should have done better as we saw recently at Chelsea they are capable of doing so, and especially when the canny SA took over i expected better.
You mention Ajeyi, yes he has gone off the boil recently but for the early part of the season looked a very commanding ball playing centre back and was also being rated by many pundits. As for Bartley, surely you must have been impressed by his commanding performances recently especially in a struggling defence? this is a player who i rated going back to his early days at Arsenal and one i still rate eventhough playing in struggling teams for several years. We need to re-access our centre backs this summer and Bartley at 29 and premiership proven plus on a free, surely will add a lot to our ageing and injury prone defence would you not say? I would have him.

I think that is a lot closer to how I see it. It’s not an accident that they are stuck at the bottom and with two experienced Managers it’s been the same. If you watch their highlights they have moments but if you watch them for 90 mins too many of these players fall short. As I said above Yokuslu looks the pick to me and the others I would pass on tbh. too many questions over them. Beggars may not be choosers however.

Played very well yesterday. I think he’d be great as a right wing back for us.

Well he’ll be really useful for us in a 442 then.

Think he'd be good as a right back or a right midfielder too. We lack someone with pace on that side who is able to run to the byline and cross.

He would be better than we have at right back, centre mid and right wing. The guy is hungry to climb the football ladder as well. He asked to go out on loan to try and make the euros.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...nsfer-23938338

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is being targeted for a summer transfer after his impressive loan spell at West Brom.

Crystal Palace are the latest Premier League club to show an interest in the Arsenal midfielder who will have two years left on his current deal at the end of the season.

Maitland-Niles moved in January to get regular football and has put in strong performances for West Brom who are making a late push for survival under Sam Allardyce.

Leeds have also been watching developments while there has been interest from French club Monaco while Wolves made a big attempt to sign him permanently last summer.

Maitland-Niles ended up staying at Arsenal but a lack of opportunities saw him push for a loan move in January and, despite interest from Southampton, Newcastle and Leicester, went to West Brom to try and get regular game time in midfield.

Yes please

We shouldn't be doing business from here on in with any of the scab clubs.

Apart from Wilf, Jeff and Andros? I think it's the way we play sometimes not the players?

Tbh Andros has no pace these days, Wilf isn’t a great crosser of the ball. Schlupp is the only with the pace and a decent cross in him.

Wilf’s crossing is improving. But his pace probably isn’t good enough to beat a full back anymore. So I agree with you. And Schlupp is very left footed and plays on the left for that reason. :)

I think the picking of his passes has improved a lot under Roy but I am not sure I agree about Wilf’s crossing. But by that I was meaning putting it on someone’s head. I do think he has lost, or certainly doesn’t use that electric burst of pace that he always had. He always relied more on the tricks anyway and I don’t think he is slow but we don’t see him leave many players for dead with pace often now after he has beaten them. There was one moment at the end of the Everton match where he left Godfrey scrambling (a very impressive youngster) behind him that was good to see.

Funnily enough I would also say Schlupp favours his left but he is pretty good with either. That game of opinions again. :)

What is petty clear is that we play a lot better when they are both on the pitch. They also play well together I always think.

Exactly the kind of player we should be signing. Could get him for £30m which isn’t much these days

£30m is clearly a lot for us

Jesus he is worth no where near that. Plus, we should not be spending £30m on anyone.

Less than it was relatively speaking perhaps... it is still a HUGE financial commitment for any club. Absolutely GARGANTUAN for a club like palace.

Sakho + benteke + some mid range fees like tomkins and schlupp has crippled us in to not spending for the last 3-4 years.

I'm not saying we Absolutely can't spend a fee like that but it would have a huge impact on whats left and cant be dismissed as not much these days in any way at all

For £30m I would expect the jewel in the crown of a rebuild.

Yeah it’s not like we’ve just lost £60 million and are in a pandemic...

We’re not in a position to spend that sort of money on anyone and nor should we. Jury’s still out on Mateta but he’s the sort of signing we need to be making, not massive sums on players like AMN.

These players are only worth what buyers are prepared to pay. That threshold has surely dropped over the last 12 months. It's all relative I suppose, and like others have said, if we play our cards right this window, could set ourselves up for a couple of seasons and beyond.

I'm a very long way from an expert, but is he worth more than £13m?

Five bites, not bad.

Was wondering whether I had been whooshed. Always so hard to tell in the transfer discussion section, especially when GF is on the thread.

When we talk about CPFC's spending power, to be honest after Eight seasons of lucrative premiership money we should be in a position to be able to spend 30m on a player without it being a crippling amount, which is probably what it would be currently.
The main problem i feel that is holding us back is the uncertainty hanging over us regarding our American owners and their committment to us long term, also no doubting the non progress in the Stadium improvements dragging on has played a big part in holding us back. It really is a pity, other than having an antiquated stadium we have so much to offer like a fantastic catchment area with fans desperate for success and waiting to flock back in numbers if there is a hint of success to look forward too.
I see the Leicester formula/planning and the progress also success they have made and feel that is the plan we should have worked to, offcourse the difference being their OWNERS compared to ours (Parish excluded) where as they have fully committed ones we instead have ones desperate to walk away, until that changes we will continue to be a bargain basement club.

We have a 25k ground, low end commercial income and owners who don’t put cash in.

Exactly , rather we payed less for players with potential but from other pl clubs reserves, championship and abroad.

Beef is a crafty troll. Throws a few gems around every now and then and usually gets some big catches.

I have not seen enough quality in Maitland-Niles to warrant the transfer fee suggested . He tends to amble through games in second gear .

With regards to Townsend if he would accept a reasonable salary i would keep him . He is a very decent squad player and with so many incomings needed , he can still do a job for us . He has never had blistering pace but is not slow . Still has it in him to get past a player and get a cross in . It could be that he is not effective offensively the last couple of seasons as he is playing more as a midfield player and generally gives us protection on right side . This is a result of the way play and he has helped to provide cover for AWB , Ward and Clyne .

Ignoring the buying and selling of players we haven't made an operating profit of more than £30m in any of our seasons in the Premier League. The closest we got was 2013/14 but that was before player wages caught up.

Our average since promotion is about £10m per season which means we are reliant on owners to fund the purchase of players. That £10m doesn't even cover the cost of one Benteke for one season.

Can't put cash in

There’s always a way to put cash in if you want.

I dont think we want to spend above our means and end up un administration again

The owners can put in cash via loans but that doesn't improve our P&L.

The grey area has always been sponsorship and related parties.

I guess you didn't watch the Baggies play at Leicester then. He did nothing notable at all.