News of this flicked up on my mobile this afternoon, too. Celtic do not want to lose Ntcham as he is supposed to be instrumental in their fortunes. I know nothing about him.
Ntcham is exciting but we should all be welcoming that deal with giant ladles of caution. He’s an attacking goal threat midfielder. Always looks to run and pass forward. Can play deeper and I have seen some wild tackling but not really his scene. Doesn’t seem to relish working without the ball but had less reason to at Celtic in such a dominant team. That’s what worries me. Ralph’s game is about pressing, winning the ball high and fast recovery. He’ll need to improve his rate of defensive actions to fit in. He’s a perfect example of what our new recruitment professes to be. A highly rated young player on his first or second big contract. He was picked up by Man City as a kid so obviously had huge promise but didn’t get enough opportunity until he moved on..
Do you think we’ll hold on to Ings this summer? I went through the top clubs and I think it would probably be just Arsenal or Leicester who would be keen on him this summer. Chelsea just bought Werner and have three strikers, and City and Liverpool don’t need him, so I think that’s them out. He would cost at least £50m I’d say, so United would likely put that money to other areas they’re more in need of. Tottenham have Kane so I doubt they’d spend (or have) that much for a back up. Arsenal may need to replace Aubameyang and would have money if he was sold, but would they go for Ings at that price after just one season of staying fit and scoring? They also may not make Europa and Ings might not even fancy them himself. Leicester he’d fit in well, but maybe not ahead of Vardy. However he’s in his 30s and will need replacing eventually, so maybe they’d bid. Presume they have money too. Wolves have Jimenez. Everton, perhaps, but again they might not be in Europe and Ings may feel like he shouldn’t go there after being at Liverpool. So overall, despite how incredible he’s doing, I think there may only be a couple of suitors this summer which aren’t world beating. And Ings may think it’s better to stay here another year to try and maintain his form and fitness for the euros. Here’s hoping!
If we are asking £35m for PEH would should be looking for £70m+ for Ings but really hope we don’t get tested. Not sure whether he wants to leave bearing in mind he has experienced a dreadful life at a big club compared with a happy time at a little club like ours and he is a fan as well
Can’t see Ings going, he’s been there done that. Now he’s near his family playing week in week out , where if he was at somewhere like Arsenal, he would probably be on the bench.
I tend to agree, but if an offer from say Arsenal or Leicester came in with much higher wages and the potential to be the main striker like he is here, rather than a back up at a big club, then he’d have to seriously consider it. I do think he’ll stay as I don’t think teams will be able to do much this summer, but when it comes to Saints and selling our best players, you always have to prepare for the worst!
I honestly don’t see anyone matching what he’s worth because of his past injury record. And I agree with what’s gone on clubs will be watching the pennies.
I imagine most of the league will be interested. He’s a massive prospect but he’s forcing Arsenal to sell him with a year left on his contract because he hasn’t been in any first team action. Scored MANY for their youth teams. If we signed him he’d be expecting to play regularly.
An Arsenal supporter had been raving about him to me previously. I saw an article last week saying that they’d given up trying to renew his deal. They turned down £5m in January from a championship team so imagine he’d be around that with some big sell ons. Not sure we’re really in for him though.
Don’t often disagree with you Fran, but I do here. They are like an annoying neighbour that moved next door a few years ago from a rough part of town and after initially being nice, all they do is play loud obnoxious music and keep you up all night. We can see a for sale sign up now and just hope there is a buyer soon.
Don't really care about them any more or less than other teams we have have no rivalry with. Only benefit of them going down would be Ake would be for sale on the cheap
Kind of agree, but I'd rather they stayed up over West Ham. I think Bournemouth are going down with Norwich and Villa though and they will struggle next season.
Serge Gnabry was trending on Twitter yesterday because Arsenal fans were saying letting Balogun go will end up the same as it did with Gnabry becoming a top player. Their board have a real knack of messing up their players' contracts.
I have everything crossed he has been there, done it and got the t shirt, however, my fear is Spuds. Mourinho is well know for quick fix solutions and to him, Ings and Kane solves a big problem they have which is not scoring as regularly as the top 2 teams. Levy is well known to be a tough negotiator and my worry there is that he wound t have to be too tough to get past Gao. I can almost imagine Gao saying that we have sold Ings for some magic beans and a terrible goalkeeper...!! There is also location, if Danny lives in Winch and the Spuds training ground is this side of London, it’s not inconceivable that the journey wouldn’t take that much longer.
Does anyone actually believe for a nanosecond that Ralph, who seems to be in total control of football matters at the club, would be OK with Danny being sold? Maybe next summer at the earliest, when we will have European football as an incentive to potential replacements, but no way is it happening this year.
Agreed - we sell Ings now then Ralph wants out imo. I think we will keep him as the minimum we would sell him for would be £50m and which club is going to spend that on a 28 year old that has had serious injury problems and already failed at a top club just a couple of years back? Add to that Ings own frustrations of years not playing football at a top club, albeit largely due to injury, and the fact he is a Saints fan and from the area - I can genuinely see us keeping hold of him. If he were just 3 or 4 years younger, I'd say he would be off this window without a doubt.
