Although I will add: I hadn't realised how much Wet Spam paid for Kudus when they signed him - £38m apparently. If so, we've actually (relatively speaking) got a bargain, and I can understand why their fanbase might be a bit peed off at losing a key player with years on his contract for a paltry £15m profit.
Yeah I'd take Eze over him any day. I have a horrible feeling he's going to Arsenal, who continue to lavish support on Arteta despite his relative failures.
You don't think whether clubs get far more ROI from a player than the cost of their transfer fee, is not "luck of the draw" ??
I’m not convinced Eze was ever sold on the move? There was a lot of noise early on but it died off. Maybe he was waiting to see if Palace would get to play in Europe too, given everything that’s going on there. Though it’s hard to turn down CL football and cash. Apparently Arse are about to spunk 50m on Madueke so that might put a pin in Eze. Thats mad money for Madueke if it’s true. Ultimately I think Eze is probably the better player but we’re stacked on the left side already. Kudus plays on the right or could also play up top in a 2, which Frank likes, and is one of the best ball carriers in the league, which we lack. He’s a better fit for the squad given the players we already have in the squad.
Son is likely to leave though isn’t he? Werner’s loan finished and Richarlison could be off too. I think Eze would have been a perfect signing for TF.
Are we stacked? Son is past it, which leaves Moore and Tel. Promising talents but miles off the finished article. If anything, LW is more of a priority than RW but we seem to be prioritising the latter.
Lyon have successfully appealed against their relegation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cm2zy8497pdo Still unclear what that means for Palace. I'd also prefer Eze over Kudus and I'm not sure where he fits in at the filth. His best position, in my opinion, is as an attacking midfielder and they've got Odegaard. If he's used as a winger, then I'm not sure they'll complement each other. You'd also have to wonder about Arteta's plans for left-back and any lack of width.
Just found out Ghana amazingly didn’t qualify for AFCON so already feeling better about the kudus transfer.
PL clubs are littered with players who came with great reputations and big transfer fees, who have been objective failures. Where bad injuries were not the cause, are you claiming that the failure was by design ?? "and I don’t see why you’ve connected that to my opinion about cup draws." The world does not revolve around you, mate (however much you believe it) ,
I don't think Son is past it, but that still leaves Odobert. I'd assume that Richarlison, Gil and Solomon are all off, but it's a position where we have depth. They finished bottom of a group with Angola, Sudan and Niger and didn't win a game. Awful.
I believe the squad as of today is more than capable of achieving the goals of finishing at least PL 11th + winning the FA cup.
You said luck of the draw and yesterday you aimed that back at me on numerous occasions so forgive me for thinking it was also aimed at me today. Be direct not a snide.
Frank may prefer Kulu from the left as it has been suggested that he likes left footers on the left in the more traditional way?
I haven’t seen that about Frank at all, what I’ve seen is that he likes them playing inside closer to the box.
We have Tel, Son, Odobert, Solomon, and Mikey Moore all who want to play off the left, as well as Brennan who can play there. On the right we have Johnson and Kulu. Quality wise perhaps it’s a different argument but numbers wise it’s a clear imbalance. FWIW I want us to sell Solomon and I think Sonny probably doesn’t start as regularly if he stays but it’s still 4 players for the left and now 3 for the right with Kudus.
I think top priority now has to be ST. If we had real ambition, we'd sell Richarlison and replace him with a player who is also better than Solanke, but I can't see that happening. We all saw last season how our game plan totally collapsed whenever Solanke wasn't playing. Nothing tying it together up top. ST, CM and LB would make a superb window.
The striker market seems a bit bare really. The names that always get bandied around as potential movers (Isak, Gyokeres, Ekitike, even Vuskovic) would either be very difficult to attract or demand enormous salaries. I mean that’s what the scouts are for I guess, and even a couple of years after he left anyone after Kane still feels like a downgrade. We need someone though. I don’t think Scarlett or Lankshear are really ready and/or perhaps even cut out for the top of the game.