I don't get any negativity about this - this is exactly the kind of transfer we should be after, an understudy who can learn, develop and has the potential to be whatever he wants. That either guarantees goals for Newcastle, or income for Newcastle. Worst case it just doesn't quite work out, but I'd sooner be spending £25m on Ramos than another Chris ****ing Wood.
We need impact NOW though, not just buy and maybe in a year or two he'll be good. Just because he's better than Wood doesn't justify him being here
Who would you want then, that's realistic and within the limited budget the NUFFP guidelines stipulate?
It bloody well does like. We don’t want a new number 9 to play ahead of Wilson we want an understudy who is going to push him and learn from him
TBH I don't know, but I'd hope we could do better for 40m. He's a 21 year old kid who's only managed 7 goals a Portuguese league. I'd personally go for Pulisic on loan with option to buy and Maddison for 45m + dubz/add ons and increase from there. ASM---------Wilson---------Pulisic -------------Maddison------------- ----Joelinton--------Bruno--------------- Targett--Burn----Botman/Schar--Tripps -----------------Pope--------------------
TBH I wont mind so much if we sign other options, but if we're signing him to rely on him for goals, then it becomes an issue because I see no evidence he can do it in this league when he's only had 1 year in a top league scoring 7. It may take him 1-2 years to get used to the prem at that age. I think it's a good signing, as long as we're signing another option, but if this is the attacking option we've been waiting for and this is all we're going to sign, then it's an issue. As long as we're signing him along side other signings and not expecting him to have immediate impact. If Wilson gets injured, which he will, we need impact, and I see no reason that this kid will be able to fill in for Wilson.
Which means we’re in the same position upfront when Wilson breaks down. Cm is the last position we need to strengthen in at the moment a rw, striker, rcb should all come ahead of a cm in my view. We doubled 25m on Willock a year ago, got lucky with Joelinton and have Bruno now, that’s 3 central midfielders in a year
You're missing the problem, mate, that Wilson is not doing enough up front and we have no options from the bench. I'd ALSO go for Pulisic (or CHO) and Maddison (or Paqueta) but we need a CF which was the question - if you are doubting the club shelling out £25m (not £40m) for Ramos, then who do you suggest they get for that money? We know Isak will cost more, we know the profile we want (young, reasonably tall and adaptable), so who else is available? I tell you, £25m for Ramos or £35m for Ekitike, I know who I'd back to be a success.
If we cannot find a decent CF and this is the best we can do, then why not just go for a winger on loan and go all out for Maddison? As other teams are proving, we don't need a higher scoring CF necessarily if our midfield/wingers are chipping in with goals. Wilsons records show he'll score 8-10 goals despite his injuries. Wood can get 4-5 goals himself. Last season we did fine without Wilson for a while. I'd like a CF option also, but if we're only going to get one more big money signing this window I'd personally go for Maddison because he's PL proven and will get 10-15 goals + 10-15 assists a season and Pulisic.
No it doesn't because if we have better wingers and attacking mids that means more goals. Maddison scores way more than any other of our midfielders. It's not just our CF position that's weak, all of our attacking options are questionable. Almiron, Murphy, Fraser etc are hard grafters but provide little quality up front. ASM is erratic and is here until we get someone more consistent. Don't say we'll just be in the same position if Wilson breaks down, because that's not true. Again, if we can get this kid plus someone else, then fine, but if he is to be our final big money move, I'd just go for maddison. P.S. Maddison isn't really a CM, he's more of a CAM/number 10. He's not like a Joelinton, and he's proven year in year out that he can score and assist plenty of goals. Not every team needs a 15+ goals a season striker. Most of our success last year came from midfielders scoring. I WANT A STRIKER, but what I'm saying is if this kid is the best we can do, realise that we are weak up front in general and we could do better just adding another CAM or Winger for more value.
Maddison doesn't get those numbers playing right side of a 3 man midfield, mate. We're not creating chances. Pulisic seems different, but he's in again a very different side right now - how do we know it works at Newcastle? Everyone's a gamble.
I understand what you guys are saying but what i'm saying is how low in quality do we go "just to sign anyone because it's better than nothing and we need a center forward"? and pay 40m for someone who's not worth it? What we need is attacking options, and CF is not the only weak spot in our team. ASM is our best winger and he's erractic and offers nothing defensively. Besides ASM, we have murphy, almiron and fraser. Our wing options are piss poor also, so you can argue our wing needs upgrading also because no one on the wing is a great option to rely on for goals. You say we're not creating chances, so why is a CF is our priority if we cannot create chances? Surely a CAM and a winger would be better then? We could easily change our formation. I understand your issue with Maddison but we literally big 40m for him so it's obvious management think we can use him if needed. If Bruno can score 5 from midfield, Maddison should still be able to do his thing.
