Think the youth of this team does represent a risk. But also think that compared to the transfer window and pre-season that some clubs are having, the fearlessness and positive attitude our newbies will bring could stand us in very good stead.
It’s like the corners on their ground have been specifically designed to take the piss out of Stoke’s ground
Our scouts must love what they have seen in his youth football as we are approaching our record transfer on a player that has only ever played 2 senior games.
I wonder if this bid was before or after the Mara deal. I assume unrelated Will not please the “we need experience” brigade who would rather us bring in Ben Mee and Teemu Pukki
Think you'll find Bordeaux, who we just signed Mara from, got relegated last season. Also, Altay SK, who we signed Mateus Lis from, just got relegated from the Turkish SuperLig.
This is a bit disingenuous. It's perfectly reasonable to be delighted with bringing in youth players but also be very wary that it comes with risk attached. It's the most exciting window we've had in ages. Full of promise and plugging gaps with highly rated youngsters but the 'brigade' can also be right in welcoming a little bit of experience whilst we transition to these youngsters. Mee and Pukki are not the answer, and you already knew that, but if one or two quality, experienced players were to become available in key positions and were affordable then there's no question in my mind that it would take some risk out of next season and take some of the pressure off the young new signings.
It is not disingenuous if their names have been mentioned elsewhere by our fans as players we should be signing instead. Mee was banged on about as nauseum pretty much everywhere. Pukki I have seen less but also in immediate response to this rumour over on Saintsweb today So some believe them to be the answer. And it is reasonable to comment on those people’s opinions
Pukki is good and I would like to see him at Saints. Mee I’m not so fussed about. Like anything it’s a balance, we have signed 1 player so far who has any notable experience of mens football, and he hasn’t played in a league anywhere close to the PL in terms of quality. Every signing is a risk but ours are very high risk, potentially very high reward, rather than a much smaller swing you would get with the likes of Mee
I think a lot of people, myself included, who have called for a little more experience are looking for 1 or 2 players that have at least played a decent amount of senior football at a high level, such as Aribo. When I say experienced, I dont mean the general sense of the word, I am talking about in comparison to the 18/19 year old youth players. I think a lot of people are calling for a couple of signings of players around the 23-25 age bracket, that still fits our business model, but also have a greater chance of being able to come straight in and hit the ground running. Not that youngsters can't do this (Tino), just that it is more challenging.