Bassong was but Tottenham paid nearly half until the time his contract with them expired and then he went down to the level we paid
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/01/1...-the-clubs-who-should-sign-emmanuel-adebayor/ The last bit is very true! He IS the type who excels when trying to impress on a short term deal until the end of the season! Id take him till the end of this season!
Yes, that was rather unfortunate. I would describe him as more like counterfeit goods. The wrapping was Chivas but in the bottle was coloured water, or sewage.
Shelvey isn't worth 12 million but he's a decent player and if they get Townsend too then you'd feel they're building a good enough team to survive relegation. I'm not panicking just yet, but if we don't get another 1 or 2 good players the end of this window then I'll worry.
Newcastle have always had money TBF, just Pardew was never allowed any of it. I'm surprised their giving such an average manager so much financial backing but Newcastle are a much bigger club then their league position suggests. I'd back them to stay up - but think how it's their big signings who look like keeping them up, namely Wijnaldum and Mitrovic. They are building a team for the future, with young players and I don't begrudge them spending money they do have, unlike Bournemouth. I appreciate that we can't afford to sign a Wijnaldum of our own but I'd like to think we could surely get a couple of halfway-decent centre halves considering we got basically £15 million for Grabban and Johnson in addition to our tiny net spend.
Let's face facts, it will ever be thus. Unless we can get reliably midtable, with a plausible push for europe, we are always going to be scraping around 'lesser' players persuading them to come to us. Paying higher wages isnt going to be enough I don't think. The reason many players are prepared to go to smaller clubs like Bournemouth is, I think, not for any higher salary so much,but because the extensive financial backing allows them to present a plausible plan as to how they can quickly grow the club into something more. Players buy into that I think, and the salary is a sweetener too. If I'm a young up and coming player looking to break into the English game, I want a road map of those next 3 years, climbing and growing as a player. To do that I would want to train and play with the best most inspirational players possible. Bournemouth/Leicester could put together a fairly convincing case that they could create that in those 3 years, as they have the power to reassure better players by buying them 'en masse'
Good post, and I see your point. But there must be good players, certainly abroad and most likely in the championship, too, who would love a first opportunity to play in / showcase themselves in the PL - best league in the world (it is said) Those are the type of lower profile players we need to be identifying and targeting.
Oh I'm sure they exist, but then the question is, why us? If I've proved myself enough to be a safe bet for the prem in any way, I'll probably have more suitors than little ol Norwich, and they may be able to offer higher wages, more stable premier league status, better geographical location, more media focus to boost profile domestically and internationally, and finally maybe just better more extensive scouts who got to me first. We will remain a proving ground for largely untested players until we can either increase our own youth system to produce talent successfully within, build our scouting network so that we can scout the safe bet players before they are spotted as such by others, or receive massive investment to 'sell the vision', we will have to operate within our means. There is nothing special that McNally or AN can pull out of their arses that changes that I don't think.
Not sure about him, but he is a Swiss international. Not a full time regular, but he did play 90 minutes against England, apparently. At least it's someone in CB. Bit of Europa League and Champions League experience. 6'4. Strong, good in the air. So, a few positives if true.
Excellent post Battersea and it's beginning to look like we're going to struggle to get a 'stellar' signing that we are all craving, AN and the board seem to have identified the players they would like, but it seems the players themselves aren't keen on coming to Norwich for a variety of reasons. I hope I'm wrong, but it's looking increasingly likely that KIO was right a few weeks ago when he said that we wouldn't sign anyone of note. (Yes, I know we've signed Jarvis and Pinto!!)
You see Jarvis and pinto are exactly our spec at the mo. Pinto, Young exciting but with flaws and still untested on a big stage, looking to prove his right to be there. Jarvis - older player, some prem experience but getting older and wanting game time over less likely career climbing at this point.
If Naismith doesn't want to come here. Then we should tell him to **** off, we need committed team players not selfish money grabbing end of career has beens! Just saying
Exactly ILD, I was beginning to think I was the only one who doesn't want the Old Timer. I really, really hope that deal falls through I would honestly rather go with what we've got
