Linked to Tom Lees of SWFC

[Nicko 0]

This morning we''ve been linked to Tom Lees, who''s a CB at Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday fans seem pretty worried at the prospect of losing him, which to my mind means we should definitely go for him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3305287/Norwich-City-line-swoop-Sheffield-Wednesday-defender-Tom-Lees.html#i-2ace8802ce73d1ff

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

With Turner and Hooper there already there could well be some connect.

Owls fans not happy though.

[YorkshirePudding 0]

This would be a good signing, he''s seemingly come on leaps and bounds in the last season or so. Highly rated by SW and Leeds fans, where he was at before.

At 24 he''ll have plenty of room for improvement as well. Worth a try I reckon

[Crafty Canary 495]

There may well be other clubs interested should the Owls be willing to let him go whilst having a chance of promotion themselves. Should they want Hooper and Turner on permanent deals this could swing it in our favour. This assumes, of course, that he can step up to premier league football. 

[Salopian 1]

Seems a promising player, and probably one we need to sign.

There may be other clubs chasing him, but unless they have CBs out with injury there shouldn''t be much pressure. Prices are likely to be higher in the window than in the summer, so we have to be prepared to spend silly money.

Could we sweeten the pill for the club and for their supporters by doing some kind of swap deal for Hooper, who certainly seems low in our ranking?

[Branston Pickle 3,638]

You would hope we could prise him away from a Champs side, whether or not they are still going ok in the league - if we can''t and we do definitely want him, it would be a bit feeble and suggests we will be after players even lower on the pecking order.

[Jacko 0]

The summer is the best time to recruit players. Hence why I am pessimistic about our prospects of recruiting quality reinforcements in the January window (particularly if we are struggling). The issues you have in January are perhaps best illustrated by this potential transfer.

If hypothetically, Wednesday are in the hunt for promotion in January and we''re struggling then there''s very little prospect of Wednesday selling a key player (if he is as good as people seem to think) to us. The owners are ambitious and want promotion. Selling one of your best centre halves isn''t usually how you achieve that.

The player himself may also think what is the point in moving when there is the possibility of Wednesday and Norwich potentially swapping places in 6 months time.

To attract players from even the upper reaches of the Championship we therefore must be in a decent position by the time the January window comes around or it will become an almost impossible task unless you are willing to offer stupid QPR style incentives to players to join.

[shefcanary 2,388]

Listened to Radio Sheffield''s football show on way home. If we did sign Lees it would have same impact at Hillsbrough as the time we sold Sutton. Only way this will happen is if the Wendy''s fail to get promotion and Carvalho replaces Alex Neil. Is that a snowball in hell?

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]With Turner and Hooper there already there could well be some connect.

Owls fans not happy though.[/quote]

Both Turner and Hooper haven''t been able to get in the Norwich team do you think they would speak well of Norwich?

[GJP 79]

Might happen if we offered a lot of money for him.

[Indy 3,283]

I''m sure, Turner, Hooper and a couple million should well be enough?

That''s if he wants to come and if we really want him. He''s not exactly an established top league defender would be a risk, the question is.....is he any better than we have?

[Capt. Pants 4,198]

Agreed Indy he might be a bit high risk if he comes at the business end of the season. Will also be influenced by where we are in the league as he may not even want to come here if SWFC are still in contention for promotion.Sounds like another Ryan Bennett, promising, good age, but may never get a regular spot. I can see us going for another Joe Yobo type signing to be honest.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Interesting one! He went to school round the corner from me so got a few mutual friends. Seems like a nice enough lad from what I''ve heard.

Good promising player built well for a centre back. Decent enough pace, great in the air and can play a bit on the deck as well. It started really promising for him at Leeds but for whatever reason, (well likely playing alongside a shambolic defence) his form dipped and he went off to Sheff Weds for whatever reason.

This season he''s been a cracking player for them though. Leeds fans seemed gutted to lose him at the time and he''s showing why.

The obvious question is whether he could take his game up a level to the top flight. To be honest, whoever we get would be a gamble in some way or another or we''d need like £20m. You go the Curtis Davies route and risk injuries hitting him again, the Koulibaly route and risk him not adapting to a new country/league or the Lees route.

For me he''d be a similar signing to when we got Ryan Bennett and hopefully less injury prone. He''s managed over 40 games the last 5 seasons so that shouldn''t be a problem. I suppose i''d take it as we really need someone and he could be better than what we''ve got anyway. It''s not as glamorous as Van Dijk etc. but we have to be realistic and it''s our first season back. I think he''d plug well next to Seb with Russ back to RB anyway for what it''s worth.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

If he''s as good as the last Centre Half we had who''d played for Wednesday and Leeds he''ll do for me...

 

[chicken 0]

[quote user="Jacko"]The summer is the best time to recruit players. Hence why I am pessimistic about our prospects of recruiting quality reinforcements in the January window (particularly if we are struggling). The issues you have in January are perhaps best illustrated by this potential transfer.

If hypothetically, Wednesday are in the hunt for promotion in January and we''re struggling then there''s very little prospect of Wednesday selling a key player (if he is as good as people seem to think) to us. The owners are ambitious and want promotion. Selling one of your best centre halves isn''t usually how you achieve that.

The player himself may also think what is the point in moving when there is the possibility of Wednesday and Norwich potentially swapping places in 6 months time.

To attract players from even the upper reaches of the Championship we therefore must be in a decent position by the time the January window comes around or it will become an almost impossible task unless you are willing to offer stupid QPR style incentives to players to join.[/quote]

That all may very well be true, but there is one issue far more burning than that.

Next season the new TV deal kicks in with even more money on offer. This January will see some of the most hiked prices yet as a result.

Quite rightly, SW will want a price that compensates them adequately in that if he helps keep us up then he will have probably made back his fee in a matter of months.

And then you have to think of how they see it. Is he worth selling when he could help them achieve that pot of gold as well? Their team at the moment is going to be worth far more than anyone could pay for it due to the amount promotion is worth.

As for prices not being high in the summer - £15million for a CB from Europe?!!! That''s not high to anyone?

[smooth 114]

If palace or Swansea were interested they could buy him and loan him back till the end of the season.

We have to get January right no excuses. In the prem are there players out of the 25 man squads in the top teams that can come in on loan.

As much as a stout defence is important so is that extra level of quality.

January will tell us a lot, wonder if we may cash in on a player who can provide more funds.

[Tumbleweed 106]

If we can''t get Tom Lees from SW then I really do wonder what hope there is for any recruitment policy there might be. The club need to realise that having missed the boat in the summer prices will now be much higher, I can''t believe that we don''t have enough money to make a seriously good offer and if we overpay a bit, well that''s the price of January business. Getting burned by RVW should not colour our view of the sorts of funds now required for the right sort of player and we should recognise that some, as with RVW, will simply not work out.

[Branston Pickle 3,638]

I''m usually upbeat about things, and still am generally - but the transfers in January feel likely to be crucial. If this guy was ''poached'' by a different PL side that''s rather different, but if we wanted him and found ourselves unable to prise him away from the Champs, it would rather send out a signal that''s not great.

[Fuzzar 1,702]

I understand the Thai owners of SWFC have pretty deep pockets and are on record as saying they''ll do whatever''s appropriate to invest in the club to get them to the Prem. That probably includes not selling us Lees.

We''ll probably only be successful with targets at clubs which need the cash or where the player is asking for a move. Is there any indication that Lees wants out?

Like many on here think, the time to strengthen the defence really was the summer.