Dover Player Retirements and Other Departures
-- Legend of the game
Wayne Rooney retires from football and heads into coaching. He scored an astonishing 355 goals in his 21 year career, which was spent with four clubs: Everton (2 seasons), Manchester United (16 seasons), Fulham (1 season) and Dover (2 seasons). He also scored 96 goals for England in 149 appearances. Rooney was incredible for us the year we picked him up, scoring 12 goals as a 36 year old but he had nothing left in the tank last year and went scoreless.
-- The most notable player to leave our club without a contract extension is midfielder
Mancini. I signed him from Cruzeiro in 2019 for £500,000 and he played four seasons for our club, scoring three goals and adding eight assists in 88 total appearances. I actually tried to resign him but I couldn’t get a work permit issued and we didn’t pursue it any further. Thanks to Mancini for his contributions.
-- Four players leave our club after signing Bosman transfers: MC
Jonathan Gauthier (Perth Glory FC), ML
Steve Ingram (Bristol Rovers), DC
Emmanuel Agbo (Chesterfield) and DC
Andrew Stanley (Luton Town). Only Agbo played for our senior team and he made only one substitute appearance last year. Ingram was with our team since 2016. We wish them all the best.
-- Getting their outright release are MC
Jamie Matthews, GK
Garry Doyle, GK
Richard Schaap, DR
Dean Morgan and MC
Daniel Wagner. None of these players suited up for our senior team and won’t be missed.
Transfer Market Plans
-- At this point, we don’t have any gaping holes but I’ll have to be very mindful of big clubs trying to poach my star players.
Chiquinho especially is vulnerable with his reachable minimum release clause.
-- I need to add a starter quality fullback but again, as indicated, I have a deal all set to go and we’re just waiting for a positive resolution with a work permit.
-- I’m also interested in grabbing one more starting quality centre half back. I might also look for a stud central midfielder but that’s not a major concern right now.
World's Richest Club List
-- Real Madrid are at the top of the Richest Club list for a second straight season, with an estimated value of £850 million, a £14 million increase over last year. Barca are at £730 million (down £89 million from last year). Arsenal continue to be the top rated English club, sitting in 4th place at £403 million (down £27 million from last year). United are 5th at £397 million (up 4 million) and City drop to 8th at £341 million (down 13 million). We continue to move up the list, going from 36th up to 27th with a value of £114 million, up £12 million from last year.
Transfers IN
-- We welcome 22 year old goalkeeper
Mathis Imbert to Dover on a free transfer from Olympique Lyonnais.
Imbert is 22 years old and a 2.5/3.0 rated talent. He played for OL’s B team last year and had 4 clean sheets in 8 starts but he’s here for depth purposes only. It doesn’t hurt that he comes in valued at £3 million right away. I may look to loan him out for this season if I can.
-- We also officially welcome U18 prospect
Takfarinas Madani on a free from AJ Auxerre. He’s a 0.5/2.0 rated prospect and will play for the junior club all year. No real need to see his profile pic, since I don’t expect much out of him.