January 2015 Transfer Window DISCUSSION Thread

[Tomo]

I agree, but is there a high-quality, proven striker that is available at the moment for 10-20 million?

In the prem apparently Ings and Berahino were around that price, not sure the situation with strikers in other leagues, surely it cannot be beyond us to find a forward. I know Levy likes a bargain and I can imagine him not wanting to pay 10 mil for a striker with 6 months on his contract or 20 mil for someone like Berahino who has a moody reputation (no idea iof it's deserved) but my feeling is it would be better to bite the bullet than risk emploding our plans if Kane gets hurt, we would also have to get a striker anyway in the summer.

It might be a mute point me moaning if Kane remains fit, I just side on caution and I have no faith in Bobby or Ade.

Out of curiosity who does anyone know of any great strikers we should be looking at in the summer in say the Dutch or French leagues who might be within our range?

 

[eanN17]

Fine, if Burnley want £30m then you don't buy. But as people have indicated here, he MIGHT have been available for £20m or even less, we don't know. All we get is vague rumours we might bid £5m for him, which IF true is clearly ludicrous on our part.
But anyway, that's just one example. Players like Bony and Welbeck were available in the summer, Bony was available in January as well. I'm not a top scout, we're supposed to have top scouts. They can't find anyone better than Ade or Soldado for less than £30m, really?

We don't even need a top notch player, just someone who will put a shift in, if/when Kane is not available, and maybe score a goal or two.

So, Mr. Ridsdale, you suggest 20m is a fair price for a player that has 6 months to go on his contract?

 

[scott]

Decent point.

But why are you laying accusations against me about Capoue?

because from your post it seemed as though spending 5m was a huge deal.
just making the point that we regularly spend that amount on players like capoue and vlad.
so surely "risking" it on the likes of ings isn't such a big deal as you made out?

 

[Astro]

I hoped for a few outs, maybe one in, but nothing major at all.
We've just got Paul Mitchell, he's going to be making changes and recommendations for the summer and our training facilities are all geared up for this.

This was deffo a season of transistion. A time for Poch to work out what we needed and no wholesale changes as we've already had too many changes to the first team last season.

Plus Levy is no fool when it comes to business and it's obvious to me that this is the direction we are going in....

Invest in a player at youth >>> small financial risk
Invest in big name established player >>> high financial risk

Kane, Mason, Bentaleb have already made the jump and some more are on the verge.
Whereas BAE - sat out his contract
Ade - can't get rid of him
Capoue, Paulinho, Soldado, Lamella - mixed views on these guys. I don't think any have justified their transfer and wage bills though yet. I hope at least Bobby and Erik still come good.

We won't be signing big for a long long time unless it's exceptional circumstances.

Biggest surprise to me is Khumalo @28 years old in the development squad.... that dude must have some seriously embarassing pics of Levy lol

 

[Tomo]

because from your post it seemed as though spending 5m was a huge deal.
just making the point that we regularly spend that amount on players like capoue and vlad.
so surely "risking" it on the likes of ings isn't such a big deal as you made out?

The risk taking tended to happen with the Bale sale, we seemed very able to get almost anyone when we actually made a huge profit on a transfer. That why I tend to think Levy sticks to his net spend zero plan even when we really need someone and that's the main reason we didn't get a forward, because none where in a price range of around 5-7 mil. I do wonder if we had shifted more of the deadwood like Paulino, Capoue, Kaboul, Ade etc if we might have done something so perhaps shifting the weight will determine what we do. Who knows but we have stuck to low net spending quite religiously.

 

[n17troops]

Dunno why I try and be rational on here any more. Never really seen eye to eye with our friend Arcy on here but now I'm trying to have a reasonable debate and all you lot are trying to just cunt each other off.

ochbye:

Must admit it,s usually us sorry .

 

[scott]

I think there's some on here who want to carry out the funeral and post mortem before the death.

We need another striker, we didn't get one and have to rely on Ade or Soldado to put in a shift, no one really wants that scenario. But these are the cards we've been dealt, you can decide who's to blame and get angry about a 'lack of ambition' and there is some weight to that argument, I wanted us to have more options but not at any price and not for the sake of throwing more players in to the mix who might have added nothing.

The alternative is to look at the positives, the fact we have a decent squad and manager, the fact that we are performing above expectations when we're in a transitional season. Also bearing in mind we have a shot at top 4 when, really, we're about 6th in terms of wealth and squad depth.

I think it's better for sanity to take the more positive mindset than looking for someone to blame for something that hasn't happened yet.

I get what u are saying but theres not much reason to suggest the inevitable wont happen.
are u confident of top 4 with this team? year after year we are in this similar boat. but we don't go that extra little bit to give ourselves a better chance of top 4. its very frustrating.
the odds are we will finish out of the top 4 for good reason. we just wanted to improve our chances & those odds.
I don't see whats so wrong in that.
& some of the reasoning for not strengthening our very poor & pathetic.

 

[Mad Yid]

Biggest surprise to me is Khumalo @28 years old in the development squad.... that dude must have some seriously embarassing pics of Levy lol

he must be a good influence on the younger lads so they've kept him around were as the likes of bae and ade are just spoilt petulant cunts

 

[Éperons]

he must be a good influence on the younger lads so they've kept him around

Could also be on joke wages. His career is a mystery.

 

[ArcspacE]

Could also be on joke wages. His career is a mystery.

SuperSport United links

 

[ILSpur]

In the prem apparently Ings and Berahino were around that price, not sure the situation with strikers in other leagues, surely it cannot be beyond us to find a forward. I know Levy likes a bargain and I can imagine him not wanting to pay 10 mil for a striker with 6 months on his contract or 20 mil for someone like Berahino who has a moody reputation (no idea iof it's deserved) but my feeling is it would be better to bite the bullet than risk emploding our plans if Kane gets hurt, we would also have to get a striker anyway in the summer.

It might be a mute point me moaning if Kane remains fit, I just side on caution and I have no faith in Bobby or Ade.

Out of curiosity who does anyone know of any great strikers we should be looking at in the summer in say the Dutch or French leagues who might be within our range?

I agree that I don't like us needing to rely upon Kane (or Eriksen for that matter) as our savior, but I just wonder who would have really been worth picking up. Ings looks quality but there is probably no shortage of teams who have put in their interest in signing him, and nobody was able to the entire window. The reality is that he's scored 7 goals in 20 games this year. Not bad, but not great either. Just for perspective, Chadli has scored 7 in 18.

As for Berahino, West Brom are three places off a relegation spot. I really doubt that they would be too interested in getting rid of their leading scorer (he has 14 goals in all competition, next closest is Anichebe with 4) as we are heading into the final stretch, unless they had an equal player coming back to fill that spot or unless it was stupid money.

I'm not going to say that I don't wish we picked up another solid striker, but the reality is that there just isn't a whole lot of good options, and frankly, nobody was looking to sell.

 

[Mad Yid]

Could also be on joke wages. His career is a mystery.

I remember he was supposed to be the next Lucas Radebe lol

never quite happened, but yea I can't imagine him on much at all

credit to him though he's never kicked up a fuss to my knowledge

 

[Tomo]

I agree that I don't like us needing to rely upon Kane (or Eriksen for that matter) as our savior, but I just wonder who would have really been worth picking up. Ings looks quality but there is probably no shortage of teams who have put in their interest in signing him, and nobody was able to the entire window. The reality is that he's scored 7 goals in 20 games this year. Not bad, but not great either. Just for perspective, Chadli has scored 7 in 18.

As for Berahino, West Brom are three places off a relegation spot. I really doubt that they would be too interested in getting rid of their leading scorer (he has 14 goals in all competition, next closest is Anichebe with 4) as we are heading into the final stretch, unless they had an equal player coming back to fill that spot or unless it was stupid money.

I'm not going to say that I don't wish we picked up another solid striker, but the reality is that there just isn't a whole lot of good options, and frankly, nobody was looking to sell.

The way things are our opportunity was probably to go for it, put in a realistic offer 15-20 mil for those strikers and also offer loan deals with some of our other players to sweeten it, we might have paid slightly over the odds but I just feel this was a situation to accept we might not get a bargain.

We have the potential for a great season and any striker bought would most likely be a long term prospect not just short term. Anyway I have gone on enough about it, lets just make sure we at least do something come summer.

 

[ILSpur]

The way things are our opportunity was probably to go for it, put in a realistic offer 15-20 mil for those striker and also offer loan deals with some of our other players to sweeten it, we might have paid slightly over the odds but I just feel this was a situation to accept we might not get a bargain. We have the potential for a great season and any striker bought would most likely be a long term prospect not just short term. Anyway I have gone on enough about it, lets just make sure we at least do something come summer.

Absolutely. Priority #1 should be somehow getting rid of Ade. #2 bringing in a long-term striker option.

I may even go so far as to say that we could use another prospect, whether we bring them up from the youth system or find an up and coming prospect that we could take a gamble on.

 

[Tomo]

Absolutely. Priority #1 should be somehow getting rid of Ade. #2 bringing in a long-term striker option.

I may even go so far as to say that we could use another prospect, whether we bring them up from the youth system or find an up and coming prospect that we could take a gamble on.

Spoke to @windy he said there wasn't much in the way of striker options ready yet, most of our young talent is in defence and midfield although maybe we could bring in someone. I guess that's why we got Paul Mitchell to look for the next big thing.

 

[LeeMcl]

I do like the way West Ham got fucked over by Levy. The quote from Sullivan "people out there that you just can't do business with" just makes me laugh.

Ok we have got stuck with our third choice striker, but equally his value is enough to retain on that basis. Not loan him and pay his wages to West Fucking Ham and then help them improve even more !

 

[scott]

Let's pretend that you are Daniel Levy. Who would you buy, and why do you think that the team would sell to us or for the amount that you are willing to spend.

Remember, we aren't working with pretend money, this is real money.

please don't make me be levy! ok well first of all I have hired scouts and people to do this job for me.
but lets ignore that part to suit your biased opinion.

& if I was levy , I wouldn't have left it so late to sign now. I am a big bony fan. sounds weird saying that,
I was last season too. I would have gone in at 20m with him in the summer. it was pretty clear they wanted 20m. so then it was just a matter of getting bony to agree to join us. he may have said no of course.
but we are a step up from the swans so we would have had a decent chance.

I also wanted suarez when he was leaving ajax. I have heard 2 different reasons we didn't get him. 1 is they wanted a few million more than we were willing to pay. the other is that we weren't sure if he would suit the premiership. anyway, I would have paid what ajax wanted.

I also thought kane was nowhere near good enough for us. he looked average on loan. & looks clumsy to me. glad he has made me look very wrong indeed.

anyway, so I would have gone all out for bony this summer. also, they like naughton & carroll. so we could have thrown them in to the deal. if it was workable. knock 10m off for both of them.

if I made the mistake of leaving it till the last few days of jan. then off the top of my head u could have gone for someone like demba ba. knows the premiership and London. wouldn't need much time to bed in.
could help kane. works hard, chips in with some goals. I am not saying it would be easy to get him or that he would be a superstar for us. but he would improve our attacking options.
that is the sort of player that is realistic for us now. if we couldn't agree terms or they say no, then someone else like him.
anyway, I think there are plenty of strikers we could have got that could have helped kane out and would be handy for us. I am realistically. I am not saying top world class strikers.

 

[scott]

We are not a poor club, we have many lines of profit from sponsorship, merchandise, ticket sales etc net spend is low on transfers and we don't really need to buy that much, our defence should be fine, goalkeeper is amazing, midfield pretty good but we have a huge whole up front that needs fixing. We need an able cover for Kane, I don't think 10-20 million for a forward should be beyond us personally. But it's happened now so we can't fix till the summer.

tomo the other thing that annoys me about these people who say we don't have the money etc.
they are fine with buys like vlad, capoue, benji etc. whats that, 20m off the top of my head?
sometimes we buy a few fairly unheard of 5-8m players and they are all fine with that.
we ask to spend that same money on an area we are short and they go on meltdown.
ironically they call us melters!

 

[scott]

I agree that I don't like us needing to rely upon Kane (or Eriksen for that matter) as our savior, but I just wonder who would have really been worth picking up. Ings looks quality but there is probably no shortage of teams who have put in their interest in signing him, and nobody was able to the entire window. The reality is that he's scored 7 goals in 20 games this year. Not bad, but not great either. Just for perspective, Chadli has scored 7 in 18.

As for Berahino, West Brom are three places off a relegation spot. I really doubt that they would be too interested in getting rid of their leading scorer (he has 14 goals in all competition, next closest is Anichebe with 4) as we are heading into the final stretch, unless they had an equal player coming back to fill that spot or unless it was stupid money.

I'm not going to say that I don't wish we picked up another solid striker, but the reality is that there just isn't a whole lot of good options, and frankly, nobody was looking to sell.

that's if you think we didn't need a striker in the summer? we needed one then. and that's when most of us thought kane was average.

 

[78Spur]

I get what u are saying but theres not much reason to suggest the inevitable wont happen.
are u confident of top 4 with this team? year after year we are in this similar boat. but we don't go that extra little bit to give ourselves a better chance of top 4. its very frustrating.
the odds are we will finish out of the top 4 for good reason. we just wanted to improve our chances & those odds.
I don't see whats so wrong in that.
& some of the reasoning for not strengthening our very poor & pathetic.

I don't think this is a top 4 season, I didn't think so at the start and while we have some undoubted quality, my head says we don't have enough to challenge for it this year.

The only reason that we are in the position we are is because Kane & Eriksen have outperformed expectation and Lloris has been consistently good. Our centre back partnerships have not quite taken yet but there's improvement there, the likes of Mason and Bentaleb have begun to establish themselves. Credit is due to Poch for getting this out of the squad he has as quickly as this.

I agree that we should have improved our frontline, I'm not arguing that for a moment because the concerns you're making are genuine, we are not strong enough depth wise up front and we have taken a gamble that Kane can carry us in the striker role to the end of the season and it's risky, that's why I don't dismiss the argument, you're not saying we needed a striker out of vanity, it's clear there is a lack of choice there.

There is something I do believe though, if the answers were easy then we would have answered them by now. Getting in the right player did not happen, you can believe that's down to ENIC being tight, you can believe there was no one available, it may have been a combo of the two but in honestly it goes down to what you want to think and I am not here to tell you that!