According to the Mirror, Norwich have won the race to sign Gary Hooper for £5m. Taken from Sky Sport's Paper Talk. I wish we could get some clarity on this; did Celtic actually lower their price and if so, did we make a bid? If he's such a key target, should we be a bit stronger in trying to get him in, instead of 'cooling' and 'reigniting' our interest over the weeks? It's the same with Austin, we hear one thing, then we're told something else by the media, then a deal is close to being done, then we've missed out on him altogether. If Burnley told us we were just £0.5m out, then surely that shouldn't make too much difference? Has our dillydallying cost us our 2 targets, or is it other clubs fannying about trying to get the most money for their players?
We haven't missed out on anyone yet and it's fairly obviously we're not going to overpay for players, we've done everything right so far.
Maybe take hooper for that as I'd happily pay 4.5 for him so an extra 500k is worth the little gamble. I wouldn't take Austin at anything over 1.5/2 million though, he's not that good and he's free in a year. Burnsley are just being greedy.
Bullshit ******ation results in being free after a year aswell. Offer £7m, Hooper. in a year still be in the division.
There was some talk of perhaps potentially maybe the possibility of Holt going the other way? (can you tell I got that off Football Rumours?)
Yopu just knew this would spring up once again. An old story being re-hashed as news is in short supply. Norwich are having to sell first by all accounts. They are hawking Anthony Pilkington about for £5m for a start. I suspect that we have agreed £5m also and its down to Hooper now.
Disagree, I don't think £5m is alot for a striker for the EPL, strikers always cost more. I do think Bruce and team are doing a good job though and whatever happens, happens.
Think we need to up our bid to keep in with the Hooper chase. Would hate to lose him for the sake of 500k. Alright, he's only been scoring in the SPL but he's also scored in Europe. You only get what you pay for, either in the transfer fee or signing on fee with a FAT. We need to spend big to plug our glaring deficiency on the pitch.
£5m for Hooper who plays for Celtic and won the double last season as well as doing well in the CL is a fair price imo. £4m plus add-ons is also a fair price for Austin. Both scored upwards of 50+ goals last season. This area of any team always costs. Manchester City have been told they have to pay £40m for Cavani from Napoli. Now that is a risk for sure.
For me the fat he plays spl and the odd Europe game isn't a big thing, it's the same game he would get less chances but would inevitably stick them away when given the chance. I don't know about you lot but I'm very happy with the way things are shaping up at the minute.
Would love to see us spend up to 10 million for both Hooper and Austin. Can play as a front two, if one is injured/off form the one can play briefly as a single striker ahead of Boyd or Aluko.
Doesn't fryatt fit into anyone's teams anymore then? Not for me. If we got hooper and Austin we would have Boyd aluko and fryatt which seems like too many.
Think Fryatt will be to slow, also with him living in the midlands think be will be transferred to a club near there.
If we get both Hooper and Austin, I think we'll play a 3-4-1-2, with Aluko just behind a front 2 of Hooper and Austin. Fryatt and Proschwitz as back-up strikers and Boyd as back-up to Aluko.
I'd have thought that was Bruce's thinking. With Simpson gone and McLean looking to be moved on, that would give us 4 strikers to cover 2 spots. I can actually see Fryatt being like LeFondre, scoring off the bench.
