Agreed. Need another striker. At the moment DCL is their only main source of goals and he's injury prone.
I’m not really aware of what they need other than a replacement for Richarlison They need to improve defensively as well but I think maybe in CM in front of the defence? They have been linked with their old player from PSG. If they can afford to take him back that would probably be a good signing. I’d expect he’d need a pay cut
You mentioned this last night but I could not spot this rumour anywhere. Not on rumour aggregators, not on Twitter and not on the Everton forums So if it is the case then it is very quiet. Or I am looking in the wrong places I thought Chelsea actually wanted him in their squad this year? And I’m not sure we exist in a world where Chelsea are doing their old player favours anymore. It was different when he was managing in the championship He also fills neither of the gaps mentioned but certainly does improve them.
‘Monitoring’ is by far the weakest of media verbiage around transfer links (or is that ‘on the radar’) but that would feel veeerrrry Saints-y. Young player unable to nail down a spot in a big club. Plus, he’s tall and had experience in senior football at Anderlecht recently and looked like a good player.
Someone on Saintsweb posted a link to this player earlier with the sole comment of “Sainsty”. As in - fits our profile of signing there is every chance that this is where the rumour came from and isn’t based in anything at all
Do the 'ITK' pundits simply start at the end of the list of possible players (Zirkzee), and work their way forwards, matching positions to teams who might need someone? Will this continue until Aaron Aardvaark (Goalkeeper) is sold to Aachen?
Never seen him play but he ticks a lot of boxes: Young striker (21) 15 league goals last season (4th top scorer) Exceptional scoring for Dutch youth sides 6ft 4 Shouldn't be overly expensive On paper he would be a brilliant signing.
And is likely to actually be for sale as Bayern have just spent over 20m euro on a 17 year old striker. Unlike Delap who city don’t seem to want to sell. At least not this year But I expect he goes to Ajax and being Dutch it would make sense for him
I’ve been “monitoring” Gwyneth Paltrow ever since rumours first emerged that she might be back on the market some years ago.
I’m interested to see if City are actually susceptible to financial incentives to sell a young player they want to keep. I presume it depends more on the player being susceptible to our flirtatious advances and they would have the security a buy back clause We do have Joe Shields and that may help and thinking about it why would we increase the bid if he knows they won’t sell?
The only reason I can see City wanting to keep him is to loan him ti Burnley or wherever this year then utilise him next year. This seems unlikely with the recent purchases of Haaland and Alvarez and Pep’s general set ups when it comes to striker. I really dont see why a similar deal to Lavia and Bazunu can’t be struck with a buyback clause. Essentially these guys are on a loan we pay a lot of money for, with a bonus for us if they become City quality. City get to see their young players play at a club willing to give youth a real chance in the PL and hope the players develop quickly and to the required level. If they don’t they probably would get sold by City for fees similar to what we are paying them now, just in a couple of years time. Chances are none of the 3 become that good anyway so it’s a good deal for all parties really
I recall there was talk that they wanted to keep Lavia and would only consider a loan. Whilst they were actively pursuing Phillips I always thought there was space for a permanent deal there and that we wanted that both to avoid a Broja situation and to leave a loan slot open for someone who is truly only a loan option (McAtee, Palmer or maybe Delap) Maybe there is a slight concern over Haaland’s fitness / injury record and Alvarez adapting? But in those circumstances I’d expect them to go back to the false 9 with Foden or Mahrez It does them no good to leave him on their bench all year. Both for his development but also from the perspective of their other young players being offered contracts. Some might be looking at Broja and Delap and thinking “they are being blocked the chance to be premier league starting strikers because they signed 5 year deals”. And then not do it
It probably comes down to what Delap wants and how much he wants it. Sometimes it is worth keeping a player against their will, if they are world class like Kane. Whereas if Delap really wanted out and made it clear to City he needs first team football now and is desperate to leave, they'd likely sell him.
