Good news is apparently Martin Jol is looking to add Ajax striker Mounir El Hamdaoui to the team, but the cost will only be around 3mil, according to the FootyLatest. FootyLatest Bad news - reading between the lines, Jol is either bargain hunting or he's unsatisfied with the signings he's made so far, namely Ruiz (12M) and Sa' (loan). If the deal occurs in January, we'll have five first-team strikers on the payroll. Jol's already dealing with unhappy players at Fulham - this will only make things worse. Other bad news - for some unexplainable reason, Clint Dempsey played all 90 minutes in a USA friendly loss to Equator, that after playing 90 minutes against Honduras on Saturday. So now, after two quick games, he's got three days to rest and travel before playing again for Fulham. This doesn't make any sense to me. Why would the US coach Jurgen Klinsmann play (and risk) his best player in a meaningless match? And why would Dempsey agree to it? Dumb.
is this jol saying AJ if you dont sign a new contract by January then i will replace you with Mounir El Hamdaoui? or worse this could be BZ on his way out, having said this imagine Mounir El Hamdaoui and Bryan Ruiz up front together both use to the dutch league so kinda know how each other plays,
DR, why would Klinsmann care about leaving his player rested for Fulham? That's not a criticism of Klinsmann; he's paid to look after the US team's interests, not Fulham's. If he sees Clint as his best player, then it makes sense to play him when possible so that the team dynamic, shape etc isn't disrupted. As for Clint agreeing, I'd be disappointed in him as a professional if he refused to play. I'd have preferred him to have a rest from our perspective, but I don't think anyone in the US set up has acted wrongly here. Craven, MEH and Ruiz would either dovetail nicely, or we could find ourselves with two new strikers struggling to adapt to the different pace, etc of the English game. It could go either way. I was keen on us signing El Hamdaoui in the summer and still think he could be a good addition, but now that we've signed Ruiz as well I suspect his arrival could well mean someone else is on the way out. Then again, it could all just be paper talk; I'm taking it all with a pinch of salt until something actually happens. There were hints before that Jol could go back to that other striker that we almost signed on deadline day (sorry, I can't recall his name; I'm sure someone will remind me). The only sure thing about these rumours is that they help sell newspapers.
I personally can only see the situation as is,where Jol wants to offload both AJ & Bz, thus if there is any discontent at present,it will be gone in the Jan transfer window. The big worry then being could we loose BH & Demps. There is already several prem scouts who have been seen sniffing around at the training ground, Briggs supposedly being the interested party.
Gignac was the striker we missed out on loan in the summer. Agree with the Captain, I was hoping to get El Hamdaoui probably ahead of Ruiz. I think the pace of the Premier does take the foreign players by surprise, but good players should adapt. EH does have a reputation of being a moody player. As I've said before I think AJ is looking to go on a free in the summer, might get a small fee in January. If Zamora is rocking the boat, he too might be shown the door, and I could see Newcastle or Sunderland coming in for him.
I wouldn't like to see Bobby go, but there's also the argument that now (well, one of the next two windows) is the time to sell him if we're going to. He's back in the England squad but with his age and recent injury record his value is only going to go down. From a purely business point of view, a sale in January or the summer makes sense. From an on-the-pitch point of view it makes no sense unless we can successfully replace him. If El Hamdoui does that while also reducing the wage bill and making a big like-for-like profit on transfer fees then there's an argument for it. But there are a lot of ifs in that scenario. As things are I hope that we keep hold of Bobby for the forseeable future. I'd be delighted if he saw out the rest of his career with us.
Your evedence for assertion 1 ? (apart from wishful thinking) Am worried about losing Briggs, he/s bound to be a target. I hope we can hang on to him
Should have said this in my previous post: thanks Super Brian for naming Gignac. I know someone would be less senile than me. Re: Briggs. Bizarrely, last night I found myself imagining that Barca came in for him. I can't recall the particular train of thought that led to that, and this certainly isn't a prediction. Does anyone know what kind of contract (length-wise) Briggs is on? Like Tosh, I hope we can keep hold of him and other promising youngsters, like Karim Frei.
It's clear to me that's one of these: AJ is off in the January window because he doesn't want to sign a new contract with us. We're being linked with him simply because Jol has signed him twice and there's talk of Bobby and/or AJ leaving. I think the latter is most likely. Bobby and Jol know how important BZ is to our side, and 3 months is a long time in football, what are the chances this paper talk will have blown over?
If bigger teams start to target our younger players, before we have the benefit of 3 seasons out of them, I think there in lies some of the problem with wanting a younger squad. The continuity and stability of the team can be disrupted if you don't have a main back bone of older pros to bind the team together while bring through the younger players.
Captain - I think most national team managers are mindful of a player's club responsibilities. Fabio Capello is thoughtful when selecting players like Gerrard, Rooney and others for international duty. You don't see Capello demanding a full 90 minutes from someone like Gerrard after a long lay-off, particuarly when the game is only a friendly. Yet either Dempsey or Klinsmann (probably both) made what I consider an irrational choice of having Clint play full time in two meaningless games. Dempsey had nothing to prove ... he's in the starting 11 come hell or high water, so what's the point? If I were Martin Jol, I'd be livid. I'd bench Dempsey for 3/4 of the Saturday game "because he needs rest" just to show Dempsey and Klinsmann who's boss. ______________________________________________________________________________ I'm not sure what El Hamdaoui's signing would mean to our side, but I know we can't carry five strikers and keep them happy. I'm starting to wrap my head around the idea that AJ and BZ might be leaving while they still have some market value, though I'd hate to see BZ leave.
If signing el hamdaoui is what it takes to get the best out of ruiz, then I'm all for it. Would I sacrifice BZ and AJ to achieve this? Most probably as both are 30 now and can only have 2/3 years left at our level. That said, the problem would come when ruiz does prove himself and will attract significant offers from elsewhere. Then again if that happened hopefully we could hold out for enough to seriously reinvest in the squad. Its all quite a dilemma, if there's any truth in what you read that is!
I don't I can quite get my head around letting both AJ and Bobby go. Sentiments apart, they're our two most effective strikers at this point in time. It makes little footballing sense to let both go and bring El Ham in.
It's all just speculation at this point. But I think it's reasonable to wonder what Jol's up to if he's thinking of bringing in yet another striker - even if he's purchased at bargain-basement prices. He can't really carry five first-team strikers and keep them happy. He's got an age problem with his two principle stikers - Zamora and Johnson, both of whom lose transfer value as time ticks by. We'll just have to see what happens in January. Unless Jol can forge some kind of alternatively-effective strike partnership from Ruiz, Sa' and ?, there's no point in getting rid of the two players who are putting the ball in the net. But the day is coming ...
Interesting times ahead. How many times have we heard that Bobby is not happy with the fans, that there are offers for him. There was one from Hull etc. I don't think BZ is on his way out. The grass is greener on the other side. This seems to be the case at the moment. Jol as a manager has a higher profile than Roy and likes to talk too. This is taken by newspapers, especially during such a dry season to speculate. It's pure speculation so far. The only certain thing is that AJ contract talks have stalled. And I am with the club on this. 2 year contract max. So far he has not played half the current contract.
