They are not free if they are on 40-50k a week on massive wages, thats ok for good players but not for 4th-6th choice forwards. Barton is going to cost us £13-14m in wages alone. Hughes is insane if he gives either player more than a year.
If we have an injury to a centre half I would much rather see Nelsen come on/come in for a couple of games than the likes of Hall or Gabbidon.
Have we signed Diakite or Taiwo yet? I have no complaints about Cisse and Zamora because we needed a short term fix. Signing players in their 30s will do nothing for us unless they are clearly class like Cisse and not has beens like johnson.
Nelson is a squad signing, don't think I would classify Johnson as 'squad'. And yes, we are in the bargain basement.
His philosophy is to get value. If he can get a good year out of Johnson and Nelson on average wages for this level they'll be good business. It's nothing like Vine, Hall etc.
Would you rather spend millions on sub players then? This is just the start of the market. Diakite will cost 3.5million
So we havent even signed them and yet you know their wages. Why would be on anything less than 30-40k?
How on earth is signing an injury prone forward who gets 2 PL goals a season good value? The trouble is I bet Johnson wont be a year, it will be at least 2, probably 3 or 4 and the latter years will be when they become a Rowlands, Vine etc offering nothing to the team. Signing Rhodes would cost more in the short term but theres a chance he could make it and be worth £20m in 2 years time. That makes good business sense. Throwing money away on 30+ yo reserves does not.
Exactly, Cisse is 31 but is quality, hence I have no problem with signing him. Johnson is also 31 but pants and will probably cost us 7 figures per goal.
Hmmm, whatever happened to the Bassong deal I wonder? Surely he is now available again after his loan at Wolves. Same position but years younger.
What gets me about these kind of signings is that they seem to lend credence to my fear that Hughes is assembling a team to avoid relegation. What's that all about FFS, honestly. Where's the ambition?
Fair enough, but Hughes came with a band of helpers, all with experience and not cheap. I would say you and I could assemble this kind of team without any great difficulty. Where's the insight from the experts?
As I have said on the Johnson thread I dont rate him at all and will be very unhappy when he signs. I also hate the bloke. Has a proper attitude by the looks of things. Nelsen would be a good signing though. Brings experience and is still a good player. Will be a back up but to get him on a free will be great business. Green also. Thats three frees there with Johnson, Nelsen and Green.
