We need another attacking player. The lad from City is a winger. If Adams get injured / loses form etc we are very light and light weight up front. You’d then be relying on Adam Armstrong, Mara and academy players.
I disagree. We 100% need someone else to contribute with goals. Apart from Che Adams we have no one who has scored regularly at a similar level in any point in their career. If Adams gets injured we are in big trouble. It doesn't even have to be a similar player to Adams, we just need a few players to share the burden of scoring goals. It was fine when we had Ings as his 15+ goals carried us, but since he left we haven't replaced those goals either with a prolific striker or a a few midfielders who will contribute.
Premier League clubs may not register more than two players on loan at any one time. https://www.premierleague.com/news/464747 Not sure what the rules are if the loanee is under 21 and therefore doesn’t need to be registered (might say on that page, I didn’t read the whole thing) but Bade is 22 so would need to be registered
I don't think anyone disagrees with this. I suppose it's more a case of do you spend a few million on a Braithwaite or a little more on a Pukki type and eat into future transfer pots/take on their wages etc or wait until the right short and long term fit is available. Gakpo, Broja whoever it may be. Plus redouble scouting efforts etc in that position for January. I lean towards going after clear targets and not panicking.
Absolutely. I don't see us going for a Pukki or a Brereton-Diaz, and I think that's absolutely the right thing.
I'm starting to think Romano is a complete fraud TBH, all he seems to do is browse Twitter and tweet news from other people.
Same. I'd like to add another attacker, but I'd lean more toward a creative winger than an okay striker if it came down to it.
Just thinking about the forward situation now. I’d assume the club’s preference is to loan one in now, rather than blowing £30m on someone we didn’t REALLY want. That has obvious knock-on effects. AMN is a loan so we only have one more loan slot. Makes me wonder if Caleta-Car comes into play on a permanent using a portion of the Gakpo money, and then that leaves the second loan slot empty for a late run for a forward.
I would prefer Bade over Caleta-Car, but if this allows us to manoeuvre for another attacker then it’s pretty good adaptability.
Not necessarily to us, but I think Broja could be on the move today. His camp said several times that wherever he plays next year, he will want regular football. Ralph seems to think he gave up last season so highly doubt he would come back, but could be an option to explore if the relationship hasn't soured.
It certainly hasn't soured between him and the fans and players. Fans gave him a good reception while warming up the other night and he was having a laugh with Theo as well. I would take him on a perm but not another loan.
Yeah, its Ralph I worry about. He made a comment in the fan forum that seemed to suggest Broja stopped putting in the effort toward the end of the season.
It is nice that as fans we think we have a choice, rather than before when we knew there would be no incomings and only the crown jewels going the other way
It seems to me that our recruitment strategy is very much about buying an asset not an outcome. In other words we are buying players who will improve in quality and in value, rather than buying x goals (or equivalent). Buying a 30 year old striker is buying goals, buying a 20 year old striker is buying an asset. Every one of our signings this window look to have very significant capacity to increase in value. I hope (and believe) that this will work for us, and I would definitely not take the approach of "if we had £35m to spend on Gakpo, who else can we spend it on". Go to be the right player, or not at all.
