Been confirmed by the club sounds like he is coming to us on loan with the view to a permanent deal in the summer, rekon we will here something from SAFC in the next 24-48hours canny loan signing IMO
from @KHeneage Kristan Heneage twitter Mangan deal gaining pace. Al-Hilal officials confirm he has left the club. I'd expect to hear something from #SAFC soon enough being reported in France that El Hadji Ba has flown to England for a medical sounds like he could be coming this way as well as we have been strongly linked over last week
Lets hope its good work by the scouts. N'diaye & Mangane aeem to be very good acquisitions, dont know too much about the other guy. Still, as you say, exciting times. Hopefully might put a few thousand on the gate
Seems a little inexperienced but if dortmund have shown interest aswel and marty wants him, fair play http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/el-hadji-ba/profil/spieler_169090.html
Could this mangane be the new samba? Physically he certainly seems to be a good match, here's hoping he's as good a player. I know lots of us on this forum have called for us to sign samba for the last couple of transfer windows so let's hope he's as good!
To be honest lads, in the same way that I don't think we should knock people before they've played for the club, I also don't think we should be bigging them up. I feel like it sets them up for a fall when our expectations aren't met. Both players linked on this thread are players that I have never seen play, so can't offer comment on. I wouldn't think we could start banding around '2 quality players' just yet though - Mangane has been playing in Saudi Arabia. Why did he move from the French to Saudi league at 29? And now he wants out of there after only 6 months? As for the new Samba - he's older than Samba, I'd be more excited about getting the original! I will be delighted if Mangane and Ba turn out to be quality players, especially given the fees mentioned won't be huge - but I'm not sure we can expect that immediately. (dons tin hat and runs for cover)
Stu , why does any international player in their 20's move to obscure leagues, all about the mighty dollar mate. I think it has a lot to do with his better half, not much freedom for women out there not even for WAG,s.
Yeah there is that shiney... but didn't we all tear it out of Gyan when he did that? Anyway, his better half getting a raw deal out there sounds about right and if that's why he's after coming back to Europe, then let's hope we benefit from it. I am more excited about N'Diaye and Ba as they are young and seem to be on the up - I don't get the same feeling with Mangane just yet, but let's hope I'm wrong on that one
Spot on Stu. Never even heard of these players. The fact that they are cheap/being allowed to leave their clubs worries me a little. The fact that they are French and not linked to Arsena and the Mags (who are trying to do the same)who seem to watch everything French player alive worries me a little also. Lets hope they are at worst, decent players and better than we have.
At 6ft5 he is a big lad he got a bad rep in france, maybe injustly, after breaking a players leg in an "enthousistic" tackle....
I'm confused as to why some fans are unhappy with signing unproven foreign players, when many people (not singling out anyone in this thread, just a general observation) have previously criticised MON for only buying British-based players. We need a healthy mixture of solid, proven experienced players and promising players from abroad who won't cost the Earth, and these new lads fit the bill for the latter IMO.
I know what you mean - I think these things tend to be cyclical. After Keane, a lot of our fans wanted us to look abroad, and were very excited about the Ghanaian and Paraguayan/South American connections. Then after Riveros, Angeleri, Da Silva etc didn't work out as we would have liked, people called for solid and proven British-based players. After a few transfer windows under O'Neill (and possibly paying over the odds for Brits previously) the foreign-based players are back in fashion. I completely agree with you in that a healthy mix of the two is what we need. I am excited about the N'Diaye signing, and similarly (but to a lesser extent, given that he hasn't played at the same level as Alfie) with Ba, and agree that they'd fit the bill for the second. I don't feel the same about Mangane because I don't feel like anybody is 'promising' at 29, but happy to be proved wrong of course. All I was saying above is that I don't feel we can refer to Mangane and Ba as quality players yet. I'm reserving judgement - either way - until we see them play a few PL games. For every Gyan (quality player) there could be an Angeleri (not so much).
Me too mate, he was right at the heart of City's best spell towards the start of last season when they were smashing everyone, and I think MON would get the best out of him. That is a good point Stu, the foreign market is obviously a risky business, but you can get some real gems on the cheap, and hopefully N'Diaye, Ba and Mangane will adapt well and give us plenty to shout about.
