Hob Nob Anyone?

CB, 30, 6ft 5 - currently at Swansea after signing from Bolton on a free in the summer. played 170 games for Bolton. only had 1 game at the swans since signing for them.

What of him? We looking at a loan?

No, literally would rather have Ricardo Montalbán

Santos missed the opening months of the season after suffering a knee injury and is apparently currently injured again after picking up a hip injury.

Sounds a silly idea, not match fit even if not injured which may be the problem behind him becoming injured again.

Makes sense. Sense Stickland on loan, leaves us with 4 solid CBs. But he would be 4th choice. Burns has been excellent for the past 3 games, O'Connor is finding form and Williams has been one of our best players.

Perhaps Williams' injury is a bad one.

Sutekh wrote:Rather have Ricardo Montalbán

Upfront with Hervé Villechaize as the classic striker combination?...

Linden Jones' Tash wrote:

Sutekh wrote:Rather have Ricardo Montalbán

Upfront with Hervé Villechaize as the classic striker combination?...

See amended comment above, both could likely be better options even given their current disposition

WestYorksRoyal wrote:Makes sense. Sense Stickland on loan, leaves us with 4 solid CBs. But he would be 4th choice. Burns has been excellent for the past 3 games, O'Connor is finding form and Williams has been one of our best players.

Perhaps Williams' injury is a bad one.

Can't see how it makes sense. An injury prone 30 year old when what we need is some pace to compliment the experience of O'Connor and Williams and hide their weakness.

Burns starting to come good... we want better than him or not at all imo.

Snowflake Royal wrote:

WestYorksRoyal wrote:Makes sense. Sense Stickland on loan, leaves us with 4 solid CBs. But he would be 4th choice. Burns has been excellent for the past 3 games, O'Connor is finding form and Williams has been one of our best players.

Perhaps Williams' injury is a bad one.

Can't see how it makes sense. An injury prone 30 year old when what we need is some pace to compliment the experience of O'Connor and Williams and hide their weakness.

Burns starting to come good... we want better than him or not at all imo.

agree with the bits about pace and burns coming good.

i wouldn't say this guy is injury prone though, his last 5 seasons he's made 32, 45, 39, 43, 48 appearances in all comps.

he's been on of the best defenders in the league during that time too
PFA Team of the Year: 2020–21 League Two, 2021–22 League One, 2022–23 League One, 2023–24 League One
Bolton Wanderers Player of the Year: 2020–21
EFL League One Team of the Season: 2022–23

from my understanding this is a loan, Swansea we see `this as an opportunity to get him back up to fitness after a calf strain has kept him on the sidelines for the first part of the season.

Brogue wrote:

Snowflake Royal wrote:

WestYorksRoyal wrote:Makes sense. Sense Stickland on loan, leaves us with 4 solid CBs. But he would be 4th choice. Burns has been excellent for the past 3 games, O'Connor is finding form and Williams has been one of our best players.

Perhaps Williams' injury is a bad one.

Can't see how it makes sense. An injury prone 30 year old when what we need is some pace to compliment the experience of O'Connor and Williams and hide their weakness.

Burns starting to come good... we want better than him or not at all imo.

agree with the bits about pace and burns coming good.

i wouldn't say this guy is injury prone though, his last 5 seasons he's made 32, 45, 39, 43, 48 appearances in all comps.

he's been on of the best defenders in the league during that time too
PFA Team of the Year: 2020–21 League Two, 2021–22 League One, 2022–23 League One, 2023–24 League One
Bolton Wanderers Player of the Year: 2020–21
EFL League One Team of the Season: 2022–23

from my understanding this is a loan, Swansea we see `this as an opportunity to get him back up to fitness after a calf strain has kept him on the sidelines for the first part of the season.

also it seems he is quick...

AI Overview
Yes, the professional footballer Ricardo Santos is considered to have "bags of pace" and is "extremely quick" for a central defender.
His speed, combined with his imposing 6ft 6ins (196 cm) height, is considered one of his key physical attributes. This pace allows him to be effective in one-on-one defensive situations and confident with the ball at his feet.
Ian Evatt, his former manager at Bolton Wanderers, specifically highlighted this, stating, "He's 6ft 6ins tall but extremely quick and very good with the ball at his feet. Ricardo has all the attributes required to be an outstanding centre-back for this football club".

His pace has been highlighted by managers and in news reports:
Ian Evatt, his former manager at Bolton Wanderers, described him as "extremely quick" when the club signed him.
Reports have noted that despite his "towering frame" and physical strength, he "has bags of pace".
Santos himself has mentioned that he considers himself to be "quick".

Yeah was going to post he’s a decent player by accounts I’ve seen. Very experienced at L1. Certainly wouldn’t be coming to be cover or 4th choice

Guess it could mean a few things - Williams injury is significant, Burns may still go back, Leam doesn’t rate Paudie, we’re going to a 3 at the back….

Brogue wrote:

Snowflake Royal wrote:

WestYorksRoyal wrote:Makes sense. Sense Stickland on loan, leaves us with 4 solid CBs. But he would be 4th choice. Burns has been excellent for the past 3 games, O'Connor is finding form and Williams has been one of our best players.

Perhaps Williams' injury is a bad one.

Can't see how it makes sense. An injury prone 30 year old when what we need is some pace to compliment the experience of O'Connor and Williams and hide their weakness.

Burns starting to come good... we want better than him or not at all imo.

agree with the bits about pace and burns coming good.

i wouldn't say this guy is injury prone though, his last 5 seasons he's made 32, 45, 39, 43, 48 appearances in all comps.

he's been on of the best defenders in the league during that time too
PFA Team of the Year: 2020–21 League Two, 2021–22 League One, 2022–23 League One, 2023–24 League One
Bolton Wanderers Player of the Year: 2020–21
EFL League One Team of the Season: 2022–23

from my understanding this is a loan, Swansea we see `this as an opportunity to get him back up to fitness after a calf strain has kept him on the sidelines for the first part of the season.

Wasn’t talking longer term, but he's hit 30 and from another post seems to have started the season injured and then picked up another one... that's at least an amber flag to me.

Brogue wrote:

Brogue wrote:

Snowflake Royal wrote: Can't see how it makes sense. An injury prone 30 year old when what we need is some pace to compliment the experience of O'Connor and Williams and hide their weakness.

Burns starting to come good... we want better than him or not at all imo.

agree with the bits about pace and burns coming good.

i wouldn't say this guy is injury prone though, his last 5 seasons he's made 32, 45, 39, 43, 48 appearances in all comps.

he's been on of the best defenders in the league during that time too
PFA Team of the Year: 2020–21 League Two, 2021–22 League One, 2022–23 League One, 2023–24 League One
Bolton Wanderers Player of the Year: 2020–21
EFL League One Team of the Season: 2022–23

from my understanding this is a loan, Swansea we see `this as an opportunity to get him back up to fitness after a calf strain has kept him on the sidelines for the first part of the season.

also it seems he is quick...

AI Overview
Yes, the professional footballer Ricardo Santos is considered to have "bags of pace" and is "extremely quick" for a central defender.
His speed, combined with his imposing 6ft 6ins (196 cm) height, is considered one of his key physical attributes. This pace allows him to be effective in one-on-one defensive situations and confident with the ball at his feet.
Ian Evatt, his former manager at Bolton Wanderers, specifically highlighted this, stating, "He's 6ft 6ins tall but extremely quick and very good with the ball at his feet. Ricardo has all the attributes required to be an outstanding centre-back for this football club".

His pace has been highlighted by managers and in news reports:
Ian Evatt, his former manager at Bolton Wanderers, described him as "extremely quick" when the club signed him.
Reports have noted that despite his "towering frame" and physical strength, he "has bags of pace".
Santos himself has mentioned that he considers himself to be "quick".

Well that would be a game changer. And LOLLY me for assuming a 30 year old would be slow I guess.

He’s made only 1 sub appearance for Swansea. On 22 Nov in a 3-0 defeat at Bristol City, hasn’t been seen in a Swansea squad since so would presumably confirm that he is now suffering with the aforementioned hip injury.

Not suggesting he is injury prone, just that his apparent lack of a proper pre-season due to his transfer and then injury has left him playing catch up.

Going to be a risk therefore for Reading if he was signed but would agree it’s just the sort of strengthening the club needs.

Anyway, if he does arrive I hope he’s better than the last 6 foot plus central defender we had on loan from Swansea.

Sutekh wrote:He’s made only 1 sub appearance for Swansea. On 22 Nov in a 3-0 defeat at Bristol City, hasn’t been seen in a Swansea squad since so would presumably confirm that he is now suffering with the aforementioned hip injury.

Not suggesting he is injury prone, just that his apparent lack of a proper pre-season due to his transfer and then injury has left him playing catch up.

Going to be a risk therefore for Reading if he was signed but would agree it’s just the sort of strengthening the club needs.

Anyway, if he does arrive I hope he’s better than the last 6 foot plus central defender we had on loan from Swansea.

Who are you referring to? Rushesha is the only player I can think of that we've signed from Swansea

LightwaterRoyal wrote:

Sutekh wrote:He’s made only 1 sub appearance for Swansea. On 22 Nov in a 3-0 defeat at Bristol City, hasn’t been seen in a Swansea squad since so would presumably confirm that he is now suffering with the aforementioned hip injury.

Not suggesting he is injury prone, just that his apparent lack of a proper pre-season due to his transfer and then injury has left him playing catch up.

Going to be a risk therefore for Reading if he was signed but would agree it’s just the sort of strengthening the club needs.

Anyway, if he does arrive I hope he’s better than the last 6 foot plus central defender we had on loan from Swansea.

Who are you referring to? Rushesha is the only player I can think of that we've signed from Swansea

1986 - Nigel Stevenson, played 4 or 5 games I think as Reading tried unsuccessfully to dodge promotion in the 2nd half of that season.

Our old mate Darren ‘0% hit rate’ Witcoop reporting Swansea happy to let him leave this Jan to an L1 side

Prob get a fair bit of interest

Bolton and Swansea fans really don't appear to have a very high opinion of him.
However, the Pompey lot seemed to really rate Paddy Lame so.............

traff wrote:Bolton and Swansea fans really don't appear to have a very high opinion of him.
However, the Pompey lot seemed to really rate Paddy Lame so.............

Bolton fans said he had 4 great years, then a mixture of illness and injury in his final year which meant he didn't feature much and looked awful when he did. He has since made 1 Swansea appearance where he looked awful.

Seems like a risky signing, even if a couple of years ago he was one of L1's best CBs.

WestYorksRoyal wrote:

traff wrote:Bolton and Swansea fans really don't appear to have a very high opinion of him.
However, the Pompey lot seemed to really rate Paddy Lame so.............

Bolton fans said he had 4 great years, then a mixture of illness and injury in his final year which meant he didn't feature much and looked awful when he did. He has since made 1 Swansea appearance where he looked awful.

Seems like a risky signing, even if a couple of years ago he was one of L1's best CBs.

if its a loan I'm ok with this. the comments from the Bolton fans are very worrying. say his legs have gone, lost all his pace and not been the same player since he got pneumonia

Sutekh wrote:

LightwaterRoyal wrote:

Sutekh wrote:He’s made only 1 sub appearance for Swansea. On 22 Nov in a 3-0 defeat at Bristol City, hasn’t been seen in a Swansea squad since so would presumably confirm that he is now suffering with the aforementioned hip injury.

Not suggesting he is injury prone, just that his apparent lack of a proper pre-season due to his transfer and then injury has left him playing catch up.

Going to be a risk therefore for Reading if he was signed but would agree it’s just the sort of strengthening the club needs.

Anyway, if he does arrive I hope he’s better than the last 6 foot plus central defender we had on loan from Swansea.

Who are you referring to? Rushesha is the only player I can think of that we've signed from Swansea

1986 - Nigel Stevenson, played 4 or 5 games I think as Reading tried unsuccessfully to dodge promotion in the 2nd half of that season.

Ah. Fair enough, I was -8 years at the time. Was sat for ages trying to figure it out. Some recent ones are Leroy Lita, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Tivonge Rushesha, Nelson Olivieira, Mo Barrow, Ben Hamer, Finley Burns