Smallbone can, and has played, in that CM position that PEH played in. His PL debut was in that position and he was superb.
Like Armstrong, and Ward-Prowse earlier in Ralph’s time here, he’ll probably be appearing in both positions on occasion.
Unless of course you listen to the journalists close to the club as opposed to those looking to fill columns
Good point well made but we have two very competent defensive midfielders to cover one position - Romeu and JWP. As others have suggested, you can also add Stephens and possibly Armstrong to that. In attacking midfield and out wide you have Armstrong, Boufal, Smallbone, Redders, Che, Djenepo and Obafemi. I've not mentioned any U23 players though Ferry and Jankeowitz are training with the first team now. So whilst we could maybe do with one quality CM before the season starts (my money has always been on Ntcham) I think we will do fine with the current squad if that's what we have to do.
I'm wondering if the 'loan with obligation to buy' is a similar situation to the deal we had to do with Liverpool for Ings. It's called a loan but really it's a sale just with the payment deferred until after Fulham can afford it according to FFP. The difference being that the deal is off if they get relegated. Has anyone seen any indication of this?
We didn't delay the Ings deal for FFP reasons as far as I can tell, we delayed the purchase for not-wanting-to-spend-the-money-right-now reasons (and paid a bit of a premium as a result with the loan fee). Guessing it'd be the same for Fulham, though with the added hedge against relegation.
Yep me too, I was calling for him to be given a way back here a year ago as I think he has the X factor that at least one player should have in the squad. I have been underwhelmed by him and he hasn't grasped that lifeline given to him though and only rarely has shown glimpses of true quality and must surely now be let go.
Crikey Chelsea are really active. They've signed Chilwell and Malang Sarr in the last 2 days and now Silva.
"On 31 January 2020, Slattery joined Eerste Divisie side De Graafschap on loan until the end of the season" Presumably he is back in the fold now?
I really want us to get Ronaldo Viera from Sampdoria. Have mentioned him before (and not just because of the name). He's a very Saints signing and would sort the CM problem.
No argument there. Didn’t miss hojberg either when he was dropped. I trust Ralph’s judgement totally but my opinion is that there are two very good midfielders who could excel in the right environment. I’ll just accept that we aren’t it.
