Transfer Rumour Roundup

Here is a roundup of the latest stuff doing the rounds… Ins and outs this time

Incoming

Graham

Danny Graham

Strong rumours are we are to sign Danny Graham from Sunderland currently on loan from Sunderland. Graham has had a tough couple of years in front of goal and Sunderland might think dropping a level will be able to instigate some form. Graham had better days with Watford and Swansea so has good form in the past and in the Championship. He would be a good signing, if allowed time to find his feet.

Chris Baird
Northern Irish defender who was on a short team deal with Reading which has expired. Due to injury Reading have delayed offering an extension. Therefore he is a free agent. What with a number of defensive injuries Davies might see him as more than adequate coverage in defence. It could mean Lascelles is off, but I think that unlikely.  Baird is versatile so can play in midfield and at all full back which would be of interest to Forest. For freebie he’d be a wonderful signing.

Bradley

Sonny Bradley
Sonny is a 22 year defender for Portsmouth who this week has been linked. He was released by Hull in the summer and has been playing in League Two for struggling Pompey this season. Being from the north (Hull) he may further a move from the south coast closer to home. To be honest I know nothing of this kid. It seems that maybe it’d been a lazy link, but it’s just so random as to surely have something in it, maybe a scout watched him.

Outgoing

Ishmael Miller
Following his loan at Yeovil it looks likely that the Glovers may well come back in for the big striker. Miller has only a short while left on his contract, but Yeovil surely can’t match what we are paying him (believed to be £16k a week) so it would possibly loan till the summer. At which point we don’t care as this waste of moneys contract will have expired.

Matt Derbyshire
Doncaster are being linked with the perennial sub. Derbyshire is getting quite a lot of action from the bench but like Miller he has high wages and an expiring deal. Should we get rid his wages might be able to fund 2/3 incoming players, or even a Premiership one. Despite that goal versus Leeds I would gladly see him move on. His time is up here.

Derbyshire

Karl Darlow
Being linked with a host of Premiership clubs, and supposedly going to be scouted by Liverpool this coming week. Darlow has been consistent, and we wouldn’t be willing to sell, BUT every player has his price and should a silly offer be received then we’d have to entertain it Also Darlow might lose his focus and have his head turned like Lee Camp formerly did.

Jamaal Lascelles

Lascelles

Like Darlow being linked with top flight clubs. Also rumoured to be getting scouted in upcoming weeks. Lascelles has been linked with the top flight for years (at same time as Bamford was) and could well be attract the interest of top clubs. Like Darlow we don’t need to sell but he might also have had his head turned or receive an offer of silly money. That said if we sell one we won’t sell the other.

Forest Facing Battle to Keep Crown Jewels

The downside to any team performing well and especially younger players playing well is that those prize assets will attract attention from bigger fish. Those bigger fish being namely Premiership clubs. Those prize assets being Jamaal Lascelles, Karl Darlow and Henri Lansbury. Yes there are other players playing well (namely Reid) but these 3 have youth on their side and therefore investment potential.

Jamaal Lascelles

There has been rumours for a short while about Lascelles and Darlow being scouted, and many top clubs will have known the potential Lansbury had for a while, and is now realising. The other part of this is that Lansbury game is adapting and evolving and making him more appealing.

The battle is whether we sell for reinvestment opportunities and strengthen the squad. Yes we have cash but we cannot simply ignore and flout Financial Fair Play. Similarly any player has a price, and if someone offers a silly one, and just a very good one would we snap their hands off?

Every player is replaceable, no-one isn't. Lascelles is performing well but by rights he shouldn't have ever had this chance to shine, which he hasn't grasp with both hands, but grappled it to the ground and pummelled into submission, he has taken it so well. He was of course very strongly linked with Arsenal a few years ago. At the start of this season he was being linked with League One loans, namely Cheltenham. Now that's a distant memory.

Karl Darlow

Darlow has grown into a fine keeper. The expectation is with a younger keeper is that there ill be a few errors in the game, stuff he learns to adapt and get better. Not Darlow, he has not really made too many glaring howlers or allowed some bad habits to creep into his game. Indeed he has kept Dorus de Vries as firmly his number 2.

Henri Lansbury when he arrived was regarded as more a creative attacking midfielder, or indeed a wide man. Through necessity and his own development he can now play that deeper role too, and has taken on the mantle of the no.10 shirt very well. This season started with him weighing in with a few more goals, and has now seen him putting in some excellent deeper lying midfielder role.

Henri Lansbury

Now the type of club is the type that many will immediately scoff are not a bigger club and why would they go there. But they are in the Premier League, the holy grail. It is unclear if we will make it this season even if we give it a good go. And for all the calls for Billy for the board to make investment and secure promotion anything could happen. Even Davies would admit every player has a price.

But you only need look at some teams established in the top flight for teams who held on to their top talent. Southampton being a prime example, who held on to top youngsters and are now reaping those rewards as those players improve with them. Lallana and Schneiderlein attracted lots of attention previously. They held, and now look at where they are.

Southampton are ironically one of the linked clubs, with Darlow, as they struggle to settle on a keeper to go forward. Sunderland, and Hull were linked earlier this season. Lascelles has been linked with Spurs amongst others, again Sunderland and Aston Villa. And Villa were also being linked with Lansbury not long ago, along side other mid table Premiership clubs.

We aren't alone. Derby young stars are similarly attracting interest. Will Hughes is a prime example. And would clubs do a Palace and sell now and then loan back, or just sell and reinvest? Or do well hold on and see what could be a peak price drop and lose for nothing, like with McGugan?

Where Does de Vries Signing Leave Darlow?

I guess we should firstly welcome Dorus de Vries to Nottingham Forest. He has a rich pedigree in getting teams promoted what with his period at Swansea (let's just leave that Wolves period alone) and welcome the Dutchman to the club. De Vries joins a successful band of Dutch forest players, from Pierre van Hooijdonk, Bryan Roy and Johnny Metgod through to previous Dutch keepers Hans van Breukelen (who after leaving us had huge success at PSV and with Holland) and Hans Segers (who was involved in match fixing scandals at Wimbledon).


This adds an experienced keeper to our trio of relatively inexperienced keepers. Darlow has a half a season at best, al-Rashidi has never played in a top league and Evtimov is still completely untried. Therefore for no fee it’s not a bad signing.

Where the debate and contention comes in is what will his role will be. There was a Twitter rumour from a relatively obscure source who claimed de Vries was demanding to be the no. 1. This would relegate the very popular Darlow to the bench you’d suspect. But as I said in the rumour round up, Darlow is a young keeper, young keepers often go through a dodgy spell, and do we really want to try al-Rashidi in a potential keeping crisis? All well and good trialling in the Carling Cup, but blooding him potentially in a tough run of fixtures? Very risky.

Now if Darlow does remain number 1, we have a very capable stand in who we know can be trusted. And vice versa if de Vries is number 1, we know Darlow can be trusted, but its where this put Darlow. What will he personally feel? Hurt? Betrayed? Unloved? Maybe all three, but I’m sure Billy if this is the case will have told him he sees him as the long term heir apparent, and to learn from de Vries in the mean time.

Because for a young keeper advice and education will be key, he has had half a season in the first team, which will stand him in good stead, but maybe a short while watching and learning again might be good. There is no better education though than practice and experience, and at 22 it’s the age he should be establishing himself. That’s where my next point comes in.

Darlow has settled in the first team, he made the no. 1 jersey his own. And there was little real competition. Maybe he needs someone to push him on, to make sure he keeps improving and retains that shirt. We all saw what complacency did with Camp, and anyone in football needs to know his place is not assured so that they don’t get lazy, and stay driven. This could be a clever way from Davies of making sure Darlow remains driven, and pushes him harder.

Davies is usually quite clever with youngsters breaking through, that he keeps them believing they haven’t made it. He got the best of McGugan, it was him that ironed out most of Wes Morgan’s creases in his game (remember how mistake prone he was under Megson etc) and how he took faltering Premiership youngsters Gunter and Anderson and got them firing in our first team.

So all in all however this works out it could be good for Darlow, either as something to keep him on his toes, or a challenge to up his game further. I hope he doesn’t take the Kieron freeman approach of simply seeing a challenge for his position as insult and turning on his heels and running to a smaller club for regular football. If Darlow see’s this like that, then it won’t be good for all parties, but I’m sure Forest will have assured him this will be good for his ongoing development.

Emergence of Darlow Softens Camp’s Legacy

It occurred to me that over the last decade or so we seem to have a set shelf life for goalkeepers before we move them on, or they become untenable in the team. It’s around 2 and a half to 3 years before a new cross over period develops.

Ever since Crossley was number 1 for near enough a decade, we seemed to have had a roll call of keepers who do well but ultimately move on at the end of a contract because of either their age or because they want more money or simply put, just aren’t doing it anymore.

Beasant was being shipped on because Platt wanted a younger man, he was succeeded by Darren Ward, who ultimately lost form and was shipped off to be Norwich sub keeper when they got promoted (which sounds awfully familiar) Gerrard had a decent longish stint of around 2 years before being temporarily replaced by Russell Hoult, he then left as he had high wages, before his eventual successor became Paul Smith. Smithy of course was main keeper for around 2, or so years before Camp came in, and the rest we know.

The challenge is now for Darlow to first become part of this pattern, and become part of the team permanently, that so far he seems capable of, and then creating a lasting legacy in the team. What would be nice is to break the cycle of being in the team for 2 or so years before needing to be replaced for whatever reason (usually lack of form)

Darlow hasn’t really been challenged yet in terms of having a torrid time in a game. His emergence is along the same period as the defence finding its feet again. That said, there were games under McLeish he was thrown in the deep end at, and yes we lost, but he never ashamed himself.

The first big challenge for him will be when he has a drop in form. The role of a goalkeeper is so founded on confidence that it will be interesting to see how he fairs. He seems confident, but then Smith did when he first arrived.

I heard it said by a pundit or ex player once a few years (so long ago I have no recollection who it was) that the best thing for any team was to know what that keeper was likely to do. If he stayed for crosses, then fine, as long as you knew he was going to stay you could clear up. If he came for the cross, then fine you knew he’d be there, the worst scenario was when you had an “eccentric” keeper, A Huelho Gomes or Manuel Almunia. A keeper you had no idea of they’d be coming, going, or whatever, and for a defender, then that creates the uncertainty. So to have a new keeper trying to forge his role, it must have been a tricky time for the defence.

But now Darlow is cemented in that role. I think many thought, myself included that there may have been pressure to put al-Rashidi in goal, and that Darlow was merely a stop gap whilst he acclimatised. That’s proven to be entirely incorrect. Darlow I would argue is almost undroppable at the moment. Ok he may have done better with the Wolves goal, but there has been no uncertainty in the crowd, and indeed he has made a couple of great stops that you’d argue Camp may not have.

The end of Camps period was a shame. His legacy of being a good Forest keeper for many years has been upset by his own ego, and therefore the fans perception. Make no mistake he wasn’t a bad keeper, but it would have been more glaring had Darlow, like Forests own form, not been a shining light during February. Because Darlow took the ground running, Camp has barely been missed. It had the potential to be so different. Just think of Barry Roche.

And it is a shame, Camp had the talent and potential to be our keeper for a long time and keep Darlow out the side. Camp however has his own demons, his ambition is what he cites, but at the end of the day it’s no-ones ambition to be Third Choice keeper at a mid rate Premier League Club. It comes down to money. And because of that Camp’s legacy is that he won’t be remembered for his keeping or his performances, but more his petulance at not being allowed to go to Swansea, and ultimately for leaving when he should have been first choice.

We have had a number of decent keepers at Forest, each with their own foibles and characteristics. Now we have the chance for a new keeper to forge a new legacy in goal. Darlow has the potential to hold on to this position for a few years. In fact the one obstacle to this I can see is Promotion to the Premier League, which even if he helps us achieve it would likely see Darlow replaced by another man. Like it or lump it, that would probably occur as we’d need an experienced head in there. That is a debate for another day, for the time being let’s just enjoy Darlow making the transition from budding youngster to First Team regular.

Loanee Watch - Karl Darlow

As part of this weeks series in the international break, we catch up with another Red out on loan and how he is doing.

The young goalkeeper is off getting vital match experience with Walsall this season, a step up from last season’s loan with Newport County. Regular football at League One is part of Darlow's development as a footballer, and he has been featuring in the Saddlers first team.

He has made 5 League appearances and one in the Football League Trophy since joining on September 21st.

Since joining, and when he was signed was said o be cover for Goalkeeper Grof as main keeper Jimmy Walker was injured he has started every game.

Walsall won those first two games, but have since lost their last 3 which leaves them in mid table. The Football league Trophy game ended up in defeat by Port Vale on penalties 6-5.

I have only seen a little Walsall action on the Football league show and it was of Darlow making an error, a poor kick out only reached around half way and the opposition were quickly on the attack and netted.

Even so it is a fairly decent level of Football for a previously reserve team keeper to be playing. The advantage of playing in a team that is largely mid table means he gets a bit of action in games. The fact also that it is a short term loan is a huge advantage as if things go badly he isn’t committed there for a while.

Darlow is getting vital experience, and by going there to be back up but actually becoming first choice cements that he is a good prospect,.

Contracts

One of the main criticisms from fans aimed at the club was our largely tardy nature in trying to sort of contracts with players whose deals were expiring. We have seen too many players; both good and bad disappear for nothing because we never negotiated a deal. Earnshaw, Tyson, Commons, Wilson, Chambers, McCleary and Lynch in recent times all left because they’re deals were allowed to run down too close. We also nearly lost Moussi that way. And that’s just recently.

Cohen has signed a new deal.

The problem has always been we didn’t know where we were going. Chambers, Lynch and McCleary were difficult to sort out as by then the club was in financial turmoil and new deals couldn’t be budgeted for. But that situation shouldn’t have happened. You don’t leave these deals to the last minute, and further forward planning should have been set in place.

The problem with the Championship is no-one wants to be saddled with a long term expense that a contract can be. Look at Miller, Greening and Derbyshire. Hefty contracts we can’t shift, nor stomach. So we never offered players likely to be wanting substantial rises when we would probably still be in the Championship. On the other hand you get players like Robbie Savage, stuck in the Championship on a huge Premiership type wage.

There are aspects like Tyson simply wanting to be a bigger fish, and Earnshaw wasn’t worth what we were paying him anymore. Though still a good player, his form hasn’t been worthy of the supposed £15k a week he was warning. He also refused to take a pay cut.

Then there are Commons and Wilson, who frankly should have been sorted out sooner, but again, it was questions of the future. We didn’t know where we would play so we didn’t offer deals. That cost s when January came and they negotiated a way out. When Commons left we’d just gone up, but it seems obvious he’d signed for or agreed to sign for Derby before that, and Wilson, well we were in danger of relegation still, and why saddle a huge debt like that?

Is it a risk worth taking? Well the hope is now that we don’t have to get to that point, but there are plenty of cases of clubs ending up with players on their wage bill they can no longer afford due to relegation. Look at Leeds. The whole legacy of their situation is paying now against future earnings that never materialised. For years it nearly scuppered Cardiff, plus countless other Championship clubs who go from promotion contenders to League One obscurity too quickly.

When the panic sets in and the club is struggling against relegation, these long term expensive contracts provide no wriggle room at all financially. No-one else will take them on, you can’t shift them, and so you’re stuck.

In a similar regard players who play well when looking for a deal, get the deal and that perform terribly as they have their deal now, think Andy Impey for that one. 

But then you also get what you pay for. Cardiff broke the bank for Bellamy and he is arguably one of the very best in this division and can change games. That phrase break the bank or the pay structure for a top player generally signifies ambition and would also hopefully trigger in shirt sales and the like.

And so too though conversely is getting these players to agree new deals. Cohen’s new deal this week is excellent news, as is getting Darlow to stay. The whole sorry Bamford episode last season was significant in that we’d let a young player with great promise get down to a mere months left on the contract, rather than getting them on longer term deals. Admittedly we then offered him the best terms ever for a youth player, but it was too little too late. His head had been turned, we needed the cash (which arguably allowed us to bring in players that kept us up) but it should never get that far. We also seem hesitant with youth deals. Lascelles deal was mentioned as not being long term either, which if these players show the promise they purportedly do, then get them tied down. It enables us to get bigger transfer fees if they do demand to go.

All in all, it’s another side the al-Hasawi family have changed for the better at the club. And I applaud them for it. It is only an issue if their wells of money they give us dry up for some hopefully never going to happen unforeseen future incident. Then we’d really be in the mire.