I think if they don't accept £5million then we should give up. I wouldn't value him at any more than that. They should heed Maynard as a warning though- he ended up going for a fraction of the price barely a year later, and look where Bristol City are now. Brighton aren't as vulnerable financially, admittedly. Personally, I would take the rejection of a £5million bid as an outright refusal to sell. Can get better value for money abroad- our scouts have proved that.
Brighton media think the price tag is 7M, We not a million miles off that now so if Nigel thinks Ulloa is the man that can make the difference then we should just pay the 2M extra
No we haven't seen him play all season, but it's a lot of money for a player untested at the level we'll be playing at. Everyone though Akinbiyi was a great purchase after he banged in goals in the second tier for two years for poor-average sides - we all know what happened there. Make no mistake, for the money we're talking, this would be a huge gamble. A gamble that makes be feel a little nervous. I don't normally question Nige's signings - he's got few wrong in the past - but then he's never dealt with financial figures of this size. I'm willing to trust in Nige and his team once again on this one but I do so reluctantly and knowing that, in reality, I kind of hope we get priced out and have to look elsewhere.
I would still rather pay that for Rhodes because looking at the 2 worst case senarios Rhodes can't cut it in the prem- Sell him back to the championship or even Celtic and make 1/2 to 3/4 back what we paid We get relegated- we have a striker we know is arguably the most clinical striker the championship has seen in recent years
I just be the only one who doesn't rate Rhodes. Doesn't work, doesn't win his headers, can't pass, slow and a bit of a sucker. For the price he'll command in both transfer fee and wage, he's not worth it. Would prefer us to look at someone like Alfred Finbogasson. Edit; possibly the best iPad autocorrect ever. I meant sulker, not sucker.
Not everyone Gangsta - I never wanted Akinbiyi and I'm not trying to be wise after the event ... I remember watching him play in an FA cup tie for Bristol City against Everton ... his pace and strength against an ageing Everton back four caused them lots of problems and gave him numerous scoring / shooting opportunities ... everyone of which he blazed high wide and handsome ... now you can't judge on one game but his very poor touch and lack of composure when one on one suggested very much that here was an athlete rather than a footballer ... he then moved on to Wolves and my other half is god mother to a fanatical Wolves fan ... I remember asking him what he thought about Akinbiyi who was again in the goals and we were being linked with ... he replied "couldn't trap a bag of wet cement" ... and that he only scored as many goals as he did because Wolves were creating tons and tons of chances ... once Taylor had signed him I went to watch the pre-season friendly at Wycombe ... Akinbiyi scored from distance but I remain convinced it was a wayward attempt at a cross that was so poorly executed that the poor keeper was completely fooled ... the one thing I can say is that, unfortunately, he lived up to my expectations and left me with the impression that Peter Taylor hadn't actually seen him (or Trevor Benjamin) play enough first hand before signing them ... Ulloa is in a different league (to Maynard as well) ... his touch and composure in front of goal are top drawer ... yes it is still a gamble stepping up to the Prem but at least a calculated one ... he has scored goals against the likes of Real Madrid and Arsenal and caused our defence more problems than any other forward in this division including Rhodes, Ings and McCormack.. he's only 27, so arguably at his peak with a good 3 years to come ... Pearson was a good centre half himself and has seen first hand what Ulloa did against our otherwise impressive defence ... and I'm sure Wes, Wasyl and co will have had some input ... some of us seem to be getting hung up on the price tag ... frankly it's peanuts at this level in 2014 ... an average Brazilian defender has just been sold by Chelsea for £40-£50 million FFS ... ... have a look at this ... not a pen or free-kick amongst them ... but some fine technique and he is bloody difficult to mark ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZ_wEEkL8U&list=PLFAHY36-iMQRLXD-OKXh-WpIqktJZ76y2
A convincing argument FF - I don't remember many protests about paying £5m for Akinbiyi back in the day, all though I was mainly confined to speaking to fans in the flesh in those days. I don't agree £7m is peanuts though - Chelsea can spend like that because there's virtually no chance they'll get relegated the season after and face more FFP bull (mind you, we could just do what QPR did and just ignore it). As I said, I'll reluctantly trust in Nige on this - he'll have a figure in his head (or at least Robinson will) which I don't think he/they will surpass.
Measured comments Gangsta and much appreciated ... by peanuts I'm talking in relative terms in the Prem ... clubs like Swansea, Cardiff, Norwich, Stoke, Fulham, Southampton, West Brom, Hull City, Blackburn and Palace have all spent more (and on strikers) and we are certainly on a par with most of these (if not exceeding in terms of potential) in terms of fan base / finances etc ...
Ive heard fans saying that hes got to be carried as well. Think Beckford a few years prior. He'll get signed by a big club and his eye for goal will dry up, being sold back to the championship.
Reckon he's just saying that to try and put you off signing him! His value to Brighton is far higher than his real worth mainly because he's the only real goal scoring threat in the last 2 years and replacing him would be extremely hard. He's top scored in both seasons despite missing a large chunk of games each season with injuries. Wouldn't say he's injury prone as they've been impact injuries rather than muscle pulls. He's strong, very good in the air but also equally good on the floor. Can play upfront on his own and is perfect for bringing others into the game. His finishing is up there with the best in the Championship. The last 2 years Brighton have been built on a solid defence and haven't been big scorers so for him to be hitting 14 and 16 goals in each season is good going (none of them are pens either). I hope he stays at Brighton but think £7m would be a decent price and Brighton would probably sell for that.
He is undoubtedly a good footballer, but i think a lot of peoples thoughts are that, for that sort of money, is there not better out there?
I think you can afford to carry a striker if he is going to score 20-30 goals a season Tony Cottee has said we need to sign a striker who will get into double figures and he said the man we should go for is Ross McCormack
Strikers are always going to have an inflated value though. If we're going to be signing anyone from this country they're going to know our financial situation and raise the price. We talk about that previous £5million record fee, which was huge at the time but is nothing in this day in age. We're going to have to absolutely smash that this year, when you consider that every promoted club easily spent over that, eg. Palace- Gayle for £6million, Hull- Jelavic/Long both around £6.5million, Norwich- Van Wolfswinkel (lest we forget, who scored ONE GOAL all season) was about £8million or so. Cardiff, Southampton, Norwich and QPR have all spent £12-15million on players upon promotion.
Thats a load of crap. McCormack will easily surpass that imo. and think he has been unlucky not to have had a taste in the prem before now. There is very little you can actually fault him for (penalty taking being the main one). Not just saying it because he's leeds but think he was/is the best striker in the championship (that I watched including Ulloa). He suits a higher level of football than leeds can currently provide him though and would do better with a free flowing style than hoofball.
I think McCormack is a very good striker Josh ... but Ulloa caused us more problems than any other in the division by some distance ... he also doesn't supplement his goal tally by penalties and free-kicks ... scores a lot with his head if you can get the ball across and have good wingers / wide men (which we do) ... for these reasons he'd be my pick from all the Championship strikers we played against last season ...
