The following question was "what about Newcastle, which do you prefer", which suggests he was non-committal as expected. I wouldn't mind seeing him at CC if the price(s) were right. He'd be an upgrade on Petric.
He may well be an upgrade on Petric, but he would also be the kind of player who would expect to be a regular starter and, as his past record shows, doesn't respond well to being left out. If we're signing him to take Petric's place - a squad player who is in and out of the team - he's the wrong choice. If we're signing him to be Berba's regular partner, that's different. My suspicion is that Jol still believes in the Berbatov/Ruiz partnership and doesn't want to lose Ruiz's creativity from the starting eleven. If that's right, unless he sees Ruiz moving into centre midfield (where he arguably lacks the defensive discipline) or the wing (where we have a lot of competition for places, arguably some better in that position than Bryan), that's not going to happen if we include Bent as well. I'm just not convinced that Bent would be a round peg in a round hole for us at the moment.
I agree with Captain but I'm not totally against Bent coming here, but I'd rather our option from the bench wasn't a 29 year old on likely high wages, rather we went for an up and comer from the Championship ala Austin, who perhaps won't expect to start every game.
DB hasn't had the best time of it over the past few years and considering that he had been getting international games and had been up amongst the regular double digit scorers in the league, that is bound to have hurt. BMJ bought him at Tottenham and seemed to get him away to a good start before losing his own job. Whilst it's not a dream move for him or us, I think it's a possibility and it could be OK. I'd worry more for Hugo than Bryan if it did and I think that's a shame because Hugo is handy and willing and different to our other options.
Is Jol going to make a major re-design of the team? Getting Berba to central attacking midfield role with Bent in front? That could easily work for me. Berba can hold and distribute the ball. Bent is faster and he is getting in the box more...
Bent scores goals, which is something a lot of our strikers haven't done that regularly over the last few seasons, and goals keep you in the league so for me he would be a good signing. Although if a younger Championship player is available we should look into that to, because Dazza does have a bit of a record with injuries.
Abdisalam Ibrahim, Man City mifielder being linked to us (and almost every other club ever). http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...ce-swansea-and-celtic-chase-abdisalam-ibrahim Another Junior Malanda link, apparently seen boarding a plane to London. http://www.eatsleepsport.com/fulham/fulham-close-in-on-belgian-target-1609340.html And yet another scrap on some bloke called Walter Gargano. http://forzaitalianfootball.com/201...sion-as-inter-midfielder-on-fulhams-wishlist/
I would be a very happy man if the Walter gargano one is true. He's a very very good player. Reminds me about like maschano really good tackler got a good engine only thing he's not a known goal scorer.
Agree Craven, he's quality and has whacks of experience. As a potted bio - the 28yr old Uruguayan has been on loan from Napoli and is looking to move; a stocky central midfielder he's valued at £6.5m.
Reports all over the place that we've pulled out of any deal for Darren Bent because of his wage demands. "Reports claim that Fulham boss Martin Jol has baulked at the player's wage demands meaning Newcastle have been given a free run to complete a deal. Bent is reported to be on £80,000 a week at Villa and it now also remains to be seen if Toon owner Mike Ashley will be willing to pay that on top of the £5million transfer fee." Source: http://www.clubcall.com/newcastle-united/toon-clear-to-sign-bent-1609497.html Good. I'm sure I must have mentioned this before and I know the Captain has, but a player like Gary Hooper will always be a better fit for Fulham. Celtic are said to be lining up Kevin Doyle as his replacement so now would be a good time to jump in.
Foreign papers are putting us ahead of the field for two players previously posted about - Pablo Osvaldo - According to a report in Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport, Fulham are in prime position to land the Roma striker. They suggest that Shad Khan, has made it his priority to make a big-name signing. Junior Malanda - And Belgian paper Het Nieuesblad says we have take the initiative and are in talks with the player. Because of his rift with Zulte Waregem and invoking that Employment Law, it also said he would “come for next to nothing” (I think we had a bid of £5m rejected last time round). However his agent, his father, will no doubt be aware of his potential value and an interesting situation may develop. We all know MAF’s position on payments to Agents, Shad Khan may have a different stance. And the other rumour today is about one that apparently “got away” - Faouzi Ghoulam - Torino have beaten Fulham and Stoke City in the race to sign the St Etienne full back. The Italian club have agreed a fee of around £2.4m with Saint-Etienne having had two previous bids rejected. Ghoulam, who represents Algeria at international level, will put pen to paper on a four-year deal. Source: http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/transfer-rumours/130724/torino-beat-fulham-and-stoke-saint-etienne-star-202317
If its true we have dropped out of the race for Bent,I for one would be well pleased. A 29yr old, 5mil and 60k plus per week and a 3 yr contract not for me. We could spent this sort of money on a lower leage player,cheaper all round. It appears that Hooper is going to QPR ?, with Remy to W Ham, 2 choices who could have fitted our bill.
What? Obviously put a hex on the poor guy posting about him this morning. I knew Norwich had a couple of bids, allegedly, turned down - any idea what the fee was rosc? At the risk of tempting more fate, I'll now settle for Junior Malanda and Pablo Osvaldo with Clement Chantome and Walter Gargano as my fall back.
I think it was between 4-5 million, obviously lower than Norwich's in January due to less time being left on his contract. I'd assume with Van Wolfswinkel they are happy with their options up top and don't see the need to pursue Hooper anymore. Having said that, and bias aside, there has to be a PL team going in for Hooper? I can see him scoring goals for fun in the Championship. 58, if we sign Gargano, Osvaldo and Malanda I will go to the bookies and lump a tenner on us finishing top six, all three would be absolute quality. Osvaldo has been linked to Arsenal recently so it may depend on how their pursuit of Higuain/Suarez pans out as to whether or not we have a chance of signing him.
Don't QPR learn? He must be getting big bucks if he's ditching guaranteed silverware and Champions League football to play in the Championship. On Osvaldo, am I right in thinking he's the fella Sparky wanted but Mo wouldn't stump up the cash?
Add that onto the sizeable wages Dunne will already be on, Hooper would be quality, but as Blackburn found out last year, you need more than an expensive striker up front to get anywhere near promotion and if Taraabt goes I can't see anything better than a mid table finish for them. In regards to Osvaldo, you are correct. Apparently Roma officials have flown to London to negotiate the deal. Exciting times. Would absolutely love Malanda too. And Dembele back.
Just for completion's sake, here's some links saying we're edging ahead in the race for Osvaldo: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...ointed-as-Fulham-edge-ahead-for-Pablo-Osvaldo http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/328509/Fulham-one-step-closer-to-signing-Pablo-Osvaldo £6.8m, not a bad price at all. We seem to have a knack for signing Roma dissenters! Also, more Gargano news: http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/0...move-for-experienced-uruguayan-international/
Bent wanted 80k a week what are players on???? Times are changing, very slowly, but they are changing more and more clubs are starting to refuse to pay these ridiculous wages and transfer fees and players need to realise this. A lot of premier league clubs outside the top 6 are not paying more than 50k a week ( except the odd star like Berba) and more are refusing to pay silly transfer fees look at us for example with Gayle. My only worry is it will,never really change while big Sam, Gold and Sullivan are around
