I think he could well be Premiership bound, though have a feeling someone who can offer him bigger wages will tempt him - Sunderland, Hammers, Fulham etc. I think he could be a risk personally, and an expensive one at that so I'm not so sure we should get ourselves dragged too far into this one if I'm being honest.
For the money, and considering his age, experience, etc, I don't necessarily think FQ would be the wisest of buys. He's more a second striker than a CAM, and I think we more need the latter, particularly as Hooper and RvW can play as a deeper striker if that's what we wanted. For that money I'd prefer someone younger who's a properly creative attacking midfielder.
I don't think we get dragged into anything do we Munky, with DM and CH at the helm? If he comes it will be because we want him and haven't baulked at the price. I believe personally he would be a big asset to the squad, but I also suspect a CB and/or CAM are more likely targets now.
I started a specifically tactical thread the other day. It was completely ignored except by Chris and carrabuh who clearly felt sorry for me and posted replies from the goodness of their hearts
Ha ha, bless em! Wasn't a criticism, just an attempt to get the thread back on track which we seemed to have done. I like having a quick look at the transfer thread to see if there's any new gossip, as much as the formation/tactics discussion is interesting it wasn't what I was looking for.
Twitter rumours again: https://twitter.com/tayrumours Norwich have had a £9million bid for quagliarella accepted How much was the last bid?, I thought it was around that figure last time?
Morning bors. On the subject of 'realistic' targets for the AM role (purely conjectural though) - these are two players that I reckon could do the job for us, wotcha think? Valon Berisha Piotr Trochowski Berisha is currently playing in a the Austrian league, so a move to the Prem could be good for him as he's still young and developing. Trochowski is in his prime and didn't get too many games for Sevilla last season - again, a move to the Prem could tempt him.
Trochowski was out nearly the whole of last season with a cartilage injury. Otherwise I think he is the sort of experienced, two-footed, central midfield player we could benefit from. Berisha appears to have potential -- several caps for Norway and only 20 -- but I think we need an older head in there myself.
Don't know Berisha, but Tettey must, given that he plays for Norway. I do know Trochowski though, mostly for his games for Germany. Very skillful player with good pace and agility and excellent passing. Could be just the playmaker we're looking for, though he is 29 and had a cartilage problem last year. Given that City have 3 squad places available (assuming that Ayala would go out on loan if a CB is signed), he could be a good signing. Can also play left midfield or left wing and valued at around £3m seems reasonable enough.
Yeah, my thinking was that Sevilla may have found other options in that area of the pitch (particularly with Marin coming in on loan), so they could be open to negotiation for Trochowski.
If we are looking at spending in the region of £9million on a player like Quagliarella, I would much rather go for someone like Christian Eriksen, who I thought was rumoured to be available for similar money. He's younger, great technical ability, vision, passing, shooting and would probably cost less in wages. NOt sure whether he would be interested but he would also be a natural replacement for Hoolahan IMO.
I agree that Eriksen would be a fantastic signing, but something tells me, in this transfer climate, he would command a fee more like £15mil - particularly with clubs like Liverpool sniffing around.
I agree that Eriksen is almost certainly out of our range. Signing him would be a bigger coup than RvW. I understood that the bid was nowhere near £9m - I thought we were offering around £6m (though obviously there could be add-ons). Given that Valencia are reportedly chasing Marko Arnautovic having cooled on Quags, and that Juve have announced they will be selling two strikers, I think he is our best bet. I think Quags' experience and tekkers will be more valuable to us than Eriksen's potential at this stage, though, and if it ends up being £7-8m I would have said we have got a decent deal.
Just looked him up on transfermarket, and have to concede he will be out of our price range. I just dont understand why the 'big' clubs havent snapped him up yet
I think many will look at his contract expiring next year and think he is probably worth waiting for...
Looking at the squad now, it's amazing just how far it has moved forward already. Compared to this time last season, we now have Ruddy, a well experienced Bunn and Nash at GK (with Rudd getting further valuable experience at Preston). The defence is settled and strengthened by the addition of Olsson (and even Ayala). Fer has replaced Fox (who hardly featured last year) and Howson is looking much improved of late. Redmond has strengthened both wings and Butterfield is like a new player coming in. Admittedly Holt has gone, but he and Jackson have now been replaced by RvW and Hooper, and if any more players come in, it just gets better and better.
Maybe he is simply happy where he is. That's a good club to be at for a player of his age and experience. Gets a proper football education, with Champions League pretty much guaranteed. And he knows his progress is being tracked by virtually all the clubs he might want to go on to play for. Nice position to be in.
I think maybe I can answer that Suffolk, it´s because he blows extremely hot and cold, and can go totally missing for half a game at a time, both for Ajax and for the Danish national team, in fact he´s never really reached his undoubted potential when playing for the national team, and done nothing there but disappoint. Whether he´ll ever get a big money-spinning deal, I´m not sure, but he needs to be more consistent imo.
