The Captain has his wish fulfilled, according to Roma. please log in to view this image âRoma's sporting director Franco Baldini has confirmed that he has concluded a deal with Fulham for Maarten Stekelenburgâ Source: http://www.football411.com/story/0,22162,8922_8755668,00.html The caveat to his formal signing, of course is that it is subject to a medical and confirmation by the Club. But it sounds like the 'real deal'.
good thats sorted...we are doing buisness early. That's not very Fulham. However the 3 that have joined it seems we've been tracking for some time now...
Dutch and Italian media confirm, transfer fee supposedly around 4,7 million euro's, thats 4,1 million pounds.
I feel a little bad, because Schwarzer has been such a great player for us. The Captain has convinced me, he was better for us than VDS. However, £4m for Stekelenburg is a sound deal. That should be our goalkeeper sorted for the next several seasons. With this and the Amorebieta signing, a creative midfielder is the only position we absolutely have to reinforce this summer.
This is why I like Jol. He does things in a quiet way without fanfare or shouting about who he wants in the media. He identifies the positions and then goes about identifying people for the role and then getting them. This isn't always a quick process and can be frustrating but he generally gets there in the end. It would not surprise me to see a few more new faces join and some of the older more established ones leave. This bodes very well for the summer. Utd always get their business done early and it never does them any harm.
I wouldn't consider either of those to be must purchases, although it would certainly be good if we could improve them. With a new creative midfielder behind them, I think we could go into next season with Berbatov, Ruiz, Hugo & Tankovic/Woodrow/Dembele without being too concerned. Obviously it would be great if we could bring in a Benteke or the like, but striker is the easiest place to blood a young player if we can't. Given we finally signed Boateng and Stek after long chases, dare we think that Hudd might on the shopping list?
Completely agree that left back and striker are desirable purchases rather than essential ones. And that the signing of Stek (if confirmed) is excellent news.
You would hope that since we've been after him for 3 transfer windows, that most of the wage negotiations had been done and dusted at the last window, before Roma pulled out. I suspect our infamous medical is the next test to overcome, before the good news can become official. It's a shame Mark has said he is not prepared to fight for his place, and stay as a No2 goalie. I think he's away with Australia who play Japan. I guess come July 1st his contract is up, wonder if he's talked to other teams or we've talked to him in considering to stay. Looks like Hull will not take Stockdale, think Schwarzer could do a job for them, or may be he could go to a Championship team like Watford, as I think Almunia may leave.
I think Schwarzer is one of those players, like Owen, who doesn't think dropping down a division is something he wants to do. This is a shame because Owen could still be a productive goalscorer in any Championship side and Schwarzer would very probably be a top notch goalkeeper in that division. Can you imagine how well he would be received if he signed for someone like Yeovil, for instance. He'd be an instant hero and fan favourite and would be a guaranteed number 1. Would never happen, but he really should think about it if he is serious of extending his career to the next world cup.
You think MS needs to drop down a league? He was one of our best players last season and would definitely do a job for any side in the bottom half of the PL. Owen on the other hand failed to make any substantial impact at a struggling club.
Well done to the club for sorting this out so early in the transfer window. Regarding MS I think he can still do well in PL. He has been really good for us whenever needed and probably better than VdS for the period he played. If it was not for the 2014 world cup probably the club would like to keep him under a different role.
No, I don't necessarily think he needs to drop down a division. I said it seems like dropping down a division is something he probably won't want to do. If he did he would get a lot of offers and play every week. If he doesn't he may not be anyones number 1 is all. You're right. It probably isn't fair to compare him with Owen but he was the only other example I could think of on the spur of the moment.
Sounds like it's not quite finalised: http://www1.skysports.com/football/...rms-Fulham-in-talks-over-Maarten-Stekelenburg If I'm reading this right, the Roma statement just says we've agreed terms with them, and now we're free to discuss terms with Stekelenburg himself (or rather, his agent). As long as he isn't asking for ridiculous wages it sounds very promising though. Let's not count our chickens (on which subject, any odds on Maarten Peck-elenburg joining the ranks of the Fulham chickens?).
