Which of the loanees would you prioritise?

[Hound]

Prioritise the ones most likely to happen. If we sell Swift I think we could buy Baker. Sell Moore I think we could buy Miazga. Oliveira I think there is already a fee in place.

Martinez - Won't come here in a million years, he is better than us by a country mile

EjarIa - Got a feeling Liverpool would want him playing Premier League but would take him back in heartbeat. Just can't see it.

I can’t see much point selling Moore to fund Miazga’s signing.

Agree. Moore has been brilliant since Miazga came in

Don’t really understand why anyone would want to sell him unless with have to for financials

Who do you replace him with? Anyone half decent is going to cost. Maybe someone like Matt Clarke at Pompey but he’ll still be 3m or so and untested fully at the level.

It’s either that or trying to find another loan - but again likely to be untested unless Chelsea fancy giving us Hector for the season

[Denver Royal]

Prioritise the ones most likely to happen. If we sell Swift I think we could buy Baker. Sell Moore I think we could buy Miazga. Oliveira I think there is already a fee in place.

Martinez - Won't come here in a million years, he is better than us by a country mile

EjarIa - Got a feeling Liverpool would want him playing Premier League but would take him back in heartbeat. Just can't see it.

I can’t see much point selling Moore to fund Miazga’s signing.

It would depend who they think is the better player of the two. Wouldn't it? If they thought Miazga is better, why wouldn't they replace a player with a better player?

[Zip]

Prioritise the ones most likely to happen. If we sell Swift I think we could buy Baker. Sell Moore I think we could buy Miazga. Oliveira I think there is already a fee in place.

Martinez - Won't come here in a million years, he is better than us by a country mile

EjarIa - Got a feeling Liverpool would want him playing Premier League but would take him back in heartbeat. Just can't see it.

I can’t see much point selling Moore to fund Miazga’s signing.

It would depend who they think is the better player of the two. Wouldn't it?

There really isn’t much in it. Is there?

[Denver Royal]

I can’t see much point selling Moore to fund Miazga’s signing.

It would depend who they think is the better player of the two. Wouldn't it?

There really isn’t much in it. Is there?

From what I've seen, of the two, I know who I'd prefer. And from there, yes, I suppose it depends how much of a difference they see. Other factors would play in to it, too. Wages, etc. Miazga is taller, a better passer, and about 3 years younger. Again, it's about opinions.

[PistolPete]

Anyone who wants Moore sold - albeit reluctantly - obviously doesn't understand how important it is to have 'winners/characters' in the dressing room. The guy is the defacto captain, he's an articulate spokesman for the team and seems to want to succeed at Reading as much as anything.

I don't think McCleary or Gunter will leave. I genuinely think if you buy one, you need to buy both...I'd imagine they'd take decent pay cuts just to stay. (Gunter had a £1m release clause and it was never activated, that's how unlikely he is to leave)

I imagine that, barring resistance, Aluko will stay in China and FFP will be looked after in that respect.

3 of Baldock, Bodvarsson, McNulty and even (sadly) Novakovic will probably be sold - this will allow for the signing of Oliveira and say, Ezatolahi.

So, in response to the OP, I'd go:

Martinez - Keepers of this ability are a rarity... but there's a very slim chance of us getting him WANT 10/10 LIKELIHOOD 2/10
Baker - Mourinho said he would have failed as a manager if Baker didn't go on to play for England, that's how good he could be WANT 9/10 LIKELIHOOD 6/10 (loan again)
Miazga - Immediate improvement on Illori; playing with Moore and Martinez we could have a promotion worthy back line WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 7/10 (Would be for sale, but not sure we'll have the cash)
Oliveira - Every team needs a talisman up front, and Oliveira just could be it. Injuries only prevent him from being higher on the list WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 9/10
Ezatolahi - Glimpses if his talent show that, for a free, we could have another promotion worthy player. Would be first choice if we can't get Baker, and would give great rotation for Rino. Perfect age. WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 6/10
Ejaria - Another huge talent, another player I'd LOVE to have. We'll never be allowed to sign him permanently , but his versatility has been fantastic WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 7/10

[Hound]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.

We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

[Zip]

Anyone who wants Moore sold - albeit reluctantly - obviously doesn't understand how important it is to have 'winners/characters' in the dressing room. The guy is the defacto captain, he's an articulate spokesman for the team and seems to want to succeed at Reading as much as anything.

I don't think McCleary or Gunter will leave. I genuinely think if you buy one, you need to buy both...I'd imagine they'd take decent pay cuts just to stay. (Gunter had a £1m release clause and it was never activated, that's how unlikely he is to leave)

I imagine that, barring resistance, Aluko will stay in China and FFP will be looked after in that respect.

3 of Baldock, Bodvarsson, McNulty and even (sadly) Novakovic will probably be sold - this will allow for the signing of Oliveira and say, Ezatolahi.

So, in response to the OP, I'd go:

Martinez - Keepers of this ability are a rarity... but there's a very slim chance of us getting him WANT 10/10 LIKELIHOOD 2/10
Baker - Mourinho said he would have failed as a manager if Baker didn't go on to play for England, that's how good he could be WANT 9/10 LIKELIHOOD 6/10 (loan again)
Miazga - Immediate improvement on Illori; playing with Moore and Martinez we could have a promotion worthy back line WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 7/10 (Would be for sale, but not sure we'll have the cash)
Oliveira - Every team needs a talisman up front, and Oliveira just could be it. Injuries only prevent him from being higher on the list WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 9/10
Ezatolahi - Glimpses if his talent show that, for a free, we could have another promotion worthy player. Would be first choice if we can't get Baker, and would give great rotation for Rino. Perfect age. WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 6/10
Ejaria - Another huge talent, another player I'd LOVE to have. We'll never be allowed to sign him permanently , but his versatility has been fantastic WANT 8/10 LIKELIHOOD 7/10

Agree with a lot of this

[Zip]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.

We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

Yep. Moore is also turning into an inspirational captain too.

[CountryRoyal]

Moore is literally Mr. Reading at the moment. He was obviously captain material from the moment he came but we still persevered with McShane and Gunter I think it’s vital we keep hold of him, honestly if we can get Miazga then that’s a top 6 back 4 imho.

[Hound]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.

We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

Yep. Moore is also turning into an inspirational captain too.

Yep, he is a good figurehead for the club. Also wouldn’t downplay the knock to the dressing room etc if we did sell him

Obvs if Brighton come back in with a 12m bid, there’s probably not much you can do mind you, and he’d deserve his move

[Denver Royal]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.
We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

Yep. Moore is also turning into an inspirational captain too.

I'm not sure how much Moore being pots a year ago is a factor now. It didn't stop quite a few wanting to sell him last year. Even during this season, some were still staying we should have cashed in back then. (Although, from what I'm hearing now, it's a darn good job we didn't).
People justified Miazga on their priority lists, even as #1 priority. I had taken that to mean they thought he'd be a heck of a CB in this division in his own right. At a guess, I'd imagine Chelsea think that. If I thought his abilities were somehow dependent on Liam Moore, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have him as my #1 priority.
Yes, obv Moore is more experienced. Would be interesting to see how good Miazga would be if he was 3 years older/had 3 more years experience in Champ.
We actually don't know how good Moore would be partnered with McIntyre. Do we?
From what you've seen, do you think Moore is actually the better player?

[SCIAG]

3 of Baldock, Bodvarsson, McNulty and even (sadly) Novakovic will probably be sold - this will allow for the signing of Oliveira and say, Ezatolahi.

Don't really understand the logic of selling three strikers in order to buy one striker. If we sold, say, Bod, Baldock, and McNulty, then we'd be down to just Oliveira, Meite, and Novakovich as strikers with Meite also being our first choice right winger, Novakovich being unproven at this level, Oliveira with a record of inconsistency and injury proneness (much like Bod), and the loss of Baldock as a wide option (making it harder to play Meite centrally). We'd be right back where we were at the start of the season.

I think we could afford to sell two of them, sure, but selling three would leave us looking short. Unless we kept Bod and managed to keep him and Oliveira both fit and in good form. But I'd think it would be better to just pass on Oliveira if Norwich don't want him. They're not really in a position to demand a big fee for him and I don't think he'd attract significant interest.

Much more likely imo is a major trimming of all the fat in the squad. Wages are going to be a bigger drain than fees. Think about people like Meyler, Joey, Popa, Mannone, and Aluko before you even get onto McShane, O'Shea, Harriott, Walker and Kelly. That's a whole team's worth of wages freed up and is probably going to make any fee we could get for Novakovich or even Baldock look like a drop in the ocean.

[NewCorkSeth]

I also cant see us selling 3 of our strikers. Just look at the injury problems we had this season. Bodvarson, Meite, Oliveira and Baldock all spent time in the treatment room.

We will probably need all but one of Bodvarson, Novakovich, Baldock, McNulty and Loader.

Sell McNulty (who likely wont fancy coming back) and sign Oliveira and we look pretty shiny up front.

[Denver Royal]

Yep, pretty much. Surprised there's not been more clamor to sell Moore? There was last year. And for me, not too much has changed. Fairly sure Moore could be replaced for less. He had a release-clause built in to his new deal, right?
.


Still not sure how I feel about that, tbh. Generally speaking, wouldn't really want ownership meddling/deciding player decisions from the other side of the world. You employ people to do that. Our owners are very much in absentia. They don't even watch the games do they?

Looking at our current CB options I don't think we can afford to sell Moore for less than crazy money.

Sell Moore and we're looking at either an entirely new CB pair, relying on at least one Academy graduate plus a newbie or moving Blackett across. None of that inspires confidence and McShane and O'Shea are certainly not up to it.

Dead right.

You are dead right, Ian.
As I’ve said too, the money would have to be right. (Although, I’m guessing, some may have a different valuation to others of what that specific figure should be).
I imagine they will evaluate things and look at different permutations, and we’ll see how it all shakes out.

[PistolPete]

3 of Baldock, Bodvarsson, McNulty and even (sadly) Novakovic will probably be sold - this will allow for the signing of Oliveira and say, Ezatolahi.

Don't really understand the logic of selling three strikers in order to buy one striker. If we sold, say, Bod, Baldock, and McNulty, then we'd be down to just Oliveira, Meite, and Novakovich as strikers with Meite also being our first choice right winger, Novakovich being unproven at this level, Oliveira with a record of inconsistency and injury proneness (much like Bod), and the loss of Baldock as a wide option (making it harder to play Meite centrally). We'd be right back where we were at the start of the season.

I think we could afford to sell two of them, sure, but selling three would leave us looking short. Unless we kept Bod and managed to keep him and Oliveira both fit and in good form. But I'd think it would be better to just pass on Oliveira if Norwich don't want him. They're not really in a position to demand a big fee for him and I don't think he'd attract significant interest.

Much more likely imo is a major trimming of all the fat in the squad. Wages are going to be a bigger drain than fees. Think about people like Meyler, Joey, Popa, Mannone, and Aluko before you even get onto McShane, O'Shea, Harriott, Walker and Kelly. That's a whole team's worth of wages freed up and is probably going to make any fee we could get for Novakovich or even Baldock look like a drop in the ocean.

I’m not sure when, but I remember Gomes saying that he wants a squad of 16 players + the academy lads.

That to me sounds like there’s only space for (at most) 2 senior forwards + Loader. He’s used Barrow and Meite up front so that gives him 5 centre forwards in total...

The academy lads would be 7 or so of: Southwood/Ward; Holmes/Osho/MacIntyre; Richards; Watson; Frost; East; Barrett; Olise; Loader.

We may make a few U23 punts to supplement this, and yes, of course, we will offload the Popa’s/Meylers of this world!

[Chameleon]

Selling Moore would be an utter white flag as to any ambitions to be anything other than bottom feeders, and even if we get £7m for him then we'd probably spend 2/3rds of that on replacements and still not find someone as good, and that's all before you factor in that he brings a lot aside from his footballing ability. Plus we'd probably lose £1m+ in ticket sales from supporters not wanting to see the white flag team in action.

I think that we have a real chance of keeping Martinez, he reportedly forced his way out for a loan, and has a family all started in London. Assuming that he actually wants to play (very high), if we're somewhat financially competitive (more dubious) I reckon that he'll stay. We'll be able to offer him guaranteed first team football though, something which Prem sides won't be able to do.

A
Obita - Miazga - Moore - Yiadom
Martinez

back 5 is good enough to get promoted.

Up front an inform Meite, Oliveira, Loader +1 is in and around the top 6, then there's only really the midfield to fix up.

The savings can come from our massively bloated first team squad, which I think quite a few people have lost track of. O'Shea, McShane, Baldock, Jaakola, Mannone, VdBerg, Meyler, Aluko, Popa, Gravenberch, McNulty, Nova (stay if cheap), Kelly(?) should all go in the summer, to China if needed.

That's a massive amount of wages off of the books and still leaves us with:

Walker, Ward, Legg
Moore, Yiadom, Gunter, Obita, Blackett, Richards, McIntyre, Holmes, Osho
Barrow, Swift, Rinomohta, McCleary, Harriott, Barrett, East, Olise
Meite, Bod, Loader, Smith

We're clearly a bit thin, perhaps one player in each department. Add in Martinez, Miazga, Baker, Oliveira, and another mid (Eza/Eja) and that looks like a complete squad that can compete in the top half of the table. Baker/Eja would be relatively cheap loans, Miazga we could get back with an option to buy (as Nantes had), Oliveira and Martinez would be the expensive ones, but with the large amount of the wage bill cleared by the 13 a few paragraphs above, increased ticket sales from performing well, would certainly make Martinez/Oli doable. And best of all, we already know that those players would work within the squad and system, so no money chucked away on players that show little sign of working out.

[Denver Royal]

That sounds a tad optimistic, if only because Obita is a doubt at this point.

[Hound]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.
We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

Yep. Moore is also turning into an inspirational captain too.

I'm not sure how much Moore being pots a year ago is a factor now. It didn't stop quite a few wanting to sell him last year. Even during this season, some were still staying we should have cashed in back then. (Although, from what I'm hearing now, it's a darn good job we didn't).
People justified Miazga on their priority lists, even as #1 priority. I had taken that to mean they thought he'd be a heck of a CB in this division in his own right. At a guess, I'd imagine Chelsea think that. If I thought his abilities were somehow dependent on Liam Moore, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have him as my #1 priority.
Yes, obv Moore is more experienced. Would be interesting to see how good Miazga would be if he was 3 years older/had 3 more years experience in Champ.
We actually don't know how good Moore would be partnered with McIntyre. Do we?
From what you've seen, do you think Moore is actually the better player?

At the moment, I’d say yes he is the better player. Partly because he has performed well over a longer period and with other partners at CB (which is where I think the pots is relevant)

Granted Miazga has been very good. I’d like to see him come to the club regardless of whether Moore stays or not, but the preference would certainly be to partner him, and not someone he hasn’t played alongside before

Take finances out of it, and you asked me whether we get Moore or Miazga, I’d say Moore. Becomes a more difficult question if it was say Miazga&£3m or Moore.

[CountryRoyal]

Well Moore is a lot more ‘proven’ at this level, no matter how good Miazga has been. Also basically the club captain, and pots last year.

We actually don’t know how good Miazga would be partnered with say McIntyre. They’ve been very much a partnership

Yep. Moore is also turning into an inspirational captain too.

Yep, he is a good figurehead for the club. Also wouldn’t downplay the knock to the dressing room etc if we did sell him

Obvs if Brighton come back in with a 12m bid, there’s probably not much you can do mind you, and he’d deserve his move

Not sure Moore would leave for another championship club tbh.

[Sutekh]

The EP website gives this quote on what JG said about buying Oliveira at today's press call...

Our loan gives us the chance to buy him but in this moment our financial situation is not good to buy anybody.
He has shown he is a fighter and gives everything but we don’t know if we will be able to sign him.

So, very much, it looks like Reading need to shift players out first therefore any transfer activity in the summer may well be on the late site as one deal triggers another

It might also suggest that those players that will be released at the end of the season won't reduce current outlay enough.

Further 6 month and season long loans might therefore be a workaround for this (and others) in the short term.

Perhaps Hibs might decide to buy McNulty and he's been hitting the back of the net regularly there so perhaps the club could get more than they paid?

Other than that I can only see Moore and Swift being able to attract really good prices.