đ¤ EFL transfers we love this summer so far - Part 1
Read about some unreal done deals, from unproven wonderkids to crafty old-timers.
Transfers, eh? Canât live with âem, canât live without âem. Weâve scanned the sweep of EFL incomings and picked out 6 of the best. Or more accurately, 6 players we think could have a huge impact on their respective clubs in 2023/2024. One loan, two fees, three frees.
Weâve dug pretty deep into the detail with this first piece, and weâll be doing the same for part two. Before then, if you think weâve missed a massive signing or youâre excited about your clubâs latest acquisition, then flag them with us and weâll give them some thought.
Jenson Seelt - Sunderland - ÂŁ1.7m + add ons
Ali Maxwell
Jobe Bellingham (17), Luis Hemir Semedo (19), Nectarios Triantis (20), Jenson Seelt (20). Sunderlandâs summer additions read like the transfer business from a Football Manager save.
It is apt that Kyril-Louis Dreyfus is the youngest Chairman in the EFL. Black Catsâ Sporting Director, Kristjaan Speakman, is 44 and without a playing background, and was surely a young football obsessive like the rest of us, signing Ibrahima Bakayoko on CM97/98.
As someone with a strong EFL focus, thereâs a certain comfort level experienced when an EFL club signs a player from another EFL club: I know this player. I know his playing history, preferred role, strengths and weaknesses. Hereâs why he could be good, but here are a few concerns.
But occasionally, I want to feel like a kid again. To project FM wonderkid status. To see a player Iâve never heard of joining an EFL team from the storied academy of an overseas club. To imagine the best-case scenario and ignore the various pitfalls that can drag these types of signings back down to earth.
So letâs talk about Jenson Seelt, the centre-back signed from PSV. Heâs played 16 minutes for PSV, and around two seasons in the Dutch second tier for Jong PSV.
Seeltâs size and frame give him a natural physicality, which is a great base for a centre-back. Most encouraging is the fact that, where some young centre-backs can seem a bit timid even in big frames, Seelt isnât afraid of his heft. He wants to use his physicality to disrupt strikers, be on the front foot and get in the face of attackers. His height makes it tough to get around him, he can cover ground well, and his long legs allow him to reach the ball where others canât, and poke it away.
In possession, he seems happy stepping into midfield when the space is there. He has a galloping dribble somewhat reminiscent of Anel AhmedhodĹžiÄ (Sheffield United), and the composure and ball control to keep his head up and pick out passes rather than running into trouble. Having CBs stepping out with confidence and quality helps break defences down, and I think it would be fair to say that it is not the natural instinct of his new team-mate, the impressive Dan Ballard.
(Heatmap via the SofaScore app)
The Black Cats have also added another 20-year-old, right-footed Aussie centre-back in Nectarios Triantis. Itâs this sort of business that got me feeling the way I did back on Football Manager 2005. But there is a serious point, aside from FM references. âDoing a Brighton/Brentfordâ has become a buzz phrase used to show that a club is modern and #progressive. The phrase itself has various different meanings, but one of them is: be creative in the transfer market, invest in young talent, develop players and sell them for a large profit.
But, when push comes to shove, most Championship clubs find it too risky to sign young players from foreign leagues on a large scale. Very few walk the walk. Sunderland are doubling down on their transfer policy, and they are clear on it. Are they the EFL team that embodies âDoing a Brighton/Brentfordâ most right now, in terms of recruitment? Probably. They are willing to spend uncomfortable amounts of money on players who are unproven in the old-fashioned meaning of the word. They are willing to invest precious playing time in order to best develop these players. And, if their talent identification is good enough, and their coaching is good enough, that will - without a shadow of a doubt - bear fruit over time.
In a recent interview on The Athletic, Kristjaan Speakman said the following.
âWe have to be clear here: the model is to create a team that can get promoted. The by-product of that is having good players and, if you donât get promoted, some players will go past you...
Likewise, if you progress, thereâll be players who wonât keep pace. In terms of our squad composition, we want to be in a position where other clubs think our players would be assets for them. That would put Sunderland in a strong position. In terms of how robust we can be in retaining players, if the question is: âare we going let players leave on the cheap?â, the answer is No.â
This is catnip to myself and George. Most clubs donât peddle the message that selling players is A Good Thing, at least not publicly, for fear of upsetting fans. But itâs so important. Brentford always got credit for the players they bought in the Championship, but should have got equal credit for their player sales. Brighton get credit for the players they buy but should get just as much for the players they sell. Without the sales, those juicy, ambitious, risky signings dry up, you go back to paying big wages for former Premier League players on the way down, and you donât move up the food chain.
At this juncture, itâs worth pointing out that Sunderland havenât actually sold a player for a fee for some time. That needs to happen at some point to really get the wheels turning and to truly succeed in doing a Brentford/Brighton. Looking at their squad, itâs only a matter of time. Looking at Seelt alone, Iâm confident in saying that if he has a good 12-24 months, he will be worth a hell of a lot of money down the line.
If you made a list of English football clubs that have wasted the most money and underperformed most consistently this millennium, Sunderland would be on the podium. But, on the football side at least, this now feels like a completely different club. At a time when âbeing a big clubâ isnât enough to win promotion back to the Premier League, Sunderland are going about it in a way that is bold and exciting rather than standard and predictable.
There is a tangible confidence flowing through the club that comes from the belief in a clear plan, and Jenson Seelt seems to epitomise the talented, youthful exuberance that will underpin Sunderland this season and beyond. Iâm excited!
Kaine Kesler-Hayden - Plymouth Argyle - Loan
George Elek
There is often value in targeting players off the back of âbad loansâ and Plymouth Argyle are looking to repeat that trick for the second season in a row.Â
It was Bali Mumba who played a huge part in their promotion from League One last season, having done little at Peterborough in his first loan from Norwich in a campaign that ended in relegation for Posh.
Mumba will be part of Norwich Cityâs squad this season, so wonât be returning to Home Park, but in the shape of Aston Villaâs Kaine Kesler-Hayden theyâve got a good replacement. Having impressed on loan at Swindon Town and then MK Dons, the right wing-back was sent on loan to Huddersfield in August 2022.Â
On the face of it, this looked a decent move, with the Terriers having just lost a Championship play-off final under Carlos Corberan, employing a system with high creative onus on the full backs.Â
By the time heâd joined the club though, Corberan had resigned and Kesler-Hayden was in and out of the side under two doomed managers in Danny Schofield and Mark Fotheringham.Â
He found some form towards the turn of the year but, with Huddersfield staring down the barrel of a relegation before Neil Warnockâs messianic return, both the club and Villa agreed to terminate the loan.Â
Kesler-Hayden had just started to show glimpses of what we saw at Swindon and MK, and his better performances and then departure coincided with a brief Huddersfield revival and then dip.Â
His assist for Jordan Rhodes against Rotherham showed his ability to overlap on the right hand side and pick a pass, whilst his goal against Preston the week before was a classic wing-back finish at the back post, something we have seen Joe Edwards do on many occasions for the Pilgrims in the last couple of seasons.Â
At Argyle he will surely be used at wing-back, rather than as a regulation right-back in a four, as was the case at Huddersfield, and this suits his attacking tendencies. There has been some indication in pre-season that he could even be an inverted full-back, and itâs this positional versatility that means he is such a good fit at Argyle.
Weâve also seen how manager Steven Schumacher encourages young players to play with attacking freedom, which again should see an improvement to a player who is both athletic and technically gifted and therefore a real creative outlet from wide.
Jack Taylor - Ipswich Town - ÂŁ1.5m + add ons
Ali Maxwell
Jack Taylor was an undoubted star of League One last season, and he joins from Peterborough as Ipswich Town climb the ladder into the Championship.
Football gets harder the higher you go. The quality of the opposition is greater in every facet of the game. So, while we can expect Ipswich to stick to the principles that saw them dominate the majority of games in League One, there may need to be some slight alterations.
Often, teams tweak their basic shape after a promotion. Think Sheffield United under Chris Wilder. Mark Duffy in the #10 role got them to the Premier League, but once in the top flight, Blades opted for the box-to-box energy and increased physical presence of John Lundstram.
I think thereâs a good chance that Kieran McKenna goes a similar way with Ipswich. Last season they were a fluid side, but mostly played with dual #10sâChaplin and Broadhead really established themselves by the end of the season. Moving up a level, it wouldnât be crazy to suggest that one of those two second-striker roles become more of a box-to-box #8. Someone to bolster the midfield out of possession and increase physicality, particularly for away games.
If that does happen, Jack Taylor is the perfect addition.
His best performances came with Ollie Norburn and Hector Kyprianou providing a base behind him. So is he an #8 or a #10? Iâd still lean towards an attacking #8 because his main qualities are driving forward with the ball, and making penetrative off-ball runs, not so much receiving passes between lines on the half turn.
Ipswich already have a lot of central midfielders, but not many with this profile. He stands out for his size, energy, speed and constant attacking mentality. He is an athletic ball carrier and covers ground at speed. Watching him sprinting forward in transition is a fantastic sight.
Heâs surely not a challenger for Sam Morsy or Massimo Luongo in the double pivot. Their skill and patience in the build-up are crucial for McKennaâs style, and thatâs not Taylorâs game. But with those two handling the build-up, Taylor going box-to-box and Broadhead or Chaplin in that second striker role, I think Ipswich will have a ton of attacking threat even at the higher level.
Now: shooting. Taylor scored 9 goals last season, 6 of them during a purple patch in the last 19 games. He has a powerful shot and isnât afraid to go from range (taking four shots or more in 20% of his league appearances). He is a volume shooter. Is he a particularly good long-range shooter? Well, according to WhoScored, Taylor took 65 shots from outside the box last season, but only scored one goalâŚ
Given McKennaâs patient build-up style, itâs possible that he may be asked to curb that inclination slightly to help Ipswich create better shooting chances. However, because of his goal-scoring record and his knack for the spectacular, the threat of the shot itself is enough to make defences take it seriously. That âgravityâ can open up space for others.
Everything about this signing feels right to me. Taylorâs biggest issue initially is that he joins an already high-performing performing team with a well-oiled starting XI. He may take some time to integrate into the team, but no doubt McKenna will be excited to unleash him when the time is right.
Ruben Rodrigues - Oxford United - Free Transfer
George Elek
If you asked Oxford fans what went wrong on the pitch last season, you would likely get a mixed bag of responses.
Some would point to the poor defensive record, with the club keeping just eight clean sheets, three of which came in the final games. But a look at the underlying numbers shows that Oxford had the second lowest xG against from open play behind Ipswich, suggesting there was little actually wrong with the defensive shape.
Others would say that Oxford lacked a striker or profess that Matty Taylorâs legs had gone. But in reality, he was feeding off scraps before his controversial loan move to Port Vale in January, and things didnât improve in that regard after the window either.Â
Oxford may have taken the third most shots in League One last season, but they took by far the most shots from outside the area and were mid-table for open-play xG for, showing a clear lack of creativity in terms of being able to fashion good goalscoring opportunities inside the opposition box.
Step forward summer signing Ruben Rodrigues, whose 15 assists for National League Notts County last season, not to mention 18 goals, should give Liam Manningâs side that cutting edge that they were lacking in the final third.
For a flair player, Rodrigues is also an aggressive presser off the ball. With Mark Harris leading the press and the ever-energetic Cameron Brannagan and Tyler Goodrham in the mix, we can expect Oxford to be one of the more aggressive teams out of possession.
There is of course a step-up from the National League to League One, but in truth Notts County were likely a top end League Two last side last season in terms of quality, so given the extent to which Rodrigues stood out at Meadow Lane, it feels unlikely that he will struggle with the step up.
David McGoldrick - Notts County - Free Transfer
Ali Maxwell
Normally, the best players in any given EFL division are likely to move up a level, either thanks to team promotion or transfer interest from above. But one of League Oneâs best players in 2022/23 will be playing in League Two this season.
Replacing Oxford-bound Ruben Rodriguesâ scarcely believable 18 goals and 15 assists would be a task too great for most players, but not for Didzy. To my eye, he is a perfect fit for this upwardly mobile Notts County team, and not for reasons of sentimentality (although every football-lover can appreciate a 35-year-old returning to the club where it all began). And I know youâll all enjoy this quote from a recent interview in The Athletic.
âI made my debut for Notts when I was in my final year at Fernwood School⌠I was on the back of the (local newspaper Nottingham) Evening Post and I was quite happy as a teenager at the time, because the girls loved it!â
But Iâm excited about this for tactical reasons. Heâs a wonderful player to watch, but the sort of technical, deep-lying forward that wouldnât have a comfortable home in every modern tactical system.
Even if youâve read about Notts Countyâs âpatient possession styleâ under Luke Williams, it is still something of a shock to the system the first time you watch them.
Key to the success of the build-up are the defenders and the deep-lying midfielders. But key to turning possession into goals are the #10s, that have to be comfortable receiving the ball in uncomfortable, congested situations against deep blocks, and providing a killer pass/shot. That is âDidzyâ to a tee. (And, as an aside, Dan Crowley - on a free after a short stint with Morecambe - could be absolutely sensational in this system, too.)
Itâs so clear to me exactly how McGoldrick will thrive and impact games. Heâll use his technical skill, experience and intelligence to control the ball in tight spaces, to manipulate the ball away from lunging defenders, to understand the picture in front of him, and to either move the ball to a well-placed team-mate or fire off a shot with either foot. And all of this within one, two or three touches.
Not long after the end of the season, I was bored, so I did what every completely normal adult human does with free time: I used all the data scouting tools available to me to perform some League One striker analysis.
Understanding that thereâs more to life than just scoring goals, I split the âstrikerâ role into five buckets - scoring, facilitating, ball-carrying, pressing and aerial ability. And after considering various metrics that I felt pertain to each part of forward play, I highlighted a group of 5-8 players that excelled in each category. At the top level, âcomplete strikersâ exist, players that can do all of the above. As you drop down the league, that gets rarer and rarer.
There is a small group of League One strikers that were found in the top bracket of two of the five categories:
Based on my analysis, only one player was in the top group of players in three of the five: David McGoldrick.
Among League One attackers, McGoldrick stood out for goalcoring, facilitating and ball-carrying (thatâs dribbling and drawing fouls). Thatâs an output that you might hope to get in your front two combined, contained within one player. Particularly helpful if you have another striker that scored 42 goals, without penalties, last season. Hi, Macaulay Langstaff.
Itâs true that 18 of his 22 goals for Derby County last season were scored against bottom-half teams. I struggle to see why, in the league below, that would be anything to be concerned about. The most obvious concern would be his age and mileage. He turns 36 in November, and made his league debut 19-and-a-half years ago! But McGoldrick started 25 of the last 29 league games for Derby and played the full 90 in the majority. Itâs just over two years ago that he scored 8 Premier League goals in a season, and I havenât seen a dramatic decline in his physical attributes since then. Heâs always been a smart, technical player rather than relying on physical capabilities, which surely bodes well for a drop down the leagues as a veteran.
As you can tell, Iâm excited about this signing. I canât wait to watch as much Notts County as possible. McGoldrick must be one of the most universally popular players in the EFL over the last decade, and many will be rooting for a fairytale swansong.
Nick Powell - Stockport County - Free Transfer
George Elek
Iâm not usually one to get excited about big names dropping down the leagues before their 30th birthday, but Nick Powellâs arrival at Stockport is a big fish, small pond story that could swim.
Last seen in League Two back in 11/12, Powell scored 14 goals from midfield for Crewe at just 17, and earned a move to Manchester United. While we have become accustomed to Premier League clubs hoovering up the best EFL talent, a jump like that is still rare. Over a decade ago, it was almost unheard of.Â
Powell, famously, didnât make the grade at Old Trafford. He has always seemed to me most at home when he is clearly the best player on the pitch, rather than when he has to prove that he is.
He scored 15 goals for Wigan back in 17/18 in his only other foray out of the top two divisions and, in recent years, has often been a lone bright spark in an otherwise disappointing Stoke City team, winning the clubâs Player of the Season award in the 20/21 season.
Formerly an attacking midfield player, Powell is now often used as a striker and is likely to play in a forward role for Stockport. He should possess a lethal combination in League Two of both being the most technically gifted player on the pitch, and among the most aerially dominant, too: 8 of the 24 goals he has scored in the last four seasons at Stoke have been headers.
Stockport are blessed with players who can deliver good balls into the box in Ryan Rydel and Ibo Touray from the left, and as a team, they ranked third in the league for successful box crosses per 90 in League Two last season.Â
If that continues then Powell should be both prolific and creative for a Stockport side who will hope that their star signing will help them to go one better than last season and win promotion to League One.
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Hasn't Mumba left Naarwich for the Pilgrims on a permanent deal?