Summer 2013 Transfer Rumour Thread

Also how would everyone feel about Ramirez going? Been heavily linked with Florentina at the moment

 

I want Ramirez to stay. He is a classy player, has had a reasonable season, and I'm certain will be firing on all seasons in 2013/4. He has also said he wants to stay, so hopefully he will.

 

To be fair on Lovren, he's 23 years-old, can play across the back four, International and Champions League experience, he's had a bad season but he has been highly rated before then, and I think a lot of the Lyon fans (and even a lot of non-Lyon fans) are doing it out of comedy rather than hate. I think in a similar scenario, thousands of Saints fan's would do a similar vote about Guly but most on here agree he is a decent player. Even if you look on the comments on that from a few Lyon fans, they're saying that he had a 'couple of bad games', is 'inconsistent' and 'a bit reckless' etc., definitely not ideal but not damning criticism when it comes to football fans.

A few years ago he was a world-class prospect, clearly things haven't gone right for him and he recently said in an interview that he was 'in hell' at Lyon, but I wouldn't be devastated if we took a risk on him. As long as it was alongside a solid CB like Astori or someone, I'm not actively hoping we sign him but I'd be alright if we did.

 

A few stories going round on twitter that we are after Kone from Wigan.

 

Yeah, if the fee is fairly low and we aren't reliant on him, it's a rather intriguing flier, similar to the talk of Kjaer a year ago. Wouldn't make him the centrepiece of our summer, certainly, and would be pretty hesitant about spending a sum at the top end of their fans' predictions (10m Euro), but getting talent means taking some risks.

 

Probably not true then.

 

Not sure about Kone. Doesn't score enough for me.

 

Indeed.

I don't see Kone fitting into Cortese's vision/ambition on the basis that he's not a top eight player for me. So at best he would just be a stop gap player.

Do I think he'd be a decent squad player? Yes I do. But I also think that Lambert and Jay would be decent squad players, should we sign a top eight striker. So there would be no need for Kone as well.

 

I'd be happy with Kone, 11 goals isn't bad and he'll be playing in a better team. I don't think, realistically, we can get much better - Benteke is a wish, but probably won't happen.

 

Remember Jos. Celtic fans loathed him, was one of our best players.

 

Jos wasn't really given a chance. Lovren has been there for several seasons.

 

Can't believe people have found a problem with Kone; he had an excellent season. Still don't think we'll sign him though, as we're probably after someone more luxurious.

 

30 goals in all comps over two seasons in Spain and England, I wouldn't turn my nose up at that, in regards to Kone. Also fast, can run the channels, decent dribbler and his little neat hold-up play and lay-offs impressed me at Wigan, although he also has a tendency to be a little greedy. I think he'll go somewhere to start though, rather than coming here to compete with a club hero and a rising star.

 

But there are other players for whom it just didn't work at one club or another. Be it off-field issues or playing style. Crouch is another good example.

Being that he has regularly switched from LB to RB to CB since breaking into the team it seems like he's a player they just are not sure what to do with. To quote Chael Sonnen: "Being a jack of all trades is fine, but it means you just suck at a bunch of things at once." Some regular time and he may get his groove back.

 

Can we just buy someone.

 

Maybe if we hired Chael Sonnen to motivate him it'd work better. Or at least it would entertain the fans.

Either way, I'm not comfortable with reported fees of £8.5m for someone whose current fans would love to see the back of him, whatever potential excuses there may be.

 

Well Said !

 

£8.5m straight-up would scare the pants off of me; if closer to £5m with moderately-difficult-to-reach incentives, I'd do that.

 

Patience Fran, we don't want to buy any old riff raff.

 

Indeed, if we could get him in some kind of incentives-laden deal that would be perfect, I suppose with Cortese negotiating it would be a real test of how much Lyon wanted rid of him and who else was in for him. If we could get them down to about £5-6m I'd be chuffed to bits, still a lot of money to us but in the modern game that's peanuts.