A little while ago I suggested we should play up on the South American link to our team. We already have Lucas, Suarez, Coates, Aurelio and Maxi (though I expect the last two to leave). Lately we have been linked to a lot of South American players (Banegar, Gaston Ramirez, Cavani, Lavezzi, another Mexican striker who's name I cant remember and a load of youngsters). It seems like our manager and his assistants could be thinking the same as me. Uruguay (one of the current rising strengths in international football) seem to be one of the most common connections. Last summer we brought in a much needed British-ness to our squad. Is South America the way to go for our next step towards the top? Which South American players do you feel could be good for us?
Would love us to sign someone like Welliton, we were linked to him a couple of seasons ago he seems to know how to score in the Russian league at least. Though I guess it would be a massive step up if he came to play in the premier league. Could be a great signing or he could be a dud. :S
The first impressions that I get from South American players is their desire to win and suceed having come from poor backgrounds. They seem to express themselves more freely on the pitch and have a lot more confidence and flair to their game, whereas English players tend to stick to the basics and not try anything too adventurous. I think Banega would be a very good partner alongside Lucas. We desperately miss the 'Alonso' type player, a deep lying playmaker. I was hoping Adam could do this, and I believe he did it pretty well until Gerrard came back into the team and once Lucas was out. Lucas Moura is another name that has been put about and I feel he could be our 'Modric' or 'Silva' - that link between midfield and the strikers. Of course I would love to have the likes of Lavezzi and Cavani but I feel they are unrealstic targets as we can't offer Champions Leauge football.
What a fantastic story. Never heard of it before. It's spooky that one of their away kits looks very much like our current 'third' kit (the blue one.) GKRK
my thoughts on this are simply thus; 1. if you buy a yong guy ala insua from south america you take a huge risk 2. If you buy quality more established players like lucas was or coates is you don't take a very huge risk but must be patitent with them. 3. You buy south americans for technique 4. you buy direct from there to get them on less wages and less fee.... in other words you translate the risk and time for devleopment, language etc into a benefit in terms of up front and ongoing savings
I think Insua would have turned out pretty awesome if given time. Especially had Rafa stayed, or maybe even under Kenny. Theres a certain area/ triangle in our team which I see as very important, which I feel already contains two South American players already, and could do a great with another who is on the same wave length. I'll use Banegar as an example. --------------xxxxxx-------------- -xxxxx-xxxxx----xxxxx-xxxxx- --------Lucas------Banger-------- -xxxxx------Suarez------xxxxx-- --------------xxxxxx--------------- Football has a certain culture in that part of the world which is different to how it is here. A different understanding to.
I would have liked to have kept Inusa. He was very poor in his final season but he was still young and thrown in at the deep end as Aurelio was injured. But when he rotated with Aurelio the season before, he looked solid and attacked well, and was tipped to have a bright future. Apparantly, Christian Purslow was the one who wanted Insua out, and Hodgson actually wanted to keep him. Not sure if this is true or not, but I wouldn't be surprised considering Purslow was keen on getting Hodgson and Joe Cole in.
Purslow handed Hodgson a list of players to get off the wage bill. Aquilani, Lucas and Insua were all on this list.
What a ****er! CP did a great job in terms of the commercial aspects but he had too much influence on the playing side.
Its always a risk buying players from abroad in terms of will they adapt on the pitch and will they settle off it but given this years experience with bringing in British players who took an age to settle I'm not sure buying from abroad has too many disadvantages anymore In the past I felt South American players avoided England as Spain and Portugal offered an eaasier option but with so many different nationalities represented at clubs now I really do think this can be a good direction for us to go in.
Having some south american players at the club should help them settle a bit faster to. As well as the Spanish speakers. Enrique and Suarez have apparently formed a quick friendship. You see a lot of pictures of Reina, Suarez, Maxi, Lucas, Coates and Enrique sat together on coaches etc. In the long run though I would like to build a dominantly best of British side. With youth players coming through regularly. We have signs to suggest this is happening any way though (Sterling, Shelvey, Henderson, Ibe, Wilson, Kelly, Flanagan, Robinson, Carroll, this new kid from Crewe etc.).
Yeah I don't buy the whole 'foreigners take more time to settle than British players' for obvious reasons. I believe that the top quality players generally adapt to new styles, new teammates etc instantly as we saw with the likes of Torres and Suarez. (Note: This does not apply to all players!) I would definately like to see more experienced players at the club if we decided to release Kuyt and Maxi. We brought in Carroll, Hendo, Downing who don't have that experience of playing at a big club or a club with high expectations. If we got rid of Maxi and Kuyt, then I feel it would weaken our squad further.
Insua was not looked after by rafa. he kind of stopped defending the lad and started agreeing with those who were baying for his head... positionally insua was weak at a young age. Rafa sent him on loan and wanted to sell him for 5mil. he failed to go due to huge wage demands then and i think wanted to go as well after galatasaray... theres not much point talking about him seeing he did want to go and didn't fight for the spot is there? I think that we can't over depend on any one group or nationality and its unhealthy. Houllier bought french tosh. terrible players like cheyrou, vignal and the like Rafa had a btter league to pick gems out of but still ended up buying josemi or nunez or worse the duthc master kronkamp. Rafa didn't know where to pick out of in england and got bad buys here. Kenny and comolli... well when the bought suarez they bought trouble and genius. but the profoundly englsih buys... including enrique seem to be narrow minded. i hope we can spread the net out and get a better mix of players... young english player are not a problem, they are decent and can improve or be sold. thats a conveyor belt style ssytem that requires clubs like blackpool to take them off us and be happy to do it cos they goet something.... wigan should be like this too.
