I've noted from many comments on these forums there is a lot of discontent about our transfer policy e.g no Zaha replacement, no new full backs, no new striker, no loans brought in.
Furthermore, players brought in at goalkeeper and at centre back where we already have good players.
This is seen as misallocation of our scarce resources where we have glaring gaps elsewhere.
I can only assume the club are looking at the medium term as opposed to the immediate need.
It's likely to be Tomkins' last season and rumours continue around the future of Guehi and Anderson, so Holding may be viewed with the medium term in mind, particularly if the fee was reasonable.
The Henderson deal is a head scratcher for a number of reasons.
His injury record isn't great and Johnstone has done well.
It was generally thought we'd go for a talented and experienced back up instead.
Franca may well turn out to be a bargain, but it's a risk for a club of our stature
For £25 million we should be getting an immediate first team player.
I suppose the above highlights the discrepancy in approach between the fans and the club.
The fans want to see squad shortcomings dealt with now, whereas the club take a longer term view taking into account the terms of players' contracts which we are unfamiliar with.
Ideally you'd want to be able to do both, but this is evidently defeating us at present.

i think there is an African club in Jan /Feb 2024.

Not sure if they've all qualified but Schlupp, Ayew and Doucoure could all be missing for over 1 month.

Makes the lack of transfer activity in the front 3 positions this summer even more bizarre, especially as we already knew the Olise injury was going to keep him out for 3 or 4 months.

I think our policy has been effective in recent seasons but is also clearly flawed and muddled in some aspects.

Signing Henderson for £20m may be seen as good value by the club but the problem is that the longer he doesn't play (ignoring the fact that he's now injured), that value will depreciate.

In order for the value to maintain or increase, he's got to play and play well. Johnstone has been very good for us since joining and it would have been harsh to drop him regardless when he hasn't done a lot wrong so far.

Someone like Holding joining for £5m makes more sense as, even if he doesn't play until one of the other CBs leave, that's a relatively small fee. £20m, for us, isn't,

Franca is a curious one. Roy started on after the game on Friday about how 'some people' are expecting unrealistic things from him.

Not sure if he was referencing the fans by that, who I actually think have been very patient and haven't overhyped him too much, but Roy needs to consider the significance of us paying £25m for the lad.

How many times have we ever paid more than that for a player? Once or twice maybe? By the fact that he is one of our biggest signings or all time, he is automatically going to have pressure on him to deliver.

If he'd gone into Chelsea's squad or similar, where £25m is really just a throwaway fee and there's so much competition that he could take his time, the pressure in some ways would be less. For us, a £25m player has to do well and reasonably quickly.

It's all well and good us looking for bargains when they appear but that will all be for nothing if we get relegated and, although I am confident that won't happen this season, we do have some glaring holes in our squad that we can't keep ignoring forever or it will eventually cost us.

Ultimately we need a new starting right back with Ward dropping to reserve and Clyne / Ferguson off the wage bill.

We need left back competition for Mitchell who I remain unconvinced by.

We need a specialist left winger.

And we need a striker to replace Mateta and give Eduoard competition.

Currently the core of our side, the central players, are being let down by the wide players in defence and midfield being of a lower standard and as soon as the likes of Olise get injured and Zaha leaves, you see the level drop.

The last two games we've seen Mitchell and then Ward targeted and have shockers while Ayew, who a year or so ago nobody wanted in the side, is currently trying to do the job of about 3 men.

I completely support the club being shrewd and picking up bargains but it has to be balanced with filling glaring holes too and the latter needs to take priority.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

I read that it was Freedman pushing for Franca and the club claimed they had been tracking him for a while. It's one of those deals where in a few years time we could be tucking away £70+ million in the bank as he heads off to Barcelona/Real, or we could be shipping him out on loan to the Portuguese second division. For the first team we've seen a cameo against Newcastle where he looked highly promising, and one on Friday where he didn't. The only way he is going to settle is to play so we may all just need to be patient and let him make mistakes and find his feet.

Henderson is the weird one. If he's fit then £20m is actually a good price for a keeper yet to hit his prime, an England international and with possibly another decade of football ahead of him. But rumours are Forest shied away due to fitness concerns, so what does that say about us?

Although cheap the Holding deal made no sense to me. It almost felt like a token gesture for Roy. Here you go buddy, a solid pro. We know you like those.

We payed 17m not 25m, the add ons are never going to happen.

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

The transfer policy (if we can call it that) is vexing.

For two years we have been crying out for new players to fill 3 main positions:
1. A full back (or two)
2. A creative midfield general
3. A striker (by which I mean somebody who can actually score)

No.2 is a most difficult position to fill, decent candidates are like gold dust. But for Nos 1 and 3 there is a wider choice.

But what happens? We pay up to £20 million for an injury prone keeper. We renew Ferguson's contract, seemingly out of pity for a
talented but permanently injured youngster and we spent years trying to get Conor Wickham fit. A lesson not learned. Edouard has talent but gets little provision and Mateta is £14 million down the drain. Even Gerry Queen in the 70's ran valiantly for a lost cause.

I guess the extravagances of the Sahko and Benteke transfers have to some extent been learned but then they buy an injury stricken keeper for circa £20 million who lasted all of 20 minutes on his only appearance.

We are one of the lowest goal scorers and leak goals down both wings yet nothing so far has been done to address these problems.

There is no substitute for talent but all we offer is spirit and endeavour. Buying players is fraught with difficulty and disappointment but that is no excuse for the failure to get the players in the positions we desperately need.

Roy is holding the fort until the cavalry (Olise and Eze) eventually arrive. In the meantime our chances of a result against Burnley don't look great.