11 Dec 2025 12:49:35
I believe there has been talk of a cut price deal for Joao Gomes at Wolves. He is crucial but Wolves may take £40m or do and bank for the Championship next season.
11 Dec 2025 21:18:17
Good player. Likely a longer term squad option but much better suited than Ugarte.
14 Dec 2025 10:45:48
He'd be a great option in January, which is always a difficult market to make good signings who can have an immediate impact.
Signing players in January is pretty much pointless unless they will have an impact in the second half of the season, as you tend to pay a premium and if they won't make any difference to the team until next season then you're probably better off waiting until the summer when you can probably get them on a better deal. The only other reason to do a deal in January is if it allows you to get the jump on other clubs who'll be competing to sign the same player in the summer.
Because of that if you are going to sign a player in January then it's better to sign players already playing in the EPL or who have had a successful spell in the league in the past.
João Gomes is an ideal January signing as he fits the profile of what we desperately need and he is proven in the EPL. While he might be available for a reasonable fee given Wolves current situation.
The other player who we should look at in January is Semenyo. Again EPL proven, and is the ideal profile of player for what we need. A creative attack minded player who is capable of playing across the front line and even as a wingback in our system. He'd offer great coverage while Amad and Mbeumo are off at the AFCON and the competition we need once they are back. He shares a lot of qualities with Mbeumo (quick and the threat in behind, a goal scoring threat, with a high work rate and ability to press from the front) . He is also rumoured to have a fixed fee in January and he is a player the club chased in the summer so we know they have had a strong interest in him before.
Those are the kind of players we should be looking at in January as we could do with a boost this winter as the league is far more open than many would have expected. A couple of good signings could be the difference between UCL or no European football at all, as it looks like the difference between 4th and 9th will be only a few points come the end of the season.
From watching us this season we started better than we were given credit for, then things started to click into place. Our underlying numbers are great, but the performances can be a little patchy and we have a tendency to defend well for the most part but we do give away 1 or 2 high quality chances a game which is costing us.
In recent weeks I feel like a combination of two things have seen us drop points where we should have won games (West Ham, Everton, Forest and Spurs are all games that we should have won based both on the chances created, and on balance of play) .
Yet we dropped 9 points in those games. For me the reasons for that is firstly, we have become a little too predictable in attack, our right hand side far outweighs the threat of our left and teams have made sure to focus more on denying us space down the right. Which has blunted our attack and seen us create fewer really high quality chances.
The other issue is that the squad doesn't have the depth needed to freshen things up or to make any positive changes. We have seen fans and pundits complain about the managers subs, but in truth when looking at the bench there really isn't much else he could do. The only sub I feel he has really made a mistake with was not bringing on Lacey when either 3-1 or 4-1 up against Wolves. That would have been the ideal time to give him 10 minutes and see how he does ahead of us losing both Amad and Mbeumo to the AFCON. Other than that though I can't really fault his subs.
Yeah we need to freshen things up in midfield, but Casemiro doesn't have the legs to stay on beyond 70 minutes, and the Mainoo/Bruno midfield combination has been poor every time we've seen them play together. Leaving the options as either just bring Ugarte on for Casemiro (which isn't ideal as they are two very different types of defensive midfielders) or bringing both Ugarte and Mainoo on together and either taking Bruno off as well or pushing him higher up the pitch.
We simply lack the right balance of options in midfield. Someone like João Gomes would be perfect as he can either come in for Casemiro or play alongside him. He'd pair equally as well with Bruno or Mainoo as well.
I'm not going to go as far as saying we need to make January signings, but I do think that this year there is an opportunity to maybe make one or two big January signings for reasonable fees. Players who can come in and make in immediate impact and provide the team exactly what we need, in a season that is very open. Meaning we could take advantage of that and maybe jump back into the UCL which could accelerate our rebuild both in terms of money and in terms of prestige when it comes to competing for top players next summer.
14 Dec 2025 18:36:58
I don't even know that many words Shappy.
14 Dec 2025 21:09:38
I can’t even be arsed reading anything that long.
{Ed025's Note - a lot feel the same way BR, Shappy makes some very good points but his posts are long winded and it puts people off, he comes across as a very nice guy...but i wouldn,t like to be stuck in a lift with him mate.. :)
14 Dec 2025 22:26:32
Once I get to two paragraphs I just keep scrolling rapidly until I see 'Shappy' then start reading again.
No offence intended towards the fella but If I wanted to be bored rubbishless I'd speak to my wife instead. ?.
15 Dec 2025 08:16:52
Yep agreed. Occasionally some good points but there are only so many ways you can say the same thing.
As soon as it gets to two paragraphs I am the same as Peter Griffin.
15 Dec 2025 09:42:24
My concern with Joao Gomes is, would you consider him a starter for a team wanting to constantly push for top 4 and even mount a title challenge? Buying Gomes in Jan, does it effect our business in the summer?
If for instance we could get Joao Gomes for circa £30m in Jan and still go after Anderson and Wharton in the summer I'd say go for it. However, if we spend the money now and it limits what we can do in the summer, I'd say wait.
Joao Gomes would improve us, based on our current options. He's tenacious and covers a lot of ground. I just think there are better options potentially avaliable in the summer.
15 Dec 2025 10:58:21
However in defence of Shappy, he is fully entitled to his opinion and can express it in any way he likes. We are not forced to read his posts.
I actually respect his opinion and he does have some good things to say. Cops a lot of grief from us lot, sometimes unfounded.
15 Dec 2025 12:32:03
Actually incredible the way the ed slags off genuine, honest supporters of the site like Shappy. Keep posting mate. Ignore the people who don't have the attention span to read longer than three sentences.
{Ed025's Note - i have said that im a big fan of Shappy RWWD and that he writes very well, some of his posts are very (over) long and people have told me that they skip them because of their length, i want people to appreciate his stuff and believe that if they were condensed a bit he would get the credit he deserves, its not slagging him off at all..
15 Dec 2025 16:43:22
I think I may just be jealous. If I write more than two paragraphs I confuse myself. You crack on Shappy lad! ?.