Vasquez not started for Real Madrid tonight. If rumours are to be believed he will want to move. Here's one deluded Geordie who is still keeping his fingers crossed.
The last vaguely officially referenced transfer rumour here was started on the 28th July, Adrian/Darlow swap deal (wow)! Bear in mind the 8 weeks notice we got on Lejeune and the 3 weeks we got on Murphy.....t'ain't looking good!
And Vazquez played anyway. Not that we'd be bothered. Too interested in real quality like Jossyloo. please log in to view this image
Apparently Ashley and Charns are waiting til August for a striker cos they hope the prices will drop, which sounds very much like how they operate.
And players themselves wait in case they get better offers. I think it was massively optimistic thinking to expect all our business to be done by the start of the season, especially with strikers who are the most in demand players.
Exactly and the media can spin it as negative as they like but I'm still reading that Rafa was pissed off at missing initial targets (hence Carr's sacking) and is aware he might have to wait to get value. His words are we won't be getting a 25m striker like fans keep saying, well at these prices it would probably buy us Shola's right arm.
I think a lot of clubs are assuming that market prices have escalated because of the new TV money, and so are asking stupid prices for anybody even remotely half decent. I wouldn't be surprised if after this window prices settle down a little bit once clubs realise that they aren't able to sell their players at those prices - apart from the really special players.
I'm hoping towards the end of this one really, teams need to shift players they'll have to drop their prices, hopefully we're waiting on that. Perez will go for less if he doesn't get sold soon, plenty of others we can say that about, whilst if someone buys Perez will that then make a striker there surplus to requirements?
Gotta love Benitez He said on BT Sport: "I was talking with Arsene yesterday because we had the managers' meeting with the Premier League. "I said 'listen, we have to talk' and he said 'do you have some money? Let me know'. Sounds more like a drug deal.
Don't get the hype surrounding Lucas Perez as an incoming striker, the guy is 28 (about to turn 29) and has failed to hit double figures in league games across Ukraine, Greece, and Spain bar one season with Deportivo a few years back. Has a strike rate of 1 goal in 4 games (worse than Mitrovic). Aside from his PB season at Deportivo (37 games/17 goals) his next best is 50 games 10 goals (32 league games, 9 goals) in a season for Greek club PAOK. Career total of 212 games 63 goals. #BringbackShola...
Remember everyone saying we should have got Gray Last time mitro was in the PL- 34 games, 9 goals Gray- 32 games, 9 goals With Perez it's probably more based on link up play, same for joselu. Either way I'll blindly trust Benitez if that's what he wants. Gayle will be our no.1 striker next year and, after banging em in last year, he should be
The hope (rather than hype) is based on his form over the more recent seasons and his creativity as well as goalscoring stats. Also the esteem in which Arsenal fans hold him. This is interesting: Squawka FootballVerified account@Squawka Aug 7 Lucas Perez across all competitions since 2015/16: 44 starts please log in to view this image 25 goals please log in to view this image 14 assists please log in to view this image Involved in a goal once every 105.5 minutes. please log in to view this image
Fair enough but again that's only the last 2 seasons and incorporates his best season ever at Deportivo 37/17. Arsenal fan's like him because he scored important goals in the cup's last year - 6 goals in 10 cup appearances but only 1 league goal in 11 games. The other goal he scored in that period was in his one appearance for Deportivo before being sold to Arsenal last summer (100% strike rate ). Again the guy is nearly 29 and should have scored more career goals than 63 in a 10 year career. Now if he was coming in to play off the striker (wings or AM), I admit his assist rate is good, I'd be a little more excited but just don't see this guy scoring 10 goals in the EPL this year as an out an out forward.
Perez has scored a goal every 242 minutes across his entire career which is okay. Dwight Gayle has scored every 145 minutes. Alan Shearer 155 minutes per goal. Mitrovic 186 minutes per goal. Other factors involved but it's interesting to contrast and compare.
Striker is the weakest area of the team, because we have 1. Mitrovic is an out of position centre half (which might be over-estimating his technical abilities!), Perez doesn't look like he'll be able to score enough in this division. Of the players we keep getting linked with, I am not entirely sure many would score the 15 goals we need from a main man, or provide enough to the team in terms of assists etc to justify not being a goalscorer. I can understand Rafa being frustrated because the window is ridiculous and we are currently one of the poorest teams in the Premier League, or at least have one of the most limited budgets. Is waiting going to help? Well we've got some big games early on where points will ultimately aid in our survival bid, so I think it is perilous to wait. Not only do I think waiting will not help much with the budget, but I think it's very unlikely anyone more interesting will become available. Coutinho, Sigurdsson, Van Dyke etc may start the spending spree across the division, but realistically I think we are out of that particular loop, and I genuinely feel we have zero to spend and are reliant on loans from here on in (like Kenedy). Is their room for us to get a player like Origi, Lookman, Giroud or someone who won't get a strong look in this year? We'll see. I wish the window ended before the season started.
