A slightly left field choice for a DM with experience in English football might be Mile Jedinak at Palace. Solid defensively and with quality on the ball, definitely a fighter and a leader. He might not want to push for a move though and at 30 is out of the age range and profile of players we seem to be looking at. Although if we bring someone like him in it begs the question as to why we bothered selling Stambouli in the first place, apart from a profit that while admirable, isn't a hugely significant sum.
Josh Onomah has signed a new deal till 2019. No idea how good he is but people seem quite happy about it
Liverpool and was it Chelsea were sniffing around, so based on that alone I'm happy. As far as veterans go, it would be different if the top four were at all likely to be within reach this year. As it stands, one way to get much better eventually is to begin with a bunch of very talented young players, as we have, and keep playing them. Once they average a little over 25, (and you don't lose key ones , and things go reasonably well ) you may be as good as just about anyone. Not to say I'd turn down the right experienced player at the right price. I would have loved to have Cabaye, and would still like to get little Cicero.
Onomah's a very good prospect, from what I've seen of him. Certainly our best attacking option in that age range. Definitely looks to have the ability to force his way into the first team squad over the next couple of seasons and he's physically up to it, too.
Cambiasso has announced that he will not be renewing his contract at Leicester. Unless he's planning to pack it in now, we should get on the phone...
This ^ Managed 33 games for Leicester last term and was one of their best players. He's exactly who we need atm.
he could have the same effect on our inexperienced players that Edgar Davids had on those around him...well worth sounding him out imo
It isn't really a matter of 'instead of' Luke, it's more an issue that 99% of our squad probably need to show ID's when trying to get into a certificate 15. We are desperately in need of an experienced player to help Bentaleb, Mason, Pritchard, Alli etc develop. They're currently being left to work it out on their own and whilst last season Bentaleb and Mason were a revelation, there were still amateurish mistakes in abundance on a regular basis. Bringing in a player like Cambiasso would be a superb decision.
I agree with all of you. But I very much doubt we'll get him. I had thought earlier that while Cabaye would be ideal, there's a lot to be said for Cambiasso, since he wouldn't want/need/get as many minutes.
Paulinho - £17m...although there may be a lot of Levy's witchcraft involved Holtby - £1.2m Capoue - £9.3m Stambouli - £4.6m
MP and Cambiasso played in the same national team, did they get on? On the face of it, we must be ideally placed to sign him why do people think we wont?
I said a while ago I'd love to have him. I think our youngsters could learn so much from a guy with his experience. Who knows what's in his head though, or M.P's come to that!
Doesn't seem like there are a lot of DMs available at the moment, certainly not at reasonable prices anyway. Cambiasso surely fits the bill as a brilliant stop gap. The guy's a winner, has loads of experience and played in some great teams. Just the sort of player to help our young midfield. I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't get him. Feel like it's so obvious a solution and yet we'll completely ignore it.
Knee-jerk pessimism, abetted by a long summer of 1 signing per 100 rumors. If we couldn't get Cabaye, why should we get Cambiasso?
Yeah I'd definitely take the right experienced head or two. If we could pick up a Davids/ Parker-esque signing then it'd do wonders for our young squad. There were rumours that Utd were possibly willing to sell Carrick after the arrivals of the "Sch" boys, I'd take him back for a season, his footballing brain and vision is up there with some of the best in the league. Cambiasso hasn't renewed his deal with Leicester and showed he still has life in him at the top level so I'd take him too. De Rossi like you say would never happen, Chelsea & City couldn't even prize him away from Roma so we'd have no chance. I've personally never liked Srna, not for footballing reasons as he looks a decent player but he just seems a snide little ****er and I wouldn't want someone like that at the club, I remember when we played Shakhtar 5 or 6 years ago, he was constantly diving and trying to influence the ref by waving his hands signalling to book our player, I've seen him do similar for Croatia as well, not the sort I'd want here to be honest. Biglia I don't know much about, my only concern is that he's 29 and hasn't really played in the best of leagues, he's only had two years in Serie A which has been on the decline for a few seasons now and prior to that he was in Belgium, which don't get me wrong is producing great players these days but the standard of football overall isn't too great, would he be able to handle the pace of the Premier League? Not sure which Bender you'd be referring to but both are very good players who'd improve us a lot, though they do play for top Bundesliga sides so it'd be a case of a) Would they want to join us and b) What would their club demand price wise? Could be hefty figures. From what I've seen of McCarthy, although he looks a solid player, I don't think he's a massive improvement on Mason, especially not £20m worth either so I'd pass on him. It's tough finding that perfect player who's got one or two years left of top level football that can come in, perform well and also help out around the squad with his experience so that our youngsters can then go onto blossom with their help.
Great news on Onomah by the way, future England international in my opinion, great talent. According to Twitter links, City tried making an approach for him but he rejected in favour of staying with us, always nice to see
City are trying to hoover up every young player...as are chelsea. Imo a young player would be mad to go to either club as they will simply be loaned out (at best) or lost in their system. If I remember correctly chelsea had 30 plus players out on loan last year.
