That time of the season to speculate on which Irish players need to move mid-season. I’m going to focus on the young prospects who I think need to consider a move, mostly loans.
Goalkeepers:
- Travers and Kelleher need a loan urgently. Preston linked to Kelleher but can’t see them taking a risk, league 1 or even league 2 would be adequate.
Defenders:
- O’Shea: needs loan to lower championship or league 1. He’s 4th choice CB.
- Masterson: if he’s not broken into QPR side by the Jan, he needs a loan, anywhere will do to play his first senior football at 21.
- N Collins: If he breaks back into stoke side over December, all is good. If not, he needs a loan to continue his development.
- R Nolan: Hasn’t worked out for him in serie C so far. Still got developing to do in order to adapt. Similar build to Masterson, but Masterson appears a much more stylish footballer to my eye. If he’s still not back to starting with Arezzo soon, not sure where u drop to for a loan experience, serie D?
Midfielders:
- C Ronan: His loan to FC DAC was until January. Awaiting to see if it’s extended. Won’t break into the wolves team currently so probably better off staying where he is for the year.
- Coventry: Molumby took his career by the scruff of the neck by taking the initiative to engineer a loan move which has worked out very well for him. Conor needs to do the same, although he’s in a slightly different situation. His contract is up next summer, he does have an option of signing elsewhere, or else go on loan but don’t think west ham will allow him go on loan unless he’s signed an extended contract. West Ham have been selfish pressuring him to stay with 23s, dangling the carrot of U23s captain at him, as their priority appears to be promotion to PL2 league 1, and not Conor’s development. He needs first team football. Champ or L1 in jan please. On a positive note though, he was training with the seniors this week, and Nathan Holland made the bench, so you never know.
- Kilkenny: A 6 month loan please.
Forwards:
- Parrott: loan move in January if no regular first team exposure. The permanent move away is intriguing but he could easily lose his way at some of the clubs being mentioned. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.
Obafemi: Did okay in his 2 recent consecutive starts. Unless he breaks through properly in December, I would favor loan move. Badly needs a run of games, and to see if his hamstrings can actually withstand the demands of regular professional football. He has potential, no doubt about it.
- Idah: training with first team he improved him drastically. Needs a loan move January. Not looking likely to break into side as Norwich continue with only 1 striker. Idah is 3rd, possibly 4th choice.
- The Celtic 5 (O’C, Luca, Coffey, Arm-Oko, Afolabi)
Well, well, well, what do you say about this situation. It’s an absolute disaster from an irish perspective at the moment. And unless a couple of them breakthrough over Christmas, Duff and O’Dea will have done our country a disservice luring our prospects north of the border promising them inevitable riches. I’m sure O’Connor wasn’t told they planned on signing Frimpong at the same time. It’s worked out well for him. They had no strikers fit this week but yet Lennon plays a makeshift striker vs Hamilton. There is no development infrastructure in Scotland and these lads may rot unless they force a loan move in January (or even a permanent one if they don’t get any assurances off Lennon). If none of them play by January, it will be a stark warning for any youngsters next summer who Celtic try to lure with the promise of a fast track to first team football. They may use Frimpong as an example but there were many more who perished without any chances given.
Getting slightly concerned about Duffy. He’s still involved off the bench regularly & surely will get starts during this busy December. But he’s clearly not favoured by Potter. I’m sure there’s no urgency on Duffy’s part to panic at this stage as he could still win his spot back.
Doubt he moves on in January but if another lower level premier league team or higher end Championship team came in for him, might be best for him & us.
Yes, Duffy situation is concerning, but can’t see Brighton letting him leave before next summer. Brighton have been conceding plenty of goals from set pieces with Webster and Dunk liable, and their so called footballing skills have been getting them in trouble in the past few games. A few more soft goals and Duffy will be back in. Potter will want Duffy around for the season
Duffy needs to develop his ball skills. Sticking a head on a long ball, to clear it, is yesterday's game. He needs to get on board with a Brighton team that is playing football from the back. He's better than he used to be, but still room for improvement.Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Potter is going to persist with Dunk, Webster and Burn - Duffy will be kept because they will pick up suspensions - Brighton have Ben White to bring back from Leeds loan - then Duffy will be surplus to requirements - but that will be next summer.
Duffy could potentially do a job for any one of 6/8 PL teams - or somewhere like Leeds or WBA if they get promoted.
I find the duffy can't play football narrative really odd. He's in a side where if you try and play football you get punished for the most part and they are normally under so much pressure due to having a crap midfield (at that level) that clearances and headers are the game. Duffy against Denmark for example was an illustration of what he's capable of doing.
Brighton are fortunate that watford and norwich are so awful this season. Duffy's agent should be pushing to change the narrative and get him a big move now that he's 29 and has one big move left. his stats in the premier league are awesome and he could go do a decent club in europe particularly and play champions league. leeds? give me strength.
Shane Duffy is 27. Granted, he is 28 in January.
I think he is comfortably a Premier League defender.
Not sure where I got the 29 from..28 still ample.reason to angle for that big career move. He's good enough.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/...h-new-17383929
I wouldn't complain too much about this. West Ham have enough to improve.
Duffy emerged at the wrong time for that kind of old school centre half, developed as a no nonsense defender just as they were going out of fashion, if he was five or ten years older he'd have had a great career, five years younger and he'd have had the ball playing side of the game coached into him.
Talk of a big move is nonsense I'm afraid, none of the top sides will be looking at him. Even the likes of Sheffield United, Southampton, Norwich etc play too much football at the back to consider going for him. But a team coming up who's first objective is to finish no lower than 17th might be interested. Otherwise it's easy to see how he could become a Richard Keogh 'legend of the Championship' type of player in the latter part of his career.
Reminds me of the last few years of Robbie Keane's career, a 4-4-2 type forward in the one up front era, he had to drop down to the level of the SPL and MLS to get a game. Speaking of which - Duffy to Celtic, might be a realistic option at some point.
Would also be concerned at how he might or might not fit into Stephen Kenny's plans for the same reasons.
He can pass the ball. Duffy is not just a hoofball merchant. He was clearly under instruction from MON to be one.
Duffy can play football if he's given the chance. The idea he can't be a starter for Brighton is ridiculous - he just has to prove he's better than the guys currently in the team.
Duffy is a better footballer than people give him credit for, possibility because he looks a little awkward. He has a good range of passing both long and short, he’s decent at driving through the middle when space opens up and once he’s got going he’s fairly quick and hard to stop. He’s got good decision making, unlike some of his Brighton teammates. His touch leaves a good bit to be desired but still. I’d take that package combined with his aerial ability, his tackling and his desire.
He’s probably our best player. Him or maybe Doherty...
Along with Ben White, Matthew Clarke is out on loan and supposed to be decent. Even still, Duffy is significantly better than everyone except Dunk (hes still better than Dunk imo)... half the sides in the league would improve with him at the heart of them and not just lower half. From Arsenal to City to United, loads of teams with dodgy centre halves who can’t defend...
Potential league 1 loan deal for Conor Masterson if clubs are interested https://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/...-for-loan-move
Twitter lighting up on a potential loan deal for Troy Parrott at Doncaster Rovers. This article appears to be the basis of the rumour: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.don...-1351331%3famp
To me it’s more consistent with Idah, which would make more sense to me and would be an excellent move. Parrott has played in league cup and came on in premier league, while Idah only made a league cup appearance. Moreover, Idah has appeared on bench more times than Parrott (who only has 2 bench appearances). Parrott should be aiming for championship level in any case, would be a disappointing move if true for him.
Last edited by tommy_c12000; 30/12/2019 at 5:08 PM.
Haven't Spurs recalled Kazaiah Sterling from Doncaster also?
This was brought up in another thread but it looks like Glenn Whelan is going to be moving on from Hearts. New manager doesn’t seem too convinced by him. Hopefully he finds a team at a decent level to extend his career until at least the end of this campaign.
Thomas O'Connor's loan extended until end of the season at Gillingham from Southampton. On the other hand, Sean McLaughlin has been recalled from St Mirren by Hull.
Consensus on Twitter and fan forums seems to be that both loans had/have been a success this far. One would hope McLaughlin sees some action now.
https://www.blackandwhitearmy.com/fo...ge/2/#comments
A lot of posts here on Sean and how he is too good for them, been a great signing and constantly improving for them. All positive. League One or Hull first team hopefully. You would imagine the latter, although his loan was actually 6 months and he wasn't recalled.
Could possibly see him come to Ireland and put the roots down with the family? Doesn't seem the most likely to move into coaching. Could take a chance on a year or two at home before retiring? Is there any Championship club going to take a punt on him realistically?
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
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