West Brom have apparently told a number of players they can leave to generate funds. Dara O'Shea, Karlan Grant and Grady Diangana being the main ones. I don't know how much they'd want for him but O'Shea to replace Figueiredo would be a good signing and he can challenge Alfie Jones for the right-sided centre-half spot. Their fans on Twitter don't have much good to say about Grant or Diangana. They paid £15 million for Grant from Huddersfield and £12 million for Diangana from West Ham and the prevailing opinion there is that neither have lived up to their price tags. But, they're both pacy wingers/forwards and we need a few of them. They still have quite a bit left on their contracts though so I imagine they wouldn't come cheap.
That Diangana was really hot property a couple of years ago. I remember Mark Noble throwing a public tantrum at the West Ham board for letting him leave.
From what I can tell from West Brom fans, Grant's just got a piss-poor attitude in general; lazy and the type of player to down tools. Diangana's a little different in that he doesn't really have a poor attitude or bad work ethic; he's just inconsistent and out-of-favour. Still really talented from what I've seen of him. He's a lot different from what we've currently got on the wing. He's very direct and has the ability to beat a man. Can play on the left or the right (he's left-footed). His biggest weakness is end product. His crossing and finishing is very hit-and-miss. He's one of those players who is a victim of his own price tag.
West Ham have rejected Arsenal's bid for Declan Rice (apparently they've been told it needs to be a nine figure number).
He might do alright once he's been out on loan to a league 2 club, put a bit of bulk on and toughened up a bit. He's only 19 just a kid really.
Thing is, some 18/19 y.o's are still like boys trying to get to grips with playing in a man's game (Vaughan), others have physiques & strength that are somehow beyond their years (Bellingham). Having said that, the way Bowen and KLP progressed so quickly from looking like 'boys in a man's game' to being 'impressive young men in a men's game' gives hope that Vaughan, Covil and others might do the same this coming season. I guess that is what Rosenior has been hoping.
To be honest, I was surprised that so many of those island nations don’t have more players in the Aussie/NZ leagues. I’d have thought Roy Farina (Fiji) would have done better given his goal scoring. Aren’t New Caledonia/Tahiti supposed to be alright? I know it’s mostly rugby in those places but football usually finds a way.
And Kylian was supposed to be better than both. Pretty sure he never made it out of the Belgian Third Tier.
Yeah I'm surprised too, I think Kaltak (sp.) doing so well with the Mariners might promote more clubs to look at those nations, but the talent level there is certainly lacking currently. It's an untapped talent source for A-League clubs, but suspect City are at least 2-3 (plus a few more) levels above A-League clubs..
It might advertise that I’m a sad muppet, but I will always remember him fondly for also being a cheap mainstay of my very successful Fantasy Football team.
The thing is some never grow, Messi, David Silva, Foden, Bernardo Silva, but you’d argue they’re very physical players with how they use their bodies to get past players. I think bulking up is perceived as what all players should do if they look like a boy in the men’s game, but KLP especially never did but never looked out of depth physically.
