Fri. July 12, 2024
-- We play our annual intrasquad game between our reserves/backups and our U18 team.
Preseason Friendly
Dover 5 - 0 Dover U18
Dover Goals - Stuart Cousins OG, Andy Broomes (8.2), Emmerson Harvey (8.9), Lyubomir Kunchev (8.1), Zoltan Bardi (8.1)
Dover Assists - Mads Pedersen 2 (8.4), Emmerson Harvey, Andy Broomes, Norberto Vazquez (6.9)
Man of the Match - Emmerson Harvey
Other Notables: Takfarinas Madani (7.5), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.5), Mwemere Mutesa (7.9), Carlos Guzman (7.5), Benedikt Raab (7.0)
U18 Goals -
U18 Assists -
Other U18 Notables - Eneko Remirez (4.8), Fouad van der Horst (4.9), Dennis Richter (5.6), Sean Woolley (5.7), James Campbell (5.6), Dominic Beard (5.7), Neil Evans (5.4), Matthew Neil (5.7)
-- Our backups/reserves/newcomers stormed out to an early 4-0 lead then stepped off the gas. New ML
Mads Pedersen is really going to be fun to watch, as he has more flair than any player I’ve ever signed and looked like Ronaldo out there today. Raab was average but had a few good chances in his first game.
Transfer OUT
-- We sell newly promoted U18 player
Norberto Vazquez to Dortmund for £3.3 million plus clauses, a very modest profit over our purchase price of £2.7 million last season from Boca. Vazquez scored at will for the U18s last year and suited up for a meaningless late season game last year for our senior team. He’s a good prospect but he won’t amount to much here so I’m okay with sending him away.
-- I also release five scrubs from our weak 2024 U18 recruitment class. As usual, I cut any kids without potential and I lose close to £30,000 in severance fees.
Transfers OUT
-- We move young central midfielder
Rafael Ramirez to Club Deportivo Cruz Azul in his native Mexico for an initial £6.5 million with the potential to pick up another £1.5 million in future clauses. The 21 year old is very talented but is expendable because of our incredible depth and recent acquisitions. We bought him last year from OM in France for £5.25 million and he only played in one game for our senior team. We did send him on loan to Dynamo Kyiv for half a season and he played great for them. I expect him to be a pretty darned good player eventually but again, with so much depth, he was a luxury at best and we needed the money for future transfers. Good luck to Ramirez in Mexico.
-- We also send 19 year old fullback
Takfarinas Madani away to Hercules in Spain for £700,000. We picked the youngster up on a free last year from AJ Auxerre and at 0.5/1.5, he wasn’t going to amount to anything here. I’m delighted to get this much for him.
Loans OUT
-- In a bit of a gamble, we send two more backup DR’s away on season-long loans. We get close to £325,000 up front for allowing
Steve Reed to go to MK Dons in the Championship. As our third string DR last year, Reed saw action in five senior team games. We also send out
Hans Briers on loan for a second consecutive year, with Hull, also in the Championship, his new team for the next 12 months. We may have to eventually look at picking up another right fullback but it’s not a major need at the moment.
-- Newly signed U18 graduate
Adam Betts will spend the year at Bournemouth in League Two on loan. Hopefully he plays well enough to become sellable in the future.
Season Ticket Sales Update
-- We continue to move tickets and are up to 4123 packages sold, with expectations that we’ll eventually sell approximately 7900.
Injury Update
--
Emmerson Harvey suffers a pulled hamstring in training and will miss the next three weeks.
Transfer IN
-- In another move to bolster our U18 team, we pick up 18 year old striker
Alberto Velazquez from Pumas in Mexico for £325,000.
Like Norberto Vazquez before him, this young man has immense potential (0.5/3.5) and should score goals by the bushel load for our U18s this year and potentially be a saleable asset in the future.
-- We also scoop up 18 year old Swiss goalkeeper
Luigi Nicoletti on a free. He’s currently injured and only a 0.5/1.5 prospect so he’s only here to help the U18s.
Major Transfer IN
-- We make yet another HUGE splash, spending £19 million to bring 22 year old Mexican striker
Manuel Lugo to Dover from Feyenoord!
The permitting process seemed to take forever here but we finally get it done just before our first main preseason game! Lugo is a lethal finisher, has good speed and is tall and physically gifted. He scored 10 goals in 22 games last year for Feyenoord after coming over from SK Sturm Graz in Austria for £12.75 million. I LOVE the fact that he’s left footed and with a current rating of either 2.5 or 3.0, depending on the coach and a potential rating of 3.5, he’s going to fit in superbly here at a #3 striker and perhaps will eventually take over from
Chiquinho if he shows the goal scoring touch I expect. Another very exciting signing and we have a trifecta of great ones with
Mads Pedersen and
Benedikt Raab.
That should be our last major signing, although I have an offer in on an interesting right fullback candidate but it will be much more modest of a deal if it goes through.