sorry, been out of the loop on here for some time! i guess this has all been discussed before at length
Can't really see us playing with 2 strikers again unless we sign an AMAZING defensive midfielder, but would like to see it. On that note, Twitter has us looking at Pacheco (as usual), and he's tweeted his thanks to the Yellows for their kind messages
One thing that i'm a little wary on, the talk of overseas signings with a big price tag for us, is the expectation. Gaston ramirez hasn't lived up to expectation for southampton in his first season. OK he could be brilliant next season. I have concluded though that it's a managed risk worth taking, as in most cases, overseas is better value for money. I can see more signings coming from Portugal, or Spain (and maybe Holland), given the amount of clubs with financial issues in those countries.
I think the price tag thing will hopefully be mitigated by the phrase "Undisclosed Fee". But I agree that the more you spend, the greater the risks if a player flops.
hughton has said he wants the option to play two up front but we will only play with two up front if the scenario is right. why would we limit our options? if RvW got injured we would be down to the bare bones. another striker will come in this summer, i'm sure of it.
I, personally, disagree. We currently have four strikers on the books. One had an excellent season in the Championship (Vaughan), but there is some talk of him pushing for a move away. If he doesn't move, I think we'll see more of him in the Prem and we won't sign another striker, at least until January. Buying another striker would be diverting all our spending to up front, when we ought to spread it more evenly throughout the team. A strikeforce of Holt, RvW, Becchio and Vaughan is very good in the Prem as long as they get the right support from our midfield. A strikeforce of Holt, RvW, Becchio, Vaughan and A N Other is pointless if we don't improve the midfield to supply them. Especially if we plan on playing one up top even more next season. If RvW becomes injured, we will essentially have the same strikeforce from the second half of this season, but (assuming the midfield is improved) with a much better supply. We also want to keep RvW happy and, currently, Holt remains our only proven Premier League striker, our captain and our legend. There is no need to burn another £5-6m if it means Holt is reduced to the occasional 88th minute dance. As I said on the other thread, I hope fans don't get too disappointed if we don't sign another striker. It doesn't really make financial or footballing sense.
I think the situation with Vaughan is perhaps critical to all this. If he doesn't want to be in Norwich, and Hughton wants to play two up top, then we need a new 4th striker. If Vaughan is happy to be around, or Hughton definitely only wants to play a single striker, we're probably ok.
vaughan will leave unless he has had a dramatic change of heart. and it's not as if we need to spend all our budget on another centre forward! £5m would, i imagine, secure hooper this summer. if we are talking about a budget of somewhere around the £20m mark then we have £15m to spend on other areas. even this year we had four strikers and because the quality wasn't always there we had to persist with holt even when his form dipped. RvW is an accomplished player but he will also hit troughs and holt is not the same player he was and his future is not clear cut by any means although i'd prefer to keep him. if hughton can get another striker he will, no question about it. he tried to buy BOTH RvW and hooper in january remember!
Pleased to see you back on the forum, Superman. Even if it is more fleeting and sporadic visits than before.
thanks cromer. i wasn't planning on returning just yet but having browsed the forum yesterday on a certain thread i've accidentally fallen back into it things have started to get back on track at home so hopefully i'll be able to post a bit more.
There was the bid for Danny Graham as well. Hughton was desperate for new strikers in January which is understandable given the lack of options we had at times this season.
Doesn't vaughan want to move back up t'north? no point keeping him if he is unhappy with life in the East Arone Kone anyone?
i don't know for sure but i think it would have been RvW and one of either graham (who made it clear early on he wanted a move back to the north east) and hooper. we must have done a lot of the negotiating with sporting during january as it was an incredibly complex deal, and was a reason why we managed to conclude a deal in late february. we were still bidding for hooper on the final day of the window so hughton must have wanted both. mcnally said as much as well - that we were still after him.
Makes sense. And as you say, given that we tried until the bitter end to get Hooper in, I'd imagine we will be back in for him over the summer.
and although the speculation about a fee of nearly £9m was nonsense, we did bid close to £7m for him i believe. he wouldn't cost as much as that anymore. his deal runs out in june 2014, combined with his form falling off a cliff (possibly because he wasn't granted a move, who knows), i think anything between £4-5m will secure him now. he's a good little striker, good movement, a bit like defoe. he'd score goals down here, i'm sure of it, and a frontline of RvW, becchio, holt and hooper looks a heck of a lot better than last season!
yes! funny, i thought he'd be a great shout for us in january. he's a good striker - not prolific by any means but similar to holt in style. being a geordie i reckon it was a case of him having to start his career at sunderland well, an early goal and he'd have looked a different player, but confidence has ebbed away. he's not become **** overnight. and now he's got a ****ing lunatic as manager...
