Transfer Rumours Transfer Rumours - Summer 2018

I saw enough of him having both types of ball and I didn’t think he even looked like a footballler.

 

He didn’t look like a target man to me.

 

Nope, didn't have long enough time to judge for me, we're not talking about another Ali Dia here.

 

It's all academic anyway, he's on his way to rejoin Pellegrino shortly.

 

Classic case of the board getting £75m for a player, and thinking “****, we have to do *something* or we’re getting lynched here”.

 

Yep. Had nothing physically about him that made me think this was a 20mill signing. Bizzare slice of desperation.

 

I appreciate he was brought into a struggling side, but he offered virtually nothing. He`s not physical enough to be a target man. And if things aren`t going his, or the teams way, then I`d have expected to see him put himself about a bit to try and make things happen. I don`t think his movement off the ball was good, and we have other players that are better at running around than him. Sparky played in exactly the same position after all, and knows what it takes.

 

Not to single you out personally but if we had paid 3m for a back up striker in France, with a poor scoring record, who came in and didn't physically look good or do much for the side would you still be thinking he got a rough deal? I think a lot of us - me included - presumed that for 20 mill we were getting something worth having. I fear the reality is that we just got horrendously reamed on a bang average player that would have been overpriced at 10mill. Sort of thing that can get a director of football into hot water and cut out of transfer negotiations if you ask me

 

Andy Carrollesque signing?

 

I've tried to think of ways to to use him. problem is i cant even remember him playing anymore. its like i was in a coma during the period.

 

Whichever way you look at it it was an absolute shocker. Pound for pound our worst transfer ever - well i cannot think of worse off top of head

 

If you set the whole of the team up to cater to his needs, he might get you some goals here and there. As Fats said, though, a target man he is not, so you'd be building an attack around making Carrillo's numbers look like they justify his fee (and even that's hopeful) rather than to benefit the team.

 

Sometimes through when you watch a player closely, you can see if he has the basic level of skill, control, touch, strength, movement, etc. I’m certainly not one for not giving players time, as evidenced regularly on this forum, however. in the games I saw him play, he didn’t show me anything that made me have a glimmer of hope.

In fact, if you recall the Brighton match thread and people asked how he did on his debut when he came on, I said he worked hard and looked enthusiastic. I made a very subdued and reserved comment along the lines of, “he didn’t look much of a footballer” or words to that affect.

There just seemed so much missing over those games he was involved in.

Edit: SA, there is a humongous gap between Ali Dia and a below average premier league footballer. Nobody is suggesting Ali Dia.

 

Shane Long gave us far more and he is a limited player. The Wigan game was an example. When Shane came on for Guido, we started to hold it up better.

 

Not really a fair question because the reactions to him and assessments of him almost certainly wouldn't be the same if we'd paid £3m for him. I'd perhaps dispute that he had a "poor scoring record" at Monaco as well. If you look at his goals per minute at Monaco rather than goals per appearance (a lot of his appearances at Monaco were very short) you'll see he scored a goal every 180 minutes, which is pretty good.

I think you're right that the fee meant most people had high expectations when we signed him but that means the criticism is now harsher. I'm certainly not going to claim he's a great player - he did very little in his time here - but if we'd paid £3m for him he'd be quickly forgotten. As it is he's probably going to be remembered as one of our worst ever signings and (to some extent) a symbol of the abject Pellegrino "era", which is probably a little bit harsh.

 

The fee doesn’t affect my opinion of him as a footballer though.

 

And fair enough, but if we'd paid £3m for him I doubt there'd be anywhere near as much discussion of his departure.

 

When we were first linked with him, I researched a few match video's and highlight reels.
I was astounded by the lack of quality in both! 80% of his goals were from mistakes, like the keeper palming it out and him tapping it in. I couldn't see any talent with using his head or passing. It was so strange. Never like to judge too quickly, but he had a big red flag. Hopefully we learnt something from the whole situation of, buying in January, waiting till the last hours to complete our business & being held to ransom by the sellers.
Oh, and letting a buffoon talk us into spending a record twenty million pounds!

 

Agreed

 

I bet his mum loves him. Doubt she'd pay £20m for him, mind.