Vydra was loaned to West Brom from Udinese although the two clubs have the same owners so i guess it is more or less the same thing.
Rumour is on twitter is that someone is having their medical at fulham and a signing will be announced in a day or two. The rumour comes from Jacob Murtagh who is a writer on the Fulham Chronicle, and is supposedly a reliable source. The rumours are that the signing is either Scott Parker or Aaron Cresswell who we supposedly placed a 3.7m bid for earlier in the week according to Norfolk News.
With Riise supposedly on the way out, Cresswell seems more likely. We were linked with him earlier in the window, I think. That would be great news if it's true. Scott Parker would still do a very effective job for us alongside Boateng, but at 32 he wouldn't be a long term option. Assuming that his wages can be made to fit our structure, he wouldn't be a bad signing, but that isn't to say we couldn't do better. If it is just one of the two rather than both, I hope it's Cresswell.
Yes, just seen a couple of articles on Cresswell. He was Ipswich's player of the season last term. I don't know much about him. On Osvaldo, this article (I assume the one Traveller is talking about) is quite informative. It suggests he's being pushed to join Southampton, but he wants to go to Inter, who will apparently wait until the last minute to make a bid to avoid paying over the odds. He's already turned down Wolfsburg.
Yup, Jacob Murtagh has Jo'ls ear so should be sound. Also, columnist Simon Peach says he had a 'phone conversation with Shad Khan this evening and that a signing is "imminent". The speed Fulham move (3 weeks to complete the Tarby deal), it's likely to be someone we've already been in negotiation for. Also, can't see Khan getting too excited about Parker or Cresswell. Could be the 'marquee' signing Gargano (or more likely Enoh).
Bad structure on my part Bandit - the parenthesis and the 'or' were meant say that Enoh would not be a marquee signing. And my second choice to Gargano who would be {a marquee signing, that is}. And I'll throw another name into the melting pot - Bakary Sako. To be clear, I wouldn't consider him a 'marquee' either but there's no question Jol was keen, he was rumoured to have already been at Motspur Park and only the Wolves valuation stood in the way first time round. He has the added advantage of being fit and already up and running.
I think the Sako deal is dead to be honest 58. Scott Parker has been strongly linked to us over the past 24 hours but I certainly hope this is a red herring. Over 30, injury prone and a defensive midfielder on likely high wages. Surely these are the exact type of players we should be avoiding? Gargano would be quality as would Cresswell, but the latter hardly constitutes 'marquee' like you said.
Another take on Parker is that we've all been saying we need someone better than Sidwell in midfield, who can control the game without getting lots of unnecessary cards. That would be Parker, no? I agree that any deal would have to be on teh right financial terms, but if the reason the Huddlestone deal died was his wage demands (which was the impression I got - happy to be corrected if anyone knows better), then it's unlikely that we'll be taken for a ride by Parker's representatives. I'll give you that he's had a bad couple of seasons with injuries, but that doesn't mean he's washed up.
...is that he's a Leader, which we badly need. For what it's worth - The Times are reporting that Scott Parker has had a medical and is expected to join QPR tomorrow. They are also reporting that Granero (one of our rumours) will join Real Sociedad on loan this week and that Hull have agreed a fee, allegedly over £5m, with Spurs for Huddlestone (one of our many, many, many rumours) and a loan for Livermore.
Cresswell is one of the top talents in the Championship, a bigger team will come in for him. Parker is 30 and has a history of injury problems, Jol should be targeting players in their 20's otherwise come 2-3 seasons time the squad is going to need another overhaul. Leadership is all well and good, but with Parker and Sidwell/Boateng in central midfield we are still sorely lacking creativity.
Perhaps you're right on Cresswell, but not many of the top clubs are looking for a left back, and they tend to look abroad rather than 'untried' British players from outside the Premier league. I think Fulham are exactly the type of club that a player like that tends to join. I agree about the age of players we should be signing (and Cresswell fits that perfectly, by the way), but at this stage we just need someone who can fit into the gap in our team. I'd prefer to see someone more creative, but if a second defensive-minded midfielder allows Jol to play a front four of Ruiz, Taarabt, Berba and one other, the one thing we won't be lacking is creativity. Parker would be a good short term solution. With just a few days before the season starts, perhaps it's worth taking a short term solution! I'd still prefer us to have another go at Huddlestone, mind.
I am of the same opinion, but someone said to me that he is a bit slow to fit in Jol's plans. Slower than Ruiz I replied? That was the end of the argument... Huddlestone and Parker would provide much needed depth. This will allow Ruiz to move closer to Berbatov and more in the box. I would welcome another striker too...
I doubt we'll get either Parker or Huddlestone. Parker worries me, he's good for 60 minutes ask any Spurs fan. He'll be a leader yes but we're looking for some creativity. Huddlestone's a shame, i'd have liked to have seen him at the Cottage.
I get the impression that deadline day will yield more activity for us. We're obviously not up for paying over the odds, so I wouldn't be surprised if we risked it for a biscuit on D-day and aimed to get a few cheeky bargains. Perhaps we'll see Sako, Huddlestone and Bent on the 31st? That would be excellent business.
