We missed the boat in the summer, should’ve gotten it done then. Still offer the release clause on the 1st Jan but I reckon he’ll now hold out on a big European dog. Ndiaye is likely more attainable albeit will probably cost a similar price. Either way it’s a position we really need to strengthen and early too.
Yeah I agree. No idea which idiot on Bmouth's legal team managed to negotiate a contract that would lead to them losing their best player in the middle of the season and for less than what they would have got for him before he signed the new contract, but there you go. Ndiaye is an interesting option, especially if it means we don't have to suffer any more episodes of The Pigeon Who Thought It Was a Professional Footballer as part of the deal.
I think we should just go for it. What have we got to lose? We can't (won't, or will this change now that Daniel's in his garden?) compete with those two on wages, so I guess it boils down to the player himself. Doku has started the season superbly for City, plus they have Savinho who they fought tooth and nail to keep over the summer, and Marmoush. Liverpool can play any one of Gakpo, Szoboszlai, Isak and Ngumoha out there. So there is stiff competition at both clubs. Meanwhile here he'd jump straight to the front of the queue ahead of Tel, Odobert, Simons and Pigeon. More money and trophies, or more football? That's what it will boil down to. EDIT: If he does go to either of them, we should open discussions with Gakpo or Savinho. I'd prefer the former and him linking up with international team mates Simons and star striker Micky VDV could be interesting. Plan B for 'Operation Return the Pigeon' will have to then shift away from Ndiaye to maybe consider Alcaraz (promising young CM), Mykolenko (good cover at LB) or Garner (useful home grown squad player). Not mad on any of them but to be perfectly honest I'd sign Everton's tea lady for £60m if it meant never seeing Richarlison in a Spurs shirt again.
much more likely to be Wirtz or Ekitike than Szob or Isak but would hope we aren't flogging anyone (unless someone offers silly money ) as our squad is pretty thin atm
Samu Aghehowa's name keeps cycling back around to us. While the obvious concerns about a striker scoring for fun in the Primeira Liga are valid, because we all remember Helder Postiga (unless you paid for hypnotherapy, and if you did...sorry) but he does have a couple of additional attributes that ae useful, namely his pace and he's also quite handy pinging one-touch passes around the final third Also on the slate is Midtjylland's Franculino Dju, who has scored 14 goals in 15 games in the Danish Superliga this season, who is a real handful for defenders due to being pacey, his ability to hold up the ball and how he presses like a madman...though my immediate suspicion is our name might be getting dropped in here as there's at least one Bundesliga club testing the waters Sod it, here's a couple of comps
