Ali Maxwell
Millions of people waiting in anticipation to catch a glimpse. Billions spent over a summer of excitement. Yes, I could be talking about Barbenheimer, but let’s have it right, this is the EFL Newsletter by NTT20. We don’t review films. We’re not interested in the hot pink glamour of so-called big signings. What we care about are the smartest, most exciting transfers across the 72, and here we have a nice mixture of ages, profiles and provenance.
This is the third and final part of our summer transfer series. Enjoy Parts One and Two if you haven’t already.
Cesare Casadei - Leicester City (on loan from Chelsea)
Leicester under Enzo Maresca have been fun to watch. His unwavering dedication to a 3-2-5 attacking shape has thrown up some quality football, as well as plenty of shaky moments at the back. There’s little doubt that if Maresca can get a settled, motivated squad playing in roles that suit them, the ceiling of the team is very high at Championship level.
But they’re not settled, yet. And there have been some square pegs in round holes, not least in the right-sided #8 role. On the flip side, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (#22) has been thriving in the same role on the left. He’s taken 12 shots already, and his brace on Opening Weekend against Coventry won them that game. Ndidi (#25) and Praet (#26) have shared the minutes on the other side, and taken 5 shots between them.
Those minutes, and those shots, will now be taken up by Chelsea loanee Cesare Casadei, a player that won the Golden Ball - and Golden Boot - at the Under 20 World Cup this summer, after scoring seven goals in seven games. A list of former winners of the Golden Ball at that tournament includes the following: Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Paul Pogba, Lee Kang-in… and Hull City’s Adama Traoré! Good company.
Casadei is a player that Chelsea (who are perhaps the elite team most proactively searching out ‘wonderkids’) signed from Inter last summer for £12.6m plus £4.2m in potential add-ons… before he had even played a senior game.
His loan at Reading doesn’t leap off the page, but The Royals were a team on the slide by the time he joined in January and only got worse. He only won 1 game in 13 starts, but the fact that Paul “The Guvnor” Ince liked him enough to start the last 10 games of the season is a good reflection on his character, and Reading fans appreciated his quality.
Our friends at
know him better than us, and their write-up after the U20 World Cup is well worth a read, both for his limitations and his strengths.
Unlike teenage me playing Football Manager, I’m not blinded by the narrative of a ‘wonderkid’ in the Championship. What excites me here is the tactical fit for both parties. Here is a big, box-to-box #8 that can handle the ball, that can press, and is a goal threat. That sounds like the perfect profile for the #8 role in Maresca’s Leicester.
Given his U20 World Cup accolades, Casadei could confidently call himself one of the best players of his age group in world football, and I can’t wait for his reintroduction to life in the EFL.
Josh Bowler - Cardiff (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
Cardiff have certainly been ambitious with their recruitment this summer, but it took me a while to buy into it with the same excitement as the fanbase.
Aaron Ramsey: I loved the romance of the signing, but without having watched all that much of him at club level for a few years, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Early signs are that his quality in the #10 role will add plenty.
Karlan Grant: although I used to be a big fan, I can’t say I’ve put him in the bracket of Quality Championship Forward for a couple of years now. I don’t think he looks totally comfortable playing off the left, but most of his recent managers have refused to consistently play him as a #9, and it looks like Bulut is the same.
Ike Ugbo: he hadn’t played much football in the last few years and struggled during previous EFL loans, but he has certainly started well in terms of sniffing out big chances and tucking them away.
Yakou Meite: good squad player, but not someone I think is likely to raise the ceiling of the team, and has had injury issues.
Then Josh Bowler signed… deal me in!
Strong dribblers are really important. A lot of attacking in the Championship comes down the sides, and if you don’t have players that can beat their man - inside or outside - you are missing a crucial dimension of a good attack, and you become easy to defend against.
Cardiff City had Jaden Philogene on the books last season, who was among the 10 best dribblers in the league. Philogene is a great player and could become a fantastic one, but at times it felt like he had less confidence than he should do - I found myself wanting even more from him, wanting him to have the mindset of a killer. If you’ve just beaten one man and you’re bearing down on another, why check back and pass sideways? Why not try penetrating the box and cause further carnage amongst the opposition's defensive structure?
I believe that Josh Bowler is also among the top 10 wide dribblers in the division, and therefore is a crucial replacement— there’s no one else in the Cardiff squad that offers such excellent 1v1 threat. I also think he’s more penetrative than Philogene. He has the confidence to go and go again, to beat his full-back and set his sights on the heart of the penalty rather than slowing down. He’s got that killer’s mindset, which will sometimes lead to wasteful moments or performances, but will also lead to match-winning moments, match-winning performances.
In the Bluebirds squad last season, the most goal contributions were made by Callum Robinson (5G 6A in 1550 minutes) and Sory Kaba (8G 1A in 1144 minutes). The rest of Cardiff’s squad simply were not chipping in at anywhere near the level you would want. Bowler will certainly do so, and early signs are that between Robinson, Ramsey, Colwill, Grant, Ugbo and Etete in those four attacking roles, Cardiff will now be a much more potent attacking force than in the last two paltry seasons.
Joe Bryan (Millwall)
I find myself talking a lot about clear-minded recruitment at the moment, and there are telltale signs at Millwall. By ‘clear-minded’, I mean knowing ahead of the summer what you may need and focusing your time and resources into signings that improve the weak spots in your starting XI. And it’s not just thinking about that but doing it, rather than playing transfer whack-a-mole once the season is already underway.
The teams with the best recruitment don’t need to ‘win the window’ in their division. The teams with the best recruitment are the ones that get it right, more often than not, over a period of 2+ years. Doesn’t sound sexy, does it? But that’s how you get strong, balanced squads. That’s how you develop a core of players that establish themselves as long-term contributors to the team, and provide a solid foundation that can be added to with more quality each window. That’s how you end up with squads like Luton Town’s, who are the team Millwall should be trying to emulate.
If you string together two or three years of largely solid recruitment, it provides more opportunity and less pressure; opportunity to focus on a few specific roles, and less pressure if one of your signings isn’t a smash hit.
Unlike teams like Sunderland, Coventry, Middlesbrough and others, Millwall aren’t spending big on U23 players with long contracts, betting on long-term development and high resale value— although Zian Flemming seems likely to net them a large profit if he is to be sold. But that’s not to say they aren’t being creative in the European market— along with Flemming and Voglsammer last season, Casper De Norre came in from OH Leuven this summer.
They are looking to sign peak-age players to start straight away, and four of their five summer signings have started both league games so far - De Norre, Nisbet, Sarkic and Joe Bryan. It’s with Bryan at LWB where they have, to my eyes, made the biggest immediate upgrade. Millwall are a team that:
play with wing-backs that provide attacking width
completed the most crosses in the division last season
took the most headed shots in the division last season
So it stands to reason that you’d want a good crosser of the ball in a wing-back position. Last season the left wing-back minutes were shared by Murray Wallace, a physical tank who is not blessed with dangerous crossing ability, Callum Styles, who has gone back to parent club Barnsley, and Scott Malone whose ability to handle the physical demands of the role at Championship level seemed to dwindle - he’s now in League Two with Gillingham.
In a position and role (LWB) where the depth of available talent in the EFL is very small, Millwall have managed to grab Joe Bryan, who has good technical quality and crossing ability and has had seasons notching 7 and 8 assists at this level before (not to mention three previous EFL promotions). Someone who, having had a frustrating year or two, seems highly motivated to play games and find a home.
I love the signing for Millwall. It demonstrates how far strong decision-making and clear-minded recruitment have taken them (consistent top-half finishes), and it suggests that such consistency could take them even further.
Corey O’Keeffe (Barnsley)
Earlier in the summer, I became obsessed with the idea of ‘good players in bad situations’.
As fans and media, there’s a natural focus on individuals who are thriving as part of successful teams. They win the awards and get the headlines. Then new deals and big money transfers tend to follow. But given that everyone knows about those players, my thought process was:
What about good players in bad situations, playing for poor teams, perhaps in roles and systems that don’t suit them? Players that have skillsets and profiles that could feasibly translate well into good, functioning teams? Players that could contribute to success, to promotions, and could have the perception of them change in just a few months? Surely these players exist, and surely there’s huge value in being the club that recognises this and signs them, rather than joining the hunt for all the same names as everyone else?
Corey O’Keeffe was one of the main names on my ‘good player, bad situation’ list - along with Will Keane (going well at Preston) and Devante Rodney (who I think a League Two team should try and take from Rochdale).
A right-wing back, O’Keeffe stood out straight away the first time I watched him live, early last season at Forest Green. He is so confident in his ability on the ball. He seems to have an attacker’s mentality even when playing as a full-back or wing-back. He’s strong and fast. He has good delivery. He can dribble. He can cross. He’s a good size.
He showed all of this in three touches early on his Barnsley’s debut, setting up Devante Cole:
He’s improved defensively. In a crucial and highly-sought after position on the pitch, he’s everything you want. But he’s had some bad situations so far in his career.
He was on loan at Macclesfield from Birmingham in 2019/29: they finished 24th L2. He moved permanently to Mansfield in 2020/21, and Nigel Clough simply didn’t fancy in a back four. I’ll never really understand that. He moved to Rochdale in 2021/22: they finished 18th in League Two. He moved to Forest Green for 2022/23: they finished 24th in League One.
Other than a short stint with Solihull, he’s never played for a top half team. He’s never been in a good situation. He is now, with Barnsley, and I expect all the attributes mentioned above to come to the fore in a good team, playing a role that suits him down to the ground.
Kamil Conteh (Grimsby)
In League Two, let’s go back to one that was done nice and early: Grimsby got Kamil Conteh tied down on July 3rd, amidst a ton of interest from other League Two clubs. Capped eight times for Sierra Leone, Conteh was signed from Middlesbrough, who had picked him up from Watford’s academy in 2022.
He spent last season out on loan at Gateshead, and had one of the biggest impacts of any loanee in the football pyramid. Playing in a midfield for a brilliantly fun, technical Heed side under Mike Williamson, he was sensational, getting better with every week and winning the Supporters Player of the Season award.
Conteh would have been on many League One and Two clubs’ shortlists at the start of the summer, but Grimsby acted early, and he has stood out in both league games so far.
When I think about the strengths of a central midfielder in the EFL, first and foremost I am looking for a player that does two things: win the ball and look after the ball.
Physicality is crucial. Most teams cannot get away with having immobile central midfielders in the modern game. As well as an ability to cover ground, you want an appetite to tackle, to press, to snap at heels. And you look for the intelligence to do that in the right moments, an understanding of positioning.
Then, on the ball: do you look after it? I’m not so fussed about someone that can ping a ball 60 yards onto a sixpence. More important, for me: do you look comfortable with the ball? Do you demand the ball even in congested areas? Do you enjoy the feeling of being put under pressure? Receiving it in tight spaces, how’s your first touch? Can you dart away from pressure, or play first-time passes to keep it moving?
I’ve seen all of the above in Kamil Conteh’s first few appearances in a Grimsby shirt, and it makes me very excited. He seems to have the physical base level needed, and should have room to keep developing and become bigger and stronger. Under Paul Hurst’s management, he will become more and more confident with the balance of pressing high or holding his position depending on the situation.
He’s got that smoothness on the ball, and you’d imagine plenty of development still to come as he continues to rack up senior minutes.
Conteh is the sort of system-proof midfielder that makes a team better, both in ways that are obvious and in subtler details, too. He is the sort of player that teams higher in the pyramid will begin to covet. On a 3-year deal, this looks look a brilliant signing, ticking all the right boxes:
Contribute to the first team straight away
Clear room to develop further
Long contract protecting resale value
So that’s it for our summer signings series. Digging into transfer business is not something we’ve ever really done on NTT20 before, and we think that this format - on the EFL Newsletter - provides something new and different to anything we’ve done on the pod before.
If you’ve enjoyed this piece, why not tell a friend? Thanks for reading, and as ever… go well!
Conteh stood out for me in the notts v Grimsby game - feel like he’s a CM who’d fit in any L2 side
Love these - still slightly shocked we let Conteh go on permanent!