Cristano Ronaldo. 25 games for Sporting, 3 goals. Bought by Man Utd for 12.2million pounds when he was about 18 years old. Now look at him. Went for 80million pounds 6 years later, and set new records in Spain. Alot of people probably thought SAF got his Ronaldo's mixed up at the time, but the old bugger had the last laugh.
But Sturridge, Wellbeck, wouldn't cost that much more. Zamora, Pav, Kalou,, all could cost less, and all of these ain;t half the gamble. Plus we have young Mr Noble waiting, now being pushed aside for Whickham, if i was him i'd tell Bruce it's time to move on, seeing as though he's being overlooked again, for another, potential maybe. Who could blame him...
Quote from 'mightmathie'... You say his Goal scoring record aint that good. Well under Jewell he scored 9 goals from LW in about 20 games. LW being no where near his strongest position. Another point is most of the goals he scored were not tap ins (I know a goal is a goal) but he showed real quality and composure. He was injured for most of the 1st half of last season and we were a very poor side under Keane so anyone would of struggled to score!! Hmmmm.
And also suggest he has been rapidly improving. Sorry to use this example. Alan Shearer. Southampton 118 games, 23 goals. Blackburn 138 games 112 goals. Newcastle 303 games 148 goals. Often a player will score less and improve, strikes me the lad is already heading well down that line. (Interesting that Shearer was actually far better for Blackburn, they won't like that in NE1)
and another Wayne Rooney (i ws surprised by this lol) 2002â2004 Everton 77 (17) 2004â Manchester United 322 (147)
Personally would be delighted to get him, lot of money undoubtedly, but we could get 4-5 years out of this lad and sell (if necessary or desired by himself) for a lot more. He is a big hard nut who doesnt take any sh*te off anybody. Him, gyan, sess + one other, please let it be welbeck or sturridge, and we have a very very scary forward line. Frazier may yet come back as well. Getting a semi on just thinkin about it.
I've just heard its £5m upfront with add ons which could amount to £13m. id be reasonably pleased with that and if we end up paying the full whack then its good for us as it means he'd have played a lot of games scored a lot of goals and id imagine there'll be something in there about full international caps. I just hope we bring in an experienced big man so we could ease him in and take the heat off when needed. One from the frees (Carew, Bothroyd, Kanoute) would be ideal.
Can't believe there's people on here using Wickham's goal scoring record as a reason not to sign him - i'm absolutely certain the goal scoring records of all the top strikers in the world were similarly poor between 16 and 18 years old. Or how about Torres in his first half season at Chelsea, absolutely appaling goal scoring record - anyone on here would take Torres though, right? Wickham has a similar style to Torres, IMO, although i doubt he'll achieve the level of Torres because he doesn't quite have Torres' blistering pace. What does his goal scoring stat tell us about how Wickham controls a ball, how he moves with the ball, how he picks his passes etc? It tells us absolutely nothing. The lad looks a really fine player and he's only 18 years old. I'll be delighted should we sign Wickham.
****ing to right there is people using his record, why not? It's a whole lot of money to shell out, and yes i want the best for SAFC,so why can't i question it. You use the name of Torres, but seem to forget the names of other not so illustrious players. How the hell you can use the comparison of Torres is beyond me, to many you-tube video's? You stick to your beliefs mate, end of the day stats count, goals count for a striker. I have the right to reserve judgement, until he proves me wrong. AND I HOPE HE DOES.
BuT BB pulled out some stats earlier of Sheila etc. Players who went onto greater heights,after having nothig better tha average records in their earlier careers. But how many thousands of other, have had excellent records early on, then produced nowt later? I'm just being cautious, no-one seems to know owt about this this lad, apart from, clips on tv and you-tube vids. It's a lot of money, and a kick in the teeth to the young lads we already have. Maybe he is the real deal, time will tell. IF we get him, i will want him to be a sucess, and then i will eat my words, same as the Sess saga,
You say how important stats are but then say that which i've highlighted in bold i.e stats mean nowt. I rate Wickham because i look at his abilities. In a very well put together team, i believe the abilities of Wickham will be clear for all to see. What if we were to go down your route and decide his stats aren't good enough and watch him prosper at another team and develop into an excellent player (admittedly the opposite could happen)? IMO, he'll go on to be a good PL striker. Like BB, however, i don't believe we'll get him.
