Birmingham are ready to sell Butland having left him out of their cup tie replay tonight. However we seem to have decided that the likely asking price for him (£6m+) is too much and according to reports have gone back for Stekelenburg at half the price. "Fulham have dropped out of the race to sign England goalkeeper Jack Butland - with Martin Jol on the verge of landing Roma's Maarten Stekelenburg. The Cottagers are planning to buy another keeper to challenge veteran number one Mark Schwarzer and have been heavily linked with a move for Birmingham starlet Butland. However, Jol has targeted Stekelenburg, 29, who has been told he can leave Roma just 18 months after joining from Ajax and could be available for as little as £3million. A deal for the Dutch international will rule Fulham out of the running for Butland's signature, leaving Liverpool and Southampton to battle it out for the 19-year-old. Birmingham have already rejected a £6million bid from the Saints but are willing to cash in on the teenage star this month. Blues boss Lee Clark is set to drop Butland for tonight's [Tuesday] FA Cup third round replay against Leeds in order to increase the chances of a deal and bring in vital funds to help the cash-strapped club fight off administration."
Why on earth are we even looking at keepers when we have 2 very good ones? Especially during this transfer window. Have they lost their mind? Hopefully is only journalistic laziness. As Evening Standard says midfield is the problem and Ruiz is a lightweight luxury. That's their saying not mine!! Lol
Jol clearly doesn't rate Stockdale highly enough Madness. And as I said in the earlier post, Steve Bruce is keen to sign him permanently at Hull - the transfer fee wouldn't be much less than we'd pay for Stekelenburg. Posibly just as importantly, I think Stockdale is pretty fed up (he certainly had a rant about Jol cancelling his loan prematurely) and would welcome the move - regular football, better fishing, more race courses and closer to his native Yorkshire.
I'm not saying I wouldn't love a decent goalkeeper to come in January as Schwarzer seems to be showing his age and Stockdale's future also uncertain. But saying that, GK is probably the position that we least need to strengthen either immediately or in the forthcoming future. I would have said RB, but now that Kelly has gone we are a little weak in that department. Priorities are as follows: Attacking minded central midfielder Defensive minded midfielder Centre back Left back Striker Right sided winger to replace Duff Cover at right back now that Kelly has gone and Davies/Baird futures uncertain Left sided winger, Kaca is inconsistent GOALKEEPER So all in all, we need 11 players
I must agree with MJ on this one, Stockdale for me is not our goalkeeping future, but i would rather have seen Butland. Makes one wonder, QPR, Saints, & to a certain extent Reading are splashing some cash to maintain their premiership status,we seem to be wallowing about in the bargain basement bucket,and then with not much luck. Many 606rs say we are going through a bad spell, but look at the last 8/10 games,those below us have shown more fighting sprit ,even when loosing. Apart from Saturdays game, the following 4 are, I believe the most crucial to our prem survival, its no good hoping others will provide a safety net for us.
Say we have £10m to spend for January. Butland will cost us at least £6m. That leaves £4m maximum to plug the other holes left in the side. I would have loved M'Vila to come here, but at £8m, it is too much of our budget to spend on one player. I agree Butland would be excellent though.
I really think he's worth it, Bandit. And while I'm not exactly holding my breath, I think we are still in with a chance of landing him - http://www.le10sport.com/football/france/mercato/transferts-rennes-les-offres-de-qpr-pour-m-vila-sont-insuffisantes-88503
There may be a small chance that we're not only focussing on the GK position, if we are at all. We can pursue more than one player in more than one position simultaneously. And signing 11 new players is a terrible idea, need I point to the bottom of the table (no, unbelievably, we're not bottom!) for evidence?
The Times are reporting that JAR has had a major fall out with Jol and the player has been told he is free to go. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article3658739.ece
Wow. If that's true (and it's not unreasonable to think it might be given Riise's previous "untouchable" position), then we definitely need to find a replacement this month. Briggs and Richardson as our only options is not good enough for a Premiership team.
Indeedy - I wouldn't be where I am in the Fantasy League without him. Unfortunately the tabloids have us chasing Stephen Warnock, who can't get a game at Villa since his return on loan from Bolton. Once upon a time maybe but now ? And he's what 32/33? The only reason I'm even posting this is because the story came out just as the news that JAR had been sacked became public. I'm truly hoping it's lazy journalism and only because West Ham had shown some interest in him. Although West Hamay now switch to JAR and we'd get a few bob inthe kitty quite quickly.
Indeedy - I wouldn't be where I am in the Fantasy League without him. Unfortunately the tabloids have us chasing Stephen Warnock, who can't get a game at Villa since his return on loan from Bolton. Once upon a time maybe but now ? And he's what 32/33? The only reason I'm even posting this is because the story came out just as the news that JAR had been sacked became public. I'm truly hoping it's lazy journalism and only because West Ham had shown some interest in him. Although West Ham may now switch to JAR and we'd get a few bob in the kitty quite quickly.
I opted not to get him for my FF team. A bad move indeed. My defence is shocking but have a world class attack/midfield which gets me above average scores most week. I think captaining RVP every week has kept my team afloat single handedly haha. I saw the Warnock story. I don't think Jol would be foolish enough to go after a defender who can't even get in Villa's shocking back four. I'd have taken him when he was in his prime at Blackburn, but now? Not a chance. I'd rather keep Riise to be honest.
Riise was great for the second half of last season and the beginning of this, but he'd gone off the boil recently and Jol was right to drop him. If he goes I'd be content with Richardson playing there and Briggs as backup. We do really need to press on with midfield signings.
