Yep. But you have to honour your word. Footballers talk to each other, as do agents. It's no different in that sense to many other jobs. Bad or late paying employers get a bad name and eventually struggle to get staff in the contracting world for instance. I've known one or two companies fold because of this. The Saudis are used to getting their own way in everything, and are used to their word being The Holy Writ, even if they change their mind. Personally, I wouldn't show any one of them a bird's nest
It's a lot of money for sure. But I get the feeling that his profile is the type of striker we're looking for and as it's Roma, Ghisolfi obviously has an inside track on that one. Dovbyk has adapted and scored double figures in 2 top 5 leagues now and played for teams that qualified for Europe. He's got the right experience, the right profile, clearly adaptable to different leagues, knows Ghisolfi (and Le Feè), seems to be available and I think he's within our budget (just).
I’m seeing this a lot and I don’t think it’s overly fair to Kean he has improved a lot since he was in the the prem at 19 . He scored 19 in 32 last year and is in the Italian national team
would like another striker for cover for injuries and to give us a different option, like have Wilson and Eli as partnership 1 then new ones a Partnership 2, then a mix so we have a something up front
I'm only fussed if it's the right striker. I'm content with what we have, but those being mentioned are a big step up in quality imo.
Not to derail the thread too much with Isak talk but I don't think what he's doing is that bad if I've got the timeline right. As far as I can tell he asked to leave last summer due to being unhappy and was told no. He obviously didn't rock the boat last season. He told the Saudis he wanted to leave near the end of last season again and then watched them talk about bringing in a replacement for Wilson as his backup for ages. As far as I can tell acting like this is the only way he was going to be allowed to leave. Bizarre really. I may be slightly biased though.
What about the year before that (or the whole 3 years at Juventus to be honest)? It's not that I don't think he's a good player. I just think he's inconsistent and it's not possible to tell if last season was a hot streak or not just yet.
Love Mayenda. Either want a ridiculous statement signing that we shouldn't be able to get or to let Mayenda unleash terror.
Bit torn on Dovbyk tbh. Personally think €35m for him is too much. I’m all for wanting a proven striker but he’s had one decent season in a top league and he’s 28. His career was pretty underwhelming until he had his goalscoring season at Dnipro then went to Girona. Not saying he couldn’t score goals here because he likely will but for that kind of money I’m wanting more tbh, he’ll have no resale value either. Suppose if those goals keep us up this season his fee is more than worth it though.
At the end of the day if Isak really wants to force the move all he needs to do is put on a Sunderland top, I'm sure the uproar would be enough to get him sold
Andrew the Mackem. Or Freddie Kruger. And to be fair, Freddie Kruger is probably a lot more informed and accurate.
I genuinely think signing a proper striker could be the difference between us staying up or getting relegated. Not convinced either mayenda or Wilson are ready for prem and haven't seen the Chelsea kid but its a massive ask to expect him to be the answer. Love mayenda btw but he's still very raw. Not convinced Wilson will cause premier defenders many problems. I'd sell him if we signed another
I don't entirely disagree but there's a few things I'd push back on for Dovbyk. He was outstanding for Girona. Top scorer in La Liga for someone not from Barca or Madrid is much more than decent. He was quite good when he was younger but picked a bad move then went to Ukraine to reignite his career but that was disrupted by the invasion so its not as unusual as it looks really. Also, if he ends up being a 10-15 goal a season striker then we can probably get our money back (more or less) if we sell him in 2 years when he's 30. I don't think we'd pay above 30m euros though.
I might be wrong here and have the wrong poster in mind (dont think i am though), but didn't @Andrew the mackem say last year or the one before, we were getting someone in (backroom staff i think), but he'd been dead 2 years? I think he's full of ****e.
I’m convinced all the rumours started with Reggie. He was interviewed on Sunday after the match and mentioned something about not taking our chances and how that’s going to change. I took that to mean we’re buying a striker, and I think that’s where Barnes and the others got the idea from.