Matt Hobbs

[DenTyler]

can somebody explain exactly what this bloke is doing?

We sell a £70 -£80 million pound defender to a rich club with years on his contract for a ridiculous £51million.
We then swap a really s*** purchase of £35 million for a £10 million pound player in his last year of contract at Everton.

Alarm bells are ringing

 

[kingdowieonthewall]

he appears to be stinking it up.
dont care for him.

 

[Stirlingsays]

Johnson lost us a lot of money.....I like Larsen but 48 million? That's a hard sell.

52 million for our top defender with three years left on his contract?

Let's hope that the new guys coming in are good picks.

 

[samprior]

Last summer was fairly decent. This summer is going ok (minus the fact we should have got a bit more for Lacroix) considering we're also dealing with damage limitation from January.

January is currently IMO pound for pound the worst transfer window we've ever had.

So the jury is well and truly out but I'm at least feeling a bit more optimistic that we seem to have returned to a sensible strategy of targeting youthful prospects and cheap experienced pros, as opposed to overspending on mediocre 'proven' prem players.

I've definitely been a harsh critic of him but willing to see how this window pans out...we all makes mistakes... Just not normally 90m pound ones like he did in January.

 

[Part Time James]

January was an absolute panic and I still wonder whether we naively thought some splurging would keep Glasner from leaving.

 

[Jacey]

None of us know what was happening in the background last January,but dealing with a petulant,childish OG,would not have been easy for anyone,not even the great,Dougie!!

 

[syd snot]

Not upto the job.

 

[pssguy]

We don'tknow how much Hobbs was involved with the January purchases. Maybe Parish was panicking and placating Glasner. Larsen probably down to Hobbs but Johnson less likely. No idea who cocked up on the McNeil front

Outside of Palace supporters, the Lacroix transfer fee seems to have been regarded as about right. Three free transfers (inc Kamada) of established players can't be sneezed at and there are others recently completed or well advanced. The Johnson/McNeil situation is unfortunate but it is surely better to get the sorry business over with. Sage has had a chance to input his view and we can surmise what that was

 

[aashman12]

can somebody explain exactly what this bloke is doing?

We sell a £70 -£80 million pound defender to a rich club with years on his contract for a ridiculous £51million.
We then swap a really s*** purchase of £35 million for a £10 million pound player in his last year of contract at Everton.

Alarm bells are ringing

Getting deals done for the likes of gozo, khalaili etc, 2 very exciting players.

 

[Houston Eagle]

It's very difficult to gauge our activity so far, but some of the names purchased over the past 3-4 years have been excellent and helped provide stability and transfer income to the club. My take on business so far.

LaCroix - 52M seems a reasonable price (good but looked average at WC). Agent must have stirred the pot as I can't believe the club would make his exit a priority.
Kamada - Retained with no transfer fee required. Good continuity and regular 1st team
Johnson - Preseason efforts seem to indicate he wants out. Might come good at Everton but keeping him at the club a risk to performances and morale.
McNeil - Should have a point to prove, left sided and excellent dead ball delivery. Still only 26 although it feels he's been around forever. Should be able to give Mitchell some rest (Sosa out)
Gozo - 10M and highly regarded as the top prospect in MLS. Pace, energy and youth. JRS or Esse out to balance the squad and budget.
Tomiyasu - Free and current Japanese international. Will probably play the European games to give a CB a rest.
Mingueza - Free, Barcelona academy and Spanish international. Has the pedigree to be a success.

Munoz - Absolutely flourished in the Glasner system but truth be told he was poor last year for both Palace and Colombia, especially after the injury he sustained and 30 years old.

Khalaili - 21 years old and touted by top CL teams. At 20M being quoted it looks a great buy and seemingly paves the way for a Munoz exit. Sad but maybe for the best (looked knackered at WC).

 

[pssguy]

Munoz - Absolutely flourished in the Glasner system but truth be told he was poor last year for both Palace and Colombia, especially after the injury he sustained and 30 years old.

Agree with most of what you said, but to say Munoz was poor last year is pure baloney. He may not have been quite as good after his injury, but he still managed 4 goals and 7 assists (allowing up to 2 assists per goal) in the league. For the latter stat, only Wharton had more: Mateta did not even provide one all season
As for the WC, he scored twice - including one of the goals of the tournament. I think it was in The Athletic where of seven journalists, three named him to the team of the tournament

 

[Team of the (20)80s]

Agree with most of what you said, but to say Munoz was poor last year is pure baloney. He may not have been quite as good after his injury, but he still managed 4 goals and 7 assists (allowing up to 2 assists per goal) in the league. For the latter stat, only Wharton had more: Mateta did not even provide one all season
As for the WC, he scored twice - including one of the goals of the tournament. I think it was in The Athletic where of seven journalists, three named him to the team of the tournament

Thanks for typing this all out so I didn’t have to. I think Munoz just took a while to get back fit last year. Like Sarr and Kamada the wheels came off without him.

 

[Vaibow]

Agree with most of what you said, but to say Munoz was poor last year is pure baloney. He may not have been quite as good after his injury, but he still managed 4 goals and 7 assists (allowing up to 2 assists per goal) in the league. For the latter stat, only Wharton had more: Mateta did not even provide one all season
As for the WC, he scored twice - including one of the goals of the tournament. I think it was in The Athletic where of seven journalists, three named him to the team of the tournament

When you talk about him in that regard it seems likely he will be attracting clubs he'd b excited to talk to.

 

[aashman12]

It's very difficult to gauge our activity so far, but some of the names purchased over the past 3-4 years have been excellent and helped provide stability and transfer income to the club. My take on business so far.

LaCroix - 52M seems a reasonable price (good but looked average at WC). Agent must have stirred the pot as I can't believe the club would make his exit a priority.
Kamada - Retained with no transfer fee required. Good continuity and regular 1st team
Johnson - Preseason efforts seem to indicate he wants out. Might come good at Everton but keeping him at the club a risk to performances and morale.
McNeil - Should have a point to prove, left sided and excellent dead ball delivery. Still only 26 although it feels he's been around forever. Should be able to give Mitchell some rest (Sosa out)
Gozo - 10M and highly regarded as the top prospect in MLS. Pace, energy and youth. JRS or Esse out to balance the squad and budget.
Tomiyasu - Free and current Japanese international. Will probably play the European games to give a CB a rest.
Mingueza - Free, Barcelona academy and Spanish international. Has the pedigree to be a success.

Munoz - Absolutely flourished in the Glasner system but truth be told he was poor last year for both Palace and Colombia, especially after the injury he sustained and 30 years old.

Khalaili - 21 years old and touted by top CL teams. At 20M being quoted it looks a great buy and seemingly paves the way for a Munoz exit. Sad but maybe for the best (looked knackered at WC).

Why is everyone putting McNeil down as a Left back? He's barely played there in his whole career.

 

[akiisalegend]

Why is everyone putting McNeil down as a Left back? He's barely played there in his whole career.

He said left sided no? Dont know anyone who thinks hes a left back

 

[aashman12]

He said left sided no? Dont know anyone who thinks hes a left back

Said he'll be able to give mitchell a rest and bin sosa.

 

[Eagleman13]

Said he'll be able to give mitchell a rest and bin sosa.

He did, but what position has Mitchell been playing for the last 2 seasons?

 

[aashman12]

He did, but what position has Mitchell been playing for the last 2 seasons?

Wing back, McNeil is definitely not a wing back

 

[samprior]

Wing back, McNeil is definitely not a wing back

At a push maybe he could be put there in an emergency i.e desperately chasing the game but you're right. He's not a wingback

 

[Charles]

It's very difficult to gauge our activity so far, but some of the names purchased over the past 3-4 years have been excellent and helped provide stability and transfer income to the club. My take on business so far.

LaCroix - 52M seems a reasonable price (good but looked average at WC). Agent must have stirred the pot as I can't believe the club would make his exit a priority.
Kamada - Retained with no transfer fee required. Good continuity and regular 1st team
Johnson - Preseason efforts seem to indicate he wants out. Might come good at Everton but keeping him at the club a risk to performances and morale.
McNeil - Should have a point to prove, left sided and excellent dead ball delivery. Still only 26 although it feels he's been around forever. Should be able to give Mitchell some rest (Sosa out)
Gozo - 10M and highly regarded as the top prospect in MLS. Pace, energy and youth. JRS or Esse out to balance the squad and budget.
Tomiyasu - Free and current Japanese international. Will probably play the European games to give a CB a rest.
Mingueza - Free, Barcelona academy and Spanish international. Has the pedigree to be a success.

Munoz - Absolutely flourished in the Glasner system but truth be told he was poor last year for both Palace and Colombia, especially after the injury he sustained and 30 years old.

Khalaili - 21 years old and touted by top CL teams. At 20M being quoted it looks a great buy and seemingly paves the way for a Munoz exit. Sad but maybe for the best (looked knackered at WC).

Lacroix, Kamada and Munoz were signed by Dougie, the former two at OG's instigation but Munoz before OG joined. Dougie only left in March 2025, saying that targets for the forthcoming window had already been established. Hobbs didn't arrive till 18/8/2025 rather late in a disturbingly inactive window; reading between the lines, maybe chances to fill the vacancy from within Dougie's team had been offered and fluffed. Probably his contribution was mainly to getting deals over the line rather than finding the players, but he signed Pino, Canvot, Sosa and Uche on loan. I'd say that was one still promising deal, one very successful one, one that read well and one that I still think should have gone better than it did. January this year was horrific by common consent. There are a lot of rumours but so far only McNeil, Tomiyasu and Mingueza this window; Kalaili would have to pass a medical having failed one at Inter. Much may depend on outgoings such as Devenny and Rak-Sakyi following Imray - or not.