Erik Pieters

I see Pieters is out for the season, with a possible fracture in his foot. This will be his second foot injury this season. Don't know if it is the same foot. I wonder if this could affect a possible move by us in the summer.

 

I've never really been convinced. He must be good if he gets in the Netherlands team, but he isn't really that quick, and he's a bit injury prone.

We should go after someone better IMO. If we're gonna be a 4-5th team we can do better.

 

Injury's are too much, Aly Cissokho is error prone so maybe we will go for a new target for left back.

 

I don't want Pieters or Cissokho to be honest. One is injury prone, one is over rated isn't worth his wages.

 

Taye Taiwo is only at loan to QPR, maybe he would come in and do well... as long as he played nothing like Celestine Babayaro.

 

I like the look of pieters, and a broken bone isnt the type of injury an injury prone player gets, its just one of those things.

It wont mean that its likely to reoccur or anything

 

A broken foot hardly constitutes injury proneness. It's muscule, ligament and tendon injuries that are to be worried about. Breaks in bones heal stronger than the bone itself. If it's a reoccuring break he'll need an operation that can shorten or lengthen bones which is a big issue but not really in the foot

 

He might even become cheaper cheeky £3million bid

 

I know but I'm sure he's had injuries before.

 

I would keep Santon on the left and get the lad from Lille, Debachey (sorry don't know spelling) to play RB.

Just an option I'm throwing out there.

 

Personally I feel we have to get Santon into his natural role at right back as soon as possible. If we can retain Simpson, that would give us a strong right side with a nice balance with attacking and defensive options. If Simpson decides to move I'd look to get a youngster like Clyne who we could develop. Santon has shown his versatility by doing a decent job on the left but it undoubtedly is masking his true potential. Pardew has handled him well and I think we'll see a leap in performance once he switches and has a proper pre season under his belt. I still believe the lad has the potential to be top notch.

The left back is the major question. I've said many times I'm unsure on Pieters, but our scouting team know what they're doing. His injury status might make us look elsewhere, or Mike may look to take a risk and strike another bargain deal! The other who has been mentioned regularly Cissohko, I like a lot. Wages though? The lad has already made the big moves to the big clubs on good wages so demands are likely to be high. It's quite possible that they'll pull out a surprise though. Many signings have slipped under the radar while the media speculate, the club a bit more canny these days.

I mentioned the other day on here I've been quite impressed with Taiwo at QPR. I think we'll be aware of that situation too.

 

santon needed a season to adapt

i think next season he will flourish just like enrique did after his first season

 

With Santon on the right, our right wing would destroy anyone. HBA cutting in on his left, Santon going down the line on his right.

From what I'v seen of Pieters, he looks good if not fantastic. I'm not sure we'll find much better, perhaps Criscito? Only realistic one I can think of.

 

Is he made of glass? I've gone my entire life without breaking anything,

 

Mentioned him the other day. Problem I could see would be wages, the russians pay well. Good player though. Others Taiwo, Cissohko, Schmelzer but all have things which would make you think it unlikely. I'm half expecting for something to come out of the blue. Maybe Jose will want CL football

As I've said many times I'm not sure on Pieters but I think the scouting team know more than me. Regardless who it is I think they'll be a good player. They know they need to get it right because of the impact it could have on our team and balance. I can't wait for Santon on the right. I've taken a bit of stick off my mates for waxing lyrical when he signed because of what I'd seen him do in Italy. I think he'll be the next Newcastle player everyone will be looking at and saying "wish we'd signed him"

 

Accroding to FM (which I use as the basis for most wages, although some of ours are wrong), he's on 40k.

As for the others you've mentioned, Schmelzer wouldn't leave the German champions for us. Cissokho is over-rated, and Taiwo hasn't looked overly inspiring.

A few others could be Christian Fuchs and Benoit Tremoulinas, but I expect Carr to surprise us.

 

I like Cissohko to be honest but he'll be on big wages. Taiwo has looked good for me but who knows what his situation is. I agree on Schmelzer, the Germans rarely move anyway. I expect the surprise and hopefully we'll all be saying "what a find" again. I was wondering what Fabio's situ was at Man U. Evra going nowhere at present it would seem.

 

They've said Fabio can be loaned out, might be a possibility. Probably not what the club is looking to do though.

 

I reckon you'll go for Neil Taylor personally after your previous interest.

I know he's not a glamorous name but he's a VERY good left back.

 

The story in the summer was that he had a 1mill release clause that we activated, but then Swansea demanded 10mill. Not sure tbh, we'll probs go overseas again.