....Holty does go, as still seems probable, what sort of replacement should we be looking for? We aren't going to get anyone who will give us everything that Holty does, and our playing style will likely change somewhat under CH, but we will surely need to bring someone new in.
Before I could answer that I would want to know how much money we will get for Holty, only then could I think about who to get in. Need to be looking at someone who is going to get 10 or more goals in a season. If it's someone from the PL it's going to be expensive, if from the lower leagues they need to be damned good and probably expensive.
it's probably going to cost us more to get someone in than we get for holty, as they need to be younger. I'm thinking somelike like Rodriguez - so £6-7m or so? the alternative is we go for someone slightly older with top league experience, but that would cost a bit - wages would be a problem here. E.g Steven Fletcher. or we go abroad there are many options! what we can't replace easily is his leadership skills
i reckon we'll need to spend at least £7m to get any striker capable of scoring goals at the top level. a scary prospect! a few possibles; martin harnik from stuttgart, bas dost from heerenveen (though i fully expect he'll move to a bigger club than us), aubameyang from st etienne, gary hooper from celtic must be a possibility or how about an ambitious bid for luuk de jong from twente?
Reckon we'll be lucky to get £4-5 million for Holt, certainly in one payment. But, as has been seen before, lower league players can adopt to the prem... We shall see.
Agreed and you are right, a scary prospect indeed! In my opinion Southampton have paid too much for JR and now that will bump up the price of most of the other half decent strikers in the Championship.
I believe Ewan Chester's forté is sourcing players from abroad who are not 'household names' - and therefore not stupidly overpriced. There are still gems out there, Nikica Jelavić to Everton for £5.5m springs to mind, 11 goals in 16 games. What we need more than anything is for Morison to play like he did in the first half of the season (while he was still feeling the love, rather than the vitriol which came later) and Vaughan to stay fit and hit some form. Now, where did I put David Střihavka's phone number again
What I was hoping to get was your thoughts on the KIND of player we should be looking for. Goes without saying we will need someone who will score goals and who will create chances for others. But that broad requirement covers a lot of different types of forward player. I have also been thinking about whether Pilkington might develop into a proper striker -- think wingers who've metamorphosed into centre forwards.
I wonder wether Holt will go ? My reason. West ham are now reported to be going in for Yakubu at an estimated deal of £1m, thats £3.2m less than they have offered for Holt, so i cant see them buying TWO strikers of that age. I think they have looked at the cost and age of Holt and can now get a striker of similar quality and experiance for a fraction of the cost. Lambert is also reportedly saying that Holt would not be the age of player they are looking to recrute, especialy for the price being touted! I think Holt will need to sit around the table again and be spoon fed a large portion of humble pie by Mcnasty !!!ouch !
Big Sam did it before with Bolton. He buys older experienced players to stay up and then gets youth in..
Chris Wood of West Brom has come up before, but CH had him on loan at Birmingham last year to good effect, 9 goals in 23 games. Could be a replacement for Wilbraham, if not for Holt? Here's his Wiki profile: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Wood_(footballer_born_1991) He's tall, (6'3" like Alby) and at 20 could be a good prospect. Hughton knows him well and seems to get the most out of him, including some impressive performances in the Europa Cup for the Blues. Worth a go?
What about Steven Fletcher of Wolves? Another powerful goal scoring centre forward to get 12 goals in a side that was bottom last year pretty good!
I would be happy with him. More mobile than Holt and equally as forceful. Would expect him to cost a wee bit more than we get for Holt though. Don't know what his wages were at Wolves.
Well I have been talking to aof mine who is a wolves fan. I know wolves don't have to sell anyone this year as they are finantically secure, his wages won't be astranomical, but could be above what we can afford. I also agree he will cost more, but he is still only 25, so far he is my top choice if Mr Holt doesn't have a change of heart.... come on Holty do a Huckaby sack your agent (or tell them to sod off)!
It seems Palace may want Chris Martin back on loan for the year with an option to buy at the end of the year. I guess Hughton will want to have a look at him in pre-season before deciding, but we would need a replacement if he goes to Palace. CM did reasonably well there, scoring 7 goals in 28 games. Fletcher looks good, but given that Wolves paid 6.5m for him two years ago, and he still has 2 years plus an option on his contract, he's going to be expensive, whereas Wood might be available on loan. Hughton and Chester might have a list of international strikers as well, but I still hope Holty has a rethink and stays.
