His end product got better but in his early days he was just a pace merchant who couldn’t cross and didn’t have a good footballing brain. I don’t know how true it is but there’s a story that he was going to be picked for the 2010 World Cup squad but was left out because when England played their friendlies before the tournament, Walcott just couldn’t hit a single accurate cross in training or in the games for Peter Crouch to get onto and Capello left him out. People got their hopes up for Walcott because he had his breakout season at such a young age. When you compare Saka to Walcott, you can see just how average and limited Walcott was. He wasn’t **** but he was never a great player. Nathan Redmond is/was a better footballer than Walcott imo.
Some in the press know who the name. and are teasing it's a young Englishman. Check out the latest 'to hull and back' podcast.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is keen for Jesurun Rak-Sakyi to remain at Selhurst Park but admits it may be difficult to keep hold of the talented winger. Hull City have lodged a loan bid with the Premier League side to bring the 20-year-old to the MKM Stadium, while Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers are both credited with interest. City hope to convince both Palace, and Rak-Sakyi, that a move to East Yorkshire is right for his development after a thrilling spell at Charlton Athletic last season yielded 15 goals and eight assists. Boss Liam Rosenior knows the youngster, and believes his relationship with Palace's in-demand wing-man can give them an edge over their rivals in their quest to get a deal over the line. Hodgson named Rak-Sakyi on the bench at Sheffield United on Saturday as the Eagles kicked their Premier League season off with a 1-0 win against City's Yorkshire rivals, though he didn't get off the bench. Any decision to sanction his temporary departure may hinge on further cover being brought in by the Eagles, with Hodgson saying his options were limited on the flanks, though the experienced campaigner hopes his young talent will stay in South London.
I find it hard in my head to see how we can get a "blow your socks off" winger. I don't see this as being negative; just realistic. For me, I'm expecting either a young talent who I've not heard of (hopefully not from Derby), or a last contract but still good enough for championship, ex-prem journeyman. For a blow your socks off type signing 'd have been pinning my hopes on Nathan Redmond but to be fair, he's probably out of our league and also just gone to Burnley.
Can't remember the reasons but Hodgson has always seemed to be reluctant to sell players to us, or even pick our players when he was the England manager. I just remember him getting rattled about us and coming across as bitter ever since.
He is probably aware he would get plenty of game time with us and his previous relationship as a player working with Rosenior may swing it for us.
I remember him publicly criticising us during the Ayala loan to deflect how ****e he was doing at Liverpool. I think he's a bit of a tail end. Press Conference after our worst ever World Cup, drawing our final match 0-0 with Costa Rica after already being eliminated after two games, he described the draw as avoiding a banana skin, or something stupid like that.
Everyone keeps mentioning Ebiowei just because he's a winger from palace when Ebiowei is a totally different person and more importantly his head wasn't in it. Rak-Sakyi has at least shown he's willing to go out and play at a loan club
