| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 12:28 - Feb 4 with 2436 views | Harbour |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 09:16 - Feb 4 by CroydonCaptJack |
The oddest thing was the late announcement for a player that is injured.
Still good to see youngsters wanting to join us. [Post edited 4 Feb 9:17]
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Company for Jake in the rest room. |  | |  |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 13:13 - Feb 4 with 2262 views | BrizR |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 10:42 - Feb 4 by Rsole |
Well, I’m all for flexibility but we really need a left back that can defend and a right back too. The club itself openly admitted to the LB problem.
Our loaned RB option isn’t up to the job and both of our currently contracted LB/RB options (Paal and Dunne) are out of contract in the summer when Vale (in theory) becomes fit again.
Assuming we release Colback and Fox (more cover for LB) in the summer, either you need to nail Vale into one position or we will need to find someone else.
If he’s happy to do that and can defend to the right level then fine but I don’t get the impression that’s his forte.
If he’s going to play further forward, who’s he going to replace when a very expensive option is warming the bench most weeks already and Dembele is coming back soon.
Add in the Brazilian player and it’s not a particularly obvious choice of acquisition to me but I’m just a simple fan that knows jackshit about systems, formations and inverted full backs etc.
So, whilst I don’t really get the Jack of all trades/master of none approach - I’d be very happy to be proven stupid/wrong if it works out. |
I'm not privy to the discussions but I would guess the club didn't see any reason to solve those problems in January because they aren't yet problems - Paal and Dunne are still here until the summer, so your first choices in those positions are available, and we do have cover for them (though I agree that Ashby and Fox/Colback aren't really good or reliable enough if they're asked to play a dozen games in those positions). We need to replace those players, but we don't need to do it today - our problem is they'll be out of contract in the summer, but so will players at other clubs, who we can get for better value than paying a fee in January.
This window has basically been about getting in a couple of loans to cover an emergency in a key position (Edwards) or to add some variety and depth to the bench (Min-Hyeok), which is pretty reasonable when we're sat firmly in mid-table, might manage a run at the play-offs but probably won't, might get relegated but properly won't. The other ones are all signings for the future that we're grabbing now while they're available to be grabbed and it's all about next season. Vale we got for initially nothing, he's meant to be an exciting prospect, and we might prefer him to play further forward but he can cover a variety of roles. We've all complained for ages how thin the squad is; signing a young player who's one of several good options in his preferred position but can also add depth elsewhere is great business if it works out. Esquerdinha the club is clearly excited about but he's an 18 year old who's gone into the development squad initially; he's not here to be first choice, he's here because he was cheap to acquire, doesn't take up a squad place, and in the short term he can back up a weak position for us and hopefully develop into the first choice down the line.
I think we all expect that signings in January are going to be straight in the first team, but that isn't really what's going on here - instead the club is heading off a match preview in ten years' time where Clive asks "Why have we now paid £3m to sign Harvey Vale, 31, made a thousand appearances elsewhere, knees shot to pieces, instead of picking him up when he was available on a free from the Chelsea puppy farm?" | | | |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 15:25 - Feb 4 with 1996 views | kensalriser |
Apparently we've just appointed a Dr Frankenstein to the medical staff so make of that what you will. |  |
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| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 16:16 - Feb 4 with 1872 views | richranger |
Nourry on Vale:
"The arrival of Harvey was an opportunity to bring in a high-potential homegrown player who we believe can be an asset for our first-team squad in the future.
“During the club’s medical process, an MRI of Harvey’s lower back revealed a bone stress injury. This is becoming a more common injury in younger developing players.
“Despite this we decided to push ahead with the deal as we believe in the player’s potential. This is an injury which will fully heal and cause no long-term issues.
“The club will be using this rehabilitation period to work on Harvey’s physical development so he returns for the 2025/26 pre-season ready to have an impact.” | | | |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 17:07 - Feb 4 with 1764 views | Loft1979 |
Clive, your write up echoes my sentiments in that here we get a guy who has aged out of a factory of stars and like many in this division has to press reset. For Harvey, he barely (if at all) has to move houses.
Other thoughts. It will be interesting to see where he fits best in the Marti model. Another thing is he seems a facsimile of what CN looked for in Madsen. Does this mean the window for the Madsen experiment is closing?
https://www.thechelseachronicl
[Post edited 4 Feb 23:05]
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| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 22:41 - Feb 4 with 1373 views | Match82 |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 16:16 - Feb 4 by richranger |
Nourry on Vale:
"The arrival of Harvey was an opportunity to bring in a high-potential homegrown player who we believe can be an asset for our first-team squad in the future.
“During the club’s medical process, an MRI of Harvey’s lower back revealed a bone stress injury. This is becoming a more common injury in younger developing players.
“Despite this we decided to push ahead with the deal as we believe in the player’s potential. This is an injury which will fully heal and cause no long-term issues.
“The club will be using this rehabilitation period to work on Harvey’s physical development so he returns for the 2025/26 pre-season ready to have an impact.” |
Does it count as progress that we are now identifying and ignoring medical issues instead of just not spotting them? |  | | |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 22:44 - Feb 4 with 1366 views | FredManRave |
Vale la pena?!
We'll have to wait and see... |  |
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| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 20:56 - Feb 5 with 1133 views | CiderwithRsie |
| Vale lifted on QPR’s risky recruit – Signing on 10:01 - Feb 4 by SydneyRs |
I suppose if he never recovers from the injury and doesn't play for us we can say Vale Vale when he retires. |
Blimey, jokes in Latin on LFW, I may have to dig out my old Asterix The Gaul books to keep up.
Presumably he's known as 'Arvey "Atque" Vale. | | | |
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