Our biggest problem this season, I think most of us would agree, has been finishing chances in and around the box. Whilst it's true our style is not necessary tailor-made for a fox in the box type striker, there is still plenty of room for a player with the right attributes to hoover up bits and pieces in the box and end up with a decent goal tally. Of our existing 4 strikers, this is how I would act: Burstow Sadly I think it might be better for Mason to try and finish the season elsewhere, whilst an obvious talent, he is still developing and our current style of play appears to not be suitable to his current skillset. Hemir He has a long term contract here so we should commit to developing his talents, however as the least ready of our options it could be beneficial for all parties to find him a short term loan with a plan to bring him back and reintegrate him in the summer. I'm sure there would be decent Portuguese sides eager to add him to their options. Mayenda He looks extemely raw but rapid and very eager, he can also play wide and has several other French speakers in the squad to aid his acclimatisation. Keep around as a bench option or occasional starter. Rusyn I like him and think he has a real chance of coming good, but have the distinct impression the language barrier is causing some sort of breakdown in training that is preventing the staff from having full confidence in him. Keep him around and make extra efforts to integrate him into the starting line up. New signings? It seems obvious to me that we need to try and galvanise the team with a new striker, ideally someone with Championship experience and goals. I think a loan until the end of the season is likely our best course of action considering we have so much young talent who need to be given a chance in the medium term. These are loan suggestions. Who? Ben Brereton Diaz, 24, Villarreal Probably the least likely on the list but it hasn't worked out well at Villarreal so far and if they're ready to move him on this could be a good way to put him in the shop window. Britt Assombalonga, 31, Antalyspor Again, not doing great in Turkey at the moment but has extensive experience in the Championship, Antalyspor might be willing to cut their losses if we take on his wage for the rest of the season. Lucas Joao, 30, Shanghai Port Scored a decent amount of goals for the likes of Sheff Wed and Reading including a 22 goal season in 2020-21, this is guess work but if he isn't enjoying China there could be a deal to be done. Matej Vydra, 31, Viktoria Plzen A veteran of English football who is now back in the Czech Repiblic after a 12 year stint abroad where the bulk of thst time was played in England. Has 65 Championship goals, would he be able to turn down one last run in England? Scott Hogan, 32, Birmingham He has played a fair few games for Birmingham this season but his minutes have dropped off after the arrival of Rooney. If he is not fancied by Rooney they may be willing to let him go.
Only one I’d even want and he’s more a wide striker. Agree on what to do with the existing players though I’m not sure Burstow can go anywhere but Chelsea or here now.
I'd love Diaz i wouldn't touch the rest with a barge pole though especially Asombalonga. Rusyn and Mayenda have shown more than enough that they deserve a chance particularly over Dack who came in and played Bellinghams position on Sat whilst he replaced them upfront. Hemir needs a reality check and sending down to a League 1 club on loan. If he doesnt like it then he can feck off for all i care. Burstow is not our player and should be sent back to Chelsea asap. Its pretty obvious not putting our hands in our pockets and buying a recognised striker or even better 2 is costing us big time. Weve tried to gamble on kids getting us around 15 goals and it hasnt worked at all and its been a big negative in everything weve accomplished so far in the last 3 years.
Diaz plays his best football as a wide left forward so i'm not sure he'd be a great signing in terms of fit. The others listed I would be annoyed if we signed them.
I'd rather continue with the strikers we already have ... ... particularly Mayenda with Aouchiche behind/alongside him.
We did put our hands in our pockets though, Rusyn was signed for a fairly large fee in fact if my research is correct in terms of forwards signed last summer his fee was only beaten by Wright and Simms for Coventry who made nearly £40million from selling their two best players, Piroe for Leeds who has been playing as a 10 not the striker and Leeds have parachute payments and made a load of money through sales, Cannon for Leicester who I don't think has kicked a ball for them and they have parachute payments and player sale money, Latth for Boro who had the Akpom money to spend, Stewart for Southampton who hasn't kicked a ball for them and they had parachute payments and player sale money, Mmaee for Stoke has 2 goals, Yates for Swansea who had around £20mill in player sale money. None of these signings have been particularly good apart from Piroe who we couldn't compete for so spending does not equal success. For us, the Stewart money came in right at the end of the window so would've been hard to use that so I hope it's used in January. Owners putting their money in these days just doesn't happen due to the rules.
Playing one would be a start. Still think Rusyn is the boy. The runs he makes are superb. Just needs teammates to get savy to his movement which they can't do if he doesn't get game time.
The Rusyn deal dragged on for a good while if i remember correctly. I think the fee was somewhere between £3m-£3.5m in the end. Does that fit with your research?
I think it was a bit lower but it was announced as an undisclosed fee so any figure quoted is just educated guessing. Still though anything above £2m is a decent wedge for a player who has played less than 300 minutes in 4 months at the club
Yeah i get that we paid a decent amount for Rusyn, hes a young inexperienced Ukrainian international so it still feels like he was bought as an investment to make money from in a couple of years rather than dipping our hands in our pockets and buying an experienced striker in this league. We are trying to develop 4 kids all at once who had zero first team experience in England and were now playing Bellingham as a striker infront of all of them because they are all still adapting. Rusyn has already stated the language barrier is hard for him. They should have been allowed to develop naturally behind someone alot more experienced in that role
Who though? These mythical experienced championship strikers do not exist. I listed all the ones who cost more than Rusyn and have any of them been any good? Also, we can't put our hand in our pocket if we aren't making money through selling players, you can't do it anymore.
All depends on how we continue to play. Ideally it's a forward who works his socks off and occupies centre half's. Signing a new striker is going to start creating more chances for them.
Where did you list them? How about someone below the Championship like Ollie Watkins for example when Brentford signed him. Im not a talent scout mate so im not gonna start giving a load of names out but signing a kid on loan from Chelsea and 3 foreign inexperienced kids was never going to result in goals for us, and to do well in this league to get out of it you need a good striker that can hit the net. We have none out of 4 so far and 3 different first team coaches for us this year have dropped the lot of them going into the second half of the season.
