Various daily rags now have us linked with signing a variety of players before the windows closes, including: Scott Parker Lassana Diarra Craig Bellamy Leandro Damiao Marc Bartra Guieda Fofana As the deadline gets closure, the rumours get more ridiculous. How many, if any of these players can you see us landing? Vote now.
I reckon we will sign Parker and Diarra although I would prefer one of those and Damiao rather than both of those, although would it be too greedy to want all 3?
Apparently, he would have to accept a pay cut from his present £70k a week salary. So a Championship team with a smaller capacity stadium has a higher wage structure than us? Surely not. Ok, so he is reaching the end of his career but it does explain why we struggle to get players of any note.
It also explains why West Ham are in the Championship. How many times does it have to be written in this forum and elsewhere that we cannot compete for players with the Sky4 until we have a bigger stadium. Levy will not turn this club into another Leeds United (or Citeh before the oil-money arrived.) The pay structure is there for a reason. It might be painful in the short term (remember, knocking on the door of the top 4 for a sustained period is something most supporters dream of,) but it is the right course of action. I think 5 btw.
It will also depend on how many we can shift the other way. Parker looks like it might not happen. There was a report that The Spammers won't accept less than £8.5mm, and that Parker is on £70,000 pw, which we aren't going to pay, either.
I think the fact Parker is on £70,000 a week at Wet Spam and them being in the Championship while we are a top 6 side says more about them than it does about us. Levy runs the club in a sound financial manner rather than taking silly risks and hoping for the best like many other clubs are run.
Easy fella, my opinion was based on The Stars story as my comment says "I've read some ridiculous transfer stories in the papers", not your opinion matey. Nothing personal.
Kaka? Yes please. Well, we never thought we'd get VDV, so who knows... Maybe it's this year's present from levy ? Maybe it's star bullshit.
I don't know why, but for some reason I think Levy will pull some rabbits out of the hat this time. I believe he has a lot to prove. I think there will be a few more youngsters in the list, that won't need registering in the 25 squad list. After the VDV deal last season, a Kaka loan wouldn't surprise me at all to be honest. I also think that Harry is more knowledgable about players than he is sometimes given credit for. Having said that, I don't like how he talks of Joe Cole now and I do hope that is a smoke screen to throw press off the scent of what he really intends to do.
Not greedy at all. I think all 3 would make sense especially if rumours to shift Palacios, Jenas and Crouch are true.
No (although that is true, in my opinion) my problem with Kaka is that he's a luxury we can ill afford this season.Technically gifted without doubt, but with Modic and VDV in our ranks we need a DM not another AM.
I reckon we'll get at least two of Fofana, Parker and Diarra. Bartra and Fofana make a lot of sense as I don't think they'll need registering in the 25 and I imagine Harry is assembling a mini squad to handle the cup games. The Yago Falque signing suggests this as a possible line of strategy. We already know of Harry's interest in Damiao and Bellamy. I would rather Kaka over Bellamy though, just saying.
That's why their debt is over £100m. Several other players were on inflated salaries, notably Hitzelsperger and Benni McCarthey, but that's all they were - players being paid high above their level of ability.