The Tykes Go Gaga Over Their New Keeper: Gabriel Slonina at Barnsley (olf Chelsea)

There is no way that two half-season loans are worse than Slonina walking away from a starting gig in Chicago and signing a 6-year deal, to boot.

Palmer-Brown remains a weird one. He was 20, with 20 MLS appearances to his name. It's odd that City was even willing to sign him.

 

I mean Steffen was no.2 at City for a few seasons. PEP liked him enough but his bad performances ruined him. Turner was also a no.2 at Arsenal but played like what 5 games in the Europa League?

 

Then you'd better try again

Turner
17 PL appearances, 5 EL games, won an FA Cup medal, 10X salary increase
Steffen
18 BL1 games, lingering knee injury, still made 2022 WC; 2 EPL medals, major pay rise
EPB
50 Ligue 1, 20 Eredivisie & 11 UEFA games; bad injuries, should be on WC shortlist (you say)
Miazga
55 Eredivisie, 38 Championship, 24 Jupiler and 6 EL group stage games;
Koleosho
25 EPL games, 30 Championship games, just moved to Ligue 1 and he's still only 21
Reyna
He came through in Europe. He didn't move there and even he's managed 120 BL1 games and 30 CL games before turning 23.
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They've all done well enough as senior pros. It's just that - with the exception of Reyna - they haven't lived up to (some) people's ridiculously over-wrought expectations.

With the exception of Koleosho and Reyna, all of them moved to Europe from an MLS that was a much lesser league than the one we have today, closer to League One than the Championship. Unsurprisingly, Steffen apart, they struggled to adjust. They've had decent enough careers anyway

 

I think Miazga in particular had a better career as a result of leaving the Red Bulls at a young age, than he would have had he started. A couple of years in the Championship plus Belgian Pro, Ligue Un, Europa Ligue and at 30 he's making $1.5 million a year base in MLS. At the end of the day who has had the better career, Matt Miazga or Walter Zimmerman? It depends what you value in life.


EPB probably should have stayed l at SKC longer and made a strategic move. Turner and Steffen hit a ceiling very quickly. Reyna was in the right place at the right time at Dortmund but injury or something has held him back. Forest was a desperate move but it turns out, based on what has happened at BMG, that Nuno may have been right to leave him on the bench.

I'm not even sure why Koleosho was in this list. He's 21. Would staying at Espanyol worked out any better than Burnley?

 

Watching EPB, I've always been struck by how thoughtful and well-spoken he was, even for an American football player. Those attributes have made me a little doubtful about him reaching his absolute potential as a player but optimistic about him afterwards. He's always come across as a fully-rounded human being who can think of other people as well as himself and football.

His dad died when he was 8, leaving his mother and her parents to raise him and his younger brother in difficult circumstances. I may be off base, but I think it's reasonable to suppose that City waving a yearly paycheque that would set his family for life in front of a 20 year-old had an awful lot to do with his choices.

 

Miazga jumped before he had basic defensive fundamentals down. I think he’s the best case for the exact opposite of what you’re saying - his career would have benefited the most by staying in MLS. Not forever, but another 12-18 months in New York would’ve done him a world of good.

Apparently I said this a month before he went to Chelsea:

Was that ever right. Maybe he would've remained a hot-headed dumbass forever, but I guess we'll never know.

 

why are you guys trying to celebrate these failed transfers?
turner and steffen both lost their roles in usmnt as a result of chasing epl money and not playing in the epl. reyna going to nottingham was idiotic. didnt play there. miazga going to chelsea ruined his career. all of these transfers made the players careers worse. i didnt say they immedaitely had to retire from football but they all were ill advised and hurt the players careers

what are you even saying? these transfers sucked

 

Someone should pull up @adam tash's comments on all those transfers at the time they happened (Not it!). I'm sure it'll reflect his current opinion of them.

 

we arent privvy to discussions between player and club when they sign with teams...so its impossible to assess a turner to arsenal move fully as it happens....I remember at the time being highly skeptical of the move, but hopeful he could win a job there. in hindsight, it was stupid because he really had no chance to win a job that required him to be a maestro with his feet. but i didnt like the move when he made it. it just seemed like he wanted the epl money without a path to playing time.

 

theres a lot of steps on the ladder between arsenal and MLs....with higher pay than MLS...where he can start

it's not a choice of bench for arsenal with no playing time or MLS

he does seem to be learning....but that has a short half life...as with Steffen at Man City

above is what i posted 2023 - and still feel exactly the same FYI for your hatin a$$

 

Miazga got plenty of Euro time to develop and prove himself despite signing with Chelsea. Don’t see a problem there.

 

He got time, but always on loan, and had a shitty attitude before going. He had skills, but needed to grow up, and the ego boost he got from being a Premier League footballer certainly didn't help him do that.

Besides, the loan carousel isn't great for player development.

 

Since you've evidently just started following MNT players, let me refresh your memory.

Turner earned his last cap in October and is still in the MNT panel. Stop talking bollocks.
Steffen suffered a serious knee injury on loan and wasn't quite the same player for several seasons afterwards, maybe even at all according to some. Perhaps that had an impact on his MNT place, no? In any case, he left England on January the first 2024 and won his last cap in June 2025 - 18 months later.
Reyna failed at BVB and now BMG because he went to Forest? No, he was failing at BVB so he went to Forest. That Nuno, an astute tactician and an acclaimed man-manager, couldn't get a tune out of him when he was fully fit was - and is - the strongest evidence that Top 5 football will be beyond him. .
Miazga "ruined his own career" with his own disciplinary and concentration lapses. He still won silverware (Dutch Cup and UEFA Super Cup), played in the Jupiler, the Eredivisie (2 seasons), Ligue Un, La Liga, plus a couple of Prem starts, played in the EL Group Stage, while doubling his salary in the process. What, say, Horvath wouldn't give for a "ruined career" like that?
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To adapt your phrasing, it's not that "those transfers sucked" but that your take did.

 

Grow up

 

And as for Koleosho, he's made it obvious that the USMNT isn't his first choice. He made 43 appearances for Burnley over 2 seasons, despite missing 6 months with a serious knee injury, and has got at least 20 minutes in each of Paris FC's games since joining them on loan, with an option to buy.

 

After a good spell at Burnley he found himself surplus to requirements for the promotion run-in and was loaned to back Espanyol, where he couldn't gain traction. He then moved to Ligue Un on deadline day and has got 20+ minutes in every game from the moment he entered the door.

At 21 years old, after several "sucked" transfers and his career supposedly set back, he gets offers from Top 5 teams, chooses the one that lets him live in Paris and gets to earn €550k a season basic and possibly €700k with bonuses.

Anyone who's worried about Koleosho or his career needs to take a chill pill or two (dozen)..

 

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Not to derail the thread (as I derail the thread), but Reyna's case was not a cut and dry "he isn't good enough for the Prem so coach didn't play him". Nuno didn't try to get a tune out of him, he just didn't want to get a tune out of him. At least, that's what's documented here: https://www.nottinghamforest.news/2...est-signed-giovani-reyna-with-nuno-terrified/ And to say he "failed at BVB" is pretty disingenuous if one doesn't take into account the injury history...which is plaguing him again at Gladbach.

What Slonina has to do with this or any of these players mentioned is beyond me... so at the end of the day, I agree with your point...

 

Is Slonina really making more than a million bucks? If so, then he made a great decision then again he could have arguably been able to challenge for no.1 this summer had he kept developing and getting playing time in recent years.

 

Capology says $3.55 million, Spotrac says $2.1 million, so who knows what his actual salary is. But as a $10+ million signing for a club the size of Chelsea, it would be extremely unusual for him to not be making 7 figures.

 

That's wild. Kind of a case of "shoot for the moon and you'll end up in the stars". If he'd gone a more incremental path, maybe he would've broken out and made a bunch more...but it's more likely he'd would've made a lot less

 

He also could have gotten a bad injury like Steffen.

 

Sportrac says £2.1 million which is $2.8 million. Capology says $2.8 million base. I think Sportrac uses capology numbers.

The other $700k is estimated bonuses. I'm not sure what bonuses he would be entitled to.

Not sure what bonuses he would be entitled to, as they tend to be based on appearances.

 

Mostly appearances, plus win bonuses, making the bench (rather small, reportedly) and for a GK, saving penalties. He probably got some appearance fees at Barnsley and even Eupen but it's impossible to see him getting anything at Chelsea so far except for something from the one-off of being named to CWC squad.

BLUF he has a golden handcuff until 2028, which is going to put off bidders until June 2027. If he hasn't made a breakthrough by then (a successful loan at the top end of League One, Eredivisie, Championship, etc.), he'll have to hang around Colney like a bad smell until Jan 28, when the dreaded "by mutual consent" will arrive.

The best preparation for being a No. 1 (in any position) is to be No. 1, where the club and its coaching staff is invested in you and your failure will be a lot more than a rounding error on their balance sheet and he isn't.

 

Damn I keep thinking there’s news on Slonina.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

 

No it does not.