Paul Coutts from Preston, 23 year old Scottish midfielder. Don't know much about him, but he's supposed to have a fair bit of talent on the ball and he's apparently only going to cost about £400k(though Charlton are after him too).
With the added bonus Lesteristan are interested as well. Having said that Old Sock Face's spending might have to be cut back a bit as the deal to take Matt Mills (£5.5m signing - Yes, £5.5m!!! - from Reading) to Bolton has fallen through!! Waydago Matt!!
Very good signing if it comes off, he looks a real talent. Sounds like he wouldn't cost too much either!!
Oh dear, Oh my and Oh, how sad. Looks like Matt Mills is really making things hard for NP at the moment. Long may it continue. Actually Paul Coutts knows Jack Hobbs from there youth days. If he knows TC as well that can only be a Brucie bonus. He is a younger version of Ian Ashbee(hard and fiesty) but with more natural talent. No. At todays prices its not far from a give-a-way. Lol.
TFT - I think you're mixing up Paul Anderson and Paul Coutts. Anderson is good mates with Hobbs (apparently)
I think i agree with you. You are correct. But Paul Coutts is just what we lack in the midfield since Ian Ashbee left. Paul McKenna is good but is no Ian Ashbee(in the tackle). for the update.
I'd be surprised if they actually knew each other, I think Coutts dropped out the U21's around the same time that Cairney got called up.
OLM, can all these new threads on possible transfers be added to the Rumours sticky - it would be so much easier - everyone is starting a new thread when we already have one!
When they're new new I'm leaving them up as new threads and I'll merge them later. When someone wants to nip on here to catch the latest news, they don't want to have to trawl almost 30 pages of rumours to see who we've been linked with.
I have no idea how this midfield situation is going to work if we get both Tunnicliffe and Coutts, especially if we play 4-4-2. McKenna, Evans, Koren, Cairney, Olofinjana, Tunnicliffe, Coutts - all battling for 2 places. I would say we need 5 for depth, but the only obvious departure could be Oli. Unless SB plans to use Koren & Coutts as wide men.
It is easy enough to go straignt to the last page on one thread and trawl back as its all interesting!
Yeah well it says Coutts can play wide. Evans has played on the right for us once or twice and has played there for NI more, although he's obviously a cm primarily. Koren again can play there, but his influence on the game dwindles somewhat. You'd think Oli will be moved on. Mckenna may not play as much as he did last season. Cairney will be fighting Koren and prob Tunniclife for the box to box more attacking mid position if we play 442. I must admit I wonder why we're not being linked with more wingers and forwards other than those already mentioned in Heskey and Anderson. I'd of said those are the positions we need to address the most (ignoring the keepers). I'd also like 1 more versatile defender if we can get rid of Macca.
You're forgetting Keane as far as defenders are concerned. Coutts , for me, is a long term replacement for McKenna and a standby for him. I'm not too keen on Anderson but I will not say he will be bad for us because he obviously has talent and it's a question of whether Steve Bruce can get him back to where he should be. I still have this niggle in my mind. Unlike most, I really like the idea of 4-2-3-1 as I think it will result in us controlling games far better than a 4-4-2. However, I just cannot see Fryatt fitting into that as, with last season as evidence, he is not suited to the lone striker role (16 goals is good but it won't usually get you promoted if that is the top scorers tally). At the same time if we use Fryatt as an impact player off the bench, I think he'll be off and also it is surely still a doubt as to whether Heskey can carry off the lone striker role for a whole season. So, if we say Bruce intends to play 442, where does Koren play? In my view he cannot play in the middle of a 442 with a winger each side as he is not strong enough to do enough when we don't have the ball. If we play him wide, he isn't anywhere near as effective and he doesn't like playing there either. I think there are a whole lot of questions regarding the squad and formations still to be answered. I hope Bruce comes up with the right answers!
I wasn't forgetting Keane, I still think i'd like someone else. Bradley will go out on loan somewhere in league one I'd of thought and i'd hope we're trying to shift Mcshane. Leaving Dawson, Dudgeon, Chester, Hobbs (whos crocked till Oct/Nov), Cooper, Keane (if he comes) Rosenior. It only takes 1-2 more injuries to the defence to leave us light. Garcia's now gone who could have filled in at RB.
I've said a few times I don't buy the theory that Fryatt can't play up front in a 4-2-3-1. Last season his best performances were at the end of the season playing 4-2-3-1 and also just after Barmby took over when we all agreed that he looked like a new player completely. His strengths are chasing, harrying and hanging onto the ball when it looks like the defender could easily take it, he actually excels at what he does when he is the lone striker. His ability to worm out of tight situations was really handy for us particularly at the end of last season. Think back to his goals last season, if you made a video montage of them all you'd see loads of instances of him dribbling between a few defenders and poking it home. Rarely did he score from a McLean lay-off/flick on or even from someone else's pass. His goals were mainly created by himself. The big question for me though is where does Heskey fit into a 4-2-3-1? I don't think he could play as the 1 up front and if he played in behind then where does that leave Koren? The fact we are signing him suggests to me that we plan to use him as part of a front 2 or maybe at times in a diamond formation like Southampton used against us last season with Do Prado playing behind 2 strikers.
