https://the72.co.uk/183862/wigan-athletic-defender-on-radar-of-watford-and-bristol-city/ Out of contract Wigan central defender
Not the most exciting signing but has proved he can do it at the Championship level, which is what we need right now.
Yes.....we were in for Todibo, but relegation has closed that door. This is the reality of our situation now. This is why it's so important to retain as many good players that are already in our squad as possible. It'll be so difficult to attract good players, and out of contract players from Wigan is as about as exciting as it gets.
I’d rather give players like Wilmot and Spencer-Adams a chance. Sign a new CB by all means, but they should be a clear upgrade on Cathcart and Dawson, not just another “experienced option”.
We can still do better than this surely, he seems to have a goal threat from set-pieces but be bad at actually defending. Plus he's just coming back from a double leg break he suffered in February, similar to Deulofeu. He's probably not even better than Dawson.
Yes a 20+m defender to a free transfer is worrying. But as most windows we get linked with so many different players. A pinch of salt with this one I hope. Wasn't we linked with their other CB?
Chey Dunkley sounds like the name plaque made from reclaimed timber that Mr & Mrs Dunkley put outside their house.
I can't see there being any truth in this, probably just lazy journalism or agent talk. We're not going to win promotion by signing Wigan's 4th best CB. To quote one Wigan fan on their forum "I've seen milk turn quicker, he's sh**e" !
This is a typical comment on the Wigan forum. I'm happy having Dunkley as back up but I don't think him and Kipre work as a pair in the first team.
Relative to our fall to the championship and the standard of defender we bought in the Premier league, he sounds about right.
This doing the rounds again. I hope it’s not true. Although he fits the Pozzo defence model. Cheap, rubbish, barely played due to a broken leg, fans of own club warning us that he’s terrible, and old (28 going on 29). Guess we can just move this to confirmed.
I have no doubt t that this is all agent work trying to drum up interest in their clients. A better standard will be bought in.
Concerning if this is the calibre we are looking at We don’t need depth/backup in defence, our entire defensive squad already meets that criteria. We need to sign starters who are already good enough or can develop to Prem standard
So why sign this lad then? Complete waste of a squad place and wages IMO Let the homegrown rubbish we already have like Mariappa and Cathcart play the back up CB role
I meant your quote of. We need to sign starters who are already good enough or can develop to Prem standard will happen, not the signing of Dunkley.
Teams relegated from the PL regularly go after reserve League 1 defenders. You need to stop thinking of the days when we were here last, with defenders like Angella, and get with the programme. Trust in Gino.
If we were trying to save money, then it would be more sensible not to waste wages signing players worse than we already have. This guy surely won't be signing.
Maybe but we will be trying to get players as cheap as possible I suspect - particularly if the higher earners don't leave ( Sarr isn't one ..)
We have a squad that is overloaded with tradeable assets (Doucoure, Sarr, Delufeou, Pereyra) and high wages (Capoue, Gray) going forward and has not enough quality at the back. Unpopular as it seems to be in other threads, I would rather move on all of these to pair down the debt and reduce the wage bill, promote the natural replacements we've already got (Quina, João Pedro, Cucho, Suarez) in order to make room for quality defenders, as that's where we're so sorely lacking. A midfield/forward line of Hughes, Quina, Chalobah, Cleverley, João Pedro, Cucho, Suarez, Deeney and Welbeck would be good enough for a promotion push even if not reinforced. Any money left over from sales should be spent improving the backline.
