We can't possibly have a policy of signing strikers who have had one good year in the PL and not signing anyone who hasn't played in England before. On that basis a few years back you would have to prefer Andy Carroll and Emil Heskey to Aguero and Drogba.
Bony is the sort of player that we should be looking to sign, but we should've done so before he joined Swansea. We should be looking for the next Bony, rather than spending £24m on this one. Bringing in strikers from Holland is always a risk (van Persie on the one hand, Alves on the other), but the Ivorian seems built for this division. I understand why we didn't go for Suarez, but Bony's more of a puzzle for me.
You are always taking a risk when you buy a player who has never played in the Premiership before. It's why those that have done it, and proven their ability to perform consistently, normally fetch premium prices. Aguero too to it like a duck to water. Drogba took a long time to settle and get used to the different pace of the Premiership. Possibly, if he were younger, we could persist with Soldado and MAYBE he would come good - who knows? But, as I say, he's 30 now!.......
We spent last summer looking to sign a marquee striker, with Benteke, Soldado and Negredo topping the list, and overlooked the possibility of signing a backup - partly as we had three strikers on our books when the window slammed shut (Soldado, Adebayor, Defoe), but I suspect that bringing in another hinged on moving on Adebayor last summer, and that never happened.
But we need a striker now, PNP. Maybe we would get lucky and find the next Bony - maybe not. But while we're busy looking, we're seeing the sort of chances that can change the course of important matches being wasted by those currently entrusted to scoring goals for us. As I said earlier, it's Welbeck + £8mil I don't think that's a bad deal, in this market. Anyway, Levy would probably get him cheaper. Maybe not by much, but if it turned out at Welbeck +say £6mil, how bad is that?
It's still £24m, NSIS. They were interested in Naughton though, so perhaps Levy could've arranged a straight swap, if the Sigurdsson deal is anything to go by.
Looks like we sent at least one manager over the edge with this summer's dealings. Marcelo Bielsa, current Marseille coach and former mentor of Pochettino, vented his feelings towards the club president at a press conference yesterday. He claimed that none of his targets had been signed and that they'd brought in a bunch of players that he hadn't asked for. They also sold at least one player that he wanted to keep, leading him to call the window negative and that the president had broken his promises. One of those that got away was our most recent acquisition, Benjamin Stambouli. Sounds like the two old friends might have an interesting conversation about that one! Can't see him lasting too much longer in that job, which he only took in May.
I have a feeling that Arsenal might want to sell Wellbeck in a year from now. Not sure whether Liverpool will want to keep Balotelli either.
If he was really the difference between Top 4 or not then it would be money well spent. But football really doesn't work like that. If we buy him and still finish 5th or 6th do we spend another £24m next year? We've got a budget and we spent it - we can't just spend it again.
At the moment, I think top 5-6 is stretching things, anyway. Bony is 25. A few more years left in him yet.
I just wish Soldaldo would pull his finger out of his backside and start performing as we all know the talent is there. At least Lamela looks like he wants to put last season behind him and repay the club back.
