Well, he's had a tiff with his club. Some rumours even say that he has "wriggled" out of any contract obligations and is now a "free agent". Very much doubt that although he clearly want a move. " Junior Malanda has skipped training at Zulte Waregem amid speculation linking him with a move to England. It would appear that the 18-year-old's head has been turned and that he is looking to push through a switch. Zulte Waregem insist the Belgium U21 international is welcome back into their fold at any time, with there a desire on their part to do things in the right manner. A statement from the club read: "Junior Malanda today didn't show up for training. SV Zulte Waregem are surprised as there had been a perfect relationship with the player. We regret the current situation. The club want to ensure Malanda that he remains welcome and we will do everything to let the player return to the squad. SV Zulte Waregem have contacted the management of the player to try and find out what his motives are." Source: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8803657/
When players start behaving like that, no matter how good they are, I start to wonder whether they are going to be worth the potential trouble. There's no substitute for having good character in the squad, not just good ability. All I know about this guy is what has been said on here, but this is giving me reservations.
And Joey Barton apparently didn't turn up for the start of training at QPR. No, seriously, that's an excellent point Captain. It's not all the kind of form that sits well with the tradition of Fulham.
Rumours today that we (along with Palace and West Ham) have offered to take Wilfred Zaha on loan for the season. Generally I'm not keen on loan signings with no prospect of a permanent move at the end of it, but Zaha could make a difference next season. Am I right in thinking he can play on the wing or as an out-and-out striker? In the latter role, he could be great for us. If we're after him as a winger then maybe it adds weight to the rumours about Kaca or Frei (or both) being soon to depart. If that's the case then it's not such good news.
The Fulham Chronicle says that we are considering Eyong Enoh on a permanent transfer - possibly £2m. Jol is obviously back in town and speaking with the local journalist, so itâs a fairly reliable story. Especially interesting are Jolâs comments about our need for a midfield playmaker. âFULHAM boss Martin Jol is torn between coughing up £2million for Eyong Enoh â or letting the midfielder return to Ajax. The manager admitted that by signing the 27-year-old, he might have to accommodate a different midfield set-up that boasted only one long-term contract player at the end of the season. The way the manager sees it, signing Enoh gets him a player whose strengths over nine Fulham games since joining on loan in January were all in defensive midfield. Jol would prefer a creative player in the centre of the park on his limited budget â but can see the positives in Enoh other managers failed to recognise. âIf you want big stars in that position (centre midfield) you have to pay a lot of money," the manager said. âThat is why you have to gamble and take players when they are bad sometimes. He (Enoh) was bad at Ajax, and they have (Christian) Poulsen in his position â a Danish international. When I got him, you hope that he will be good. And he has proved it. We tried to get an option to sign him permanently - and we have one. âBut we have always had link up players in that position. Danny Murphy was not a defensive player â he was a playmaker. I had Michael Carrick at Spurs, he was a playmaker. Enoh is different and we have to make a decision. I canât tell you now.â Sources in Holland claim Enoh wants a permanent return to Craven Cottage after his registration went through with 20 minutes left of the January transfer window. Source: http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/fulham-fc/2013/07/04/82029-33565210/
That's interesting that we have an option on Enoh, if that option is seriously for £2 mill we should take it, I thought the rumours were that we wanted him Ajax were asking for £4 mill.
It looks from that like the option was for £4m, but we would rather try and negotiate another deal for around £2m. The Jol quotes there are both good and bad. I like the fact he clearly recognises the issues that we have. However, it is very concerning that Jol is looking at options of covering the Murphy role with a different kind of player, as we don't have the money to sign the player we need.
Hmmmm. There are affordable playmakers out there. I'd still like us to take someone from lower down the leagues and give them a chance to grow into a Premier League player. The two I've mentioned before are Harry Arter at Bournemouth and Jose Baxter at Oldham, but I'm sure there are others out there who are ready to step up. They wouldn't cost any more than Enoh, so they wouldn't be expensive failures if it didn't work out, and if they flourished they would be worth several times what we paid for them if we end up selling them on later. Even if we sign Enoh or another defensive midfielder, we should look to bring in an up-and-coming hopeful in that position to add to the squad and give us another option. Unless Jol thinks someone like Minkwitz is ready to do a job for the first team, I don't see the down side of a signing like that.
Captain, instead of taking someone from the lower divisions why not give Minkwitz a chance, better to promote internally surely. He is 19 just about old enough and on the academy thread a few fans who watch the youngsters have high hopes for him and it was actually mentioned in that thread that he could be the new Danny Murphy. there's also Chris David who is at the point of needing to be given a chance to see if he will make it though thik he may play a slightly different role
Ha ha I wrote my reply after only reading the first half of your post Captain please ignore as you covered Minkwitz at the end lol
We'd face a lot of competition, and he's probably outside our budget unless ALF boosted it just for his signing (and I think it would pay off), but Will Hughes at Derby is someone we've been linked with. I think our role developing Dembele, and then him moving on to a larger club, could make us attractive for him- rather than signing with a top 4 club and going out on loan or sitting in the reserves. He looks like a very special player.
Looks like we're not signing Nathan Redmond from Birmingham - he's just signed for Norwich for a reported £3.2m. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23185936
Rumours around that Melbourne Victory are after Ryan Willliams who as you know has been playing in the Aussie U20 World Cup side. please log in to view this image âFulham rookie Ryan Williams could become the next Young Socceroos ace to join the A-League with Ange Postecoglou keen to bring him to Melbourne Victory. The brother of Socceroos defender Rhys Williams, 19-year-old flier Ryan caught Postecoglou's attention at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey where Australia bowed out at the group stage. The wide midfielder hinted after Australia's exit that he would be keen on a loan spell at an A-League club, with his deal at Craven Cottage - where he is a part of the under-21 team - still having a year to run. But it's believed that Postecoglou wants the Subiaco-born Williams, who joined Pompey 18 months ago, as a permanent fixture, creating a possible stumbling block to any deal. "I love Australia and the A-League has gone through the roof, there's loads of (overseas) clubs watching so it's something I'm thinking pretty strongly about," Williams told News Ltd after the FIFA U-20 World Cup. West Australian Williams joined Pompey in 2010 on a scholarship and made four appearances for the first team before leaving for Fulham in January 2012. Last season Fulham loaned him out briefly to League Two Gillingham.â Source: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league/news/1158282/Rookie-Williams-a-Victory-target When Iâve seen him play for the Academy, Ryan looked decent but to be honest I donât think heâs quite good enough to make the first team. His first touch often let him down and he had a tendency to disappear from the game. That said he does come up with vital goals as we saw in the Dallas Cup.
Why should Redmond care that we're lending Birmingham another player? From his point of view he's choosing to be reunited with the manager who gave him his first team chance at Birmingham. I can understand why that would be a plus point for a young player. It's hardly 'sticking two fingers up at us'. If he came out in the press and trash talked us when explaining his decision, then fair enough, but all he's done is chosen to sign for someone else. As I recall, the reports on Redmonds transfer saga said two Premier League clubs had bids accepted and another one was turned down. If we were offering less than Norwich (reportedly £2m plus up to £1.2 in add ons, which is more than we were reported to be happy with), then Birmingham are fully entitled to turn us down. The Burn thing doesn't have to be connected to that. Lending Burn to Birmingham is a good thing for Fulham regardless of whether we sign someone from them as well. It gives him Championship experience at a more established club who are less likely to struggle than Yeovil (sorry, Yeovil fans, no offense intended). Redmond would have been a good signing, but it's not happening, and as far as I can see nobody has behaved badly towards us or anybody else in all this.
That would be good news if it happens, but he's not going to be a long term answer. I'd like us to keep Kara, but I'd still like us to sign someone else for centre midfield.
The Redmond and Burn stories came out at the same time so it was widely assumed Burn was a 'sweetener' for Redmond joining us. As for Norwich offering more, that doesn't really matter when we've given them a first choice CB for the season, who is probably worth more to them than a measly £1m. But you know this was going to happen, if we're interested in signing anyone under 28 we will find a way to not make it happen.
Karagounis is back, Sascha Reither just tweeted: ''Georgios Karagounis is back!!!!welcome back my friend.great decision from the club'' I personally don want him back, I love what he did for the club and his passion while playing but personally i think we should just sign a new younger Midfielder.
