No way is Rhodes the only "iron in the fire" SB has. If its not Rhodes then I'm sure SB will have some other rabbit in his hat - I think this could be a busy deadline day for us
Rhodes only had 3 chances today. The first he made for himself by mugging the defender and then slotting it through the keeper's legs for 1-0. The second was a cross from the left, which he controlled with his right before smacking it with his left across the goal where it hit the far post and came out. The third was just an opportunist attempt from the corner of the penalty area, which went over the bar. Other than that, he didn't do a great deal but did put himself about a bit and showed one or two nice touches. Isn't lightening quick but doesn't look too slow either. I think with better service, he'd still have a pretty good return, even against Prem defenders. Cairney had a decent game without being outstanding but still doesn't seem to do enough work in the final third.
We let Long go with about 3 weeks of the transfer window left. I expect in that time SB was confident of securing a replacement and I think he still will be. No need to panic over Rhodes or anyone else IMO. As I said earlier we still have a week's worth of negotiating to do with whichever players we are trying to bring in.
what type of service would we give Rhodes ? i fear hopeful longballs onto his noggin and Elmos over hit crosses from a position level with the edge of the pen area will be what we resort to :/
He looks the type of player who knows how to find space in the box and if people like Huddlestone, Livermore, Ince, Aluko, Robertson, Elmo etc. can play him in, I think he'd get double figures comfortably.
12 mil is a lot of money and it could be better spent on 2 loans wages! Hopefully Bruce is speaking to agents on this scenario?
Unless a deal involves a disproportionate amount of money - such as the amount we were offered for Long - then they usually take time to complete. As the Doc says we are hopefully busy "under the radar" and it is only because Blackburn went public with our interest that we al became 100% sure that Rhodes was one of our targets.
I don't think you understand. Most people assumed Bruce had a replacement lined up before the Long deal was even finalised, but that wasn't the case.
I don't, but it's not very good to sell your best striker and not sign another one for two weeks when we have important games coming up.
Isnt Rhodes related to Agnew. We would know for definite if Rhodes was willing to move here, he must be. Its the finances. Theres a deal to be done. I hope we dont pay too much in our pursuit of him.
There's a good chance Rhodes wants to come here, but his club have already said they don't want to sell. This could turn out like the Maguire deal, except the Maguire deal wasn't one week before the window closes. I don't think we're in a position to play hardball with Blackburn like we did with Sheffield United. We need a new striker, and we need one quickly.
I agree with you, its not great to wait so long, but there's still over a week let to bring in a replacement, as well as a few other players too. Im sure its not through lack of trying though, lots will be going on behind the scenes. Ive got faith in Bruce to bring the right kind of players in to the club.
I've got faith in Bruce as well, however, we could be in a position similar to last summer when West Brom backed out of the Shane Long deal on deadline day. We ended up having Danny Graham as our main striker until January.
the blackburn chairman negotiated a deal with city for rhodes, but the owners have veteod it. reckon the player is unhappy at the moment. but showed today he has the right temperament and professionalism for steve bruce, i don't this think deal is dead by a long way, as city will know how the player feels via agnew.
