Darren Pratley... who?

No chance, especially not if Swansea go up.

 

He's quite a good player. If he is being signed to help provide some depth to the squad then i'm not at all concerned by this news. He isn't one of the major signings i'm expecting but I've always said that I thought we would get a few freebie squad quality players as well.

 

really not a bad players to get on a free for backup, in his prime, cheap wages and is very strong and tall which is a sort of player we lack when trying to hold onto a tight lead, so not a bad signing if it happens.

 

Good squad player,but haven't we got enough of them??

 

Yeah but you'd rather Pratley in CM than Perchy.

 

I've just texted my mate asking if there's anything involved with Pratley, hopefully I'll get a quick answer!

 

I'd rather Pratley in midfield than Perch, Smith or Raylor and he is as useful as Guthrie and maybe even better (although different style).

But if we are looking for that type of player to be backup i'd rather we went for Vaughn at Blackpool.

 

Just to clear up as I dont really watch Swansea much, where specifically does he play in midfield? Like would he be covering Nolan? Tiote? Barton?

 

Energetic box-to-box midfielder. Take that as you will.

Main position is CM but can play out wide if needed. Slighty better version of Guthrie?

 

This sums him up pretty well. I think his best atribute is he has got a great engine, runs tirelessly. Good tackler and fairly creative, not bad on the goal scoring front too.

 

From what I've seen of him he's got a decent shot but not much else.

Think Guthrie's better than him to be honest.

 

''We've[NUFC] made contact with Pratley but no deal is in place yet''.

 

Maybe he's seen as more natural cover for Nolan, whereas Guthrie appears to be the one to fill in for Tiote, and Raylor is Barton's backup. Gosling, Vuckic and Abeid's roles remain to be seen. Plus Ben Arfa, Fergie and Jonas.

**** we have a lot of midfielders (didnt even include Smith, Perch , technically Routledge, and Lua Lua).

 

Pardew has gone on record to say that he wants to increase the size of the squad. I'm thinking that a player of Pratley's standard would be ideal as a replacment for a backup player like Smith, Perch or Raylor. He wages would undoubtedly be cheaper than Smith and in my opinion would be better any of them.

Our squad was so thin by the end of the season that even our backup players need to be replaced in the event they leave.