Franca will be a stunning addition to our squad. Much sought after by some big clubs so it looks like Dougie and team have pulled off something of a coup.

I'm really looking forward to the start of the season. Wilf who?

Lets hope so. Its a relatively large amount of money to spend on a lad with very little senior experience.

I suspect we wont see much of him for a while, especially with Roy's hesitancy to risk people too quickly

I wonder if this really a signing for next season.

He is listed as an attacking midfielder, which is of course the position of Eze. The way he is playing I cannot foresee us hanging onto Eze beyond this season (especially as there are reports of him rejecting an extended contract).

Barring any unforeseen events, I suspect we will being selling Eze next summer for a large fee and Franca will be stepping into the role but with some PL experience now.

We maybe following the Brighton plan where we only sell one major player per year. This year we have lost Zaha, next summer Eze, perhaps Olise the year after.

We just need to make sure we have quality replacements lined up. Maybe in 3 years time we will be selling on Franca for 70-80m.

If so, this model should be very financially beneficial.

Which is better than throwing a kid in too early and see him struggle and have confidence problems.

Realistically, if he's coming to SP this week he's unlikely to feature in the opening game of the season. He's coming to a new country (does he speak any English? - could be difficult settling in quickly if he doesn't).

He will benefit from seeing some league games live in the flesh. The PL tends to be a tougher league to adapt to than other leagues. Furthermore, he has to earn his place in the team on the training ground. He may be a "wonderkid" in Brazil but that doesn't automatically translate to being a star in the PL.

Having spent what we have on him, I'm sure our management team will put him in the starting XI when he's deemed ready.

Like others I look forward to seeing when that will be and hope that we fans will give him our full support and time to adjust to the pace and rigours of the PL.

Edited by doombear (31 Jul 2023 11.37am)

He speaks Portugese as do 90% of Brazilians, Roy also speaks it as well, not sure if Lerma does tho, as for his English, he'll pick up what he needs to very quickly, tho he might have to be taught what he can & cannot say on the pitch . . .

I'd be disappointed if we blew what you would imagine is the majority of our budget on a player we had no intention of using this season.. however flip side, he's highly likely going to need some form of integration to the team process. Will be a lot to ask of the young lad to hit the ground running..hence why I hope we've got a CHO or Gray still up our sleeve