Why did Stewart only play 13 games last season? Injury I assume? Same injury he is out with now? If so will have been a very lengthy lay off. If not then him getting another injury in pre season to keep him out til October allegedly doesn’t sound good for his injury proneness
Nope - two injuries. The latter one I think was Achilles which usually comes down the bad luck rather than poor underlying fitness (I believe)
Seems like Stewart has always been the preferred target From reading that Twitter thread is seems like Sunderland’s preferred replacement is a loan from Everton that can only now happen after their Beto signing. Rivalled by Preston on that one You’d assume we would need someone else to come in if he is the signing unless we rely on Armstrong and Mara for at least one more month. Which would be a gamble But I’m not sure there are many strikers we could get in to play second fiddle. The right type of striker (one that can hold up play) doesn’t tend to be one that can tend to play wide as well (given we have apparently one opening there and maybe two if Sulemana goes and the intention is to replace him)
Got his first injury about this time last year - returned in mid December. Played for about six weeks, then got a different injury. And I believe that's the same injury which he continues to have today.
He had to have surgery on his Achilles. It ruled him out for the season at the end of January. It is what he is coming back from. As mentioned I don’t think doing your Achilles is indicative of being injury prone. It is not like repetitive knee problems or when Ryan giggs used to get a hamstring injury nearly every season
Ok I’m going for 4 in’s:- Drameh, Stewart, Wood & back up GK out:- Adams KWP (just have a gut feeling) McCarthy ABK Sulemana
I’m not sure I will ever get over or understand how quickly people are prepared to leap to the worst case scenario with regards to Saints. It must be deliberate in some cases but surely just makes you miserable I’m currently basing this on some discourse on Cody Drameh over on Saintsweb As far as I remember the rumour was that Martin is a big fan and prepared to wait until next season for him but he might become available early due to Leeds brining in Spence This has warped into - “he will be the replacement for KWP and it is a massive downgrade. Did you see at the weekend he was subbed on and subbed off again?! How crap must he be” And then presented with references about how highly Martin rates him and the suggestion to perhaps not judge a player based on 24 minutes - nope. Heels dug in. “Massive downgrade”. Blah blah I’d have thought that the fact Martin was prepared to wait until next summer would suggest he is absolutely not on the list to be KWPs immediate replacement. I mean - I might be wrong. But our interest doesn’t even mean KWP is definitely off. If he is it seems like he is far down the list at other clubs like Che is. Haven’t the only links been arsenal (where he would clearly be the stop gap due to an injury but I’m sure would still make the move and massive pay increase) and Fulham who have just taken Castagne. So that path seems closed. It’s interesting but I would like to just think that the potential early availability of a target it just a positive. But maybe I’m just being naive
No Tella replacement in there. I’d say that is more likely to be the 4th slot than a new GK. And that McCarthy stays Can someone remind me of the championship loan rules? Was it 6 in any squad? Edit : seems like it is 5 in a match day squad. Not sure there is any overall limit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us use our full quota and get two more in depending on who is out there and what positions need filling Wood, Drameh and Stewart would be permanent signings.
I think McCarthy has been injured. And there doesn’t seem to be any serious interest. Of the rumours Everton are apparently out, Luton won’t get near his wages and Palace seem to be looking to a new first choice in Henderson. I think he likes the south as well anyway so it narrows the options significantly. Pretty much to Palace I think. Fulham already have a better second choice and Chelsea obviously aren’t an option. But he’d go to whoever paid him highest. This must be a really humbling experience for him given what he thought he was worth at some point. I think he once thought he was worth a contract like the crazy one we gave Forster. But no one offered that
Unless I misunderstand one of those things (impact) is not like the other. Either way the recurrence issue is potentially not relevant because it seems like a pretty serious thing to try and recover from even after having it once. Hopefully there is time for a proper medical if he is the target and there is an alternative in place. Can’t see how this one could go through on deadline day without a fee agreed and medical performed earlier than that
The guarantees part is presumably of first team football. Understandable in terms of Leeds. Not so sure about us now Tella is gone Terms is presumably wages but could also be contract length and clauses related to promotion or lack thereof. So perhaps he wants a clause that automatically doubles his pay on promotion? Or one that lets him leave if promotion doesn’t happen.
